John McGaw wrote:
David Deley wrote:
How would I go about interfacing my computer to the outside world? I'm
wondering if there's a way I can log the date/time when my USPS
mailbox gets opened. Which eventually translates to I have a wire with
a hi/low voltage for the mailbox is open/closed -- how do I connect
that wire to the computer? What sort of input port is suitable for
such a thing?

And of course I'll need some software. (I hope I don't have to write
another device driver. It's been many years since I did that kind of
programming. Someone else must have already written something. Someone
else is probably already logging when their mailbox door is open/closed.)

There are three or four products on the market which do the mailbox part
of the job for you. One example is:

http://www.heartlandamerica.com/brow...8&SC=WIY20001&

but if your mailbox is further away there are some more expensive units
which have more range.

As for getting the data into the computer, things are more difficult
than they used to be in DOS days where a program could do anything it
wanted with the hardware. The simplest thing might be to adapt some item
which already knows how to talk to the computer. I'd probably start my
experimentation with a cheap USB mouse. Converting the level from the
notification device might be simple or difficult but since there is a
LED driver in the device getting that to simulate a mouse click might
involve nothing more sophisticated than a optical coupler.

point your webcam at a clock.
Hook your mailbox to the "take a snapshot" button on the webcam.
If you're worried about theft, point the webcam at the mailbox
and use a capture program that timestamps the pictures.