#smarthome — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #smarthome, aggregated by home.social.
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Im Kurztest: Der neue Google Home Speaker mit Gemini
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Was selbstreinigende Katzenklos, Futterautomaten und Catcams taugen | c’t uplink
Wie sinnvoll vernetzte Katzen-Gadgets sind und wie sie sich im Alltag bewähren, darüber sprechen wir im Podcast c’t uplink.
#Automatisierung #ct #ctuplink #SmartHome #InternetderDinge #IT #Sensortechnik #Überwachung #Videoüberwachung #news
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Was selbstreinigende Katzenklos, Futterautomaten und Catcams taugen | c’t uplink
Wie sinnvoll vernetzte Katzen-Gadgets sind und wie sie sich im Alltag bewähren, darüber sprechen wir im Podcast c’t uplink.
#Automatisierung #ct #ctuplink #SmartHome #InternetderDinge #IT #Sensortechnik #Überwachung #Videoüberwachung #news
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Saug- und Wischroboter: Chinesische Hersteller beherrschen den Markt
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I did find a good deal here in Canada for the Kasa smart plugs. You can get a four pack for $45, which is a really good deal IMHO. I've heard from a few others that the Kasa app is nice and accessible, so that's also a win. I think I might be grabbing some of these, as I really need them in my animal room. #SmartHome
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I did find a good deal here in Canada for the Kasa smart plugs. You can get a four pack for $45, which is a really good deal IMHO. I've heard from a few others that the Kasa app is nice and accessible, so that's also a win. I think I might be grabbing some of these, as I really need them in my animal room. #SmartHome
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I would just like to give a big fat middle finger to the folks over at Belkin, because they've basically made all of the WeMo switches I have useless. I now have to add to the eWaste issue. Thanks guys, you're helping me contribute to the sad and sorry state of the environment. #SmartHome
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I would just like to give a big fat middle finger to the folks over at Belkin, because they've basically made all of the WeMo switches I have useless. I now have to add to the eWaste issue. Thanks guys, you're helping me contribute to the sad and sorry state of the environment. #SmartHome
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Narwal’s Freo 20 Robot Vacuum Mops With Hot Water and Cleans Its Pads
https://www.allthethings.best/narwals-freo-20-robot-vacuum-mops-with-hot-water-and-cleans-its-pads
Narwal is rolling out a new robot vacuum and mop called the Freo 20, aimed at people who want a high-end cleaning experience without paying top-tier prices. The big pitch is that it brings Narwal’s real-time self-cleaning mopping tech, usually found in its flagship models, to a more affordable package.
#news #pets #robotcleaner #robotvacuum #smartappliances #smarthome -
Smarte Gadgets für smarte Katzen | c’t uplink
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Smarte Gadgets für smarte Katzen | c’t uplink
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Self-Host Weekly (7 August 2026)
My ventures into #vibecoding, software updates and launches, a spotlight on #ReadMeABook - an #audiobook management app, and more in this week's #selfhosted recap!
https://selfh.st/weekly/2026-08-07/
#selfhost #selfhosting #opensoure #foss #book #books #privacy #newsletter #fediverse #mastodon #sysadmin #devops #smarthome #homeassistant #photos #immich #security #ffmpeg
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Self-Host Weekly (7 August 2026)
My ventures into #vibecoding, software updates and launches, a spotlight on #ReadMeABook - an #audiobook management app, and more in this week's #selfhosted recap!
