Legacy appliances are the biggest gap in home automation. A USB IR blaster is the cheapest bridge, and LIRC handles it on RK3588. IR is the last compatibility layer Start from a codes database: irdb covers most brands; use learning mode only for the leftovers; Aim matters: IR is line-of-sight — blaster placement beats software […]
Paper tickets get lost or missed when order volume spikes, especially at peak. The kitchen’s core problem is information sync Solution: an Android screen per station showing pending orders with completion confirmation, rush highlighting and overdue reminders; Reliability design: orders cached locally so display survives network jitter and resyncs state on recovery; Results: ticket time […]
Home Assistant’s voice stack splits into wake word, speech-to-text and intent handling. RK3588 has the headroom to keep all three local. Three local stages microWakeWord for wake: enabled directly as an add-on with low CPU cost; Whisper for STT: the small model transcribes a sentence in 1-2 s on RK3588; Chinese accuracy is acceptable; Piper […]
The client required that nothing in the rooms stop working when the WAN drops, which pushed the architecture from cloud to local edge. Local-first was non-negotiable Architecture: one edge host per floor running Home Assistant, room devices on Zigbee and Bluetooth, with the gateway only for remote access and configuration; Network: guest Wi-Fi separated from […]
Copying the config directory carries most settings but loses USB device bindings and some integration secrets. A verifiable migration follows steps. Backup is more than copying a folder Use HA’s built-in backup: a full backup includes config, database and addon snapshots; Move the Zigbee network: take Z2M’s coordinator_backup.json and devices.json together, and devices rejoin without […]
MQTT is the nervous system of a smart home, yet most guides stop at “install and go”. An unauthenticated broker becomes a liability the moment an untrusted device joins. The bus needs permissions too Enable password files and listeners: two accounts — sensors publish-only, controllers subscribe; Isolate by topic prefix: zigbee2mqtt/# writable only by Z2M, […]
Originally each store had its own player updated by walking around with a USB stick, making a promo change a week-long job. From 40 standalone players to one system Architecture: a central CMS composes content while store players pull on schedule and precache, so switching never blacks out; Operations: heartbeats and playback logs report back, […]
Zigbee2MQTT keeps dozens of sensors on local MQTT with no vendor cloud. On RK3588, the coordinator and channel plan decide reliability. Coordinator and channel Prefer ConBee II/III or SONOFF ZBDongle-E: solid Linux support and thorough community docs; Plan channels around Wi-Fi: Zigbee channels 15/20/25 avoid 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi’s 1/6/11 and cut dropouts sharply; Open permit_join […]
The team’s pain points were third-party custody of files, slow large uploads, and per-seat pricing that scaled linearly. Why leave public cloud storage Solution: Nextcloud with OnlyOffice on dual-disk RAID1, with daily incremental backup to an external drive; Cost: hardware was a one-time spend roughly equal to two years of subscription, with zero monthly fees […]
Home Assistant runs on ARM as a Container or as HAOS. RK3588 handles both, but their capability boundaries differ completely. The form factor sets the ceiling Container: coexists with Jellyfin/NAS on one box; add mounts and go — most flexible, but no addon store; HAOS: dedicated system with Zigbee2MQTT, ESPHome and hundreds of addons — […]