What is the perfect first draft of a base system for an aio? Well, much of the design is dependent on the type of inputs and outputs. But all devices will have the same architectural requirements. So first I can nail those down. Then, I might be able to come up with a simple set of inputs and outputs that would cover a range of prototype devices.

One thing I should do is list ten or twenty device ideas and see if I can find a common hardware definition to support them all.

What about a USB MINI-B connector, and a Zigbee radio? This is pretty complicated. But it would allow one to use the system with a PC, or without. With a local control system, or with a network control system.

On the other hand, if I set a requirement that every system requires an Ethernet gateway device, then the Ethernet solution could also be used in either way.

And this would lower the cost and complexity of the individual devices. But it would limit the system from the user’s point of view. Some users want peripherals, some want ambient objects.

One argument is that a radio device could sit on your desk as easily as a USB peripheral. But it has the added advantage that it could just as easily sit anywhere else in your home.

The disadvantage of the radio/ethernet solution only is that a minimum solution is always two devices.

• I think radio is key. This should be all about radio.
• Radio opens up the possibility of battery-powered devices. Complex relationships between devices.
• Possibly even a headless meta-device, though that might take a fundamental rethinking of the whole system?
• So, can I possibly support a USB solution, a radio solution and an ethernet solution, all at the same time? Probably not.
• I imagine that three interfaces on each device would be way too complicated. After all, these are supposed to be cheap, simple.
• Maybe I can create two different types of gateways, a USB and an Ethernet flavor.
• Maybe all devices are not capable of being gateways.
• Maybe it isn’t as simple as I would like, from a user’s point of view, that all they have to do is plug things in.
• I think that a USB solution could provide its own driver? I have heard about systems which intialize as a simple universal device, HID or flash drive perhaps, then install a driver. Don’t know if this approach still works under Vista.
• If an Ethernet solution, how does a local or remote control system find the gateway? With a USB-serial system, software can pretty easily poll all possible ports until it gets an expected response.