Old skool Home Automation & GPC

Last Updated or created 2022-08-05

The date of this post is when we worked on GMC’s GPC, but i’ll post some other own made hardware related to domotica.

GPC Original Page: https://gpc.metro.cx/gpc/README

This DIY home automation was written by GMC in C.
Later we made little microcontroller prints, which could control/switch lights and more.

PIC16x84

We uses GPASM as assembler

One of my schematics
What is this?
=============

 This is the Global Premises Control package. It is intended to be a
complete solution to the DIY home automation. It provides you with a
daemon which will centralize all control functions, and some custom
programs for sound, remote control and things like that.
 The first steps to realizing the goal was made by Koen Martens. He wrote
the first daemon and made the first support programs. Other people got
interested and ported the GPC package to their homes. Since then it seemed
wise to coordinate development to prevent from having three different
versions of the package. It is currently under development and is far from
complete.

History
=======

 15-03-98 - The first initiative
	    With the help of Henri Aanstoot and Marco Geels the first
	    cables were mounted in the ceiling at Waalstraat 136. This
            involved re-dedicating some high voltage lines for the low 
	    voltage used by GPC equipment.
	    The next few days Koen Martens spend his time writing software
	    to switch on the lights (which was not possible without
	    software anymore :). This software was very rudimentry and 
	    did not feauture the daemon yet.
 28-03-98   Version 1.0 was born.
	    The need for a global way to control the premises arose, and
	    Koen Martens decided to write a daemon which would control the
	    input and output lines, with support programs for the logic.
	    This resulted in global, the gpc daemon. 
	    Running on different servers there were programs to control
	    lights and lightswitches (light_control), sound (sound) and
	    the alarm clock (wakeup). 
 10-06-98   Version 2.0 (r0.2.0) was born. 
	    The support programs containing any logic had vanished,
	    instead the daemon had all the logic encoded in it.    
 03-07-98   Version 2.0 still.
	    - Added remote control receiver code.
 29-11-98   GPC r0.3.0
	    - Started coordinated development
 11-12-98   GPC r0.3.1
	    - Security support included, providing a (basic) interface
	      for protecting variables with passwords on a security level 
	      clearance basis.
	    - Global notify protocol added, clients can now register one
	      or more variables. This makes the old (0.3.0) polling method
	      obsolete thus reducing the network load dramatically.
	    - Logging library added.

Development
===========

 The development is done on the following beta sites:

 - Subnet
	Location	: Waalstraat 136, Enschede, Netherlands
	Site coordinator: Koen Martens AKA gmc (gmc@freemail.nl)
	Site description: Single floor appartment
			  3 occupants (1 human, 2 rats)
			  P60 32MB RAM running linux
			  486 8MB RAM running FreeBSD
			  486 8MB RAM running linux
			  DEC Writer
			  WYSE terminal
			  The 486 linux machine has the daemon, and is 
			  hooked up to the premises.
			  The P60 has a sound card and a RC receiver.
 - Lip-on-ice
	Location	: Lipperkerkstraat 321, Enschede, Netherlands
	Site coordinator: Willem-Jan Faber AKA aloha AKA xtz ( And Henri Aanstoot AKA Fash)
			  (w-jfaber@freemail.nl)
	Site description: Three floor house
			  Four occupants (3 male, 1 female)
			  Connected to three other premises.
			  Computer list not yet in!
			  
 - Venom
	Location	: P. Mondriaanstraat ??, Almelo, Netherlands
	Site coordinator: Sebastiaan Smit AKA venom (wssmit@freemail.nl)
	Site description: Three floor house
			  Three occupants
			  4 computers

 If you would like to join the development, mail me at gmc@freemail.nl.


In progress
===========

 The following projects are in progress right now:
	- A script language to describe the control logic for the daemon
		Koen Martens
	- An cgi interface for the http connectivity
	- Support for sharing variables on multiple daemons

Usage
=====

 Use is for your own risk. We can not be held responsible for any damage
resulted from running any of this software.
 Keeping that in mind, usage is very simple but work needs to be done on
the documentation :)

DIY door sensor using a bend CDROM and a sensor i got

I’d would send a signal to our computers and playing a sound sample on our sound system. Also a IRCbot named (lampje) would mention “Backdoor open” in our own channel. (We where running our own IRC servers, interconnected .. because we can. A average of 3 Clients per server sound the way to go .. LOL )
Lampje the IRCbot also controlled the livingroom light and more.

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