https://selfh.st/weekly/2026-08-07/
#selfhost #selfhosting #opensoure #foss #book #books #privacy #newsletter #fediverse #mastodon #sysadmin #devops #smarthome #homeassistant #photos #immich #security #ffmpeg
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Why Buy An Alarm System? Get THIS Instead #Alarm #SmartHome #Automation #Zigbee #HomeAssistant
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Why Buy An Alarm System? Get THIS Instead #Alarm #SmartHome #Automation #Zigbee #HomeAssistant
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Die #Reolink Altas PT Ultra verspricht mit Solarpanel dauerhaften Betrieb ohne Laden. Im Test überzeugte die Kamera beim Aufspüren von nächtlichen Garten-Räubern. #SmartHome #Sicherheit https://winfuture.de/videos/Hardware/Reolink-Altas-PT-Ultra-im-Test-Diese-Kamera-entlarvt-Garten-Raeuber-28926.html?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
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Die #Reolink Altas PT Ultra verspricht mit Solarpanel dauerhaften Betrieb ohne Laden. Im Test überzeugte die Kamera beim Aufspüren von nächtlichen Garten-Räubern. #SmartHome #Sicherheit https://winfuture.de/videos/Hardware/Reolink-Altas-PT-Ultra-im-Test-Diese-Kamera-entlarvt-Garten-Raeuber-28926.html?utm_source=Mastodon&utm_medium=ManualStatus&utm_campaign=SocialMedia
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OpenAI’s Ring-Shaped Smart Speaker Rumoured To Cost Over US$300 #artificialintelligence #openai #rumoursleaks #smarthome
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OpenAI’s Ring-Shaped Smart Speaker Rumoured To Cost Over US$300 #artificialintelligence #openai #rumoursleaks #smarthome
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Cheap Home Assistant display the second try
https://blog.sengotta.net/cheap-home-assistant-display-the-second-try/Meanwhile the second cheap digital photo frame from Amazon has arrived. So the adventure of finding the cheapest possible display—or wall panel—for Home Assistant can continue.
This time I ordered a different model. Again a 15.6″ frame with the Frameo software, because that’s the important part. Frameo usually allows you to enable ADB directly from the user interface. Unless you receive a model where the USB port apparently isn’t wired for data transfer. That was exactly what happened with the previous one. This time I bought this model: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0FC26S5QS
With an automatically applied coupon I paid roughly €85 for it.
For that money you get a 15.6″ touchscreen powered by a Rockchip RK3326 with 1 GB RAM and 32 GB of flash storage. Certainly not impressive hardware, but just about acceptable for Home Assistant.
What you don’t get is equally interesting: no battery (which was exactly the point), no camera, no proximity sensor, no Google Play Services, and not even a Home button. Under Android that can occasionally become a bit annoying..
Here are a few photos of the frame. Nothing spectacular really. Cheap plastic, no fancy design, just a plain black frame.
On the back you can attach the included stand. There are also mounting holes for hanging it on a nail or using a VESA mount. Unfortunately, the power button is also located on the back. Since you need it to completely switch off the display and wake it up again later, this is not exactly the smartest place for it. Unlike the previous frame, there is neither a manufacturer name nor an FCC ID anywhere on the label.
The connector panel offers a SD card slot, a headphone jack, one USB-A port, one USB-C port (this one actually provides ADB access), and a barrel connector for the power supply. A 12 V / 2 A power adapter is included.
Power consumption is actually quite reasonable. With the display at 100% brightness the device draws somewhere between 6 and 8 watts depending on the workload. With the display dimmed it drops to around 3–4 W. If the display is turned off completely it only needs around 1.3–1.5 W. All measurements were taken using my KD302 power meter.
Of course we don’t want to run the bundled software forever. We want our own application on it. In my case that’s Home Assistant, but something like Immich Frame would work just as well. Let’s get started. As always: if something doesn’t work immediately, you may have to use your own brain once or twice.
Requirements
- A computer running Linux, macOS or Windows.
- A USB-A to USB-C cable. I haven’t tested USB-C to USB-C because these devices often implement the USB-C specification in… let’s call it a very creative way.
- Android Debug Bridge (adb) installed. There are plenty of installation guides available.
Enable ADB (and later Wireless ADB)
Connect the photo frame to your computer via USB and power it on. Go through the setup wizard, but don’t configure Wi-Fi yet. This prevents the Frameo app from immediately updating itself. You never know what surprises newer versions might bring.
Inside the Frameo app open Settings -> About and enable both the beta program and ADB.
Now connect to the frame using:
adb connectA confirmation dialog should appear on the frame asking whether to trust your computer. I’d recommend checking „Always allow.“ If no dialog appears, simply disable and re-enable ADB in the Frameo settings. That solved it for me. After every reboot you’ll need to reconnect using adb connect.
