Starting to think about an update, but so much contradictory and confusing info out there

Installation
1

I am currently running my installation on a Raspberry Pi 3. It still seems to handle the loads fine, even with WireGuard running as an addon. I have the usual issues of logbook and history loading slowly and once in a while a micro SD card gives it up. I am backing up to Google drive with an addon and I have the third party Mosquitto Broker running. My install is not huge, but it is far from small and I have extensive automations.

I am running the latest Hassio version and my system info tab reports Resin OS 2.3.0+rev1.

My thoughts are to go to a Pi 4, but it sounds like it is not quite prime time with Hassio? I would like to convert to a system that boots from and runs on SSD, but it sounds like I have to continue booting from micro SD and then load Hassio from the SSD to make it work.

I guess the short version of the question would be should I wait a few months more for the Pi 4 to be more normalized with Hassi0 or should I start on this now? I am not a programmer, but I have been able to make the current system do what I am after. So, not the most efficient operator but effective. I have been running for a couple of years and my system has an uptime now of 2.6 days and a last boot time of 42 weeks.

2

While many prefer the Intel NUC, there are other Celeron- or Pentium-based small-box computers available. All will use a bit more power/energy, but provide far more room for later system growth.


3

Hi Matt,

I setup the whole environment on a laptop hassio via docker and other services via the laptop. You can pick one up for under £100 and it will give you a stable platform. Mine is a core i5 with 8gb ram and a 250gb ssd. Lower spec units will also work but the laptop option provides a built in UPS so for me as I had one available it was the obvious choice.

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4

Would they be built as a dedicated system? I have zero experience building virtual environments and I am just not sure I want to try to gear up for that at this point in my life.

Once installed, would updates work like they do today or would it require more system admin stuff?

Can you point me to a build thread that is accurate? There are so many of the treads and I do not know which to believe as most accurate.

I also have an atom 5 Up Board that I would not mind try to build something like this on. Is that a worthy platform and is it even remotely supported?

5

I can’t be certain about the Atom processor’s performance, but in short, the ‘build’ goes like this:

  1. download Debian or Ubuntu (your preference, really) Linux and install to the system.
  2. use the bash command-line and apt to install updates, upgrades, and then Docker-CE.
  3. use the bash command-line to install Hass.io
  4. add the SSH or SFTP add-ins to Hass.io and start them.
  5. upload your previous system backup file
  6. tell hass.io to restore that backup
6

Thanks for the info… I may try it this weekend on the little atom system.

7

Just be certain you have a very recent backup of your original RPi system!

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I’m running hassio/hassos on an rpi4 with no issues. Had to get a little usb 2.0 hub to get my Z-wave stick to work, but otherwise it’s been great.

9

The docs for installing Hass.io on a generic Linux system are here

Just to note, ResinOS is quite old at this point, and you should really be running HassOS if you don’t use the generic Linux install.

I started on a RPi 3B, but have moved to an older (2013) NUC (i5, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD) that I got in almost new condition quite cheap from eBay, It was in the same ballpark for price as buying a Pi 4 with all the other stuff you need (power supply, SD card and/or SSD, case, etc.). It’s a huge improvement from the Pi in speed and reliability, and I have plenty of room to grow.

10

@FredTheFrog I have it running! A few things don’t work, nut will not start on it and I have a directly connected UPS. But, the biggest problem is that I can’t change the IP address. When I login on the desktop, the network tool does not have any interfaces with the incorrect IP address. I installed Ubuntu 18 and see that I should be able to do it with netplan edits as well, but the netplan file also does not contain a static or dhcp entry. I have many devices that point to the ip address of the server.

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11

I know ResinOS is old, but it was never upgraded during any of the version updates. I will look into upgrading it as well as I intend to keep the pi around for awhile as a backup.

12

There is no direct OTA upgrade from ResinOS to HassOS. The blog post with how to change over is here.

13

I’d consider assigning a fixed IP via your DHCP server, usually your router.

14

Thanks all! I have it up and running completely now. Correct IP address and all, even got nut running in a container and talking to the ups via usb.

15

One followup question for the docker folks out there… How often do you update/upgrade the native OS on the host? Does that often break things in docker containers?

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16

I have been running docker CE on Ubuntu since I started dabbling with HA. Never used a Pi and when there is an update for the OS including the docker official repository (I don’t use the distro repo). I update my server!
I have never had an issue to date. Nor have I had any issue updating Hassio since I started.

I read a lot about the software and upgrade release notes. Plus I have what I consider to be; a reasonable understanding of how Linux and all the required software works. It helps but has never been needed with any updates.

17

I recently updated the host Debian OS on my HA server from Stretch (9) to Buster (10) and Home Assistant was not impacted in the least.

18

Thanks again for the replies. It does concern me as I am not a linux guru by any stretch. I am concerned that I could overlook something that would just flat take me out.

19

I doubt you will but iff you do; then post back and I will see what I can do to help.

20

I know, I am pushing my luck asking another question in this thread…
I have the nut addon running in a container. I can use the portainer console inside of the container to issue a self test command to the ups. But, I cannot find a way to issue a command line command in hassio to issue the same command.

It seems that the container is not ssh’able? I do not see a way to change that under networks in portainer, it does have an ip address assigned to the container, but I can’t ssh into that either from the hassio terminal window.