#As for Yellow vs Pi4, for me personally

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

hexed scarab
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Thanks !
For my researches, adding an SSD drive to the Pi is possible using an interface card (connected via USB to the Pi). In case the SD Card fails.
For the Pi, is the Wifi mandatory or not ?

chrome wharf
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For a Pi is has Wi-Fi, doesn't mean you have to use it

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you can plug-in a cable instead 🤷‍♂️

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adding an SSD drive to the Pi is possible using an interface card (connected via USB to the Pi). In case the SD Card fails.
In HA we have a data disk option. In that case, the SD card is used for booting, all writing happens on the drive connected to the USB (e.g., an SSD).
This is better, as booting from USB isn't reliable

wheat elk
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Don't go the frankenstein route of a Pi with SSD. Just get a mini PC

chrome wharf
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or that

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but that all depends on the budget en how far you want to go

wheat elk
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Mini PC is MUCH faster, still very power efficient, and way more headroom for future growth

chrome wharf
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if you start out, starting with an Home Assistant Green or a silly simple Pi4 is nice for the price and upgrade at a later time when you outgrow that

wheat elk
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Buy once, cry once.....Mini PC

chrome wharf
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as in, that allows you to explore more without investing directly

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Not fully in agreement there Traveler, especially when starting with new stuff.
There are people that have picked different routes after that as well. It is all about figuring about what fits you.

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There is no single right choice here.

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(Take it from someone who has multiple of Yellow, Blue, Green, Pi3, Pi4, Pi5, (+ some other small ones), MiniPCs and Proxmox VM's running for his daily job building this platform 😉 )

wheat elk
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Bare metal mini PC $140-180 USD, will last you many years with much headroom. And down the road you can put Proxmox on it for other workloads, if you so desire.

hexed scarab
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Well I am nowhere near good at computers. I use Macs for a decade now and PCs are a strange thing to me.
That said, I am a mechanical product engineer and technical stuffs aren't somethin I am afraid of.

wheat elk
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The last thing you want is a frankenstein RPi

chrome wharf
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There is nothing wrong with a Pi that has an USB drive plugged in 🤷‍♂️

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many people run that, as a matter of fact, the larger part of our community is running on an SBC (Single Board Computer)

hexed scarab
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Diving into OA is driven by two main reasons: the ability to be free from a campany choices and limitations and being able to DIY the whole system, from the brain to the devices and the UI

next fractal
chrome wharf
wheat elk
chrome wharf
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but... the point is

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not everybody needs to deep dive. You are pushing up a single solution as it is the only one :S

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that imho is wrong

hexed scarab
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@wheat elk I get the very best is a mini PC, but this is kind of intimidating for me as a starting point

wheat elk
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It's no different to load a mini PC with HAOS than RPI....both are easy

next fractal
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To be honest, start with what you have... costs you nothing

chrome wharf
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even better

hexed scarab
next fractal
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Not even something that can run a VM?

wheat elk
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Installing HAOS on mini PC and RPI is not hard

hexed scarab
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To be honest, I was looking at Homey Pro at 399€ but he price is way to high. The idea with OA is to be much more free of my option and also lower the costs

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The Yellow looks the best option for me since everythign is packed on a single board. But the cost is kinda high and I was wondering if going to the Pi4 cheaper route would make me loose a lot in the process

wheat elk
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RPi4 8GB is about $65 bare...then you need a case, power supply, and USB storage. By the time you build that it's not much less then mini PC Range ($140 USD), and it's much lower performance.

hexed scarab
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Yes but I don't want to go to the mini PC route to start

wheat elk
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what's the reluctance with a mini PC?

chrome wharf
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Dude

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say mini PC one more time 😄

wheat elk
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mega PC LOL

chrome wharf
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@hexed scarab What is your goal on doing with HA?

hexed scarab
next fractal
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Start with something cheap for HA then - you can always migrate to better hardware

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Pi4 + SSD is a pretty damn solid "starter" (and beyond) platform

chrome wharf
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Or just a Pi4 first with SD card

hexed scarab
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And for the future, being able to have the ability to design my own products and UI for the dashboard

chrome wharf
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Or a Green, which is a pretty nice device TBH (~100$)

next fractal
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Sure, proper hardware is nice, but if you don't even know that you'll be running HA in a year splashing the cash is a waste

hexed scarab
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So going back to Yellow vs Pi4 what will be the diffrences. To me Yellow is the best option, going with a Pi4 will make me lose the easy SSD option and Zigbee/Matter/Thread compatibility

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But I am surely missing a lot more differences since the Yellow card pack much more components

next fractal
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in the grand scheme of things, one comes in a nice box, avoiding potential power problems, and with a radio

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You can easily do all that with a Yellow, but it's work for you

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So... you get to decide what your time is worth

hexed scarab
next fractal
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Yes, that too 😄

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A Pi4 with a decent power supply, and SSD, will get you started fine

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You want to add Zigbee, buy a coordinator and plug it in

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You want to add Thread, buy a coordinator and plug it in

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etc

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(at that point a powered USB hub is likely to be a good idea)

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I started with a Pi3, on an SD card, and with a Z-Wave "hat" - not a setup I'd suggest, but I've migrated to better hardware twice... actually, three times now

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Migrating isn't hard

hexed scarab
next fractal
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That or something else

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There's a lot of options out there

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Also, don't buy stuff like that because one day you may want it

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Buy something new when the time comes

hexed scarab
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And for the Pi itself, shall I get the WIFI or only Ethernet ? If Ethernet, no way for HA to connect using WIFI right ?

next fractal
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Ethernet

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All the way

chrome wharf
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Pi's all have Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
Use the Ethernet. HA can use Wi-Fi, but it ain't recommended

next fractal
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WiFi is for mobile devices, and ESPs

hexed scarab
chrome wharf
hexed scarab
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And what about the Pi5, is it supported yet ?

chrome wharf
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Pi5 is currently in preview, not full blown supported yet

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it is being worked on

hexed scarab
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I see, should I wait a bit for the full suport before buying a PI4 ?

chrome wharf
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I would love to say: Buy a RPi5, but that isn't right call right now. So, if I have to buy now, I have to say: RPi4

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Could be different next month, but that depends on the progress and how things look

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(we are working hard to make it happen)

hexed scarab
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I am not in a hurry, if its a matter of a couple of week then i'll wait. Is there a roadmap released ?

hexed scarab
chrome wharf
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Nope. We are an open source project, so, much reliant on contributions as well

chrome wharf
hexed scarab
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Well, thanks to all who have helped me on this, I'll review the costs of each solution (Yellow or Pi) and pull the trigger when the time is gonna be right

chrome wharf
hexed scarab
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On the Yellow, does the CM4 needs to have wifi ?
And do we know if there will be a CM5 (no reason there won't) ?

chrome wharf
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CM5: We don't know 🤷‍♂️ There has been no information or word about that by the RPI foundation.

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there are some rumours, and even it would be announced at some point, it would still the question if it would be compatible with the Yellow 🤷‍♂️

hexed scarab
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Since the PI5 is diffrent in size as the Pi4 there is a risk for the CM5 if one day released to have some differences

chrome wharf
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🤷‍♂️

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speculation/guessing