• must not add insane amounts of cost to my power bill
  • Has to be upgradable if I need to add upgrades to the hardware in the future
  • Has a speaker
  • may want to possibly also set up node red but it depends on if I need it or not because I may just be fine with home assistants automation
  • has to have wireless connectivity
  • mainly setting this up to add automation around my reolink cameras linked through the reolink home hub for example getting a second camera in the same area to start recording when one detects motion or link other smart home security products like sirens or floodlights
  • 18107@aussie.zoneEnglish
    171·
    3 days ago

    If you want really cheap and low power, a Raspberry Pi will do for most tasks.

    If you want more processing power, an old Thinkpad laptop is reliable and has a built-in UPS (a laptop battery).

    Any desktop computer will give you the customisation and upgradability you want, but you’ll need to decide on each part individually. I don’t have any specific recommendations here.

    • traches@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      8·
      3 days ago

      Eh, RPI pushes you to use a microSD card which sucks in a few ways. They also aren’t all that cheap.

      Used thin client is the way to go

      • Amberskin@europe.pubEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        You can leave just the /boot partition in the SD and put the root fs in an external USB drive (SSD or mechanical).

        I’have a SIMH emulation farm running inside a Pi3 which has been up literally for years. Zero trouble.

      • Lionel CoupouchettyRamouchetty@toot.coupou.fr
        2·
        2 days ago

        @traches
        I completely agree. I started off using a rpi as this whole home automation thing was more of a test at first. Then the more I used it, the more I relied on it and it really bugged me when my sdcard failed and I could not restore the backup as well. I moved away from rpis for this and for anything of real importance ever since.
        @18107

        • 123@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          Just replying to agree to everything. You will also not believe just how fast home assistant feels running on an n100 compared to a RPI 4. Can’t speak of the RPI 5 wince I don’t have one, but unless you plan to interface with hardware, a used thin client mini PC just can’t be beat with the 5 being so expensive for this use case.

        • varyingExpertise@feddit.orgEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          That’s why you use a good SSD and a USB enclosure. But yes, used thin clients are usually cheaper and you get more bang for the buck.

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
      English
      5·
      3 days ago

      NUCs on AliExpress with an N100 intel cpu cost about as much as a Raspberry Pi and are more powerful and you get SSD storage so non of the downsides of SD cards.