Hardware combination for hass.io in Docker?

Hardware
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I know there is similar though dated topic about hardware and HA, but as we are in 2019 I thought it might be OK to make a cut.

I made my first steps in home automation with hass.io in a docker container on Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS (bionic) with mostly ESPhome driven microcontroller on a nine year old notebook. As I want HA to be the software for my home It is high time for me to go on and put the mentioned setup on a more recent piece of hardware. Another reason to move to a hardware platform which performs with a better responsiveness. Several tabs open in firefox and updating restarting hass.io it is asking for too much patience on my side now. Restarting Hass.io pushes the the system to a load avg beyond 8.5 allowing to grap python3 30% of the CPU.

So what I want is a hardware platform …

  • able to run a LTS version of Ubuntu desktop .
  • strong enough to handle docker and hass.io with at least ESPhome in it
    The system will be CLI only for most of the time, but I do want to start the GUI
    without bringing the system to edge of a halt.
  • Raspberry Pi is excluded from the options. I am going to use my RPs for other tasks.
  • 8GB of RAM probably is the option to go for as my current system with 4GB is swapping.
  • something between 128 and 300GB storage
    • I’d prefer SSD over a harddisk - but I read SSD are not happy with when a lot of writing is done onto them… Really? Proof?
  • Ethernet 100MB / 1GB - most parts of my LAN are 1 GB
  • WiFi - in case I decide to place the hub where there is no LAN for a reason unknown to me
  • NUC size factor would be nice - I do not want to have a big box standing around somewhere
  • I suppose it will be a i3/i5/i7 or so - I cannot tell which one suits my needs
  • I do not need unlimited computing power.
    If the GUI becomes way too slow in the future I am fine to kick it and use SSH to
    access the computer / the configuration if this is needed as I am quite OK with the CLI

I understood that a lot of people bought NUCs and that is probably what I will, too. But I am open to suggestions.

Thanks a lot for your time and feedback!

2

People seem to be able to get a NUC much cheaper than I can in Australia, I picked up a Dell 7040 USFF PC for like $150 with an i7, 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

The seller said it had an i5 with 8GB/128GB… Maybe they gave me the wrong one ? :slight_smile:

image

Its the far left one in this pic, super cute and small, yet powerful.

3

Good score. Dell make good gear too, should still be OK for a while, even second hand.

1 Like
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I wouldn’t bother about a gui on your home assistant machine. Really not needed at all. Mine is accessed over ssh all the way. The only time I had it plugged in to a monitor was during initial set up of the operating system, and then only long enough to set up ssh.

I run ha in a venv and a few things in docker, just cos the setup was easier (esphome, appdaemon, rhasspy-server) and mosquitto just in the operating system.

I have a nuc with Intel® Core™ i5-5250U CPU @ 1.60GHz and 8G ram. It is, I am sure, overkill. Unless I want to start major image processing or something.

There are plenty of nuc alternatives on aliexpress and the other usual chinese site. Often they are significantly cheaper than a nuc. Also, as the @CountParadox says, second hand can be good value. (At least I expect it is a second hand price.) Name manufacturers make small computers too, Gigabyte Brix springs to mind.

Shop around.

5

Gen 6 Nuc i3 system running Debian Server and Docker w/Hass.IO here. I’ve read good things about Celeron and Pentium-based NUCs as well. The form factor and performance are unbeatable. Incredibly stable, and lots of headroom to grow.

6

Thanks @nickrout!

I thought the new machine would be a sort of mixed thing like home assistant plus replacement for my notebook. Might not be the best combo though. I do agree that a hass.io only machine does not necessary need a GUI.