Once connected, enter the shell:
adb shellNow you are on the shell of the frame type su and you should be root. You can check that with the command whoami. Having root means you can basically do whatever you like with the device. Or completely break it. Commands beginning with ad` are executed on your computer. Commands without adb are entered inside the shell running on the photo frame.
Now we want to enalble wireless adb. It isn’t required and it does have security implications, but it’s also very convenient.! Inside the root shell execute:
setprop persist.adb.tcp.port 5555Unfortunately that’s only half the job. These devices have the incredibly annoying habit of generating a different MAC address every time they boot. That means you’ll eventually want to configure a static IP address. We’ll do that later, once the Frameo software is no longer needed. For now I still kept Wi-Fi disabled.
Install a Launcher, Disable Frameo and Update WebView
The first thing I installed was a proper launcher. Technically the device doesn’t have one. Frameo itself acts as the launcher, but that’s exactly what we want to get rid of. I settled on OLauncher. It’s extremely minimalistic, but unlike several other launchers I tested, it doesn’t randomly crash. Download the APK and install it:
adb install Olauncher.apk abd input keyevent 3Android should now ask which launcher you want to use. Select OLauncher and choose Always. After rebooting the frame should start directly into OLauncher. Swipe up from the bottom to access all installed apps. Apart from the Settings app there isn’t much worth looking at.
You can always launch Android Settings through ADB:
adb shell am start -a android.settings.SETTINGSUnder Apps & Notifications -> Advanced -> Default Apps you can also change the default launcher later. Now that we have our own launcher we can disable Frameo completely:
adb shell su pm disable net.frameo.frame exit adb rebootThe Android 8 WebView included with the frame is far too old. Without updating it, the Home Assistant Companion App doesn’t render correctly. Mine shipped with WebView version 60. As of August 2026, version 138 is the latest release supporting Android 8. Download the combined APK from APK Mirror and replace the system version (Thanks to the ImmichFrame team for figuring this out.):
adb push webview.apk /sdcard/webview.apk adb shell su mount -o rw,remount /system && cp /system/app/webview/webview.apk /system/app/webview/webview.apk.bak mount -o rw,remount /system && rm -rf /system/app/webview/oat mount -o rw,remount /system && cp /sdcard/webview.apk /system/app/webview/webview.apk exit adb rebootAfter rebooting you can verify the installed version inside Android Settings. Enable Developer Options by tapping the Build Number several times, then check which WebView implementation is active.
Configure Wi-Fi
Now it’s finally time to connect the frame to Wi-Fi. Open the Settings app—either through the launcher or via ADB—and connect it to your network. I’d recommend assigning a static IP immediately. If you don’t want the frame accessing the Internet, you can also configure an invalid default gateway. Whether Android actually respects that… I honestly don’t know.
Unfortunately the manufacturer made another questionable design decision. Every boot generates a different MAC address. At first I assumed this was Android’s MAC randomization feature. It isn’t. Apparently they simply never programmed a real MAC address into the hardware, so Android has no choice but to invent one each time. Cheap TV boxes are known for doing exactly the same thing.
At the moment I have no idea how to fix this. It’s particularly annoying if you want to block Internet access in something like a FRITZ!Box because those rules are tied to the MAC address.
If you do isolate the frame from the Internet, don’t forget to configure your own NTP server—for example your FRITZ!Box:
adb shell settings put global ntp_server IP-DES-NTP-SERVERSInstall Home Assistant
Compared to everything else, this part is easy. Download the latest Home Assistant Companion App from the project’s GitHub repository. Please use the official release there. The F-Droid version usually lags behind a little and it also crashed on my device. Download app-minimal-release.apk, since this variant doesn’t require Google Play Services—which our frame doesn’t have anyway.
Install it:
adb install app-minimal-release.apkStart the app from OLauncher and connect it to your Home Assistant instance. Inside the Companion App settings you can allow it to become the default launcher application. From now on the Home Assistant app should start automatically after every reboot.
