Take a look at Labjack's U3 ($99.00):
http://www.labjack.com/labjack_u3.php?prodId=25

Thanks Neil, that's a very interesting looking device.

They have various programming interfaces to it and it works with
more OS's than just Windows.

Indeed, that's always a good option.

You'll need to do some filtering (it's a 5v(?) device) but I don't
think that's too much of a problem.

Yeah, not to much trouble. I've got AC to the boat during the winter. I
could step down the onboard 12vdc. But then again I may want to use
something like X-10 (gasp!) to control power to it.

I'm toying with using an old laptop to act as a 'watchman' on the boat.
Just make sure it's not taking on water and know when the temps are getting
near (and below) freezing. Then being able to have it send me the data or
alerts should conditions merit. I'm having it handle informing me by using
on-shore wifi, not a phone line or service on the boat itself. If I was
keeping internet or phone service live on it all winter I'd probably go with
one of the embedded devices like the Elk.

If the AC power is out I'll know already via the laptop going onto battery
mode. So the sensors being offline due to loss of AC would be obvious. The
boat's about an hour away and there's staff on sight (and friends nearby).
So losing data collection during a power outage isn't critical since I'm
already going to be concerned about the loss of AC.

Thanks,
-Bill Kearney

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:57:35 -0500, Bill Kearney wrote:
Take a look at Labjack's U3 ($99.00):
http://www.labjack.com/labjack_u3.php?prodId=25

Thanks Neil, that's a very interesting looking device.

They have various programming interfaces to it and it works with
more OS's than just Windows.

Indeed, that's always a good option.

You'll need to do some filtering (it's a 5v(?) device) but I don't
think that's too much of a problem.

Yeah, not to much trouble. I've got AC to the boat during the winter. I
could step down the onboard 12vdc. But then again I may want to use
something like X-10 (gasp!) to control power to it.

Sorry probably the wrong term what I meant is the you'll need to bring
down the 12v to either 5v or 3.3v (I'm not sure which voltage) using
and op-amp. Or if it's more digital (0v or 12v) then maybe a
transistor or a zener. Basically you need some simple electronics to
bring it down to acceptable levels so the device can deal with them.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog
Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies