Hello all. i am a complete beginner to all this , python, programming,home automation , raspberry etc etc. but i am having a go but with no success over the last 3 days
i am trying to work out if i can get Home assistant to work in my pi zero w , i believe the zero w works as i have installed noobs on it and got it working , however…
When i then try a new memory card with hass.io on , it seems to freeze at the home assistant full screen logo.
I can think of several issues the main one being i am a complete newbie and i am trying things beyond my level of experience and knowledge
I think my issue may be that i am not able to understand how to connect to the wifi despite reading on here .
Maybe that the pi zero w isn’t suitable for home assistant
any tips appreciated
Brian
according to the hass.io hardware requirements, you need a Raspberry Pi 3 model B.
You may be able to get HA installed if you install the default OS on the Zero and then install HA on top of it.
There’s a guide in the blog to do exactly this.
Thank you for the replies. The blog entry helps with the exception of the term SSH CLIENT
How do I know if I have one and how do I find it. . Then I will give this a go later this evening
Thanks
To save Google’s resources, the usual suspects are Terminal on a Mac or Putty in Windows which you would already be using to get as far as you have?
Thank you bobby. It’s all very new to me.
I am on a mac and yes I have used terminal but with no idea it was ssh .nor did I know what I was doing. Other than following instructions from the Web on what to type but not understanding what it meant. .
I am wanting to learn this stuff. I am close to retirement and think it will be good for the grey matter and to help get a little ahead for when my new born grandson starts to ask
Thanks . I am off up now to give this a go .
With reference to the below from the blog, and my wifi details?
Do i put the " " at either end of both my wifi name and password, and should i leave a space after the = ?
network={
ssid=“YOUR_WIFI_NETWORK_NAME_HERE”
psk=“YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD_HERE”
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
ssid=“brianswifi”
psk=“myownpassword”
or do i type
ssid=brianswifi
psk=myownpassword
I have got to the part where i input -
$ sudo systemctl enable install_homeassistant.service
$ sudo systemctl start install_homeassistant.service
then nothing else has happened, i have waited the advised 20 minutes, and all that has happened is the monitor has gone to sleep
What are you expecting to happen?
From here on, you should be able to open the IP address of the pi from any web browser on your network. http://ipofpi:8123
Hi Flamingm0e
i am not quite sure what i expected to happen , but i suppose a load of stuff scrolling on the screen then a screen with something like “complete” after the 20 minutes wait
With those commands you are enabling an automatic startup service and starting it.
It’s a daemon. There should be nothing in the console confirming anything. It runs in the background
ive just been noseying in my router settings and i dont see anything that indicates the pi is connected so i am having a fiddle about with the file for my wifi settings, thank you for your patience with your advice , i do appreciate it
Brian
What 20 minute wait are you referring to?
Once you start home assistant, it should be working within 5 minutes.
The 20 minute wait time referenced in hassio documentation is for the initial hassio startup process to download the containers needed. If you are installing manually on your pi, and have gotten to the part where you start the service, you already have the thing installed and it should start working almost immediately.
hi
flamingm0e the 20 mins wait was suggested somewhere for the programe to run/download or whatever ?
Now there’s no one more surprised than me to say that i have it working, with help from you good folk on here and using what little knowledge i have .
browsing the internet seems to have indicated that the above mentioned blog entry is out of date and i discovered that i needed to download a new version of hassbian. i used 1.31, once installed onto my sd card i put my network details on a file and also put that on the sd card , below is a format that i found to use- i put my relevant details in and added it to the card - maned the file wpa_supplicant.conf
country=SE
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid=“YOUR_SSID”
psk=“YOUR_PASSWORD”
}
once running on the PI i changed my password then checked to see if i was connected on the internet by typing ifconfig and i was surprised to find my ip address , also checked my router to see the mac address and ip address , and to see it was named hassbian , i also downloaded an app on my phone called fing , that showed me my router connections and repeated the info from my router.
i then typed
$ sudo systemctl enable install_homeassistant.service
then
$ sudo systemctl start install_homeassistant.service
after a short time , i researched and found if i typed /home/homeassistant/.homeassistant then i would see if the install was taking place. i didn’t see anything at first then after around 5 minutes i typed it again and saw that /home/homeassistant/.homeassistant : is a directory
i waited a while longer then typed my ip address:8123 ,into my browser and home assistant was there . great stuff.
i got most of the stuff including the download from here https://home-assistant.io/docs/installation/hassbian/
now i just need to know what to do next, do i leave the pi running 24/7 or turn it off , if i turn it off do i need to go through all this set up again , seems Ive leant abit but not a lot and its a bit bewildering
If you want home assistant to actually automate things, you need to leave it running.
You can safely turn it off, and move it to wherever you want, and when you turn it on, the service should just start on it’s own.
systemctl enable blahblahblah is telling that service to run on startup. Assuming you did everything correctly, it should just come on when you power it back on.
You are now 7 months ahead of me… As I sit here with my Raspberry pi loaded with my first bit of software (Noobs) I am searching the necessary commands to load Home Assistant… Ive done a lot of reading and a lot of practice just to get to this stage. People are using terms I have to Google so I can understand what they are talking about before I go to the next step and then there is te business of forgetting what I have just done… OMG… But im not giving up
Most of us have been there 