Pyssel

It's almost become a sport to revive old Macs..... 😉 This short post will address some obstacles found during install of a new OS. The Mac Mini:s WiFi controller wasn't found ! The MacBook Air didn't manage to do a USB boot with Ubuntu !

After testing Home Assistant (HA) for a while, I’ve realised it could improve my home automation, despite that I'm using Apple HomeKit. When I tested HA with Node-RED and some other "Add-ons", on a Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi) I found that its computational power wasn’t enough. The following setup could be any computer but I recently bought an Apple Mac Mini M4, replacing my 2018 (M18) model, so the M18 was really a great candidate for my HA setup. The preferred method of running HA is through the  HA Operating System (HAOS), which makes your "life" easier. 😉

Updated 2025-05-20 ! I have done several posts Blogging about how to keep an old MacBook Air(MBA), mid 2011(A1369), with SSD disk "alive". I have used the fantastic software package OpenCore Legacy patcher to upgrade the Mac to the latest Mac OS.  A while ago i tested Mac OS  Sequoia (15.3), on the mentioned Mac, but I had to admit that it was to much for the 14 year old companion. I really like the Mac and everything works, after a battery change , so it ended up with installing  Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS  or if you want the latest scroll down and get Ubuntu 24.10/25.04.

Updated 2025-01-23 ! With my project to keep a MacBook Air 2011(MBA) alive , Ubuntu installed, i searched for a solution where my iCloud drive(iCD) was  continuous synced with my MBA. This must work both ways so even a file change made on MBA should be replicated to iCD. rclone now, 2025-01, works with iCloud !! Setup below !! Before "rclone" was working with iCloud I solved my sync between iCD and MBA with Syncthing (ST). Check below. ST doesn't sync with iCloud so the work around here was to use my MacMini, Mac OS, as the "Middle man". It's always on and synced with iCD.

Updated 2025-01-10 ! Dimming not dimmable LED, IKEA Bäve, produced before 2019-11 and a new idea for later products ! In former post I used a  Fibaro Z-Wave RGBW controller  but in this post I will use an IKEA original or an external dimmer ?!

Beeing forced to use a hearing aid(HA) is not that fun but on the other hand it's always exciting with new electronic gadgets and to better participate in conversations with other people.  In this post I will just summarize some points gathered when setting up the HA with the ReSound Smart 3D (S3D) in an Apple enviroment. But of course there is also a Android app These hearing aids are compatible with the mentioned app and I'm using Resound Nexia 9 RIE .  

Updated 2024-12-13 ! When starting up a new project with Raspberry Pi I like to start up fresh and with a minimal OS.  Therefore i always use Raspberry Pi OS(ROS) Lite and then adding what I need .  Doing it right You don't have to use an external display, keybord and mouse, just a " ssh "  client. Flash to a SSD ? Check this post .

Matter is a smart home standard currently being developed by a consortium of over two hundred companies, including big players such as   Apple ,   Google ,   Phillips ,   Amazon   and   Samsung . Many new devices have Matter implemented, from the beginning, but devices, such as most of Shelly devices don't. On the other hand many hubs can be upgraded to Matter support. For example an Apple TV. With a Matter bridge  you can solve the incompability. This post will use  Matter bridge plugin Manager and the Shelly plugin  but it could be other devices shown in the picture below.

Updated 2024-11-09 I have been using Shelly devices for quite some time both on our boat , off grid, and also as HomeKit (HK) accessories via Homebridge (HB) .  I was really amazed when I found that some smart guys have created a software package that replaces the stock, official, Shelly firmware with the  "Shelly-HomeKit" package which emulates a "native"  Apple HomeKit accessory. It's very nice done, really simple, and the flashing of the software is done over the air (OTA) with your ordinary WEB-browser.

