Raspberry PI 4B case with SSD support

Hardware
#5

Thank you very much for explanations…

It still quite expensive solution for a RPI… around 150 €

On the other side, there’s NUc’s around 160€ like https://www.banggood.com/Beelink-GK55-Intel-Gemini-Lake-R-J4125-Quad-Core-DDR-8GB-RAM-SSD-256GB-ROM-5_8G-Wifi-bluetooth-4_0-Windows-10-4K-60-at-fps-Mini-PC-p-1739027.html?rmmds=search&ID=47184&cur_warehouse=HK

or even i5 for 230€…

NUC’s are more powerful but are consuming more power…

Difficult to choose… (today I am running IOTstack with HA and Nodered on a RPI3)

What do you think @FreelancerJ ?

1 Like
#6

@FreelancerJ, if you do get the API and get this working for HassOs then please let me know because I should get the ArgonForty One M.2 today as well and would like to get that working as well.

#7

So I actually do have this quite a long way long now, I’ve started a thread on how I’ve been going about it here.
An amazing person already has set up a custom component for home assistant to run the Argon40 case, so that has accelerated this a lot. It took a little tweaking to make work, but it’s there now!

It’s pretty long, I seem to just never stop typing :rofl:

#8

I think if you really really need the power, go the NUC, since it is more powerful. If you’re not going to push the envelope much, get the Pi, since it only has a limited number of hardware configurations that are well understood, but is very popular, so it is a easier hardware platform for the Home Assistant Devs to support well since they get a lot of info about things when they don’t work, and a lot more performance stats back from people using them too.

Worst case, if you get the Pi and it can’t keep up with what you’re doing, you’ll find it easy to find another function for it so it’s not wasted money. But even with a pile of integrations running and ESPHome, InfluxDB and Grafana, my Pi 4 hasn’t missed a beat.

#9

I have initial support for DeskPi Pro Fan in HassOS here. This is an Add-on Repository.

My DeskPi Pro came with a lame fan which makes horrible noise so I’m waiting on a replacement now. I thought I would leave this here for now in case anyone wants to give some early feedback. It’s available as of earlier today.

This thread is the only mention of DeskPi pro on this site apparently. As for the Argon One. I also have an add-on for that. https://github.com/adamoutler/HasssioArgonOneAddon

#10

Oh, hi @FreelancerJ. I see we frequent the same types of thread. The post above this is essentially the same as the ArgonOne with different commands and instructions. Same basic principal.

1 Like
#11

Well hi there, small world!
Yeah, the earlier component is really just to expose the fan to Home Assistant and let users decide how they want to go about running it, yours really packs in all the logic into a neat package to run it nice and quietly in the background without much effort to onboard.
I can appreciate both approaches, but I think yours is easily the best for beginners, since the other requires creating a custom component or using HACS.
If only we could get a way to enable i2c from the user interface…

1 Like
#12

Good Idea. I’m working on it now. Just need to fix up the graphics and publish to GitHub. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

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#13

Your wish is my command!

This will make enabling I2C easy

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1 Like
#14

:heart_eyes:

h-omg! Ma friend, you are too good to be true!

Gonna have to write like a quarter of my walk-through out and just have it point at you :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
#15

Hi,

im not sure if it´s allowed here, but the Argon Case at the moment is on sale for 24 € at csv.de
Shipping is 5 €, so I guess it´s quite a good deal :wink:

Edit:
This is the old case without the SSD bottom.
Nevertheless, it can be ordered seperatly, but this isn’t cheaper.
Old case:
Micro HDMI
Slot for SD card in the front
SSD housings beeds to be buyed extra

New case:
Fullsize HDMI
Missing Slot for SD card
SSD mounting included
Jumper for always on or not (after power loss)

So, I will test SSD booting withe the old Argon case and the SSD expansion. Sending everything back and ordering new is too much hassle.

Edit 2:
If anyone is wondering how to flash to the M2:
Simply connect the USB Port on the case (that with the M2 card in) to your Computer. A USB A to USB A is needed.

1 Like
#16

If you decide to redo the I2C portion of your reveiw, please use the thread link. You can also link to the repo, but I prefer the thread.

New I2C project thread: HassOS I2C Configurator

1 Like
#17

I added support for DeskPi Pro Case Here.

My addon will perform Active Cooling control, and enable the front USB ports on the device!

#18

Just a bit of an update. The DeskPi runs quieter, and cooler than the Argon One. The Argon One has tiny vents and makes a lot of noise while sucking air through them. The DeskPi has large vents, larger surface area, and a larger internal volume which contributes to, not only lower fan volume volume, but overall cooler temperatures. The Argon One case tends to feel warm to the touch, the DeskPi feels cool.

This is after 2 months of use with 1 DeskPi Pro, and 1 ArgonOne M.2 (v1) for development purposes, and 1 ArgonOne M.2 (v2) for production purposes.

The primary advantage of ArgonOne is the ArgonOne M.2 (V2) has always-on capabilities. The DeskPi Pro and Argon One (v1) units require pressing the power button after power loss. For this reason, my production machine is the ArgonOne M.2 (V2).

#19

Hi adamoutler
Are there any recent changes regarding the power button on the deskpi pro case
Does it still lack a auto on function
thanks
Nicko

#20

No update. Sorry.

#21

I checked github and found nothing, so I raised an issue https://github.com/DeskPi-Team/deskpi/issues/37

1 Like
#22

Hey, if you’re brave, I came up with a jumper which through imperial evidence works. Not sure if it will work forever, but no risk no reward, huh? I’ll leave it running and let you know. My DeskPi Pro is curently always on.

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I’ll keep you guys updated. If this works, the DeskPi Pro is easily the best case for Home Assistant with Raspberry Pi. Far superior to Argon One.

This unit will run HA non-stop until It dies. I 1/2 expect it to die. But if its still running in a month, or I can get confirmation from the OEM, then we have a winner.

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2 Likes
#24

hey Adam,

is he still alive?

thanks for your Add-on!

#25

yes we need an update