Hi all,
I’m about to get a Stream Deck to control my HA.
My set-up is HAOS under Proxmox on a NUC and I have the possibility to connect the Stream Deck via USB directly (10m active USB cable should hopefully do it). Now I saw that there are several integrations that might do it. Which one to choose?
Is this the best way to go or how would you do it?
Thx,
Mike
My stream deck is way too useful on my pc to connect to a server or my HA box. Besides it needs software running on the host to drive the buttons…
Just install the SD to your computer, install the HA integration, point it at your HA install and start automating entities from there.
We will use three different Laptops there, one is from my company and I can’t install anything there. So a HA stand alone solution is required.
I understand and the stream deck requires software on a pc to run. It doesn’t have the logic on board. It’s just a button controller. The stream deck software loads the HA integration - not the stream deck itself.
So it’s impossible to connect it directly to the HA hardware and run it from there?
As it’s a proxmox anyway I may run a Windows VM just for that but it seems a little overkill for that …
Yes that’s correct. YOU NEED the stream deck software to drive it so you can only install it to devices that support the stream deck software.
Remember something needs to compose the pretty buttons and at least on mine interpret the dials. The stream deck software does that and sends it to the device. Without that software it’s just a box with buttons and that does not run on a server or on HA.
What are you trying to do. Is a Stream Deck the right answer?
Thanks for your input!
I’m looking for a remote with hardware buttons for HA. The stream deck seems to be a promising hardware.
I think I will install a Windows VM on my proxmox, run the Elgato Software on this and will have the full experience of Stream Deck. Even if it’s a total overkill running a Windows VM just for that. Maybe there will be a Linux Software one day …
There is a Linux stream deck out there. But again it runs on a desktop version of the software. Not in a headless installation like HA. So you’d still need a full desktop os.
Stream deck was designed to support live bodies on a desktop streaming Twitch so there has not been a lot of need to create a version that runs without a full UI and os underneath.
That would be great as I have Linux MInt running 24/7 anyways! Might be my way to go … I will get a Stream Deck later and so I know what to do tonight 
HI @Hessenpower,
Actually it’s doable.
There is some project to do that, you will need to have the stream plug to something like a raspberry pi or something else
https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/11y4c0d/introducing_home_assistant_on_stream_deck/
I am going to say this is ‘mostly true’. You can use the El Gato StreamDeck software under MSWindows and MacOS -OR- you can use the Bitfocus Companion software which runs under Windows, Linux, and MacOS. The Companion app has an OS image that allows you to run the StreamDeck on a Raspberry Pi. Bitfocus also has Companion Sattelite which as they describe “lets you connect another computer with a Stream Deck attached, without having to install Companion on that computer.”…
@Hessenpower
There are currently actually at least two ‘mature’ ways of using your Stream Deck on a headless linux machine without the need for a desktop OS. Both are open source.
I’m currently investigating this and installing the first option for testing as we speak.
The first uses Bitfocus Companion, as @eugsmiley
already touched. It installs on Linux, Docker version available and is able to configure and control your Stream Deck. It can also integrate with Home Assistant.
The other option is a solution made by Bas Nijholt, specifically for controlling HASS with the Stream Deck. Depending on what you’re looking for this might be the better option.
As I also want to control non HASS entities, so I chose to checkout the former first.