Home Automation Basics - Practical Applications Using Visual Basic 6 (Sams Technical Publishing Connectivity Series)

Book Description

This book explores the world of Visual Basic 6 programming with respect to real-world interfacing and control on a beginner to intermediate level, with a home automation system. Includes HVAC systems, water pumps, temperature controls and more.

Customer Reviews:

Communication Protocol's and VB .......2007-03-04

Mr. Leonik is correct in his feeling with regard to the title given to his book, it is in fact not representative of the material inside. I can't imagine someone just getting involved with home automation (or wanting to learn about the subject) choosing this book as a starting point. Visual Basic is a huge programming language that takes years to develop a proficiency in. Writing effective communication protocol software in any language is no easy task and it is only a small part of VB capability. As a Vb programmer I had heard about Mr. Leonik's book through the "VB Grapevine". I had been searching for a book that covered this subject for a Modbus project I was working on. Of the 50 or so VB books in my library none of them covered this subject, so when I learned about this book and after reading Mr. Leonik's writeup I knew this was a book that I had to have in my library. I was not disappointed -- the information and program contained in Chapter 5 was well worth every penny (just the algorithm for CRC computation was enormously helpful). This book filled a void (no pun intended) in my arsenal of VB knowledge (and my library). Thanks, Mr. Leonik, from myself and my fellow VB programmers for the useful knowledge.

Need to repackage.......2006-03-16

The general intent of the author is interesting but he blows it by writing the book based on the AB PLC which is expensive and not generally popular with Hobbyists and DIY folks.
The book will certainly have a lot more appeal had it been written based on PIC's or Basic stamp microcontrollers. However, I found the chapters on RS232 interfacing very useful and am keeping it for that reason.

Just a copy of AB manual.......2004-06-20

After reading the authors review I bought this book. It has nothing just a copy of DF1 protocol for Allen Bradley PLC (Unprotected Reads and Write). This book is a basic book not for advanced users.

Home Automation for people with too much money.......2004-03-08

This book will leave you scratching your head. Do not pay too much for it and you won't be disappointed. When it gets right down to it you might as well look for a plc with o.e. software because that's what you will need. Nice discussions on electrical basics and interfacing but just not practical or user friendly.There are just too many different devices to chase down and no real guidance as to where to get them. Writers should have non-technical people read their material before they publish.

Great Book and reference.......2002-11-10

I've read a lot of books on VB and PLC's but the book that I think about most and use as handy reference is Tom Leonik's --Home Automation Basics - Pratical apps using VB6. This book is fun and to the point. The example of a home monitor is cool and the material presented in the book can easily be applied to many different applications.

The one reviewer who stated that you needed PLC software... obviously did not read the book. PLC software is only needed to program the PLC. The PLC in this application performs conditioning of inputs and stores key information in non-volatile ram. The book creates a driver to communicate with the PLC in VB no other software is required. This is an amazing task and it works.

Book Description

The Secretariat report examines the country's trade-related policies and measures, covering tariffs and a wide range of non-tariff barriers, from an economic perspective. The report reviews the impact of these policies and measures on the country's recent overall economic performance, and on the development of major sectors. The government report describes the country's trade-related policies and the basic institutional and legal structure affecting the trade policy decision-making process. It examines these policies against the background of the wider economic and development needs of the country concerned.

Book Description

Myra Dinnerstein examines the choices and compromises of a generation of women who came of age after World War II. Her in-depth study traces the experiences of twenty-two middle-class women from childhood to adulthood and their evolution from traditional wives and mothers to career women at midlife. Her richly detailed interviews explore the tensions of combining work, marriage, and family life and remind us of the significance of one's social and personal context with respect to the ability to make satisfying choices.

Middle-class women born between 1936 and 1944 have been split between two worlds. As they were growing up, traditional expectations and limited opportunities seemed to make marriage and motherhood inevitable choices. When they reached their thirties, the Women's Movement and expanding opportunities in the workplace presented options for them that had not been available to their mothers. Now it was considered appropriate for women to have ambitions and to act on them—and the women described in this book were among those who did.

Average customer rating:
Southern California Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, & Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series)
Saul Rubin
Manufacturer: Globe Pequot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Pacific | West | Regions | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | California | States | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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Northern California Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series)

Offbeat Overnights: A Guide to the Most Unusual Places to Stay in California

Kentucky Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff

Eccentric California (Bradt Travel Guide)

New Roadside America: The Modern Traveler's Guide to the Wild and Wonderful World of America's Tourist

ASIN: 0762727241

Book Description

A guide to the offbeat people, places, and events that make Southern California even stranger than readers might think!

