Installation of hass.io is really simple but once the installation is completed there are quite a few ways for a newbie like me to get stuck or lost.
There are multiple guides out there on how to install and setup hass.io but one up to date step-by-step guide that I like can be found at home-assistant.io.
At step 1. I recommend using Raspberry 4 (or Raspberry 3b+) and a high performance SD card with minimum 32 GB of storage. Raspberry is a low cost platform that is suitable for the task but be sure to use a power supply that provide enough current or you might end up with an unstable setup which will be frustrating to troubleshoot
As a first time user I would not bother to set up wi-fi or static IP as described in step 3., it is more important to get started than getting stuck at this step. Just plug an Ethernet cable into the Raspberry and you router (or switch) to provide the installation with Internet.
Possibly the trickiest part of the installation process was to find out the IP address of my Raspberry Pi. Refer to step 6. in the guide or take a look at the Note. My Raspberry ended up on IP 192.168.1.242 and I could therefore reach the hass.io installation by into my browser enter
I learned not to skip step 7., it is really important to have ways to login to and to alter files on my hass.io instance. I recommend a combination of SSH, Samba Share and Configurator.
Note: There is no point in hooking up the Raspberry Pi to a monitor during the installation and configuration process. No (useful?) information can be found that way. Connect to hass.io through your browser, that is the way to do it.
Recommended: Before getting started with developing my home automation code I made sure to chose a proper code editor software. I recommend Visual Studio Code or Notepad++.
Recommended: The first thing I did before starting any development was to set my current location and time zone. Trust me, it is frustrating to troubleshoot time dependent automations just to find out that the time zone was not correctly set. Also note that the time in the underlying HassOS and the time in hass.io is can differ. I did the changes to time and location at hass.io web interface, left menu > Configuration > General. I put the map indicator at my location and corrected the time zone.
Recommended: Switch on advanced mode; I am not an advanced user but I rather quickly realized that having Advanced Mode disabled was an unacceptable limitation. I switched it on at hass.io web interface > left menu > name below Notification > flip the Advanced Mode switch.
For details on my current setup please see home automation: my components.
Let me know in the comments field if you have any questions or comments.
There are multiple guides out there on how to install and setup hass.io but one up to date step-by-step guide that I like can be found at home-assistant.io.
At step 1. I recommend using Raspberry 4 (or Raspberry 3b+) and a high performance SD card with minimum 32 GB of storage. Raspberry is a low cost platform that is suitable for the task but be sure to use a power supply that provide enough current or you might end up with an unstable setup which will be frustrating to troubleshoot
 |
| Figure 1. The hass.io logotype. |
As a first time user I would not bother to set up wi-fi or static IP as described in step 3., it is more important to get started than getting stuck at this step. Just plug an Ethernet cable into the Raspberry and you router (or switch) to provide the installation with Internet.
Possibly the trickiest part of the installation process was to find out the IP address of my Raspberry Pi. Refer to step 6. in the guide or take a look at the Note. My Raspberry ended up on IP 192.168.1.242 and I could therefore reach the hass.io installation by into my browser enter
http://192.168.1.242:8123
 |
| Figure 2. Be patient; it can take up to 20 minutes for hass.io to load the first time. |
I learned not to skip step 7., it is really important to have ways to login to and to alter files on my hass.io instance. I recommend a combination of SSH, Samba Share and Configurator.
Note: There is no point in hooking up the Raspberry Pi to a monitor during the installation and configuration process. No (useful?) information can be found that way. Connect to hass.io through your browser, that is the way to do it.
Recommended: Before getting started with developing my home automation code I made sure to chose a proper code editor software. I recommend Visual Studio Code or Notepad++.
Recommended: The first thing I did before starting any development was to set my current location and time zone. Trust me, it is frustrating to troubleshoot time dependent automations just to find out that the time zone was not correctly set. Also note that the time in the underlying HassOS and the time in hass.io is can differ. I did the changes to time and location at hass.io web interface, left menu > Configuration > General. I put the map indicator at my location and corrected the time zone.
 |
| Figure 3. It is important to set location and time zone before start development. |
Recommended: Switch on advanced mode; I am not an advanced user but I rather quickly realized that having Advanced Mode disabled was an unacceptable limitation. I switched it on at hass.io web interface > left menu > name below Notification > flip the Advanced Mode switch.
 |
| Figure 4. Set hass.io in Advanced Mode right away. |
For details on my current setup please see home automation: my components.
Let me know in the comments field if you have any questions or comments.
Comments
Post a Comment