Control4 has added to its line of Linux-based, ZigBee-compatible home automation/media networking products with a new controller. The Control4 Home Controller HC-500 interfaces with home theater appliances, multi-room music access, lighting, thermostats, and security systems, and comes with a Linux software development kit (SDK).

I have used X10 modules on assorted lights and devices for home automation for several years, and although the remote control facet has always worked well, tying the system into my Linux boxes has never been easy. Numerous small, typically one-person X10 controller projects have come and gone. But one application has survived: Heyu.

The use of Linux as an operating system (OS) in the server market has proliferated because of its modular extensibility, open source code community, vast libraries of existing applications, robustness and, not surprisingly, favorable licensing. The obvious benefits of these same features suggest that Linux will also become the dominant OS for wireless devices.

Via announced a "mini-server kit" that targets home media storage. Touted as being the same height as a CD, the Linux-compatible Artigo A2000 includes two 3.5-inch bays for hard drives, a bootable CompactFlash slot, gigabit Ethernet, three USB ports, and a wireless LAN option, says Via.

Cisco's Linksys division is shipping a networked home audio distribution system that runs Linux and uses 802.11n WiFi. The Cisco Wireless Home Audio system supports Internet radio and DLNA discovery, and includes a variety of receivers, speakers, players, iPOD docks, and a tablet-like touchscreen remote.

A company called Fiire is shipping a home automation, media control, and security system based on the open source LinuxMCE distro. Built around a dual-core AMD Athlon X2-based box called the Fiire Engine, the Fiire system also includes FiireStation thin clients and a Z-Wave-based FiireChief controller.

Zeya is a streaming music server that brings your music to any computer with a web browser. It reads your music library, lets you browse your files, and streams them on demand.

The client runs entirely in the browser using the HTML 5 draft standard technologies— no Flash needed! No Silverlight, no applets, no plugins, no external players.

A home computer makes an ideal appliance to store and stream music. The purpose of a music server is to deliver tracks when requested by a client. The server can deliver music to machines over a local area network as well as computers connected over the internet.

As you all probably know Linux is not limited to just desktops. It’s far reaching, actually. Not that you’d have a Terminal app on it or anything, but you could. Some of you may have a mobile phone running Linux and you probably don’t even know it. The most popular phone in the world runs Unix. That’s right. The iPhone runs on Unix.