Thanx @nickrout, if only it were that easy :0
Another 8 hours trying to install Debian lol… still trying 5 tries later.
Debian has support channels, but installing linux is usually as easy as pie.
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I’m going to add my experiences to this post (ongoing).
I want to speed up HA reboot and ESPHome compile times from my rpi4 4GB w microSD.
I have an old laptop with HDD and 4GB RAM which was destined for the trash. Battery failed long ago.
CPU is Intel i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz.
Before investing in SSD and memory upgrades, I decided to pull out the HDD, throw it in an external enclosure I have, and flash the generic-x86-64 image to it to see if it would work. I followed the instructions, and had to do the step to add a new EFI entry in bios (no clue, but worked through it), and now Windows is gone and HA is up and running the show. Was relatively easy.
Need to do some more testing.
Investigating removing screen entirely if screen-off no longer works. That’s fine for me.
Like this. Convert a broken Laptop into a Desktop - YouTube
Edit 1: Looks like the screen might always be on now.
Edit 1.1 Hang on no it’s ok. Maybe I didn’t check properly somehow.
Power consumption of laptop is ~ 27 watts with the screen on.
And ~ 22 Watts with the screen off (Lid closed)
I think my full loaded/operational rpi4 consumes ~ 7 Watts (using the same cheap smart plug with power monitoring). Not sure what the “zero values” are all about.
So I’m calling that four times more power consumption for the laptop…
Edit 2: Ordered upgrades.
Adding 8GB will bring it up to 12GB.
About $100AUD.
Initial upgrade resource usage:
Can anyone pick where I cut over;)
You should have upgraded the HDD to SSD years ago. I use a laptop like that on a daily basis and since I have it the first two things what I did was changing the HDD to SSD and the 8GB RAM to 16GB. Still no complaints, but it is slowly time to get a newer one and might re-purpose it as you did.
If you close the lid, the screen doesn’t turn off?
No I shouldn’t have. I’ve had no use for it and haven’t used it for at least 5 years. So no point in upgrading it;)
That’s right with the lid. I believe power management gets handed over to the OS during boot. And since Windows is gone and HA doesn’t manage the screen, it stays on.
That is pretty annoying. Look at this, otherwise I would open a feature request:
Thanks, yes I did see that thread. Might try some of the options out of curiousity while I’m waiting for my upgrades to arrive.
But tbh I’m warming more on the idea of totally removing the screen. Don’t think I’ll have much use for it. Might just double check if bios screens can be seen/accessed if I plug in an external one. I read that it might only be visible on the primary built in display. Probably don’t need bios access but you never know.
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Hi Morten, how you succeed to install HA on the Acer 3810t. I have one at home and I tried installing the Home Assistant OS ( Generic x86-64)on the Acer HD through Balena Etcher (HD temporary connected to a desktop PC via USB Sata adapter) but when I install back the HD in the Acer it state there is no OS installed. I thought it was a BIOS issue.
Any thing I’m missing?
Thanks
I installed Ubuntu on it and then I installed HA in docker. It worked fine, but I ended scrapping the project as it used too much power with too little gain compared to a RPI.