- cross-posted to:
- xkcd@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- xkcd@lemmy.world
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32265822
xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier
Title text:
It’s important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.
Transcript:
[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a “SALE” label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]
Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/
I just bought my first home and as soon as I’m decently unpacked I’m going to start my journey on self hosting.
Currently planning:
Not sure what else to add. Open to advice or suggestions.
Great list! If you already have the Raspberry Pi devices, great. If you were going to buy some, I would look at thin clients instead. Low-power, cheaper, more powerful, can use real hard drives instead of SD cards or adapters, and x86 instead of ARM. I have an HP T630 I like but I hear good things about the Dell Wyse 5070 too.
I have:
I work as a sysadmin so I’ve picked up a few things that wouldve gone to recycling.
My concern is power draw running 24/7 so I need wattage monitors and going to start with the Pi systems. Until I hit performance issues then migrate to a SFF.
I’ve watched enough Lock Picking Lawyer never to want a consumer ‘smart lock.’ Half of them can be opened with a magnet. Maybe commercial grade is better, but I’ve been locked out of my job after every power failure for the last 10 years, until someone comes along with a physical key.
Re homeassistant on a Pi: homeassistant does a lot of database transactions, so you may want to have db storage on something other than an SD card.
I’m gonna differ on this. The point of a lock is to control law-abiding access to your house. If someone wants in your house, they can attack your windows, doors, or even a wall if the lock is too strong. A smart lock let’s you open the door for a family member remotely, or set one time-access for your in-laws to come over and pickup a tool.
I wouldn’t use a smart lock for something hardened, like a bunker or a vault, but for a house and garage, it’s okay not to have the most bullet proof lock in the world.
I have tentative plans to make my own smart lock by way of electric motor and commercial deadbolts with an RF scanner and a back up battery for emergency. It won’t be amazingly secure in a tech way, but I figure the combination of novelty and DIY should make it reliable.
That said, I gotta be that guy and remind everyone that all locks are security theatre and are not going to protect your house from the persistent or prepared. Your best defense is a combination of foresight and social engineering.
Good call. I was thinking of trying a 128GB usb3 stick I got. Maybe a ssd/nvme on a USB3 controller.
I have an old 2.5inch 500GB laptop HDD plugged into a USB/sata adaptor into my rasberry pi.
that’s been running flawlessly for 3 years and drops every concern with running HA on a pi
I wish I had setup an identity management system sooner. Been self-hosting for years and about a year ago took the full plunge into setting up all my services behind Authentik. Its a game changer not having to deal with all the usernames and passwords.
In a similar vein, before Authentik, I used Vaultwarden to manage all my credentials. That was also a huge game changer with my significant other. Being able to have them setup their own account and then share credentials as an organization is super handy.
My SO is already using keepass locally. Used to be only a paper notebook. Data breach paranoia.
I plan to setup vaultwarden or keepassXC
I use keepass, it’s a little more work than many closed source ones, but it’s only as online as you want it to be, and runs on anything
If it’s something that’s vital, my mantra is pay to have someone else professional host it.
I’ll pay the $10/year for Bitwarden.
I’ve been happy with the SMLIGHT SLZB-06M. You can easily flash firmware, and it has PoE which was important for me. I believe it also supports Thread, but I haven’t tried this yet (and I’m not sure if it supports it at the same time as Zigbee).
Zigbee smart plugs from Third Reality have been pretty solid in my experience, and they report power usage.
For circuit breaker level monitoring, I have an Emporia Vue2. I have it running esphome, completely local — unfortunately this requires some simple soldering and flashing, so it’s not turnkey. But it’s been rock solid ever since flashing it. (Process is well documented online.)
I’ve had decent luck with cheap wifi Matter bulbs, but provisioning them is finicky, and sometimes they just crap out and need to be power cycled; Zigbee bulbs (e.g., Ikea) have generally been reliable, though sometimes I’ve had difficulty pairing them initially. After power cycling a Matter WiFi bulb, it takes a while for it to respond to Home Assistant; Zigbee bulbs generally respond as soon as you power them on.
I have a wired smart light switch from TP-Link/Kasa (KS205), and it’s been completely hassle free (and totally local — Matter over wifi). The Kasa smart switch dongles I have work flawlessly but need proprietary pairing, and I’m afraid to update firmware in case they lose local support.
Good luck! Fun adventure :)
if you have a garage, design a method to basically ensure your garage door is closed without you needing to go back to check.
of course if you trust yourself with never making that mistake.
last thing you want to feel is if you remembered to close the door or not and youre already far off
I agree, I set my grandparents doors up on a timer, if its still open at 11 PM it auto closes both doors. I’ve got the ping a few times now saying “emergency door schedule activated” meaning that they were open and had not been closed prior.
I have a controller that plugs right into my opener with a magnetic sensor for if the door is open or not. Running Homebridge I can see it and open and close it from anywhere. Did it all the way from Thailand a while back just for shits and giggles. I gotta see if I can configure it to auto shut if it’s still open at night, have had a couple of whoopsies there.
A camera would work too.
https://ratcloud.llc/pages/about
No garage sadly.
Get a Meross Garage Door Opener/closer: https://shop.meross.com/products/smart-wifi-garage-door-opener
Fantastic product, works in homeassistant.
And it’ll be bricked when their app shuts down.
I use GarHAge which uses open hardware and software and was pretty easy and cheap too. https://github.com/marthoc/GarHAge
That sounds like the way to do it. It’s under your control and it’ll always work.
Cameras.
Yeah that’s on the list. I want them hard wired though. Gotta hire an electrician to wire up the outside of the house.