Has this been run on any Tablet?
You mean the GUI or the OS/HA backend?
Both. GUI and OS backend
GUI is just a webpage, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Backend… Tablets is battery powered, and that is probably not a good attribute of a HA server.
I have read a few posts where people has successfully done it but I don’t think it’s used for real that way, most likely it’s more a case of trying to make it work.
And don’t forget about the SD card, not a good idea either
oooooh battery powered: can be kept plugged in.
Android Tablets use SD card… hence the consideration?
SD cards are not meant to be written to all the time, and that is what Home Assistant does.
It logs data and events.
ah… ok Back to the main installation guide then.
I know Rasp Pi is the preferred “native” environment, how effect is the Windows?
It’s a very good option for someone who does not live in a mansion with multiple devices in each room.
It’s small, energy efficient and cheap.
But it “requires” an SSD to give a longer life than say 6-12 months.
I don’t understand this.
My Apologies:
how effective is a Windows setup? Thinking from maintenance perspective
Don’t know.
That is beyond my limits. I have only used it on a Pi.
That’s a great Idea to reuse old tablets , If this is possible then it is a good way to use old Ipad .
However giving the cost of say PI4+M2 drive is less then a good tablet , I think it is just for
experimentation . All the weak points in a Pi are even worst in a tablet with the heat issue for
24x7 added to the mix .
I have used an old Iphone as an IP camera and after 1 month i noticed the screen is cracked because the battery did not like this setup .
Just a note I am willing to sacrifice another tablet just to test if someone is interested in collaborating on this .
cheers
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I’m creating a sustainable solution that can be used for low-income seniors to help them with some stuff around the house. I found HA and now starting to experiment with this.
PI4+M2 may be the best cost solution, you are right that tablets are more expensive, however the PI4+M2 is also more “complex” looking and I want this to feel “approachable” for these folks.
I am happy to try out w a tablet or 2. DM?
While I really admire what you are trying to do ….
The reality is that even if we ignore the technical details of why a normal tablet is not optimal for this, the cost will for sure complicate things even further .
All of this is assuming that HA install on a tablet is more stable or less complex which I am not sure of
I wish you all the best
Edit : I just found below but only on android ( I thought is not yet ready )
everything I’ve ever heard from people trying to run it on a Windows PC outside of a VM (and maybe even then) is that it doesn’t very well at all.
Don’t understand the arguments of not using a tablet because of the battery, sd card or heat. Seems totally bull to me. Most tablets have more cpu power, a nice battery UPS facility and plenty of internal storage. The real problem seems the OS. Both Android and IOS are not supported by the Home Assistant Core. So you need to install or virtualise the OS. These are some options:
- Install Linux on the tablet
Some tablet’s though can be installed with Linux (see https://robots.net/tech/how-to-put-linux-on-a-tablet/) After that you can install Home Assistant on it. In most cases installing Linux on a tablet is very difficult if not impossible. - Use Docker on Android.
Use something like this This tutorial shows how to run docker natively on Android, without VMs and chroot. · GitHub to run docker, and then use the docker install of Home Assistant. This procedure is also not easy,
Oh… and Windows… As the name say it gives you ‘windows’ for the end user to look at, not services. So use ‘Servers’ (also known as Linux) instead of ‘Windows’ for things that need to keep working without anyone looking at it. Using Linux is not so difficult as many people think, but the difference is: it actually works reliable.
wow, you had to dig deep into the past to resurrect this one… 