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March 20, 2017 1:01 PM   Subscribe

Zelda: Home Automation - Zelda: Ocarina of Time [YouTube] YouTube tinkerer Allen Pan, created a smart home automation system based off the Zelda series using the ocarina from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. [via: The Verge]
posted by Fizz (10 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is really cool! Nonetheless, I immediately freaked out at the idea of using the Ocarina to control your locks. It’s probably quite a bit more secure than it looks, but my heart palpitated nonetheless.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:27 PM on March 20, 2017


COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:31 PM on March 20, 2017


Another remote to lose? Wonderful.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:49 PM on March 20, 2017 [2 favorites]


Wonder if you could just hum the notes instead of using the ocarina.
posted by saturday_morning at 1:50 PM on March 20, 2017


You certainly coo'd. When I was a young radio ham, and video games went CHIG-CHUG unless a mothership was flying over - repeaters (stuff that lived on hilltops and retransmitted your signal over a wide area) were accessed by a 1750 Hz tone burst at the start of your initial transmission. A lot of radios had a button for this, but True Hams just learned to hit the note by putting their lips together and blowing.

This does mean that our doughty Zelda fan is at risk of having his doors open if the postie happens to be whistling the theme tune as they do their rounds - but you can't put a price on progress, right?
posted by Devonian at 2:05 PM on March 20, 2017


The fact it plays the tone when it recognizes a song is what sells it.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:34 PM on March 20, 2017 [3 favorites]


Wasn't he one of the candidates on Mythbusters: The Search?
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:11 PM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Wasn't he one of the candidates on Mythbusters: The Search?

Signs point to yes
posted by thefoxgod at 5:45 PM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Devonian: "You certainly coo'd. When I was a young radio ham, and video games went CHIG-CHUG unless a mothership was flying over - repeaters (stuff that lived on hilltops and retransmitted your signal over a wide area) were accessed by a 1750 Hz tone burst at the start of your initial transmission. A lot of radios had a button for this, but True Hams just learned to hit the note by putting their lips together and blowing.

This does mean that our doughty Zelda fan is at risk of having his doors open if the postie happens to be whistling the theme tune as they do their rounds - but you can't put a price on progress, right?
"

Yeah, the house key/car key issue was the stopper for me on that front. Not to mention if I couldn't remember my keys, I sure as the blistering green fuck wouldn't be able to remember an ocarina.

(Also, I used to be able to whistle at least up to a 2400 baud connection tone. Possibly faster, but the memory is weak in my advanced age.)
posted by Samizdata at 8:27 PM on March 20, 2017


Nonetheless, I immediately freaked out at the idea of using the Ocarina to control your locks. It’s probably quite a bit more secure than it looks, but my heart palpitated nonetheless.

I have recently gone way, way down the nerd rabbit hole of DIY home automation and most people set stuff up like this to be presence based. So it would only unlock if you played the tone and your phone was within the GPS geofence.

This is probably one of the best just-because-it's-cool projects I've seen. If you like this check out the Magic Rubik's Cube that changes lights based on which colored side you place it on.

Is there info anywhere on what software he used? Hardware = Raspberry Pi controller with a mic sending signals to ESP8266 chips to control the devices.

Playing with this stuff is incredibly satisfying, highly recommend anyone interested check out the open source HomeAssistant. If you have basic Linux skills and a couple of smart devices you can do almost anything.
posted by bradbane at 9:50 PM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


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