Average customer rating:
Before I Get Old: The story of The Who
Dave Marsh
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press c1983
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ONX89I

Average customer rating:

The Best Book Ever Written about The Who

Still waiting

Great history of a great band

On my second copy

A love letter to Pete Townshend

Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who
Dave Marsh
Manufacturer: Plexus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Entertainers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Rock | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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The Who: The Complete Guide to Their Music (Complete Guide to the Music of...) (Complete Guide to the Music of...)

The Who: Maximum R&B

Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend

Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend

The Who - The Kids Are Alright (Special Edition)

ASIN: 0859650839

Book Description

Written at the request of Pete Townshend and endorsed by the rest of the band, this in-depth history of The Who took author Dave Marsh three years to research and write. Complete with photographs, it covers the group’s origins and meteoric rise to fame, reveals inside information on the personalities and lives of the band members, and documents the relationships, drugs, destruction, money, and mayhem behind the music of this legendary rock band..

Customer Reviews:

The Best Book Ever Written about The Who.......2007-07-09

This was the first rock biography that I read when I was only 14 years old and hungry for anything Who. This book changed my life. It redefined the way I listend to and thought about music and of course, the greatest rock and roll band of all time, The Who. My original edition, bought when "Before I Get Old" was first published, is a bit worn out - time, I think, for a new copy to read, 24 years later.

Still waiting.......2007-01-12

Item very slow to ship, still isn't here yet.Somebody is going to be disappointed with a late Christmas gift.

Great history of a great band.......2006-11-06

A very in depth look at The Who from their childhood to their "farewell" tour of 1982. Most of the focus of the last quarter of the book is on Pete Townshend, so Roger Daltrey fans might be a little dissapointed, but a GREAT book and a rather easy read. A must for any die hard Who fan.

On my second copy.......2006-02-16

Considering the direction that Dave Marsh took after this book, becoming a worshipper of Bruce Springsteen the saint, this book is a fairly even account of the Who saga. I got my first copy as a Christmas gift in college, and over the years read it literally to tatters. Once I started losing pages I pulled the pictures that I liked from the photo sections, and found myself another copy. There have been other excellent books done on the Who, but Marsh set the standard. The others have just had prettier pictures.

A love letter to Pete Townshend.......2005-09-24

This book is not badly written, but it is not the story of The Who, as the title suggests. It is a book by a man fascinated by Pete Townshend, who writes a bit about the other band members only when he has to.
For example, we read early on that Roger Daltrey got married to his pregnant girlfriend. Almost a hundred pages later we read that he was divorced and paying child support. No mention of anything in between, nothing about whether he had a son or a daughter or even if the child is in his life. We're told at one point that John Entwhistle is on his honeymoon, without anything leading up to it. In fact, we only hear this because we're told that Pete had to get hold of him on board the yacht the newly-married couple were on. But in those pages there is no end to the detail about every aspect of Pete's life.
Worst of all, important musical facts are left out. Half-way through the book, while talking about a 1968 U.S. tour, Marsh mentions that the Who were intimately involved with the creation of Marshall amplifiers during the early- to mid-sixties. I knew that, and I was looking for some details on it, but in all the pages he devoted to Townshend's life in that period, he never once mentioned it.
I didn't find a single factual error (that's good), but there was nothing in here that I didn't already know about the band (and I didn't know all that much), making it kind of a pointless read. All the well-known facts are simply arranged here to pump up Pete's image and make his band-mates look like hangers-on. I can see why Pete liked the book, but I can't imagine why the others did.

Book Description

SimplyShe Note cards offer a refreshing modern way to stay connected by putting exactly the right words in exactly the right package. Its truth-based humor is at once compassionate, ironic, insightful, and universal. Finally a card line that says it like it is.

Book Description

OZ: Behind These Walls is the secret journal of Augustus Hill, the show's wheel-chair bound main character. He's been keeping a diary about Oz for the past 5 years and wrote a letter requesting that if he should die, the book be published to show the world what goes on behind the walls of Emerald City.

In his book, Augustus postulates on all aspects of Oz life - the rapes, lies, sex, stabbings, drugs, lost time, love and murder. With each entry, he highlights major events that have happened and offers his particular take on it. As the publisher of his book, we've taken Augustus' journal and added our own editorial sidebars -- some on OZ itself, with R.I.P pages and Poet's poetry -- others on various prisons and prison policies from around the United States, to give the reader a more indepth view of real prison life.

The book also includes an Epilogue by Tom Fontana, creator of OZ, and an Episode Guide of the last 5 seasons of this groundbreaking show. Last but not least, the story behind the book is written into every new episode of the final season of OZ, making it not only a great fan keepsake, but a publishing event.

