Category: Guides

  • How to connect Samsung robot vacuum cleaner to Home Assistant

    How to connect Samsung robot vacuum cleaner to Home Assistant

    While there is a component in Home Assistant for Samsung SmartThings integration, the things with vacuum cleaners are not as obvious as they can be. While I’m not sure about older versions of Samsung robot cleaners, I can say that you can’t control newer versions (like VR9300 in my case) using only Home Assistant integration. Need some magic here.

  • How to install Ubuntu on Chromebook

    How to install Ubuntu on Chromebook

    Many Chrome OS users come to this question sooner or later. Yes there is still an option to use Linux apps inside Chrome OS, but this apps runs in a virtual environment without direct access to the hardware. There is better option like crouton, but it is still not the same as having the real Ubuntu […]

  • How to run Android Studio on a Chromebook with 4GB of RAM

    How to run Android Studio on a Chromebook with 4GB of RAM

    It is not a secret that Android Studio could almost perfectly run on a PC with 4GB RAM if we are talking about Windows OS or Linux. Yes, we already have an official Android Studio build for Chrome OS, but things are not so simple here.

  • [Updated] Home Assistant presence detection with Google WiFi

    [Updated] Home Assistant presence detection with Google WiFi

    Previously my presence detection in Home Assistant works through Asus router and `asuswrt` component. And it was bad. Very bad. Recently I switched to Google WiFi and realized that the only way to implement presence detection with this router is IFTTT. I thought it would be the slowest presence detection in the world but I was wrong.

  • Smart doorbell with Xiaomi Aqara button and Google Home

    Smart doorbell with Xiaomi Aqara button and Google Home

    So I have several Xiaomi Aqara buttons. Today I want to explain how to use this button as a smart doorbell that will play sound to your Google Home device through Home Assistant. All my Aqara ZigBee devices are connected to Home Assistant via ConBee II and deCONZ. First of all, let’s create a script […]

  • DIY Smart Appliance: How to make WiFi-enabled smart humidifier from a regular one

    DIY Smart Appliance: How to make WiFi-enabled smart humidifier from a regular one

    So there was a simple air humidifier… Actually, this post is a good example of how to make your regular boring home appliance a little smarter. The main part of my humidifier will be the Wemos (or Lolin) D1 mini board based on the ESP8266 WiFi chip.

  • BroadLink RM Pro and TC2 for Home Assistant

    BroadLink RM Pro and TC2 for Home Assistant

    BroadLink RM Pro is a WiFi to RF/IR gateway for a smart home. First of all, you need it to control BroadLink TC2 smart switches. Also, it is very useful if you want to control IR devices from Home Assistant.