I’ve been using HA for several years now, and up until the last few months I’ve been very happy with it.
I’ve run into a few frustrations recently that are causing me to consider alternatives (front-runner being openHAB, which I’ve never tried).
In no particular order:
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picture elements appears to have broken with a change I can’t pinpoint. Perfectly-working configuration now doesn’t work after an upgrade. I setup a brand new install to check the basics (using config example from the docs, only changing URL of images), but state_images seem to be utterly broken
My lovelace dashboards make heavy use of this, so I’ve lost a lot of functionality as a result. 4+ hours fighting with this so far without a resolution -
The push away from YAML config towards UI makes use of the container less and less feasible if you want to be able to backup and restore without using HASS OS / HASS CLOUD or easily move your setup to a different machine. The beauty of YAML is not having to repeat UI actions if setting up on a new machine. I really don’t see a technical reason why we can’t have both, leading me to think the reasoning could be… (see below)
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Paywall. The reason I chose HA was due to it being open-source, however advertising features like Alexa and Google integration on the home page of the website, knowing that these are behind a paywall seems disingenous. Feels like the team at Nabu Casa would really prefer HA to be closed source. I use the Pi running HA for a lot more than HA, so HASS OS is NOT a solution since I’d then have to buy at least another Pi.
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Running a HA system for a long time seems to get messy, with no easy way to clear things up. For example, I have two icloud integrations for some reason, one that is working, and one that claims it always needs attention.
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Access to data - I’d really like more direct access to data, some potential use-cases:
5.1 Migrating to a different system: can just about keep config (at least for now, see above frustration re migrating from YAML ot UI config), but not data AFAIK.
5.2 Remove old / inaccurate data that is often generated when setting up new sensors, especially if they are custom
I’m fully-aware that some of these frustrations could be down to user error and/or being unaware of add-ons that might help, but wanted to raise my concerns with the overall direction of development. Primary concern for me is the drive away from YAML to UI-based config, which seems to reduce flexibility. I’m all for allowing more to be done with the UI as it will increase useablity, but IMO this should not be at the expense of YAML-based config - surely supporting both provides the best of both worlds for both novice and advanced users?
Anyone with similar frustrations? Any tips for getting around them?