Computers have a nice feature allowing powering PC by sending a command to LAN card. Just to make sure if it’s there go to your PC BIOS and find Wake On LAN (WOL) menu which you can enable. Once PC is ready next logical step is sending WOL command to make it work. Lucadentella have used Arduino with Ethernet shield to send this command.
With proper libraries it’s just few lines of code, because WOL command is simple. You need to send FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF address which is called broadcast MAC, then follows PC’s MAC repeated 16 times. If everything is fine tuned you should see PC powering on. Where this can be used? I see many benefits – as Arduino can accept any sensor information why not hook it to motion sensor and let PC turn on when you come home. I’m sure you can think of much more interesting ways of using it.
