I have been running Home Assistant on a

[soft cargo]

Debian is a better choice, and yes, you'd use Docker for https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/linux#install-home-assistant-container

No add-ons or Supervisor that way though

[frozen kindle]

Wait so no ESP home? That won't be an option since all my automations are via that

[soft cargo]

Sure, you can install ESPHome

The universe existed before add-ons were created

[frozen kindle]

Wait, is ESPHome not an add-on?

[soft cargo]

Add-ons are just software running in Docker

They're just special for the Supervisor

ESPHome itself is software that runs on ESP devices

The add-on you're thinking about is for installing and managing those ESPs

https://esphome.io/guides/getting_started_command_line.html

[frozen kindle]

Oh ok, I understand it now

Hmm I do like all of it in one place, so will have to think about it

[soft cargo]

You can still have it all in one place, using Docker

HAOS and add-ons just make it "easy" for you, but you don't get to make your system a multi-purpose system