"Sonoff iHost" (smart home hub/computer) from ITead - Can it be hacked to run Home Assistant OS with Bluetooth, Thread/Matter, and ZHA integrations?

Here is a sneak peek, some progress, more to come once I get the dts files tweaked…

Welcome to Home Assistant OS 11.0.dev20230916!

[    1.214681] systemd[1]: Hostname set to <homeassistant>.
[    1.217302] systemd[1]: Initializing machine ID from random generator.
[    3.010075] systemd[1]: Populated /etc with preset unit settings.
[    3.665474] systemd[1]: Queued start job for default target Multi-User System.
[    3.700960] systemd[1]: Created slice Slice /system/ha-cli.
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Getting closer, HAOS is running with ZHA via on the on-board Zigbee!

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Great news! Hopefully I can install it soon!

Off-topic but for your information; in slightly related news, an official “Home Assistant Green” hardware appliance based on some variant of the Rockchip RK3566 SoC was just announced by Nabu Casa. Rockchip RK3566 CPU is slightly faster but they did not include any radio(s) for wireless IoT devices:

yes I saw that, it also has 32GB eMMC, but that comes with similar caveats to sd-cards not really being long lasting with excessive writes!

I still have to work out the ‘install’ process! I currently booting off SD card, but this requires maskROM every boot (or wiping the eMMC)…

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I like the look of the ihost better - including the LED indicator - and it would be perfect if the indicator effect could be controlled by yourself after installing HAOS!

Green also doesn’t have a microphone or speaker - I now find the TTS feature of the eWeLink CUBE very useful, and I set up quite a lot of voice prompt scenarios.

Marvelous! Großartig!

Yes, the Green is pretty interesting - but the need for an external Zigbee-controller is a bit sobering. The Yellow requires an additional RasPi CM4. Plus whatever drives. On the other hand it supports the HA-team. But I got the iHost because I believe that hardware-wise it offers a nice all-in-one machine.

I believe that if eWeLink cube system can continue to be updated like this, It’s really a boon to a lot of beginner users - I think eWeLink and SONOFF team have done a very right thing,they will give a lot of people who would never to use HA a opportunity to use a localized system. My dad will definitely choose to use their system instead of trying to install, modify and configure the HA on various hardware as I did. What he needs is simple, convenient and stable.

Is there any docker version of deepstack where I can run in ihost ?

@darkxst by the way, noticed that they created a dedicated Docker image container package for green-homeassistant similar to how they have a yellow-homeassistant:

https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pkgs/container/green-homeassistant

https://registry.hub.docker.com/r/homeassistant/yellow-homeassistant

Yes I have seen this, I am currently pretending to be a tinker board, in the hope I can avoid forking any of the core components!

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Here is a quick update on this, Ive been chipping away at this, getting all the peripherals to work.

So far I have the following working

  • Ethernet
  • Wifi
  • Bluetooth
  • Zigbee
  • yc1175 Indicator (but still needs a custom integration to work within HA)
  • USB including a login console/terminal on the OTG (Power) port

Whats not working yet

  • Sound
  • OTA updates

If anyone would like to help test some early images, before I publish them publicly, let me know. However as there are no upgrades just yet, may require popping the cover off iHost to access internal maskRom button.

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Thanks for the update. Sounds great! I have an iHost I’d be willing to test with. Since I am a user with limited knowledge, I’d need a walk-through for the installation process, though.
Cheers, clfberlin

Quick question: Initial maskRom mode can be accessed through the app - Tap 7x on device-id. I assume that access to the internal maskRom button is needed for later updates?

Right now the installation process would be the same as iHost linux on ewelink forums. EDIT: Scrap that idea, the Rockchip tools dont like my images…

Eventually it will be… maskrom from app, to boot installer off sd-card which flashes eMMC.

Yes that is correct, the app based maskRom only works while you the original iHost OS. Once you flash it with anything else, if you need maskRom later, you need to use the internal button.

However additionally, if you short out the internal maskROM button (soldering would be required) you can actually run/test HAOS off the SDcard without ever overwriting the built-in OS.

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That sounds great! How do I do this, please? I would still like to keep the original built-in OS because it is still iterating and upgrading, and I would love to see what the eWeLink CUBE looks like in next year! But for now I can use an SD card to run HAOS without destroying the original eWeLink CUBE system!

By shorting the 2 pads in the red box, eMMC is disabled and iHost will boot off SD card.


If you want it to always boot to sd card, just solder them together with a short wire. Or you can just short them together with tweezers or something metal for the first ~5secs during power on.

Or in my case I installed buttons, to make testing either eMMC or SD easy.

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However additionally, if you short out the internal maskROM button (soldering would be required) you can actually run/test HAOS off the SDcard without ever overwriting the built-in OS.

That sounds like an interesting approach. I have a soldering station and minimal capabilities.