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A Minimalist’s Raspberry Pi HAOS Server
Since I decided to set up my home automation server on a Raspberry Pi, I needed a case to house it. I found this cool, high-tech-looking case for the Raspberry Pi 5 that resembles a mini gaming PC, complete with LED lights that would make it stand out like a Christmas tree! Unfortunately, it wasn’t…
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A Reflection on Joining the Right Flying Model Club
I wanted to write this as a reflection on my experience with a model flying club I recently tried to join. This isn’t something I’ll send directly to them – it’s a personal note to myself on what went well, what didn’t, and some valuable lessons about flexibility and customer experience that apply to business…
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Flashing My ZigBee Dongle: A Not-So-Straightforward Start
Before connecting my ZigBee dongle to Home Assistant OS (HAOS), I decided to upgrade its firmware first. While this step isn’t strictly necessary, I wanted to take my time, learn the process, and set things up right rather than rushing through. So, onto the firmware upgrade… After some research, I found that there are generally…
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Home Assistant Journey: First Impressions and Choices
My Home Assistant journey officially kicked off! 😄 I spent the first day diving into research – watching videos, reading guides, and gathering tips to get started on the right foot. A couple of important decisions were up first: choosing the hardware and selecting the right platform (installation type). For hardware, I looked into two…
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Home Automation Reboot with Home Assistant OS
Recently, I watched NetworkChuck’s video “your home automation SUCKS!!” that got me fired up about trying out Home Assistant. A few years back, when home automation started to gain traction through easy-to-use apps like Tuya and Google Assistant, I dove in and automated parts of my house just for fun. I set up smart lights,…
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Natively Minimize Apps to System Tray Without Built-in Support
Some apps natively support this functionality, while others don’t. The taskbar is expensive real estate, and having things sitting there when all you need is for the app to be active in the background isn’t efficient. You can find third-party tools to handle the minimization process for you if app doesn’t have native support; however,…
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