Installation, setting up IoBroker - still "configurable" at an old age?

I think I will set up the basic system on a Raspberry Pi. Solely for the reason that it is a kind of standard platform that, according to the Foundation, is also supposed to be backward compatible in the future.

For fuel prices (as an example), I use an app on my phone. Most of the time I am sitting in the car and realize that I could quickly refuel. I plan that less. But what I could imagine would be a kind of notification if the price is at a daily or weekly low. However, that would definitely be seen as a gimmick.

As far as I understand, it is possible to run multiple installations of ioBroker in parallel. I think I will have to register on their forum once again...

I think I will set up the basic system on a RaspberryPi. ...

There is also an industrial quality version for the DIN rail. It also has a write-protected SSD and can be operated with a "proper" power supply. We will use it for "our" smart home system in the future. Further reports on this and certainly part of the documentation will unfortunately only follow in spring :cool:

Is that the price for such a smart home? Or are there simpler systems than ioBroker here?

Buy yourself an Alexa! That is not the price for "such a smart home," but the price for a toy DIY solution if you clearly have no idea about current computers and software (what are you programming?). If you want to stick with ioBroker, I would really recommend starting with a Raspberry, the appropriate image, and various (good) YouTube tutorials, e.g., by Matthias Kleine. Then you can have it up and running in under an hour and practice with it, even if you only have rudimentary Linux knowledge.

I could go on for hours just about "such a smart home." Luckily, I got a mindfulness course for Christmas :)

I think I will set up the basic system on a RaspberryPi. Mainly because it is kind of a standard platform that, according to the Foundation, is supposed to remain backwards compatible in the future.

For fuel prices (as an example), I use an app on my phone. Mostly, I sit in the car and realize that I could quickly refuel. I don’t really plan that much. But what I could imagine is some kind of notification if the price is at a daily or weekly low. But that would definitely just be a gimmick.

As far as I understand, you can run multiple ioBroker installations in parallel. I think I still need to register again on their forum...

The Raspberrys run perfectly, super solid and without problems. Still, you should occasionally make backups of the SD card.

Seeing the fuel prices is nice, I have the price of our usual gas station displayed on a tablet next to the door. It’s funny, but since they constantly raise and lower prices arbitrarily, the insight gained is simply that you have to refuel at a certain time.

For all the registering and passwords, there are password managers or the browser, that can be really exhausting at times. But it’s worst if you don’t have anything "smart and cross-platform." Then you really depend on the manufacturers’ apps permanently. That way, you log in once and usually never have to again afterward.

If you’re looking for keywords: Sonoff, Tasmota, Wled, Xiaomi, Aqara, Wemos, ESP8266, Motion :D

There is also an industrial-grade version for the DIN rail. It then also has a write-protected SSD and can be operated with "proper" power supply. We will use this for "our" smart home system going forward. Further reports on that and surely also part of the documentation will unfortunately only follow in spring :cool:

What exactly is "industrial grade" for a Raspberry? Why would you use that at home?
I might understand SSD, but that’s possible on the Raspi as well.
What is "proper" power supply? Did you have problems with that?

I'm just asking myself right now: What am I actually doing?? Everything I'm setting up, configuring, installing right now is so fragile!

You speak from my soul, I feel the same about many technical topics on the computer. And that even though I'm in my mid-thirties.

In the software world, more and more half-baked components are being cobbled together faster and faster. What you see is the result. This won't change in the near future; it will get worse. Many "modern" applications are actually just websites running in a Chrome clone. If you want to develop or compile them yourself, hundreds to thousands(!) of dependencies are loaded. Terrible. And no, this whole container crap doesn’t make it any better.

Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for you. Often only alcohol helps and pushing through. Once you've managed it and finally understood the necessary connections, then rebuild everything from scratch again. That's important so that the 30 futile DIY tips from the internet are no longer in the configuration and don't break every update in three months.

Buy yourself an Alexa! That is not the price for "such a smart home," but the price for a toy DIY solution when you obviously have no idea about current computers and software (what are you programming?). If you want to stick with ioBroker, I would really start with a Raspberry, the appropriate image, and the various (good) YouTube tutorials, e.g. by Matthias Kleine. Then you can have it running in less than an hour and practice with it, even if you only have rudimentary Linux knowledge.

I could go on for hours just about the "such a smart home." Luckily, I got a mindfulness course for Christmas :)

We already have Alexa. Later, I only want to use Alexa as an input interface but not to store any routines there.
I currently program databases in MS Access as well as automations for Excel and Word. So VBA. And yes, I am aware that this is not really a programming language for many people, but I can use it 100% directly for my work. And yes, I also have experience with other languages.

I do consume the mentioned channels. But increasingly, the videos or tutorials are outdated. For example, yesterday I set up my Raspberry Pi 2 with the ioBroker image. I couldn’t use my Zigbee stick (ConBee2) right away with the adapter "deconz." I had to install the software additionally. The tutorials then say "Start the software via the menu ...". Too bad if you want to use a "headless" Pi. This requires further research to run the software without a GUI. It seems no one in the "DIY" community is bothered that this fact is not mentioned.

"Smart home" is the umbrella term anyway. In my case, it’s first about learning the actuators and building the base.

You speak from my soul; I feel the same way about many technical topics on the computer. And that though I am in my mid-thirties.

In the software world, more and more half-baked components are being cobbled together faster and faster. What you see is the result. That won’t change in the near future; it will get worse. Many "modern" applications are basically just websites running in a Chrome variant. If you want to develop or compile them yourself, hundreds to thousands (!) of dependencies are loaded. Horrible. And no, all this container stuff doesn’t make it better.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for you. Often, only alcohol helps and pushing through. Once you have made it and finally understood the necessary connections, then build the same thing again from scratch. That’s important so that the 30 futile DIY tips from the internet are no longer in the configuration and won’t break any update in three months.

And you already have to think about tomorrow today. For example, I set up a NAS years ago that can handle virtual machines (OMV). Among other things, a Windows runs on it with a DMS. I scan my documents with my document scanner and then push them into the DMS. So, quite a sensitive undertaking. The system isn’t connected to the internet and the software running on it is "outdated" but it just works. Only the hardware might someday have to be replaced.

For all the registering and passwords, there are password managers or the browser; that’s partially really exhausting. However, it’s worst if you don’t have anything "smart cross-device." Then you are really dependent on the manufacturers’ apps permanently. That way, you only have to log in once and usually never again afterward.

I already have a password manager – without it, I’d be lost. It runs in an encrypted container.