Hey,

I recently moved into a bigger house and would like some advice on setting up some home automation.

What would be the best way to get access control on a front door, I have lots of visitors and walking down two flights of stairs (not apartment, house) to let them in is a pain.

I'd like to be able to view a camera of the porch area and use a key or button to open the door.

I'd like to keep it simple, do you know of any Linux distro or Windows program that can achieve this?

Also what type of hardware would be necessary to wire up the door and computer?

I would like to add cameras and sensors later on.

Thanks.

EDIT: Basically I want something like http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Wireless-Biometric-Fingerprint-Access-Control_W0QQitemZ120299630458QQihZ002QQcategoryZ78 864QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem that I can also control with a computer.

As I intend to fully automate my home security.

you can get fairly cheap magnetic door locks etc, or solenoid based door locks (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6372~r.84748512) that you could interface with fairly easily.

You could do it through X10 home automation system, or if you are a coder, set something up using the parallel port of your computer (the pints of which are fairly easily assignable) connected to a relay, connected to the door bolt. Pay attention to whether you want fail safe or fail open - failing secure is one thing, but you also want to be able to get out in the event of a fire.

camera wise, you can get ones that have a web server in and thus operate over ethernet or wifi, you can get cheap chinese wireless or wired ones that can just plug into a tv or video input card in your computer (if you want to put in security as well, get one of the chinese 4 input cctv cam capture cards). You can get small screens from places like chinavasion. Wiring wise, just standard security cable is all you need for power and switching for the door lock, however if you go for a small AV camera by the door then you should use screened cable - get some cheap screened audio cable, should do the trick.