Customer Reviews:

Augustus Hill's Diary.......2005-06-29

I loved this book. I am a fan of Oz but not a huge fan. The book gave a strong voice to the show and I loved that way the diary of Augustus Hill illuminated the episodes and the shows without being a plain episode guide. It was well written and absorbing. I thought it was quite entertaining and led me to understand better. There are also non-fiction excerpts from books, newspaper articles, etc. which illuminate how the prison system in America functions. Good book. A good read.

Not quite what I was expecting........2003-11-09

I've been a huge Oz fan for many years now and it greatly excited me to get this book, but I was sadly disappointed with it after reading the first 20 pages. This book is nothing but an extended episode guide, which is something you can find anyplace for free online. It also has detailed describtions of each episode until the end of Season 5, but unfortuanately, it looks like most of these describtions were just blatantly copied off of hbo.com and placed into this book. If even a die-hard Oz fan like myself didn't enjoy this, then I'm not sure you will either.

Never ceases to amaze.......2003-06-20

I'm currently reading the book. It's good so far, but a lot WAS left out b-c it's only from Augustus' point of view. A lot of good stuff is missing. It's interesting seeing things from Augustus' view. It's good and I am able to understand better what Augustus means b-c I watched all 6 seasons.

One of the best books I have read.......2003-03-25

With this book you enter the mind of Augustus Hill, a wheel chair bound inmate who is also the narrator. It clearly depicts life in a prison. OZ: Behind These Walls: Journal of Augustus Hill lets you become part of an experimental lab inside Oswald State Correctional Facility known as Emerald City. It is an accurate description of what goes on behind jail bars from rape to sex to murder and drugs. You will truly feel like you are amidst the inmates. It is written in such a way that you "get to know" each character. Everything from what they did to get into Emerald City to the day-by-day trials and tribulations that they face on a day-to-day basis. When something happens to one of the characters you feel almost as if it happened to someone in your family.

Leo Glynn is the warden at Oswald State and Timothy McManus runs and created Emerald City. They worked together because they wanted to make a better living environment for prisoners who had capabilities of rehabilitation. Sister Peter Marie is the psychologist that works with Father Ray Mukada to help rehabilitate the inmates. Gloria Nathan is the doctor for the inmates and creates jobs for them so they are doing something positive with their time.

The best emotion depicted in this book is FEAR. Fear of living, fear of dying, and fear of fear itself. Augustus explains this through his eyes with each word he writes. As a wish he asks to have this book published so people can see what goes on behind the walls of a prison.
I enjoyed this book because of how detailed it was and how well it was written. I didn't get the chance to watch the show on HBO so it was a privilege to read about it and imagine it in my own way. This book also gives out interesting facts about court cases and prisons that a lot of people wouldn't know about. OZ: Behind These Walls will keep you wanting more to the point you will not want to put this book down. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about prisons or prisoners. There is not another book like this and I think publishing this book made a great way to remember the show and keep its memory alive.

Nothing New.......2003-03-15

I bought this book knowing it was a marketing tie-in for HBO, so I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed. But I was. Augustus Hill's "journal" is really just an extended summary of Oz episodes, without any of the new stories or new insights I'd been hoping for. And because it's all told from Hill's point of view, some story lines (like the Beecher/Keller story that's a big draw for many Oz fans) are only treated very briefly. The writing style is almost painfully dull, which is strange given the relatively good writing of the show and the strong narrative voice the show gave to Hill's character. I also found the book's chronology very peculiar, perhaps because the events of Oz's short, 8-episode seasons had to be spread out into a continuous narrative.

On the plus side, it's a handsomely produced book, on a nice glossy paper stock with plenty of photos. I liked the occasional sidebars about the real world of American prisons, though sometimes these felt a bit preachy (and I'm a liberal, generally in agreement with the politics of the show, and the book).

It's a shame this book isn't better; it's not much of a farewell to a landmark show.

Book Description

A complete IP Telephony migration planning guide

Includes Steps to Success Poster

It's everyone's "must have." This is a reference book for the entire project team who works on the deployment of an IP Telephony solution.
Take advantage of best practices. Includes more than 200 best practices, lessons learned, and tips for getting you through your IP Telephony deployment successfully.
Minimize risk and learn from the mistakes of others. Read the list of the top 10 things that can go wrong during an IP Telephony deployment.
Ask the right questions. Get the project team thinking and collaborating together with Stephanie's "Checklist of Questions to Ask the Project Team."
Use proven planning tools. Work from sample checklists, templates, project plans, and workflow documents to guide your planning process.
Keep the Steps to Success on the minds of your project team. Use the enclosed poster, which illustrates every major step associated with an IP Telephony deployment.

