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rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

1 edit

rescue85

Premium Member

[Other] Door bell??? Notify a user at another computer....

Hey guys,

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can do the following? I have a family member who is on the opposite side of the house and it can be difficult to get their attention, and even hard because they don't always remember to have AOL Instant Messenger on and I have to yell across the house to get them to turn it on. Once it's on, then everything is great and we can chat.

As a solution I would love to have a program that lived on that laptop that when I want to get a hold of the person at that laptop, I click a link and it runs a small program on the remote machine that causes a sound to play. More or loss it would be like ringing a door bell!

There are probably 100 better ways to do what I am looking to do, but I'll be darn if I can think of any... If anyone has some ideas on how they would do this, I would love to hear them.

Also, if someone thinks this idea is completely stupid I ask you to please keep that to yourself. I am very aware that there are other much more sensible ways of doing this, however, this is mainly a test. Once I figure out how to ring a bell (play a wav file or something) I have many other ideas, remember, this is just the beginning.

Thanks a bunch!

John
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

Well... I remember in irc chat days you could trigger a command to play a sound file, but honestly just send them a text message since we all have cellphones these days. Something like a skype call to the other person might work also.

In early nt you could send messages via the messenger service, and I don't mean live messenger, however the internet worms changed that when it was figured out most machines were on the net without firewalls so it could be used for spam. Later on it was just disabled by default, and later appears to be no longer included.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22 to rescue85

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I second the Skype recommendation.

That default ring noise will get anyone's attention

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· XIY9Cj54

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

rescue85 to BlitzenZeus

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to BlitzenZeus
BlitzenZeus,

I think we might have shared a brain at some point as we think exactly a like! lol

The idea behind this came from the old IRC days where you could beep someone and effectively annoy the hell out of them

Since I do not use IRC, I had recalled the NT messenger and had found a recompiled version of this which you were supposed to be able to install on Windows XP / 7 however, I could never get it to work.

Because the person who's laptop this is going on, as well as the intent behind why I need it prevents SMS or something like Skype from being a viable option.

Thanks for the comments though as you are dead on with what I am trying to do, however, you need to get out of my head lolol

John
rescue85

rescue85 to dib22

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to dib22
The more I think of it, I suppose Skpe could work, however, the downside to Skype would be that it's far more then I really want or need as I don't need it for the conversation portion, and I doubt it will ever be used to for that. It just seems like it would be a waste of an app since I just need the notifying portion.

Maybe that's a better way of thinking about what I am looking for. I need a notifier! Not a Door Bell!
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

Got an old cordless phone that still works? Remember hitting the page button to find the handset? Think something like that would work? Unless this is a large house it might work, but in really large houses some people might have installed intercoms anyway. Just thinking out loud.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22 to rescue85

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I don't know anything about this software (in particular I don't know about it's alert techniques) but it would be much lighter weight than skype:

»lanmsngr.sourceforge.net/

»sourceforge.net/projects ··· anmsngr/

Might be worth a try to see if it is loud enough.

You could always build a little program to do it... perhaps vis basic .net or something similar?

edit: also found this:

»code.google.com/p/slmmachine/

Might be a good starting place code wise (either of them)... neither have been updated in some time.

edit again: could always go with:

»www.lowes.com/pd_77745-8 ··· =3509248

wireless battery operated doorbell kits

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

rescue85 to BlitzenZeus

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to BlitzenZeus
I had wanted to keep it on the laptop because we use Pidgin (for AOL Instant Messenger), however, PIDGIN does not have anyway to notify the person you need to talk to them. It does play a little Ding when you send a message, however, the person never hears it. Also is not at all computer savvy, so the least amount of variables the easier it will be on me in the long run.

I pretty much just want an on demand notifier or door bell that I can make go off when I need this person and then annoy them with it when they don't respond back to me
rescue85

1 recommendation

rescue85 to dib22

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to dib22
said by dib22:

Might be a good starting place code wise (either of them)... neither have been updated in some time.

edit again: could always go with:

»www.lowes.com/pd_77745-8 ··· =3509248

wirless battery operated doorbell kits

Thanks dib22... I will definitely give those a looksy and see if it's something I can working with. Small coding / recompile never hurt before... Might just be able to do something with it...

As for the wireless doorbell, trust me, I almost went that route! lolol

)
earletp
join:2004-02-03
PDX
ARRIS SB8200
Asus RT-AC68

1 recommendation

earletp to rescue85

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quote:
Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can do the following? I have a family member who is on the opposite side of the house and it can be difficult to get their attention, and even hard because they don't always remember to have AOL Instant Messenger on and I have to yell across the house to get them to turn it on. Once it's on, then everything is great and we can chat.
Maybe not as fun as a doorbell but, have you considered adding a shortcut for AOL Instant Messenger to the Startup folder? That way every time the computer is started, or re-booted, AOL Instant Messenger will automatically start and your family member won't have to remember it.

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

rescue85

Premium Member

Yeah it does start with windows, the problem is, forgets sometimes and closes it.... When she leaves it on, the other problem I have is that when I send a msg, she says that it doesn't ding.. It really does, but she doesn't hear it even though the volume is all the way up. Trust me, I have done all the simple things. I am working with probably the most frustrating person to ever touch a computer.

Jackorama
I Am Woman
Premium Member
join:2008-05-23
Kingston, ON

Jackorama

Premium Member

If you can't find anything computer based, why not a wireless intercom. »www.radioshack.com/produ ··· 2036287#

"This 3-station wireless intercom allows you to communicate throughout your home/office without yelling or trudging upstairs or into another room. It is designed especially for homes and offices fitted with 3-wire AC outlets. Its 3-channel operation allows private conversation between any two channels without disturbing the other, and it's expandable, so you can add additional stations if/when you need them.*

- Lockable talk button allows you to monitor another room with confidence
- FM circuitry provides clear, reliable reception and transmission
- Call button signals other stations"

Back in the 80's we had a set that plugged into a reg outlet. My brother had his bedroom in the basement, so it was a good way of calling him for dinner, etc. instead of me yelling for him from the top of the basement stairs (mom hated that).

