zedmelon's Journal: security system interface card?

Okay, I have a question that hopefully someone has encountered before. Google has turned up some (quite) vague and remote possibilities, but if some of my /. friends have already found a solution to this, I would be most grateful if they shared it ;)

I'm looking for an I/O card that will send an email upon "open switch/closed switch" contact. For instance:

1. There is an alarm panel in a house on top of a mountain somewhere
2. there is no telephone service
3. there is no cellular service
4. there is however a satellite connection
5. when there is an event on the alarm panel (door entry, glassbreak, etc), it can send contact closures to an external device
6. I need that device to trigger an email notification when it gets the closure....

Any ideas would be most appreciated, and any person providing information leading to the successful implementation of this "fix" will win:

• A free autographed copy of Michael Jackson's upcoming album "Beat It: The Rap"
• A walk-on part in the next episode of The Beverly Hilbillies
• A prominent mention in my next /. journal entry

Oh yeah, and thanks.

--------
Update: Just 30 seconds later - I suppose I could always open myself up to worldwide ridicule and submit this to "Ask Slashdot" as well.

No Problem!

[shepd]

The satellite connection, that would be something like direcway two-way internet?

And I assume you mean an I/O card for the computer, right?

Just use the parallel port, it's good for two-way communication.

Reply if you need help that way... :-) I *might* be able to remember how I got linux to read the parallel port. Perhaps you have more programming experience in linux than I.

I can certain provide you with "schematics" (in quotes because they're ridiculously simple).

If you want something more complicate

Re:No Problem!

[zedmelon]

Yes, the satellite comm is two-way. And open/closed monitoring is in the plan.

"Perhaps you have more programming experience in linux than I."

More than likely not. I'm a sysadmin, so basic ksh shell scripting is just about my 'programming' experience. Other than a couple scripts to build web pages, nothing but sysadmin crap like logs retreival and backups, etc.

Are the schematics similar to this [jspayne.com] or this [aaroncake.net]? Not sure if I'm savvy enough to make useful sense of those.

Even worse--I'm still hoping not--

Re:No Problem!

[zedmelon]

I'm a jackass. Thanks, shepd.

Re:No Problem!

[shepd]

>Are the schematics similar to this or this? Not sure if I'm savvy enough to make useful sense of those.

Nahh, but easy enough. I'll whip something up today or tomorrow, ok? :-)

>Even worse--I'm still hoping not--if the circumstances are lame enough, this *may* have to be done in WinBlows.

No, it's easy enough to interface to the parallel port in Linux. However, to do it the simplest way, you'll need to run the software as root.

All you need is for it to send a packet out over the internet if the al

Re:No Problem!

[zedmelon]

First, hold on, don't put any time into drawing yet...

It appears the manufacturer has something in development, (I'm waiting on more details), so if the client can stand x-amount of delay, it may be best--definitely easiest--to wait.

>Even worse--I'm still hoping not--if the circumstances are lame enough, this *may* have to be done in WinBlows.
No, it's easy enough to interface to the parallel port in Linux.
Actually, I meant I wasn't sure if

• a) the client wants/minds another machine running 24/7

Re:No Problem!

[shepd]

>I'll let you know when I can get a solid ETA on the integration-whatever they've got cooking.

Sure, sounds cool. Let me know. I'm sure you can figure out my email address if you need it. :-)

Re:No Problem!

[zedmelon]

Heh. Thanks.

Speaking of "figuring out" things, I've been curious about this as well, but the discussion in which it would really have been perfect to ask was archived before I realized I had a question:

In a journal entry some months ago, I proved myself a weenie. You might not recall the subject, but you might remember the discussion afterward, since a couple of your anonymous "fans" showed up to harass you.

Anyway, this comment [slashdot.org] by Tickenest and this one [slashdot.org] by numbski both allude to the ability to find

Re:No Problem!

[shepd]

Searching by userid:

http://slashdot.org/users.pl?uid=user_id_to_sear ch _for

Checking a journal by number (Requires Uid, sorry, sorta useless):

http://slashdot.org/journal.pl?op=display&uid=us er _id_number&id=journal_id_to_look_up

If you really want to get into the wacky stuff, search for hidden sids (specifically, search in google for: slashdot hidden sids trolltalk).

HTH!

Re:No Problem!

[shepd]

Oh, did I mention I started on slashdot before there were user logins? When one just typed in what one wanted for an email address and name/handle (boredatwork posted a lot then, he started the entire "first post" phenomenon) As a protest against that annoying practice, I refused to create an account for a year. Now I regret that, as I could have *easily* had a two digit ID. Oh well, regrets, regrets.

If *anyone* still had the old slashdot topics from when slashdot was really good (ie: 50 comments in a

Re:No Problem!

[zedmelon]

Whoah. [/keanu]

It's kind of a shame they're not stored on the site somewhere. When was /. first "founded?" You'd think that Taco would want to have that around for sentimental reasons as well as historical... I know I would. Maybe because the noUID format is incompatible with the current setup, it was too tricky an integration.

I've only known about /. for 3-4 years and only regularly read since I registered in late 2002, I think.