# Describing the Devices You Have Installed

To use Thinking Home, you can begin with the physical controllers and devices already installed in your home or you can let Thinking Home guide you through the installation of controllers and hardware. In general, you will need to identify devices and controllers, schedule events and responders for the devices, and store the schedule in the controllers or in your Macintosh.

If you store the schedule in the controller, the stored schedule does not need to talk to your computer. You can turn the Macintosh off.

If you store the schedule in the computer and leave the computer on, Thinking Home is good at conducting a schedule 24x7. Thinking Home is a sophisticated monitor that can log everything, send emails, send instant messages, and respond to speech commands from the Macintosh microphone.

## To set up your devices and schedule events:

1. Start Thinking Home software.
2. Choose Catalog from the Thinking Home menu.
3. Identify your controllers.
4. Identify your devices.
5. Create timed events.
6. Create responders (triggered events).
7. Store the schedule in the controller or in your Macintosh.

To set up a device from the Catalog window:

1. Search for the device by Manufacturer (SmartHome or X-10) or Technology Standard (Insteon or X-10). You can filter the search.
2. When you have found the likely item, select the item for a preview. The Device Preview in lower part of window shows general information, a description of the device, a photo or drawing, and a shopping link.
3. When you see the device you have in your home, drag it to Installed Hardware or click on Install.

You can do each step above individually by following the links to the detailed procedures. If you prefer, Thinking Home can walk you through a basic setup of controllers and devices, then schedules.

Walk me through the basic setup