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

rescue85

Premium Member

I suppose an intercom would be the absolute last resort. There has to be some way to make a darn door bell lol. I'll let you guys know what I come up with..

norwegian
Premium Member
join:2005-02-15
Outback

norwegian to rescue85

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Is the internal chat still available these days?
Wasn't there a client in remote desktop etc too, as I'm gathering this is a LAN environment and not external?

I guess Skype is as good as anything else out there for GUI function.

workablob
join:2004-06-09
Houston, TX

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Enable the Windows Messenger Service and send a pop-up meesage to the other PC using NET SEND.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi ··· _service

Blob

not quite right
I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person
join:2001-06-23
Puyallup, WA

not quite right to rescue85

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Here's a workaround ... just text them that you want to chat with them on AIM.
PS- I think it's super cute that somebody still uses AIM.
bbear2
Premium Member
join:2003-10-06
dot.earth

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Something like this: »www.amazon.com/Bundle-Re ··· +cushion Comes with a remote.

CovMac
Premium Member
join:2000-11-06
Covington, LA

CovMac to rescue85

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Not sure how much you're willing to spend for a solution, but, this intercom system works over your house electrical wiring - plug & play: »www.amazon.com/Intercom- ··· intercom
round_toit
Premium Member
join:2005-02-01
Pensacola, FL

round_toit to rescue85

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»www.digicraft.com.au/yak/

Works well for me. I have the older free version that I have on every computer,

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

rescue85

Premium Member

All your suggestions are good, however you are all missing the key point of what I am looking for.. (Though perhaps one of these solutions has this capability and I have missed it.

The device needs to be passive. Meaning that I need to be able to activate it with OUT the receiver doing anything. That's why I nicknamed it Door bell. I need to activate it to give the notification by invoking it from my laptop and it will enable to notification on the other laptop. Primarily I would like this to just be an app since I know the other person is always on their laptop and forcing a notification there would be real time and grab their attention. The YAK Lan messenger would only be useful if the other person turns it on. This alone disqualifies it...

norwegian
Premium Member
join:2005-02-15
Outback

norwegian

Premium Member

Do you have Visual Studio 2008?

This seems to be similar too, if you can not utilize the messenger service.
Discussion:
»social.msdn.microsoft.co ··· bgeneral

Download tool:
»code.msdn.microsoft.com/ ··· f6c48ca0
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

dave

Premium Member

I like this feature:
quote:
play perticular sound
That's a mighty perty capability!

--
Visual Studio is an expensive product, but for simple programming, the free 'Express' versions (in this case probably called something like Visual Basic Express) will generally suffice.
round_toit
Premium Member
join:2005-02-01
Pensacola, FL

1 edit

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yak has the ability to be automatically started at bootup, also, you can specify a specific sound for a message receipt. You could record your own sound, message i.e.: "bring me coffee" or whatever you want and if you send only a message like "a", it will play that sound.

You can even set two sounds, one for regular and one for urgent. Just put the .wav files on the other computer and have yak start-up automatically when windows starts. You can even set it up to save every message you send or receive to a specific file on your computer.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

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Idea rather than solution: you might be able to lash something together with Task Scheduler.

The basic idea is

1) Configure a run-on-demand task on 'his' computer; the action you'd choose is 'display a message'.

2) Figure out how to easily invoke that task from your computer.

I can't give a lot of how-to advice, I just looked at the task scheduler help for 5 minutes.

rescue85
In Memory of Guinness 03-30-07
Premium Member
join:2002-06-12
Eatontown, NJ

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said by round_toit:

yak has the ability to be automatically started at bootup, also, you can specify a specific sound for a message receipt. You could record your own sound, message i.e.: "bring me coffee"

This might just work!! BRING ME COFFEE!!!! LMAO!

Yeah, this is just the kinda thing I am trying to do... I just need something that can run in the background even after a reboot that will allow me to remotely activate it to play a sound of my choosing (it's a perty capability! )... Even if I don't use YAK for it's intended purpose, it would fulfill me goal! I will have to try it out and see how it works.. I will give this a try and get back to ya!

norwegian
Premium Member
join:2005-02-15
Outback

norwegian to dave

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I was a little concerned over the usage of Visual Studio for the method, as it isn't accessible to everyone.
I did really like the tool though because the tcp stack would do the communication/transmit you could avoid the other user "turning off" because the tcp stack will not be a turn on/off item, without disabling the network connection altogether.
Quite handy.

It's always good to come across work someone has done and is offering it out to people to use; a credit to Ellen for the tool.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

1 recommendation

dave

Premium Member

I was a little concerned over the usage of Visual Studio ...

Any program source is going to need to be compiled, and 'Visual Studio' is the name on the box that contains the compilers. You don't actually have to use the integrated development environment, at least not for C++ you don't. I don't know about Visual Basic, though.

Free versions:

»www.visualstudio.com/dow ··· milies_4

You can get just one programming language if you want.

(2010 is the last-before-Win8 version, it's probably equivalent enough to 2008).

FWIW, I find the free versions quite adequate for the kinds of Windows C++ programming I have been doing for the last few years (mainly little utilities, test programs, etc.)

They lack programming team management pieces, maybe fancier compiler optimizations, and other stuff probably uninteresting to the one-off programmer.

But it depends what you meant by 'accessible'. You really need to be a programmer to use this stuff, and from that sense it's not 'accessible' to everyone.