Automatically Dim the Display
One more useful ADB command. You can configure Android to dim the display after a certain timeout. Unfortunately it doesn’t switch off completely—it only dims—but it’s still useful. The timeout is specified in milliseconds. For two minutes:
adb shell settings put system screen_off_timeout 120000The maximum possible value is: 2147483647.
That already saves a decent amount of power. The long-term goal, however, is turning the display off completely
The remaining work will mostly happen inside Home Assistant, and this project is still far from finished. But it a beginning.
#android #homeassistant #linux #smarthome #unplugbigtech #unplugtrump @bjoern -
Cheap Home Assistant display the second try
https://blog.sengotta.net/cheap-home-assistant-display-the-second-try/Meanwhile the second cheap digital photo frame from Amazon has arrived. So the adventure of finding the cheapest possible display—or wall panel—for Home Assistant can continue.
This time I ordered a different model. Again a 15.6″ frame with the Frameo software, because that’s the important part. Frameo usually allows you to enable ADB directly from the user interface. Unless you receive a model where the USB port apparently isn’t wired for data transfer. That was exactly what happened with the previous one. This time I bought this model: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0FC26S5QS
With an automatically applied coupon I paid roughly €85 for it.
For that money you get a 15.6″ touchscreen powered by a Rockchip RK3326 with 1 GB RAM and 32 GB of flash storage. Certainly not impressive hardware, but just about acceptable for Home Assistant.
What you don’t get is equally interesting: no battery (which was exactly the point), no camera, no proximity sensor, no Google Play Services, and not even a Home button. Under Android that can occasionally become a bit annoying..
Here are a few photos of the frame. Nothing spectacular really. Cheap plastic, no fancy design, just a plain black frame.
On the back you can attach the included stand. There are also mounting holes for hanging it on a nail or using a VESA mount. Unfortunately, the power button is also located on the back. Since you need it to completely switch off the display and wake it up again later, this is not exactly the smartest place for it. Unlike the previous frame, there is neither a manufacturer name nor an FCC ID anywhere on the label.
The connector panel offers a SD card slot, a headphone jack, one USB-A port, one USB-C port (this one actually provides ADB access), and a barrel connector for the power supply. A 12 V / 2 A power adapter is included.
Power consumption is actually quite reasonable. With the display at 100% brightness the device draws somewhere between 6 and 8 watts depending on the workload. With the display dimmed it drops to around 3–4 W. If the display is turned off completely it only needs around 1.3–1.5 W. All measurements were taken using my KD302 power meter.
Of course we don’t want to run the bundled software forever. We want our own application on it. In my case that’s Home Assistant, but something like Immich Frame would work just as well. Let’s get started. As always: if something doesn’t work immediately, you may have to use your own brain once or twice.
Requirements
- A computer running Linux, macOS or Windows.
- A USB-A to USB-C cable. I haven’t tested USB-C to USB-C because these devices often implement the USB-C specification in… let’s call it a very creative way.
- Android Debug Bridge (adb) installed. There are plenty of installation guides available.
Enable ADB (and later Wireless ADB)
Connect the photo frame to your computer via USB and power it on. Go through the setup wizard, but don’t configure Wi-Fi yet. This prevents the Frameo app from immediately updating itself. You never know what surprises newer versions might bring.
Inside the Frameo app open Settings -> About and enable both the beta program and ADB.
Now connect to the frame using:
adb connectA confirmation dialog should appear on the frame asking whether to trust your computer. I’d recommend checking „Always allow.“ If no dialog appears, simply disable and re-enable ADB in the Frameo settings. That solved it for me. After every reboot you’ll need to reconnect using adb connect.
Once connected, enter the shell:
adb shellNow you are on the shell of the frame type su and you should be root. You can check that with the command whoami. Having root means you can basically do whatever you like with the device. Or completely break it. Commands beginning with ad` are executed on your computer. Commands without adb are entered inside the shell running on the photo frame.
