RE: RS232 over cat-5. More trouble then it is worth. The server doesn't have a serial port, the build system doesn't know how to speak serial, and wiring it would need to be changed frequently enough for the nearterm to make it a hassle, including an upcoming office move. Plus, if we end up adding a few in various places, then multiple special runs of cable have to be managed.

RE: Building the full color changing device. The orb is already a piece I have, and was hoping to just use the pager network with it. But then the problems of the dev side being off and also the time delay issues came up. The device is pretty nice in the flexibility it offers as far as color range, blending between multiple states and such. Might investigate building one if we do want more then just this unit.

RE using an empeg, I'd like to keep that in my mlord dock on my desk playing music and not the final place the orb will end up :-)

Thanks everyone for the info and ideas. I'll probably look at the premade solutions for now to integrate into this, as it's mostly just a side project to do when idle at work.