I want to be able to control leds hooked up to the arduino via the web on my local network. I have seen lots of different ways of doing it with PHP and an ethernet shield, however, I do not own one, so I want to use usb.
Whats the best way to do this? web->processing->usbcable->arduino?
potentially useful info: I am running mac osx
Thanks
You will probably need a web server running on your computer and a CGI program that can interface between the web server and the arduino.
Add zoomcat's CGI (perl or PHP) with serproxy
How do i go about that?
Hello
Anyway what really I need is switch on off an irrigation system remotely to supply water to my father field (grapes and nuts),
Avoid him going by car to the field and manually switch on the power supply.
You should be very useful whether you provide me details on how to control an arduino through a web server over Internet.
Thanks in advance for your attention
Sincerely Roberto
@nemo1972: what operating system are you on?
I found a solution that works! http://missionduke.com/arduino-projects/
web(or local network)->server running php->usb port->arduino control
There's a thread on the forum here to do with sending text to an LCD screen via the web that might be helpful, don't forget to read all the entries 
Hello
James C4S
zoomkat
Nicky Semenza
I work with Windows XP and I found what i was looking for following Nicki's link
http://missionduke.com/arduino-projects/ (http://missionduke.com/arduino-projects/ )
please can you help me what to install in order to control arduino via web?
thanks in advance, roberto
PS: Nicky are you aware to have a surname which sound very italian?
moreover it speaks about the theme I'm trying to solve with arduino about agriculture.
install - http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html - and you have quite a complete platform to work with. It might take a few hours although the default config is probably OK (and read the documentation!!)
Another way is using SNMP (Agentuino - Lightweight SNMP Agent for Arduino) or MODBUS TCP which are common protocols used for control and measurement systems over UDP/TCP.
Enjoy...
Eric
download this tutorial it has verything right from installing to programming of php
http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Lynda-com-PHP-With-MySQL-Essential-Training-DVD/435856189f982f6d1320494b2ffdcf70e3ff2c76150f
Hi Nicky Semenza, on OSX i usually install Apache and Php from sourcce packet, but i try Xammp like other guys suggest and seem like more simple.
I use under XP, but you can try the same solution under OSX, SERPROXY and write and read serial port with fread() and fwrite() php function.
If u use serproxy you can have bidirectionl communication.
In this discussion you can find the code http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1294328082.
I think that use php is very intresting because you can fork all data that arrive from web like mail, twitter, google and other, elaborate and send to arduino.
An other method can be use flash for processing remote xml generate from your php and use firmata+serproxy to send to COM.
You can find simple project here Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
This teh solution i find Wfor use with USB cable and WITHOUT ethshield or WISHIELD
I hope this can be useful
Bye
I posted a "bare bones" setup in the below post.