Here is what you can achieve with a Raspberry Pi and Home Assistant (HA). The best part is that Home Assistant manages the Raspberry Pi, so you never have to touch Linux or worry about updates. Additionally, the Raspberry Pi can be housed in an attractive case without the need for any HATs. Everything is connected via USB or wirelessly.
You also do not need a wired display or keyboard, as Home Assistant is designed to work in headless mode. You can use any device, both onboard or remotely, to view and control your boat. Furthermore, you can use multiple devices to interact with Home Assistant, providing flexibility and convenience.
I have developed numerous HA integrations that allow you to connect all your NMEA instruments, SignalK, and provide boat tracker functionality.
Home Assistant boasts thousands of integrations and is supported by a large development team that releases a new version every month.
The only thing it does not provide is a navigation system. However, there are many existing options for this, such as OpenCPN, which can be used on any device you prefer.
The best installation setup is to have a Raspberry Pi dedicated to Home Assistant. While it is possible to share it with other systems, you lose many of the benefits of a self-managing system.
I have created a video series that documents every step of the setup process. For more details, visit smartboatinnovations.com or https://www.youtube.com/@SmartBoatInnovations
