Special guest Brent Gervais discusses practicality and optimism in making the best out of old hardware. Topics include home media setup, bringing Spook into Home Assistant, Raspberry Pi 5 performance, benefits of Linux and self-hosting, and comparisons between Kodi and Jellyfin as media center options.
ESPHome and Tasmota are firmware options for controlling sensors and devices with Wi-Fi, with ESPHome offering more device compatibility.
Consider device compatibility and availability when choosing between emerging standards like Matter and established standards like Zigbee and Z-Wave for smart home integration.
Repurposing old devices, like ThinkPads, can provide longevity and sustainability while achieving new functionalities, such as using them as media centers.
Deep dives
ESPHome
ESPHome is a platform for creating firmware for ESP devices. It simplifies the process by abstracting away the code and providing a user-friendly YAML interface. It allows you to easily connect and control a wide range of sensors and devices using Wi-Fi.
Tasmota
Tasmota is a pre-compiled firmware designed to run on specific devices. It offers similar functionality to ESPHome but with a more limited device compatibility. If you have a compatible device, Tasmota can be a good choice.
Matter and Other Standards
Matter is an emerging standard for smart home devices that aims to simplify integration and interoperability. While it shows promise, there are other established standards like Zigbee and Z-Wave that have a wider range of supported devices. It's worth considering compatibility and availability of devices before jumping into Matter.
Home Assistant Cloud Features
The podcast episode discusses the new features of Home Assistant Cloud, including the ability to toggle more options and edit entities. One standout feature is the ability of Home Assistant Cloud to identify and notify users about problems with entities or devices that are not connected or functioning correctly. The notification system helps users take action and resolve issues quickly, with the added benefit of providing a rating and troubleshooting tips.
Repurposing Old ThinkPads
The podcast episode shares a story about repurposing old ThinkPads and utilizing them as media centers. The host recounts finding ThinkPads at an electronics recycling center and repurposing one for their brother's television setup. Despite some minor issues, the laptop has been running flawlessly as a media center, streaming content and even facilitating family video calls. The host appreciates the longevity and sustainability achieved by repurposing old devices for new functionalities.
HP ProDesk 600 G1 Desktop Mini PC — HP ProDesk 600 G1 Desktop Mini PC is HP’s smallest business desktop yet. Efficiently crafted to save space and energy.
WireGuard Component — ESPHome — This component uses a custom implementation not developed by original authors and currently available for ESP32 platform only.
Spook 👻 a scary powerful toolbox for Home Assistant. — Spook ships with a lot of goodness for you to explore. Currently, there are three main areas of functionality that Spook sprinkles on top of Home Assistant.
SSH 023: Shields Up - — We've spent thousands of dollars and over a decade refining the perfect home media setup. We get nostalgic and share what worked and what REALLY didn't.
MediaElch: Media Manager for Kodi — MediaElch is a MediaManager for Kodi. Information about Movies, TV Shows, Concerts and Music are stored as NFO files. Fanarts are downloaded automatically from fanart.tv.
tinyMediaManager — tinyMediaManager is a media management tool written in Java/Swing. It is written to provide metadata for the Kodi Media Center (formerly known as XBMC), MediaPortal and Plex media server. Due to the fact that it is written in Java, tinyMediaManager will run on Windows, Linux and macOS (and possible more OS).
FileBot - The ultimate TV and Movie Renamer — FileBot is the ultimate tool for renaming and organizing your movies, TV shows and Anime. Match and rename media files against online databases, download artwork and cover images, fetch subtitles, write metadata, and more, all at once in matter of seconds. It's smart and just works.
ESPHome — ESPHome is a system to control your microcontrollers by simple yet powerful configuration files and control them remotely through Home Automation systems.
Tasmota — Tasmota is an open source firmware for Espressif ESP8266, ESP32, ESP32-S or ESP32-C3 chipset based devices created and maintained by Theo Arends.
A Call for Developers | Jellyfin — We'd like to call on you, the wider community, to help make Jellyfin better! We need contributors, fresh ideas and blood to help the project move past our current funk and into something more.
SSH 107 Boost Barn — Thank you for helping produce episode 107 of Self-Hosted!