Now we want to enalble wireless adb. It isn’t required and it does have security implications, but it’s also very convenient.! Inside the root shell execute:
setprop persist.adb.tcp.port 5555Unfortunately that’s only half the job. These devices have the incredibly annoying habit of generating a different MAC address every time they boot. That means you’ll eventually want to configure a static IP address. We’ll do that later, once the Frameo software is no longer needed. For now I still kept Wi-Fi disabled.
Install a Launcher, Disable Frameo and Update WebView
The first thing I installed was a proper launcher. Technically the device doesn’t have one. Frameo itself acts as the launcher, but that’s exactly what we want to get rid of. I settled on OLauncher. It’s extremely minimalistic, but unlike several other launchers I tested, it doesn’t randomly crash. Download the APK and install it:
adb install Olauncher.apk abd input keyevent 3Android should now ask which launcher you want to use. Select OLauncher and choose Always. After rebooting the frame should start directly into OLauncher. Swipe up from the bottom to access all installed apps. Apart from the Settings app there isn’t much worth looking at.
You can always launch Android Settings through ADB:
adb shell am start -a android.settings.SETTINGSUnder Apps & Notifications -> Advanced -> Default Apps you can also change the default launcher later. Now that we have our own launcher we can disable Frameo completely:
adb shell su pm disable net.frameo.frame exit adb rebootThe Android 8 WebView included with the frame is far too old. Without updating it, the Home Assistant Companion App doesn’t render correctly. Mine shipped with WebView version 60. As of August 2026, version 138 is the latest release supporting Android 8. Download the combined APK from APK Mirror and replace the system version (Thanks to the ImmichFrame team for figuring this out.):
adb push webview.apk /sdcard/webview.apk adb shell su mount -o rw,remount /system && cp /system/app/webview/webview.apk /system/app/webview/webview.apk.bak mount -o rw,remount /system && rm -rf /system/app/webview/oat mount -o rw,remount /system && cp /sdcard/webview.apk /system/app/webview/webview.apk exit adb rebootAfter rebooting you can verify the installed version inside Android Settings. Enable Developer Options by tapping the Build Number several times, then check which WebView implementation is active.
Configure Wi-Fi
Now it’s finally time to connect the frame to Wi-Fi. Open the Settings app—either through the launcher or via ADB—and connect it to your network. I’d recommend assigning a static IP immediately. If you don’t want the frame accessing the Internet, you can also configure an invalid default gateway. Whether Android actually respects that… I honestly don’t know.
Unfortunately the manufacturer made another questionable design decision. Every boot generates a different MAC address. At first I assumed this was Android’s MAC randomization feature. It isn’t. Apparently they simply never programmed a real MAC address into the hardware, so Android has no choice but to invent one each time. Cheap TV boxes are known for doing exactly the same thing.
At the moment I have no idea how to fix this. It’s particularly annoying if you want to block Internet access in something like a FRITZ!Box because those rules are tied to the MAC address.
If you do isolate the frame from the Internet, don’t forget to configure your own NTP server—for example your FRITZ!Box:
adb shell settings put global ntp_server IP-DES-NTP-SERVERSInstall Home Assistant
Compared to everything else, this part is easy. Download the latest Home Assistant Companion App from the project’s GitHub repository. Please use the official release there. The F-Droid version usually lags behind a little and it also crashed on my device. Download app-minimal-release.apk, since this variant doesn’t require Google Play Services—which our frame doesn’t have anyway.
Install it:
adb install app-minimal-release.apkStart the app from OLauncher and connect it to your Home Assistant instance. Inside the Companion App settings you can allow it to become the default launcher application. From now on the Home Assistant app should start automatically after every reboot.
Automatically Dim the Display
One more useful ADB command. You can configure Android to dim the display after a certain timeout. Unfortunately it doesn’t switch off completely—it only dims—but it’s still useful. The timeout is specified in milliseconds. For two minutes:
adb shell settings put system screen_off_timeout 120000The maximum possible value is: 2147483647.
That already saves a decent amount of power. The long-term goal, however, is turning the display off completely
The remaining work will mostly happen inside Home Assistant, and this project is still far from finished. But it a beginning.
