The measure of a true independent setup... How many wires do you have, and where do they go? I was proud to have only one power wire coming out. From the UPS of course....

Then we have the network. Cable to Jill's laptop, along with the parallel port printer cable from the laser printer. My new computer doesn't have a parallel port. A network cable to the other PC in the media room.

Connections to the outside world: Cable to the cable modem. Antenna cable from the antenna on the roof to the high definition tuner/recorder card in the computer for OTA HD recording. Phone line which goes out of the system into the rest of the house. Since VoIP comes from the cable modem, it's reversed... what plugs in one of your phone jacks is the input to the phone system. Then you plug all the phones into the other phone jacks, and it's all transparent...

Of course, optional devices like external USB drives, docking station for a PocketPC, etc. aren't shown, and are not normally connected.

So, all and all, a very simple well organized setup, wouldn't you say? :-) NOT! But, it works and that's saying something...