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Hestia Hacker
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I am the lead maintainer of the HestiaPi, an open source thermostat.
Good news: I updated my inventory on the #tindie store. #HestiaPi thermostats in stock! Bad news: #RaspberyPi Zero 2 W boards are not available in the US, and the international stores generally have higher prices, higher taxes (VAT), and more expensive shipping. I'm going to wait and see if they become available before my current supply is completely sold out. I thought these days were behind us when I saw stores inventories replenished and purchase limits lifted a while back. #IoT #FOSS #OpenSource #Hardware #Privacy
#TIL I can buy raspberry pi boards using #bitcoin! Ot'd be super cool to be able to sell #HestiaPi thermostats for bitcoin and then get that #CircularEconomy going. I'd also be hapy to sell #smart thermostats for #monero, swap it for bitcoin and then use that to buy components. #IoT #OpenSource #hardware #FOSS
I think people underestimate how much it costs to get a PCB made if they've never done it. For example, I have a 3.54" x 2.83" board (2 layers) and I want one of these made to make sure my design is good. How much would you expect to pay? (answer is in my reply)
I'm printing some more cases today. The white ones are very difficult to get to come out perfect. image Every tiny imperfection is more apparent. I think I might take some new high resolution pictures of the white case so people understand that it's likely not going to look as nice as the black ones. I want people to know what they're getting. #honesty What do you think, should I try any bold colors like red, orange, green or blue? #3dprinting #hardware #foss #OpenHardware
Today I found that a brand new #RaspberryPi Zero 2 that I bought was dead on arrival. So that's about $20 down the drain. image This is why I test every unit I build. Rare junk like this does happen sometimes and I want to make sure I do my best to never let a fellow #OpenSource enthusiast down! โœŠ #HestiaPi #OpenHardware #foss #hardware #IoT
The main thing slowing down adoption of open source smart thermostats is that people don't know they exist. The #HestiaPi has is about the same price as the Google Nest was, and having been around for 5 years, we've already outlived most of Google's products! If you like the idea of having technology that isn't run by a mega-corp, isn't harvesting your data, doesn't require their cloud to operate and doesn't get discontinued, please spread the word about HestiaPi. We are so unstoppable, neither the founder nor myself could shut it down even if we wanted to! That's what open source brings to the table! Source:
Today is a big day for me. After years of building #HestiaPi smart thermostats, I finally broke even! #OpenHardware might just be financially sustainable after all. So being the clever businessperson that I am, what do I do? Cut all my prices! I'm starting with this wild marketplace that let's people pay in Monero. I'll get to the fiat marketplace shortly.
TIL: the prepaid #visa cards from #bitrefill can not be added to #Google #Pay The prepaid #mastercard works in Google Pay just fine. Can tap to pay in person at restaurants and it works great. If you found this note useful, feel free to give me a zap. ๐Ÿค‘๐Ÿ˜‚
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
Just read an article about how modern #tech and #privacy are incompatible (link below). The author points out the things people can do to claw back some of their privacy, but then concludes it's too much effort. To that I say: I am PERSONALLY working on making it less effort. Buy a #smart #thermostat, put it on your #wifi (or not, it's up to you) and never wonder if it's sending data off somewhere else. Sure, some people can't afford a #HestiaPi. Sure, it doesn't solve the problems of cars, GMail, phones, smart washing machines and all the other junky #IoT devices. But for anyone who was going to buy a wifi connected thermostat anyway, it helps. We can take these problems on one at a time. And we can build better tech. As long as people are willing to buy these types of #OpenSource #hardware, I'll keep making them. โœŠ๐Ÿผ
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
Holy crap. I just remembered that I set up this coinos thing a while back and I just logged in and there's like $7 in the account! What alternate dimension of social media have I stepped into where I just post about the project I love and people appreciate what I'm doing so much that tip me real money? I have entered the #TwilightZone If it gets higher, I'm going to send it all to the original creator of the #HestiaPi as a thank you gift. I maintain the project now, and put together the kits and thermostats, but I didn't invent it.
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
Today I tried to help move the #Proxmox provider for #terraform a little closer to a stable release. It wasn't much, but I think it helped. I also am trying to help get instructions to compile the #AirGradient One #firmware from source. If I can get people to reproduce the behavior I'm seeing, I am hopeful that we can get this nailed down. I'm keen on getting familiar with this because it is #ESP32 based, and we want to make an ESP32 based model of #HestiaPi Gotta keep at it!
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
You can use a #HestiaPi without a case, but it looks much better with one! #IoT #thermostat #OpenSource #OpenHardware #privacy #security #GrowNostr
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
From an academic paper on #privacy in #IoT #tech: "Despite all the efforts, many technical privacy challenges have remained unaddressed in IoT." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167404820301978 This is why we do what we do. #HestiaPi keeps everything you do 100% private. #freedom from creepy #corporations collecting as much info as they can about you and then "sharing it with their partners". #GrowNostr
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
My #HestiaPi adventures got me interested in #ESP32 #microcontrollers and now I'm going to become a firmware developer for the #AirGradient ONE. This is why I don't have any free time. As soon as I get 3-4 hours to myself, I find a new #OpenSource project to contribute to. #OpenHardware for life, yo!
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
I didn't get to build any hardware today. Life interrupted. ๐Ÿ˜…
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Hestia Hacker 2 years ago
My order of components arrived! It's like Xmas in... (checks calendar) May! I'll probably solder together a few more units soon so I can have them on standby. Heck maybe I'll even run a sale! I'm feeling on top of the world today. ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‡โœจ
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