#android #homeassistant #linux #smarthome #unplugbigtech #unplugtrump @bjoern -
Cheap digital picture frame as Home Assistant Display
https://blog.sengotta.net/cheap-digital-picture-frame-as-home-assistant-display/And the first display I ordered was already a complete failure. But let’s start from the beginning. Last week my wife found a digital photo frame on Amazon that can display a calendar. According to the marketing it is GDPR compliant, does not require a cloud, and all the usual buzzwords. Still, I don’t trust devices like that. Sooner or later they always end up abandoned by the manufacturer and become EOL.
So I looked for an alternative and quickly realized that our Home Assistant instance can already do everything we need. Show calendars, school schedules, weather forecasts, household tasks… and about a million other things. With Home Assistant the possibilities are basically endless if you are willing to spend enough time on it.
Now I only needed a suitable display for the dining room. It should be reasonably large and cheap. Something around 15.6″ would be nice. My first thought was simply hanging an old tablet on the wall. Unfortunately I don’t have anything larger than 8″ at stock. And tablets always come with batteries. Batteries eventually die, and in the worst case they also become a fire hazard. Removing them is usually not an option either. Either the case is glued together or the device refuses to work properly without the battery. Buying a new tablet with a display larger than 10″ is also far from cheap.
The second idea was using a Raspberry Pi or an ASUS Tinker Board together with a 15.6″ touchscreen. I still have enough single board computers lying around because buying a new Raspberry Pi is almost a luxury these days. Displays have become surprisingly affordable, but many of them have limitations regarding touch support under Linux. Most of the time it is basically a lottery whether the display you receive actually works correctly. Then you still have to configure everything so the screen dims automatically, a screensaver starts, power management works, and so on. Hiding all the cables so the whole thing doesn’t look like a weekend DIY project is another challenge.
Eventually I stumbled across a Reddit post about digital photo frames. Many of them use the Frameo app from a Danish company. Searching for „Frameo“ gives you an endless list of almost identical devices. They are in facte very basic Android tablets without batteries. Touchscreen sizes up to 32″ are quite common, and they usually come with 32 or 64 GB of storage. The first frame I bought was based on a Rockchip RK3326, an SoC that was already released back in 2018. You could almost call it recycling old leftovers. Depending on the manufacturer these devices run anything from Android 6 (basically the Stone Age) up to around Android 13. The interesting part is that Frameo supposedly allows you to enable ADB. On many devices this also gives you root access immediately. Security-wise… well… let’s not talk about that. But in this particular case that works in our favor. Once ADB is available you can simply install the Home Assistant Companion App, a browser, Immich, or whatever else you like. A 15.6″ device starts at around €90 on Amazon, which is pretty cheap. Don’t expect any well-known brands though. They all seem to roll off the same production line somewhere in Shenzhen and then receive a different logo before being shipped
So I ordered one.It came with 64 GB of storage and was sold by a company called Yalilia (probably just another dropshipper). Model number 159K, FCC ID 2ATFT-159K. The actual manufacturer is Shenzhen Keijinmin Electronics Co., Ltd. At first glance the frame actually looked quite decent. Power is supplied via USB-C instead of one of those cheap barrel connectors. Then came the first disappointment. It only accepts power through a USB-A to USB-C cable. Apparently they even saved the few cents required for proper USB-C Power Delivery negotiation. So powering it from a modern USB-C charger with a USB-C to USB-C cable simply doesn’t work. You always need a charger that provides nothing other than 5V. Annoying.
Next I wanted to enable ADB. After the initial setup I opened the Frameo app, joined the beta program, and enabled ADB. The option can be found under the „About“ section of the app. Frameo even documents this in their own FAQ: https://support.frameo.com/hc/en-us/articles/6126183308434–How-to-Enable-ADB-on-Your-Frame
Then I connected the device to my Linux laptop. Nothing. Not even `lsusb` showed anything. That was unusual because even if there is no driver available, the USB device should at least appear there. It didn’t. I found another tip online saying that USB Transfer first has to be enabled inside the Frameo app. That didn’t change anything either. Someone else claimed that the USB port becomes active for a few seconds during boot. Not on my device.
