How can I use my MacBook as a server to run HA

I am new to HA and I have it running on my Raspberry Pi 3. It works great but I am looking for options to upgrade the HA to run on a Docker using my Mac as the host. Has anyone tried doing that in the past? Can we use a Mac book as a server running HA 24/7?

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Yes, this is possible. But it is recommended to run HA on dedicated hardware.
If you are not accustomed to using Docker, then you may also have issues with USB dongles & such.

Use a dedicated machine instead.

You need a computer to run Home Assistant. :rofl:

Seriously, I’ve been on this forum for a couple of years and I think you are the first to ever admit to using a Mac.

Yes. Mac should run HA in docker without issue.

I think by “dedicated hardware” everyone presumes you still plan to also use the Mac as your main computer. This would be a bad idea. Use only as 24/7 server.

I’m in the same situation as you are, I have HAOS running on a Pi3 but I find it slow and it can do some tasks (like compiling in ESPhome is not working great).

In theory, if you Mac is Intel based (mine is Core i7) it should be straightforward… :roll_eyes:

So I have an old Macbook pro with a broken screen and keyboard and I’ve been trying to install HAOS on the NVME and though Etcher is doing something it is actually copying nothing…
I tried using a USB stick and I was able to get that started on the Mac but obviously this is slower than the internal “disk”. I can’t remove the NVME to install HAOS from a different computer as mine is soldered on the motherboard!

I’m now considering either a Supervised version or maybe Proxmox… not sure which one will work best. I’ll post an update here.

Raphael

Update:
Installing Proxmox and using the script from this post worked well on my Macbook:

You can also watch this video for support: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6uCJlhXf60

Raphaël

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Update 2:

In case you need it, to be able to control the behaviour of machine regarding power you need to look at pmset - Wikipedia
Once Proxmox is installed, you can still use option + command + r to start the network recovery and get access to Mac OS Terminal to use pmset

Raphaël