I currently use Homey (athom.com) for my home automation needs yet am feeling somewhat unfulfilled and have heard good things about Home Assistant.
I don’t have a Pi but I do have a small windows machine I use as a Plex Server.
I’ve seen instructions on installing on a PC (https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/installation/python/) and all seems fairly staightforward, but I’m wondering if this is a bad idea in the long term?
Initially I just plan to experiment but long term, if all goes well, I intend to install Z-Wave and probably Zigbee receivers etc
I see most people around here seem to use a Pi, so really just looking for advice on whether I’d be better off sumping for a Pi or if the PC route is absolutely fine, supported and everything works as expected?
For a first-timer, I’d recommend a PI. It is a standard platform and most of the online tutorials are based on it. Definitely use the HomeAssistant (previously HassIO and HassOS) image.
Once you get more familiar with the platform, you’ll probably want to move to a VM, NUC, or other faster platform.
If you want to install HA on your plex server and want long term support, don’t install HA in a venv. It is a hassle to update the python version everytime.
Seems you recommend starting with a Pi but that I’d want to move to a more powerful machine in future? Why not just start with the more powerful machine I already have?
@francisp My Plex server is a Windows 10 machine so not sure supervised install works (seems Linux only)
I completely agree on starting on a powerful machine from the get go. But doing so in Windows is just going to be painful. If you will go this route at least install it in a VM. You can use this for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnie-PJ87Eg
Eventually you might run into an issue and pretty much all the instructions out there are not for windows.
Windows 10 is an advanced OS that includes an extensive list of great features, but its tendency to reboot automatically to apply new updates is not one of them.
Although updates are necessary to ensure your device are in line with the latest improvements and security patches, if you don’t restart soon enough, Windows 10 will eventually reboot automatically to finish applying updates. It simply isn’t a good user experience.
In an attempt to mitigate this issue, in the Anniversary Update, Windows 10 introduced Active Hours to prevent installing updates while you’re actively working on your computer. However, this won’t stop Windows 10 from restarting during off hours, which can be a problem if you typically leave your computer in the middle of a task for an extended period.
I’d still recommend a Pi4 w/ 4GB as a starter platform. Much more power than previous Pis and you’re using the platform with the easiest and most documented setup. My hunch that you will want to eventually move to something more powerful was in the years timeline not days or weeks.
So maybe here is an idea – You start with and learn on a Pi. Once you feel comfortable with the platform, you erase your Win10 machine, install a linux base OS (Ubuntu recommended), and then install HA via Docker. You can then use HA’s Plex plugin to recreate your plex server.
Not really HA, but Hassio (one of the possible hosts for HA). People write a ton of plugins there that don’t really have anything to do with HA, but they come in handy. And thank god they do, it makes backing up and restoring everything a breeze. Here’s an amazing repo that almost everyone uses: https://addons.community/