Updated 2024-07-01 ! 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... 😉

Updated 2023-10-26 ! HomeBridge (HB) is the software where You make Your home automation devices appear in the Apple Home App as native products. In this post a Raspberry Pi  is used as the HB server. There has really been big improvements in the installation process and I think the HB version is better/easier than HOOBS . Migrate from HOOBS ?! Link

Matter is the the new standard making your smart home devices talking to each other and some Apple Home hubs can be updated. There is a nice article from "The Verge" which explains it all. Using Homebridge (HB) it could be nice to know what happens when you upgrade your HomeKit hub to the new standard so  his post will just give some quick tips Here is  a support article from Apple and please note that if you upgrade you will not be able to use an iPad as a Home hub anymore.

In a former post I used a nice Python program to get the installers but as you know there are no Python installed in later Mac OS. The program used in this post is the fantastic Open Core Legacy Patcher . (No Python dependencies.) This patcher is made for supporting old Mac:s with new OS:s , which is not officially supported, but here we just use it for getting the USB installer.

Updated 2023-05-04 ! This post focus on  Shelly 1 (S1), a really a nice automation device with great versatility, but much of the content is also valid for some of  Shellys other devices  using the gen1 API. Setup for the later version,  Shelly Plus 1 , is found here  !! S1 is a WiFi switch, 16 Amps, with dry contacts and t he function "without Internet" + that the S1 can use a 12V DC source makes it perfect for an "use case" in a  boat /mobile home. It's compatible with Alexa , Google  or HomeKit using HomeBridge  or as a "native" HomeKit device using  Mongoose firmware (Flashed via a standard WEB browser !)

Updated 2023-05-03 ! In a  former post I made a writing about Shelly 1 (S1) and this post will handle about the successor Shelly PLUS 1 (SP1)  but much of the content is also valid for some of  Shellys other devices  which uses the same software/API. To keep it simple, SP1 is a WiFi switch, 16 Amps, with dry contacts but compared to the S1 the hardware and the software is updated.  The function "without Internet" + that the SP1 can use a 12V DC source makes it perfect for an "use case" i n a boat/mobile home .

Updated 2023-05-01 ! I really recommend flashing, via WEB-browser, the device with Mongoose software to avoid Homebridge.   HomeBridge is used for this setup and to make it appear in the Apple Home app. The main advantage with the Shelly devices are that they are WiFi enabled and therefore You don't have to use a hub, this compared to z-way/zigbee and some other solutions.  First install Shelly1 (S1).

Updated 2023-06-11 ! The use case is that I had an old iMac, max OS is High Sierra, that crashed and it didn't work with an Internet or Time Machine restore. The other MAC:s I have are running Catalina or Big Sur and if you try to download and older OS , via app-store, you just get an error saying that the running OS don't accept the download of an old OS. The universal way to create an USB installer seems to be using the command " createinstallmedia ", requires OS X 10.7 Lion or later, but you need the respective OS install app ! A new, better ??, without Python dependences is found here .

In former posts, Big Sur (11.7) and Monterey (12.7),   I went through how to update an old MacBook Air 4.2, (mid 2011, SSD, 4 Gb memory) which has a Non-Metal GPU. In this post I will update a MacBook Air 6.2 with SSD, Mid 2013,  to Ventura(13.5) with the same patcher  but the latest version 6.2 !!  This is despite that  max OS  for this Mac is  Big Sur Awesome !! ! Supported models are found here .

Updated 2023-03-12 ! When we upgraded our WiFi to a Mesh solution, TP-link Deco M9 , our old printer, WiFi connected, didn't want to "play" with us anymore. This was due to stronger encryption which wasn't supported. Since the printer just have WiFi or USB connection, no standard Ethernet, I was looking for another solution. We have no computer running 24/7 except a Raspberry Pi, RPi, which is handling our home automation, Homebridge . So the solution was to use CUPS  on that RPi. On the web there are several posts/manuals how to install CUPS on a RPi so this post will refer to one of these and then some additional hints regarding, Apple AirPrint, Windows Network Printer, scanning....

Updated 2022-09-18 ! Victron have a  state-of-the-art monitoring solution used by the GX products. It can monitor their other system components  such as inverter/chargers, solar chargers, shunts, and batteries  both local and remote all over the world. If you have a smaller Victron solution it is nice to know that the same software, Venus OS(VOS), can run on a Raspberry Pi(RPi) instead of the more expensive and versatile GX products.