EXRRIG and HAN update

Well, I've been planning this build for so long, continuously changing its specs as time goes by. Check out my initial post in 2008: http://blog.ashytized.net/2008/09/need-new-engineering-rig-enter-exrrig.html

The next PC Fair in KL for 2010 is from 16 - 18 April. That would probably be the time I'll start buying the components. So far, I'm leaning towards the AMD Athlon II X4 620, considering its great with multi-threaded applications.

For the Home Area Network project, here is a basic network layout (click to enlarge):

The CTR 1 (Car Telemetry Research 1), is the O2 Atom Exec PDA that I'll be putting in my car for telemetry acquisition. No idea when I'll be starting that specific project, but it'll have to entail placing sensors all over my car. Right now I'm just playing around with the WM 6.1 OS. It'll have a 802.1b link to the home network (for synchronization purposes) as well as GSM. The uC LAN nodes are basically the Ethernet controllers I bought last time, which can interface to microcontrollers via SPI. They are still fresh in the package, yet to be experimented on =p What I had planned to do is connect them to a PIC circuit that will measure electrical consumption of devices and possibly control them. See these posts for more info:

[1] http://blog.ashytized.net/2009/07/nearly-done.html

[2] http://blog.ashytized.net/2009/07/quick-recap.html


The IP Cam is a recent addition. I'll be purchasing a D Link DCS 2012 by next week and will record footage of the front of my house. No particular experiment, its just that I've had some recent issues with the neighborhood that'll prompt me to record suspicious people milling right in front of my house. Then again, I might as well do some image processing stuff.. for the sake of researching on something!

The entries highlighted in red are future purchases (2-3 years ahead). The Firewall/Server component will use a low power VIA chipset, since I will be running it 24/7. Firewall might consist of an IDS, if the processor can handle it. EXRRIG II is basically going to be a high performance computer that I'd probably use for number crunching, high processing applications (or high res gaming!). Hopefully by then, the high speed Metro E Internet connection would be mainstream. Just to add a little redundancy, a Wimax connection will be added.

All this hinges on my financial planning of course. It'll take a while to save up all the money to get the necessary components. However, priority remains with my postgraduate studies, so as usual I may have to postpone the purchasing of some of the components again.