[PD] physical computing: Lanbox, Arduino

[tim]

Ok people, thanks for all the suggestions so far.

We decided to use the LanBox LCE, and some Arduino's.
However we now face quite some riddles on how to go about it...
I wonder if someone has even used a LanBox on pd, afaics there is no 
mention of it on the list...
Below, I will describe how I plan to do it.

My idea of the set up so far:

1) LanBoxLCE and 12 channel switchpack for the motors and lamps control 
signals (out)
2) arduino's + relay cards to monitor the end-of-line switches, other 
sensors in the space..etc.
3) all programming on pd, running on a linux (apodio) desktop computer.

questions, questions, questions:

1) So I want to use the lanbox simply as an interface to send 'on/off' 
control signals to the switchpack from pd.
Do I need the [lanbox] pd external ? if yes, where can I find it ? Is 
there a compiled version somewhere (linux/windows) ?
How do I configure the LanBox, is there a simple preset that I can just 
upload to it ?
'Read me.txt' says I have to update the firmware, the CD contains 
'LCE-firmware v2.06.dat', but I have no clue what to do with it.
'LCeditPlus tutorial.html' speaks about LanBox-LC, only, not LCE...

2) I want to read incoming data from 2 or 3 arduino's inputs and use 
that to influence the output signals.
I have some problems testing them on windows now:
when I leave it plugged in and restart the computer, apparently the 
arduino is regarded as a mouse that goes crazy.
The mousepointer jumps around the screen randomly and clicks 
everywhere...(strange but true!)
On Linux I still have to get the arduino to work...
In the pd patch for testing, all inputs seem to react somewhat together.
There is a photoresistor connected to one inlet, but the others seem to 
react to it too.

3) The LCedit+ 3.4 software for the lanbox is windows only, but I gather 
I just need it to initialize the lanbox once, after wich I can just send 
it control signals from pd on Linux? There are examples for MaxMSP, not 
for pd. Should I switch to MaxMSP ?

Hope someone can shed some light on this...

Thank you,
Tim