It’s naturally, a fantastic opportunity to reassess and reflect on the many aspects of our lives However, it’s the perfect time to think out and plan your ideas for projects you may want to investigate this year. Thinking about the exciting electronic projects you’d like to take part in the coming year can be achieved in various ways. This could mean as easy as learning a new idea for example, such as FPGA or GNSS or brainstorming ideas to begin using unfamiliar technology, or even putting aside time to tackle the big-scale project you’ve always wished to construct.
As it becomes increasingly apparent that working from home will not be ending anytime soon, I’m immersed in the world of the idea of home automation. Some of you may be as well, and I’m sure many of you purchased or received the latest technology during the holiday season – such as such as an Alexa or the Google Home, Google Home, or a Ring.
It’s a great age to get into home automation, since a lot among these Tech Giants are finally developing connections between their programs and hardware solutions. As an example, when Apple has come up with HomeKit and HomeKit has expanded its Apple ecosystem to make it compatible with a myriad of third-party gadgets available. It is possible to easily install HomeKit at home to create automations for your sprinklers and lighting systems, security systems almost anything.
But, there are thousands of smart devices that aren’t nicely and neatly in the Tech Giant’s software systems , and they’re dependent on their own ecosystems. So , if you’ve recently received the Apple HomeKit, Google Home and Amazon Alexa, how can you connect almost any smart device and service without fear of not compatible software?
The answer lies in the Raspberry Pi and an operating system known as Homebridge. A bit vague? We’ll get right into what it involves!
What exactly is Homebridge?
HOOBS is a user-friendly dashboard, or User Interface (UI) which is based on Homebridge.
What it means does it mean is Homebridge operates as an OS that is able to be flashed on the Raspberry Pi in lieu of a standard OS such as Raspbian. It allows you, via its easy user interface which allows you to install any number of plug-ins and then connect it to bigger home automation platforms, such as HomeKit. It has 3,000 plugins and counting, meaning virtually every smart gadget you purchase can be easily integrated with your existing automation system. Furthermore, it has a huge community of users, so there’s a high chance that you’ve seen a plugin created to your device and should they not, you’re able to create one of your own.
If you own an Raspberry Pi and are interested in creating automated home systems for yourself I came across this tutorial as is a great resource for flashing the OS on the Pi to download the Dashboard, then install the plugins, and connect to HomeKit.
The first step is by downloading the OS and installing the standard Homebridge version, also known as HOOBS, with an improved UI.
From there, you can use the tutorial as a starting point to set up your system and extend it your specific needs, either with using different plugins, or different systems other than HomeKit (Alexa or Google Home)
