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Should i use the Z-wave.me or Z-wave integration with Home Assistant ?

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The short answer is that if you have a  Z-wave.me adapter and are using their Z-wave.me server you shall use the  Z-wave.me integration . On the other hand if you want to use the latest updated software, for your Z-wave.me product, or almost any other , use the Z-wave JS server together with the Z-wave integration . This post will show how to set up the integrations interfacing a standalone  Z-wave.me server  and a standalone  Z-wave JS server

Z-Wave JS UI standalone server on a Raspberry Pi or Linux computer

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Instead of buying  a new Z-Way adapter I thought it would be a nice project to reuse the almost 10 year old RaZberry 2(RZ) adapter together with a Raspberry Pi 2(RPi).  After some Googling I found  Z-Wave JS UI (ZUI) which is both the server part and an UI. The described installation could be used for almost "any" Z-way interface, impressing list ! , and for "any" Linux distribution.

IVT, Bosch heat pump easy integration, Home Assistant

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Updated 2025-10-16 ! In search of the optimal solution on how to interface our IVT Heat pump,   first try here , I stumbled over   a nice integration   for Home Assistant(HA). A first quick setup is shown at the right. The first obstacle was that it was HA which I knew about but never used.  So it was "back too school" and doing  a blog post  about a HA Core install.

Raspberry Pi watchdog made simple

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Updated 2025-10-15 for Trixie ! The purpose of a watchdog timer(WD) is very well described here but a more practical answer is; If your Raspberry Pi(RPi) "freezes", or hangs, it will automagically reboot within a very short time. This is made with a combination of hardware and software which is all ready available, on the RPi, and just have to be enabled. After some hours Googling and testing these are my findings !

Raspberry Pi OS Lite with GUI, RDP, VNC, Chromium

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Updated 2025-10-02 ! I like the Raspberry Pi(RPi), with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no Desktop is included), headless operation, and then adding the software You need. Until now I haven't had a use case where I needed a Desktop but now was time.  Why don't use the Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop ?? In that package there is a lot of software I don't need and I really want to optimize the RPi. I think that the less software You install the happier RPi will be... 😉

Lightweight DIY Linux Server Monitoring Dashboard Using MQTT + Node-RED

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Having some Linux servers up and running I checked out  monitoring tools like Nagios, Zabbix, Cockpit or Prometheus. For small setups, home labs, or lightweight environments, those solutions can feel like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. In this post, I’ll show you how to build a   lightweight monitoring agent   using nothing more than a Bash script, MQTT, and Node-RED. The script collects key metrics from your server — disk usage, memory consumption, CPU load, and available package upgrades — then publishes them to an MQTT broker. From there, Node-RED visualizes the data in a clean, real-time dashboard. The result? A simple but powerful monitoring system that works across multiple servers, scales with your needs, and gives you instant visibility into the health of your infrastructure. And the best part: you control every piece of it.

Node-Red & Mosquitto quick install, Linux, Ubuntu, Raspberry OS

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Updated 2025-09-08 ! A fantastic way to distribute data between devices is using MQTT . In this post I will do a quick and simple setup with Node-Red(NR) and the Mosquitto(MQ) broker on a Linux machine. Very short, the Broker , installed on a server, handles incoming Publishing and Subscriptions from clients. Every published  Message is "linked" to a Topic.  All Subscribers use a  Topic to "link" to the right Message . How to install Node-Red(NR)  is found here  and the MQ manual here .

ZeroTier Tutorial: Secure Remote Access to Home Assistant & Ubuntu Server + Desktop

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For a long time I have checked for a good solution to reach my servers at home. My  thoughts   now have finalized in the VPN solution Zero Tier(ZT) where I reach Ubuntu desktop with "RDP" and Ubuntu server with "ssh". The ZT solution also works great with the Home Assistant(HA) browser access and the HA Mobile App. Until now I have used remote.it but ZT will manage all of my network resources as if they were on the same LAN . The Ubuntu desktop installation is running a Linux KVM with HA and an Ubuntu server Lite as  guests .  Setup here .

Home Assistant for beginners or easy start

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Updated 2025-08-25 ! What is the purpose of a Home Assistant(HA)  according to Wikipedia ? Home Assistant is free and open-source software used for home automation. It serves as an integration platform and smart home hub, allowing users to control smart home devices. The software emphasizes local control and privacy and is designed to be independent of any specific Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.  Even for me, as someone running Apple HomeKit and Homebridge, it is a fantastic piece of software that bridges almost everything and enables highly intelligent integrations.  Since it is widely used, there is a wealth of information available. However, I couldn't find a clear "bullet list" on how to get started. This post will primarily contain links to other sources rather than writing extensive explanations myself.

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