So it's going to be one of those days, huh? Went to assemble a new unit and after soldering in a few pins, I discovered the bin of 1x20 header pins was labeled incorrectly. They're all 1x18 pins. Whoops! At least I didn't get all the way to the end before I noticed. A couple pins lost, most were salvaged.

A rare look at the #EU version of the #HestiaPi with the 240V AC -> 5V DC power adapter (the black rectangle in the photo). Everything else is the same hardware. It also uses the same software, just different settings. I hate to ship these across the ocean, but there's literally not a single person, #hackerapace or #Makerspace in the EU who is willing to build these #OpenSource #thermostats. So I make them available, and ship them all the way from America.

I just found the @Ungovernable Misfits episode about sovereign smart home!

Fountain

Ungovernable Misfits • Smart Home Tech: Sovereignty or Surveillance? | FREEDOM TECH FRIDAY 15 • Listen on Fountain

A weekly live show covering all things Freedom Tech with Max, Q and Seth.TO DONATE TO ROMAN'S DEFENSE FUND: https://freeromanstorm.com/donate[[LINK...

Brilliant work lads! If you want an easy to use recommendation for getting started, I maintain an open source (hardware and software) smart thermostat. Just connect it to the wall and go through wifi setup like any corporate device except everything remains private. Very good for those family members who don't want to feel like they have to run a server and be an IT pro. The HestiaPi runs OpenHAB out of the box, but you could build an SD image to run HomeAssistant if you prefer that. For those who do like to tinker, the forums are full of people who have customizations. Build the hardware yourself, pay someone at your local hackerspace to build one, or if neither of those work, I guess I could ship across the ocean for ya. I normally only ship to North America, but I could make an exception.

What do #Nest owners think about #Google's decision to not only kill support, but also make the smart thermostats into dumb thermostats? Is it fair for them to take away the features you paid for? Will you get another smart #thermostat from the same company again? Are you in the market for alternative #smart #thermostats? #IoT #tech #technology #PlannedObsolescence #waste #recycle #repair #repurpose #reuse

Help wanted: test the latest release of the #HestiaPi SD card image. https://community.hestiapi.com/t/debian-12-bookworm-image-testing-v1-5-dev/2104 If you have a device, plea help. We're trying to get more people to test this out. The new image should work just like the previous version except it'll get another 2 years of security updates. No new features, just stability and long term support.

Less than 2 weeks left until the old #Nest #thermostats go through their metamorphosis to become dumb thermostats. Honestly, it might be a win for the owners in terms of #privacy. But if they want a wifi enabled thermostat that is open source and will never abandon them like this, please suggest a #HestiaPi. You can make one yourself, buy a kit, or buy a prebuilt unit. If it ever breaks you can #repair it. If it doesn't do what you want, you can customize it. #FOSS #OpenSource #OpenHardware ❤️

End of support for Nest Learning Thermostats (1st & 2nd gen) - Google Nest Help

Nest has announced the end of support for Nest Learning Thermostats (1st and 2nd gen). Your thermostat will no longer connect to or work in the Goo...

It warms my heart to hear from people who were about to build their own thermostat from scratch and then found out about the #HestiaPi project. Now they can get a leg up on their #thermostat and just focus on the thermostat rules instead of the #hardware, #software and so forth. Meanwhile, we get another collaborator and hopefully can integrate the new code that implements the additional features they want. win-win! #OpenSource is awesome.

Today I built and tested 4 thermostats and it took me well over 4 hours. Usually I'm faster, but an hour per unit is probably still a fair estimate. Off the top of my head, I'd say it's somewhere around 130 solder joints. The new board design allows using Pi Zero 2 boards with pre-soldered headers. That that'll cut out 40 pins that I have to do by hand once I'm through my current stock. If I sold more devices, I'd try creating a 3D printed jig to hold all the parts in at the same time. It just doesn't make much sense to do that when I sell so few units per year.

Just made a breakthrough in getting the v1.5-dev image created. It's now fully functional out of the box! Next I need to manually poke around and make sure the unnecessary services have been turned off. After that I'll send it to the community for review and testing. Once any issues identified are fixed, then it will be sent to the project creator for final approval. To people who expect software producers to dictate what users will get, this process may seem bureaucratic, but it's democratic!

Getting close to an updated firmware image based on bookworm. I have a #thermostat running with it, but I want to make sure the build process can be replicated in an automated fashion. When I die, I want others to be able to easily pick up my work. Plus, it'll be handy for the next O/S upgrade. After it's reproducable, it will still need to go through community testing. If everything goes smoothly, I should have a final release in the next few weeks.

Next month, Google is going to make some Nest thermostats not-so-smart.

Tom

Google is cutting off support for these older Nest Thermostats — what you need to know

Devices will work but smart features will be shut down this fall

This can never happen with a #HestiaPi. It's not even possible because it doesn't depend on some third party cloud service. Everything is run inside your home, and it's yours, forever. ❤️ The HestiaPi is also #repairable and #upgradable. In summary, it's better by design. #OpenSource #hardware #OpenHardware #FOSS #diy #electronics

Once the current batch of components arrive, I plan on running the numbers to see if I can make a permenent price reduction. I've been getting killed on shipping prices, but ordering in larger quantities helps mitigate that. The other persistent problem is finding components in stock within 5-10% of the regular price. Building out a bigger inventory helps here too. I'm optimistic. My goal is to get down to $150. Stretch goal is to hit $129.99 (the same price as Google's cheapest Nest)

I'm about to place an order for $700 in thermostat components. Weee. Stocking up like this always makes me a little nervous. What if people stop caring about open source thermostats? What if I just spent all this money on parts that will just sit on my shelf? On the flip side, what if I don't buy these parts? Then nobody can buy a pre-assembled HestiaPi, which means anyone isn't willing & able to make their own gets left behind. And that's why I keep doing it. Leave no one behind! #FOSS #OpenHardware #hardware #OpenSource

I'm working on a new release, based on bookworm (Debian 12). Looks like I might be making some contributions to the turnkey project soon. The wifi setting aren't sticking after a reboot. Not sure if it's related to NetsorkManager or not, still investigating.

The #HestiaPi is a #prime alternative to the corporate smart thermostats that you can buy on #Amazon. It's also on sale from July 8-11, because I want people to invest in a #sustainable #thermostat instead of #PlannedObsolescence. https://www.tindie.com/products/eternalsunshine/hestiapi-one-silent/

I'd like to try to support this #bitcoin circular economy thing. Is there anyone who sells things like SD cards, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W boards, the little 3.5" LCD touchscreens, and other components I might need?

The latest release of the #AirGradient firmware removed the code that phones home to the company servers even when you check the to to explicitly tell it not to do so. This is a big win for #privacy and #SelfHosting!

GitHub

Release Release 3.2.0 · airgradienthq/arduino

What's Changed Fix invalidate value check for getAverage function by @samuelbles07 in #275 Fix display 0 measurements value on boot by @samuelbles...

I plan on flashing this onto my device and testing it to verify nothing was missed. #tcpdump and #wireshark are my friends. 😄 #security #cybersecurity #infosec #OpenSource #OpenHardware #electronics