I tried countless cable combinations, including one of those slightly questionable USB-A to USB-A cables. Flipping the USB-C connector made no difference either. Under Windows the USB port was equally dead. Wi-Fi ADB connections were simply rejected. Apparently I wasn’t the only person running into this problem. Looking at the photos on the FCC website, my best guess is that the USB-C data lines simply aren’t connected at all.
The good part is that I bought it from Amazon, so returning it was completely painless. I’ve already ordered another one which is about €20 cheaper.
Maybe I’ll have better luck this time. I’ll definitely write another post once it arrives.
#android #diy #hacking #homeassistant #linux #smarthome #unplugbigtech #unplugtrum @bjoern -
Cheap digital picture frame as Home Assistant Display
https://blog.sengotta.net/cheap-digital-picture-frame-as-home-assistant-display/And the first display I ordered was already a complete failure. But let’s start from the beginning. Last week my wife found a digital photo frame on Amazon that can display a calendar. According to the marketing it is GDPR compliant, does not require a cloud, and all the usual buzzwords. Still, I don’t trust devices like that. Sooner or later they always end up abandoned by the manufacturer and become EOL.
So I looked for an alternative and quickly realized that our Home Assistant instance can already do everything we need. Show calendars, school schedules, weather forecasts, household tasks… and about a million other things. With Home Assistant the possibilities are basically endless if you are willing to spend enough time on it.
Now I only needed a suitable display for the dining room. It should be reasonably large and cheap. Something around 15.6″ would be nice. My first thought was simply hanging an old tablet on the wall. Unfortunately I don’t have anything larger than 8″ at stock. And tablets always come with batteries. Batteries eventually die, and in the worst case they also become a fire hazard. Removing them is usually not an option either. Either the case is glued together or the device refuses to work properly without the battery. Buying a new tablet with a display larger than 10″ is also far from cheap.
The second idea was using a Raspberry Pi or an ASUS Tinker Board together with a 15.6″ touchscreen. I still have enough single board computers lying around because buying a new Raspberry Pi is almost a luxury these days. Displays have become surprisingly affordable, but many of them have limitations regarding touch support under Linux. Most of the time it is basically a lottery whether the display you receive actually works correctly. Then you still have to configure everything so the screen dims automatically, a screensaver starts, power management works, and so on. Hiding all the cables so the whole thing doesn’t look like a weekend DIY project is another challenge.
Eventually I stumbled across a Reddit post about digital photo frames. Many of them use the Frameo app from a Danish company. Searching for „Frameo“ gives you an endless list of almost identical devices. They are in facte very basic Android tablets without batteries. Touchscreen sizes up to 32″ are quite common, and they usually come with 32 or 64 GB of storage. The first frame I bought was based on a Rockchip RK3326, an SoC that was already released back in 2018. You could almost call it recycling old leftovers. Depending on the manufacturer these devices run anything from Android 6 (basically the Stone Age) up to around Android 13. The interesting part is that Frameo supposedly allows you to enable ADB. On many devices this also gives you root access immediately. Security-wise… well… let’s not talk about that. But in this particular case that works in our favor. Once ADB is available you can simply install the Home Assistant Companion App, a browser, Immich, or whatever else you like. A 15.6″ device starts at around €90 on Amazon, which is pretty cheap. Don’t expect any well-known brands though. They all seem to roll off the same production line somewhere in Shenzhen and then receive a different logo before being shipped
So I ordered one.It came with 64 GB of storage and was sold by a company called Yalilia (probably just another dropshipper). Model number 159K, FCC ID 2ATFT-159K. The actual manufacturer is Shenzhen Keijinmin Electronics Co., Ltd. At first glance the frame actually looked quite decent. Power is supplied via USB-C instead of one of those cheap barrel connectors. Then came the first disappointment. It only accepts power through a USB-A to USB-C cable. Apparently they even saved the few cents required for proper USB-C Power Delivery negotiation. So powering it from a modern USB-C charger with a USB-C to USB-C cable simply doesn’t work. You always need a charger that provides nothing other than 5V. Annoying.
