DIY OS X/PC Aquarium Reef Controller

[SupremeD601]

I see Reef-Pi builds all over the place, but is there a good DIY link, article, or thread of using a computer as an Aquarium Monitor/Controller? I have several basic laptops that can run Windows or Linux, and I also have a macbook. I've got a router that I could put DD-WRT on. I feel like I have access to all of the materials, but I just don't know where to start. I'd rather not use a Rasberry Pi, I'd much rather have a dedicated PC in a case to control and monitor everything.

 

[Michael Lane]

I haven't come across anything using a laptop to monitor and automate a reef setup.

I think one of the main challenges with that will be hardware control. Raspberry Pi (and other single board computers) exposes some low level hardware and protocols that aren't typically available on laptops. Especially now that most computers don't have a parallel port, it's even harder to interface with other gadgets.

It's not impossible, but I would think it would require finding parts that you can control via USB or TCP.

 

[Ranjib]

I see Reef-Pi builds all over the place, but is there a good DIY link, article, or thread of using a computer as an Aquarium Monitor/Controller? I have several basic laptops that can run Windows or Linux, and I also have a macbook. I've got a router that I could put DD-WRT on. I feel like I have access to all of the materials, but I just don't know where to start. I'd rather not use a Rasberry Pi, I'd much rather have a dedicated PC in a case to control and monitor everything.

Echoing what @Michael Lane just said.
Raspberry Pi is a computer, the only difference is it exposes the physical pins which allow us to connect the sensors directly.
This is exactly the current limitation with Laptop/PC. The connectors are standard (for example usb or audio etc) and it will be some work to integrate individual sensors, control mechanism (Relays for example). But this is not impossible, one can use USB or wifi based sensors. Some of the atlasscientific probes have USB interface, they should be useful.

There are also some Intel as well as arm based more powerful computers (such as atomic pi, or the arm development boards from Samsung) that exposes the physical connectors and almost as powerful as desktop/laptop. They are way more expensive though.

Once you get familiar with how these things work, you;ll realize theres whole continuum of choices and not just two extremes. But solutions tailored for one hard to get working for the other boards, often time. And their relevant ecosystem may not be that big. So when you impose some pragmatism, the choices reduce.

BTW, reef-pi runs on windows and osx as well , we use it for development. and with recent 3.0 features, if we do get wifi /usb based sensors , I dont see a lot of issues using a desktop pc or laptop as controller.

 

[Ranjib]

Its a great question BTW, thank you for asking.

 

[SupremeD601]

Its a great question BTW, thank you for asking.

Thanks for the response. Could you point me to a link of where I could get an adapter to the types of pins used by a Raspberry Pi?

 

[SupremeD601]

So if I wanted to use one of my extra laptops, would something like this work for a reef controller build? https://acroname.com/products/DEVANTECH-USB-TO-I2C-SPI-SERIAL-ADAPTER?sku=R348-USB-ISS

 

[SupremeD601]

Actually, this seems like it would be the most ideal adapter.

DLN-2 USB-I2C/SPI/GPIO Adapter

USB-I2C, USB-SPI, USB-GPIO interfaces, eight 10-bit analog inputs, 2 PWM outputs and two 32-bit pulse counters. Pulse counters, digital and analog inputs can send events to your application (e.g. when voltage level reaches the predefined value).

diolan.com

 

[Ranjib]

You 'll do the software programming bits? If so, anything is possible