There is no better path to the successful implementation of a new technology than to follow in the experienced footsteps of an organization that has already been there. The Road to IP Telephony tells you how Cisco Systems successfully moved its own organization to a converged, enterprise-wide network. You will learn the implementation and operational processes, what worked, what didn't work, and how to develop your own successful methodology. After presenting this topic to hundreds of Cisco customers, including Fortune 500 companies, Stephanie Carhee consistently encountered the same question, "If I decide to move to IP Telephony, where do I begin and what can I do to ensure that I do it right the first time?" Although the needs of every enterprise are different, some things are universal; planning, communication, teamwork, and understanding your user's requirements are as important as technical expertise. The Road to IP Telephony shares with you everything you need to know about managing your deployment. It starts with where to begin, including what needs to be addressed before you even begin the planning process, to building your project team. Key best practices are also offered to help you set the project's pace and schedule, get your users on board, identify a migration strategy, develop a services and support strategy, and work toward the final PBX decommission.

"Cisco IT wants to share its implementation experience with Cisco customers and partners to aide in the deployment practices of new Cisco technologies. While conducting our own company-wide cutover, we learned a great deal about what to do and what not to do. This book shares our experiences."
-Brad Boston, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer,
Cisco Systems, Inc.

This volume is in the Network Business Series offered by Cisco Press. Books in this series provide IT executives, decision makers, and networking professionals with pertinent information on today's most important technologies and business strategies.

Customer Reviews:

This is a must read for anyone migrating from TDM to IPT........2004-10-10

The Road to IP Telephony is a project manager's guide for a successful migration from TDM to IP Telephony. It's a must read for anyone involved with or interested in the project side of migrating from a traditional TDM environment to IP Telephony. This book will take you step by step through the project process and, I believe if followed, will ensure a successful implementation and migration to IP Telephony. Even if you are not on the project management side, reading this book will help you see the big picture and understand how the process will affect you. This book does not require an understanding of the technical issues involved, although the book does outline technical issues that need to be addressed during the migration.

One of the big industry buzz word is "Voice over IP". Companies that truly understand the benefits of leveraging their IP infrastructure will make the business decision to migrate from their traditional TDM infrastructure to IP Telephony. The Road to IP Telephony helps you understand the keys to a successful migration from TDM environment to IP Telephony.

I have come away from reading this book with three major keys for a successful migration. Below I have identified those keys:

The first keys to a successful migration are to have executive management fully behind the business decision and lead the company's transition to IP Telephony. This would include appointing a project manager over the migration that is not influenced by individual company departments. Technical departments such as Telecom and Network should provide the technical skills and support for the project but not the direction.

The second key to a successful migration is the successful migration of the Telecom and Network groups. Traditionally the Telecom and Network groups have been managed separately. Each group has its own characteristics that make merging the two groups difficult. The technology and operating process in the telecom environment is very static, while the technology and operating processes in the networking environment are constantly changing. It is crucial for not only management, but also both the telecom and network departments to understand the continued need for the skills that both departments bring to the table.

The third key to a successful migration is communication. It is critical that the company as a whole understands and has expectations set before beginning the transition. Migrating from a TDM environment to IP Telephony is NOT about simply replacing hardware. In order to be successful a paradigm shift will need to take place within the company. IP Telephony will allow your company to leverage its existing IP infrastructure adding features and services that will increase productivity and enhance the way you do business with your customers.

The Road to IP Telephony is a perfect example of how Cisco Systems successfully implemented their own IP Telephony solution into their own working environment. The author Stephanie Carhee, project manager over Cisco Systems migration from TDM to IP Telephony, does a superb job of identifying every aspect required for this project. Today, Cisco Systems does not have a single TDM switch in their enterprise. They rely solely on IP Telephony for all of their Voice needs. I believe Cisco's success was a direct result of the project management process outlined in this book.

In my personal experience, the past two companies that I have worked for made valiant attempts to migrate from TDM to IP Telephony but were unsuccessful. I believe the reason they were unsuccessful was not addressing the above keys to success. Ultimately this cost both companies a significant amount of money and left a very negative impression of IP Telephony. The current company I work for has also begun the paradigm shift towards IP Telephony. After reading this book I have reevaluated our current approach towards IP Telephony and believe we are closer to ensuring a successful migration from TDM to IP Telephony.

Although The Road to IP Telephony was written around a Cisco implementation it can and should be used by anyone wanting to guide their company into a successful migration to IP Telephony. It is a step by step project manager's guide for a successful migration from TDM to IP Telephony. I would highly recommend this book and this author to anyone involved with or considering a migration to IP Telephony.

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