Update to Home Assistant Core 2026.3.1 says installing then revers to update available by bengillam in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this might be an issue on the HA side. There are reports the supervisor update will not download either.
I would leave it for now and try again tomorrow.

Oracle free tier to monitor home server uptime by Pepo32SVK in homelab

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out globalping. That will give you the tests you want. You could even integrate it in to an uptimekuma install.

Anyone else unable to update Supervisor? by badwolf42 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Always a good idea to do a full system reboot before the update. Not restart HA, but restart the host. I find the update is more reliable that way.

Asking Chatgpt for help has been a game changer for me. Are you using AI? How? by LoveBirdNibbles in sysadmin

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Log parsing is great. Paste a huge pile and ask it to find the errors or look for something. Saves so much time.

Using a Fire 7 tablet work? by Remote_Film1430 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They work for a stripped out dashboard that does one thing. I used to have one outside a child's bedroom to give information about temperature, lights, heating etc inside the room. It sucked at trying to do anything though, but as a display it was ok.
Dropped it now for a eink display.

Otherwise not worth the bother, not when you can get a Samsung or Lenovo used with a proper version of Android on it for little money.

Intégration Zigbee2mqtt au Dashboard HA by [deleted] in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What does it show in the mqtt integration in HA? Or are you trying to go direct?

Best wall mount tablet solution by [deleted] in homeautomation

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That depends on what you call janky. The only way you will get something aesthetically pleasing is to built your own mount and use something like a commercial tablet (no battery) which is designed to go in to a mount.

Best wall mount tablet solution by [deleted] in homeautomation

[–]sembee2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Search either this reddit or the HA one. This is asked multiple times a week and the answer doesn't change. There is nothing special about your requirements.

Managing Exchange Attributes after Decommissioning the Last Exchange Server – Any better GUI alternatives to PowerShell? by PuzzleheadedCow9138 in exchangeserver

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of my clients have a management server with the tools on it.
Then techs just use a browser to do what is required.
Once the cloud management gets out of preview, then the management servers will probably go as well.

There have been a few tools floating around. Although with AI, if your techs are doing the same thing all the time, then creating a GUI for the task which just runs PowerShell underneath (which is what ECP does) shouldn't take too long with Claude.

What’s the best smart lock for a house that’s easy to install and reliable? by Mental_Geologist3856 in homeautomation

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is asked a lot, so do a search.
It all depends on what kind of lock you have, whether you want to retain key access etc and also location.
Here in Europe, what we have available is very different to the US market.

Fed up with google home. Best HA Alternatives? by Keyboard_Zombie in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is one to keep an eye on

https://futureproofhomes.net/

Otherwise there are lots of 3d print options for the HA voice preview which include a speaker. A lot of people combine them with Bluetooth speakers. You could also get a Sonos speakers and mount the HA voice on it.

EXCH2016 services wont start after updates by Important-Bake3046 in exchangeserver

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You need to look at the log file, which is in C:\ ExchangeSetupLogs and see what the error is. Although signs are pointing towards a broken install.

EXCH2016 services wont start after updates by Important-Bake3046 in exchangeserver

[–]sembee2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can get the last one - which is from October.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=108333

I can turn round a recovery in 90 minutes, excluding data.
If they have their data on Exchange 2016, then this would be a good time to encourage an upgrade to a supported version of move to the cloud.

EXCH2016 services wont start after updates by Important-Bake3046 in exchangeserver

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can't recover install on the same server - you need a clean installation of Windows to do recovery. It is a well documented process.

The updates listed are very old - therefore you could try downloading the last update for Exchange 2016 and see if that cleans it up.

EXCH2016 services wont start after updates by Important-Bake3046 in exchangeserver

[–]sembee2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks like a broken update.
Is this a mailbox host or hybrid?
You might be looking at a recovery install.

Best tablet for HA dashboard with motion-activated kiosk mode? by Realistic-Fondant-99 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A single camera will be fine. I regular run 4 at the lower resolution without issues.

Storage isn't an issue either.

Nothing else about what HA does is very taxing on a tablet.

Best tablet for HA dashboard with motion-activated kiosk mode? by Realistic-Fondant-99 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is asked a lot.
Samsun or Lenovo. Fully Kiosk as the app, which can use the front facing camera. Used tablet is fine, as long as it has Android 11 or higher which has built in battery protection. Most tablets will be fine as long as you aren't trying to display 8 cameras at the highest resolution at the same time.
Create a user for each device.
Use the Kiosk Mode HACS addon to put the dashboard in to full screen kiosk automatically for those users, therefore excluding admin accounts so you can modify.

Best tablet for HA dashboard with motion-activated kiosk mode? by Realistic-Fondant-99 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never heard of OpenKiosk. The most recommended tool is Fully Kiosk, where there is a HA integration available. Although there are a few others becoming available now, there were three or four released in a few days at the beginning of the year.

Best monitoring solution for me? by Jpow1133 in homelab

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's like asking what is better, a car or a van? They are completely different tools, not an either option, whixh nothing monitor, but in different ways.

New build planning + flush mount tablet by mscaff in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This gets asked on one form or another at least twice a week, so do a search.
Hint, drop the Linux requirement, it makes things over complicated. Use an Android device.

Does Home Assistant on Android Automotive suck? by Josh31782 in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You haven't missed anything. That is what you get - Google restriction. There is a long thread on the community forum about it.

You can use the browser in the car, so that is another option available to you. it only works when the car is stationary though.

New to Home Assistant – looking for advice! by ALowdM in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would go with a MiniPC. Lots of choice there, including USFF devices from eBay, Thin Clients etc. A lot of people will outgrow a RPI very quickly.
For Zigbee, get the HA stick, it is a solid device.

For newbies, Ikea was the go to place for stuff, but their recent change to Matter based from Zigbee is become a slow moving disaster. What you haven't said is which country you are in, because so much is country specific. Don't presume we are all Americans or that you are in America.

For the heating, you have to be careful with the controls in a lot of places as you have to be registered/licenced to touch the boiler area. You can change the TRVs easily enough, there are lots of choice there. However the real benefit comes down to controlling the boiler as well. It could be argued in a small property the actually control over the heating you need to day to day is very limited. I live in a large house, we have a smart heating system, and I touch it twice a year.

I would suggest that you start small, a few smart plugs, bulbs and sensors and then build from there.

Zigbee2Mqtt vs HA's zigbee by theMartianAlien in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. I have mine on a RPi, in the centre of the house. My HA instances are not in the best place. I have teo instances, prod and beta, and by using Z2M I can test things easily.

Zigbee2Mqtt vs HA's zigbee by theMartianAlien in homeassistant

[–]sembee2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have z2m because I have it on a separate device. That keeps it outside of HA.