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Why is replacement for home device controls so complicated?

I recently learned about Home Assistant here on Lemmy. It looks like a replacement for Google Home, etc. However, it requires an entire hardware installation. Proprietary products just use a simple app to manage and control devices, so can someone explain why a pretty robust dedicated device is necessary as a replacement? The base model has a quad core processor, 4 gigs of ram, and a 32 gig hard drive. Admittedly it’s no gaming PC, but it’s no arduino either.

What actually happens when I turn on a smart switch in my home? Does that command have to be sent to a server somewhere to be processed? What really has to be processed, and why can’t a smartphone app do it?

Edit: I am still getting new replies to this (which are appreciated!), but I wanted to share what I’ve learned from those who have posted already. I fundamentally misunderstood how smart switches work. I had very wrongly assumed that when my phone is connected to the WiFi, it sends a signal over the local network to toggle the switch, which is connected to the same network, and it turns on/off. While there are technologies that work like this (zigbee, kinda?), most smart home devices rely on a cloud server to communicate the signal. This enables features like using the switches from outside the home network, automation, voice controls, etc. The remote server is what’s being replaced.

Passerby6497 ,

so can someone explain why a pretty robust dedicated device is necessary as a replacement?

The cloud is just someone else’s computer, so when you cut the cord from the cloud, you gotta run your own server.

And you don’t need to buy a (robust) device to run HA, just install it on a spare system and start playing with it. I started building mine about 1.5yrs ago when I bought a house and I think I only gave mine like 2 CPU and 8gb ram.

What actually happens when I turn on a smart switch in my home? Does that command have to be sent to a server somewhere to be processed?

Yes, you have to have something that accepts your commands and sends the action to the end device. Just like your Google home did.

What really has to be processed, and why can’t a smartphone app do it?

Because that’s not how things work. Your app has to talk to a server to send the commands, Google home has cloud servers and a local bridge. HA has an app that you can use to control your stuff, same as Google Home.

Smart Home apps are worthless without hardware required to connect the app to your home.

BCsven ,

My homeassistant is running on a pi2 with 2GB RAM. it doesn’t need much.

But yes, it is a central place for processing and recording data, either from phone, imstalled electrical hardware or other devices.

Alto ,
@Alto@kbin.social avatar

The issue with the combination of rabbit holes I'm going down is all the damn pis Im gonna end up being lol

funkajunk ,
@funkajunk@lemm.ee avatar

Get any old enterprise workstation (they practically give Dells away for free) and get to know Docker.

Using multiple Pis for single applications is a fool’s errand - my Optiplex was free and it is running ~30 containers with plenty of room to breathe.

Alto ,
@Alto@kbin.social avatar

But then I don't get to justify my 3d printer purchase with custom enclosures with their jobs engraved on them

nekusoul ,
@nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de avatar

Don’t worry. There’s still plenty of ESP32 waiting to be flashed with ESPHome and placed into their own little enclosure out there.

Source: Me, who’s got a Bluetooth Proxy for my adjustable desk and some small LED strips running, with a soil moisture sensor planned as my next quick project.

BCsven ,

You just need one Pi. get a pi5 for future proofing. Docker addition , so you can host more than just home assiatant

AmbiguousProps ,

Bluetooth can do it locally, but yes, for things on ZigBee or Z-Wave, it’s gotta have an antenna hub. WiFi switches and lights most likely do “phone-home” to the cloud in some way (usually for color or brightness control via app, Govee especially loves this). The down side, other than the obvious privacy implications, is that if your ISP has an outage, so do your switches.

Home Assistant attempts to mitigate both the privacy and offline issues, while putting all of the different brands and hubs into one place.

jws_shadotak ,

Home Assistant can be installed as a Docker container instead of going with the whole dedicated machine route.

catloaf ,

Yes, Google runs their servers in the cloud. If you host it yourself, it runs off a device in your house.

But you don’t need to use their own hardware. You can run on whatever you like, and it probably doesn’t actually need all four vCPUs.

Max_P ,
@Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me avatar

Even then, those requirements are easily satisfied by a Raspberry Pi and most other SBCs out there. Seems rather reasonable to dedicate one to HA. It’s not too crazy when you take into consideration how powerful cheapo hardware can be these days.

xyguy ,

I actually run mine in a 12 year old castoff Thinkpad. 4 GB ram total. More than enough to run it because I run a DNS server, a dashboard and a speedtest server on the same machine.

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