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this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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homeassistant
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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io
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Also bought an ESP and some components but haven't yet done anything.
Just make sure you have a prototyping board.
I hate soldering, so I will only cross that road once I have a very solid project and idea.
Yeah I played a little with the breadboard when I first got the pi but didn't do anything spectacular. I need to have a look but I feel like I may have a camera module in my bag of tricks so I guess I could theoretically knock up a camera doorbell or something with some tinkering.
Soldering looks like it's a whole thing but I feel like if I bought an iron I'd get the hang of it really easily.
But then I feel like I'll just be soldering everything and my family will get exasperated with me.
Learning to solder is incredibly helpful with getting your esphome devices off the desk and into real-world use.
Don't cheap out on the iron, though. Hakko and Weller are the two brands I'm familiar with and "everyone" seem to trust. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars, but the quality gap between $30 and $60 is very obvious.
This is one of those instances where the idea of "a poor craftsman blames his tools" falls apart. I was using a crappy non-adjustable pen and could never achieve good, reliable results despite having proper technique. Then I got a decent Weller adjustable unit, and suddenly everything was "perfect".
If you're looking for additional toys, a 3D printer is insanely useful for creating bespoke cases for your projects ;)
Oh look, the rabbit hole lol
I've had an Ender 3 in my cart for months and just can't quiiite justify pulling that trigger. One of these days, tho.... Any day now.
Don't. Ender 3 is ancient garbage. I upgraded an ender 3 to a k1c and I'll never go back. The only time I don't get FLAWLESS prints is because the filament isn't fast enough. I can print benchy in 30 minutes in the slow speed. And best of all I never have to fuck with it. Ever.
I've got a friend that I've basically lost over the last couple of years because he bought an Ender 3 in lockdown and now he's fat and pasty white because he just stays home making things with his printer.
Don't buy it and don't look into robotics, you don't need to make a automated robot that can kill other robots Luke.
Sorry I'm projecting lol