That's pneumatic Linux, though.

Likely not, the whole point of hydraulics is that the fluid is non-compressible!

Not the previous poster.

A simple ESP8266 module from AliExpress is less than $4 (an ESP12F module - which is the FCC certified one with most I/O ports available - is $2), can be programmed with Arduino, has WiFi and that is more than enough for wireless home automation peripherals that are not supposed to do lots of processing (it will still easilly fit a REST interface for automated control and even a web interface for user control alongside it).

That said, in order to power it unless you can somehow draw 3.3v from the device it's attached to, you actually need more parts and that'll add up to more than $4 unless you're doing it with batteries (and design and assemble your own voltage regulator circuit which is not that hard and is cheap, or maybe get a slightly more expensive ESP module that comes with voltage regulation) - this works fine if your device sleeps most of the time and just wakes up once in a while to check some data from a server holding instructions for it. For an always one device, best IMHO to use a 3.3V wall power adaptor, which will cost at least $6 from AliExpress.

The power considerations apply exactly the same for ESP32s.

While that might be so, I can still buy original spare parts for my 25 years old car and I could still service it at official repair shop if I wanted to.

Yeah but, at least in my country, cars can't be on the road (which would be the internet in this case), without passing the periodic inspection.

They have not found a way around it every time.

They all have seat belts

They all have ODB2 ports

That's why you put those devices in a separate VLAN with no routing access to the rest of your network

Remember Home assistant =/= smart home nonsense

I dont need some AI assistant to automatically manage my thermostat, I just want to be able to control it all using my own local server.

Look into ZWave and ZigBee mesh networks. I run Home Assistant with a couple hundred devices and integrations. ZWave tends to be my hardwired switches, and ZigBee tends to be my battery operated motion sensors, remotes, etc.

Personally, I run Home Assistant on its native HAOS on a raspberry Pi. In addition to Home Assistant, I have lots of automations running in Node Red, a no/low code orchestration addon.

For voice control, I’m playing with the Atom Echo.

HAOS literally has a proxmox iso for home assistant. Slap that baby on.

There are homebrew voice units, but you'll need a beefier system than normal to process in house. If you have apple devices you can expose certain elements from HA to apple home (and keep others obscured) to use your watch / voice etc.

There are a lot of home assistant communities and they are all very very friendly. It's a massive learning curve and we're all working together

This video is a good starting point. If you're already running proxmox you're definitely ready. 👍

Z-Wave & Zigbee devices.

My favorites are made by Aeotec & Zooz.

Local control, most use very little power and can either be plugged in or use a 1-3yr battery you swap out sparingly, and they communicate on a separate set of channels from your internet at low-latency so they don’t eat up internet bandwidth.

Check out the new IKEA Matter over Thread stuff. They have two smart plugs (an indoor single plug and an outdoor double plug). You can flash one of the esp-idf example images to an ESP32-C6 and plug it into your HA server to turn it into a Thread Border Router for under $10. Everything on Thread uses a fully local encrypted mesh network that by default has no Internet access (leave NAT64 turned off in the HA border router add-on).

P.S.: Make sure to update the firmware on the devices (which HA can do), as several don't act as routing end devices until after the first upgrade.

Zigbee.

You will need an antenna /hub though. I use a sky connect antennae, it's all locked into my house.

If you have to go wifi, tplink /tapo literally have a "local only" mode when you firewall them out. The only issue is they warn you you can't operate them unless you're connected to your home wifi. Which is rather the point.

I have several US V2 plugs from athom.tech and they work great via home assistant. They just sit on WiFi don't call home and are reliable through hoke assistant

For sure. That one is a bit harder to get right, but is good to keep testing and striving for.

Don't do the lightbulbs (unless you rent). Do the power to the sockets.

Smart lightbulbs are a fucking rort

Like the other user mentioned: depends on your setup.

I have recessed lighting throughout my house, so swapping to bulbs for all of them would have been an expensive pain. So I opted for smart switches. I got innovelli reds, because they were the best there was at the time. You can get them with any protocol you want (zigbee/zwave/wifi)

With a smart switch, you can control lots of lights with only one device. Originally I just added Shelly relays behind each switch, but I wanted the dimming capability of the innoveli.

If you do still want bulbs, nothing beats hue. But they are by far the most expensive.

Zigbee bulbs, third reality and sengeled (sp?) are most of what I have attached to my home assistant. Stay away from the WiFi shit tho

It depends on the rest of your setup, but I recommend going with zigbee or matter/thread for the connectivity. I definitely wouldn't put any "smart" devices on my general purpose wifi. That stuff is never going to be secure. Also, consider if smart switches would work for you instead. That way you don't have to pay the premium when a bulb burns out.

do not