Last July, (8-months ago) I downloaded the HassOS image for Raspberry Pi to a Sandisk 32Gb SD card. I didn’t know that I was supposed to be experiencing SD problems - my installation just keeps working. The only time I have to reboot is when I mess up an installation of an add-on or new device.
Every few months I do clone the SD card on a Raspian system using dd and rotate them. Not to stretch the lifetime of the SD card, but to have a recent backup if I really screw things up. Or if an upgrade breaks something.
Longevity issues with SD cards aside, I wasn’t patient enough to wait the minute+ for HA to restart when running on RaspberryPi. I migrated to an ESXi hosted Linux VM and things have been great as always, plus 10-20 seconds to restart HA.
Nice, I’d like to know a few things about this if by any chance you know it:
Does MacOS run Home Assistant in a VM (e.g. I have a Windows Hyper-V server, could I install a MacOS VM on this and use Home Assistant?)
Do you have the itunes component in your setup? And is it any good? And if so, is it worth to swap from Ubuntu to MacOS (as MacOS is mandatory for this component)
I am currently happy with my setup, but the ability to use Apple Music within Home Assistant would be great.
Ah sorry, I will rephrase it: I meant will MacOS run in a VM (and will Home Assistant function with that?).
I am aware that MacOS is only allowed on Apple Hardware, though getting it to run on other hardware was pretty much fun for me. I have two hackintosh setups which work the same as an Apple. I use it mainly to be able to use Logic X Pro and Final Cut Pro (I have bought these). So no I don’t have a real Mac (because I think the hardware is too weak for the price) and built a hackintosh instead. All my other devices are Apple, but my PC needs to be Windows/Linux/MacOS bootable and this works like a charm. I just have to make sure that I don’t update MacOS on patch days, usually it doesn’t take that long before I can update it, but updating it immediately might break the setup. But I don’t really care about if I have updates a week later, because I don’t use that OS very often.
But coming back to what I wanted to do is actually install MacOS on my Hyper-V server (and cross the fingers if it might work) and run Home Assistant from that.
The only thing what holds me back is what the iTunes component can do. (I mean for example the Xbox live component isn’t worth switching for if it would be Mac only for example). If it is worth to have this component installed then I might consider trying it.
Yeah I understand that, but running it on my main PC isn’t really ideal (nor is running it on my wife’s PC). I have a third device (which is a Hyper-V server) and is my main device for running VM’s on which all my media related stuff runs on (e.g. Plex) and VM’s like OpenVPN, Windows Server, Ubuntu, regular Windows etc. And running a proper hackintosh on that will mean that I either have to dual boot (making the Hyper-V server unavailable whenever MacOS is running) or I would have to create VM’s in the hackintosh (which I do not prefer as I have a Hyper-V license which unfortunately don’t come cheap).
My current HA install is running on a Ubuntu VM (and works perfectly fine). I just wondered what the iTunes component can do as it is the only component that I would use (if any good) that cannot be run on anything other than MacOS.
Exactly that is the point, I run MacOS like once a month (as Windows is my main OS) and my Hackintosh is as I mentioned earlier a multi boot system (meaning at boot I have to choose which OS to start, and seeing that Windows is my main OS, MacOS doesn’t run very often). Second I don’t want my main PC (where MacOS is installed on) to run 24/7. I also don’t want to reboot my PC to load up MacOS just to use the iTunes component. That is why I was looking for a more permanent solution. But I think I should ask this in a proper thread though .
So what this all means is I can’t “just run it on my hackintosh” if I want to keep itunes running 24/7 because I can’t run 2 OSes on the same machine at the same time without Virtualization.
I don’t know much about any of that. Looks like flamingm0e got to your question first anyway. I just have an old always on Mac that I use as a file/media server so it was super simply to add Home Assistant to that. It certainly isn’t an energy efficient way to run HA (or a media server for that matter). But it was an otherwise unused computer I had available to me.
Np, energy isn’t a problem as I have the server up and running 24/7 anyways, so a VM more wouldn’t really matter that much . It’s alright, I’m going to play around with it when I find the right time.
That is why I asked what the iTunes component does. Btw I have dedicated hardware for VM’s like gpu’s and soundcards. So even if a normal VM can’t output the sound mine can
So it doesn’t integrate Apple Music/library? So only remote control? Because if it is remote only (like the atv remotes) than it isn’t worth it indeed as I could simply use the ATV remote controls for that.
I can understand why my projected situation is hard to understand (but I do most of my stuff within VM’s for various reasons). Next project will be a 2 gamers 1 pc setup. If you are in to virtualization you must definitely see this:
I’ve seen Linus. He’s an idiot. I’ve seen that video. It doesn’t impress me really.
Yes, the iTunes component is for remote control. That’s why I was confused why it was so important for you. The component page tells you exactly what it does. It makes your iTunes available as a media player in home assistant. Not exactly ground breaking stuff.
I am huge into virtualization, I manage an Enterprise network in my day job, I’ve had a homelab setup for years and years. I understand the value of VMs. I utilize them and have virtualized my network and home infrastructure. I just don’t see any value in trying to shoehorn osx into a hyper-v VM, just so I can simply use home assistant as a remote control for iTunes.
Have to agree with that. When I launched into this, I would have liked to have known that Raspberry Pi / SD was not a recommended platform. Instead, it looked like it was THE recommneded platform!
I’m in a hole right now: just to keep my system alive, I’ll have to reflash my Sonoffs with their original firmware, because I’ve run out of SD cards!
Well that is what I wanted to know, but this makes it very clear. So I will not attempt this just for the sake of remote control. Sorry if my point wasn’t very clear. But it is now I see.
True the video isn’t impressive, but that was not the point. The point was to show what it can do (but I see you have more than a fair knowledge about VM’s). Anyways thanks for clarifying what the iTunes component does. I was actually hoping on something like a full Apple Music control via Hass (as in searching the library via Hass etc).
Anyways, thanks a lot. Saves me some time as I won’t need an OS X VM now (my hackintosh works fine for all my other needs).
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