Next I wanted to enable ADB. After the initial setup I opened the Frameo app, joined the beta program, and enabled ADB. The option can be found under the „About“ section of the app. Frameo even documents this in their own FAQ: https://support.frameo.com/hc/en-us/articles/6126183308434–How-to-Enable-ADB-on-Your-Frame
Then I connected the device to my Linux laptop. Nothing. Not even `lsusb` showed anything. That was unusual because even if there is no driver available, the USB device should at least appear there. It didn’t. I found another tip online saying that USB Transfer first has to be enabled inside the Frameo app. That didn’t change anything either. Someone else claimed that the USB port becomes active for a few seconds during boot. Not on my device.
I tried countless cable combinations, including one of those slightly questionable USB-A to USB-A cables. Flipping the USB-C connector made no difference either. Under Windows the USB port was equally dead. Wi-Fi ADB connections were simply rejected. Apparently I wasn’t the only person running into this problem. Looking at the photos on the FCC website, my best guess is that the USB-C data lines simply aren’t connected at all.
The good part is that I bought it from Amazon, so returning it was completely painless. I’ve already ordered another one which is about €20 cheaper.
Maybe I’ll have better luck this time. I’ll definitely write another post once it arrives.
#android #diy #hacking #homeassistant #linux #smarthome #unplugbigtech #unplugtrum @bjoern -
💡 Can a smart light bulb put your home network at risk?
Not by magic—but like any Internet-connected device, a vulnerable or poorly secured smart bulb can become an entry point if it isn't updated or configured properly. In this Reel, I show why securing every smart device matters—not just your computer or phone.
💬 Comment "IoT" if you want more smart home security tips.
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💡 Can a smart light bulb put your home network at risk?
Not by magic—but like any Internet-connected device, a vulnerable or poorly secured smart bulb can become an entry point if it isn't updated or configured properly. In this Reel, I show why securing every smart device matters—not just your computer or phone.
💬 Comment "IoT" if you want more smart home security tips.
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#GWB - Smart Home: Großes Update für Google Home bringt optimiertes Gemini, Kamera-Integrationen & Feedback - https://www.googlewatchblog.de/2026/08/smart-home-grosses-update-gemini-kamera-feedback/ #googlehome #smarthome #Google
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#GWB - Smart Home: Großes Update für Google Home bringt optimiertes Gemini, Kamera-Integrationen & Feedback - https://www.googlewatchblog.de/2026/08/smart-home-grosses-update-gemini-kamera-feedback/ #googlehome #smarthome #Google
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Home Assistant 2026.8: Update steht ab sofort bereit
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Google Home: August-Update bringt interaktive Geschichten, mehr Kamera-Support und Verbesserungen
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Ich bin ganz klar auf der Seite der Home Assistant App. Sie ist ein exzellenter Helfer im Alltag, den ich nicht mehr missen möchte. Wer die App nicht nutzt, verpasst viele mächtige Funktionen. Nur wenige schöpfen ihr volles Potenzial aus. #HomeAssistant #SmartHome https://hobbyblogging.de/home-assistant-app
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Ich bin ganz klar auf der Seite der Home Assistant App. Sie ist ein exzellenter Helfer im Alltag, den ich nicht mehr missen möchte. Wer die App nicht nutzt, verpasst viele mächtige Funktionen. Nur wenige schöpfen ihr volles Potenzial aus. #HomeAssistant #SmartHome https://hobbyblogging.de/home-assistant-app
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Ich war so stolz auf mein Home Assistant, bis ich merkte, wie es langsam chaotisch wurde! 😅 Automationen hier, Entitäten da - da kommt schnell das Gefühl der Überforderung. Was tun bei technischen Schulden? 😱 Mehr dazu in meinem Artikel: https://hobbyblogging.de/technische-schulden-in-home-assistant #SmartHome #HomeAssistant #Automatisierung
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Ich war so stolz auf mein Home Assistant, bis ich merkte, wie es langsam chaotisch wurde! 😅 Automationen hier, Entitäten da - da kommt schnell das Gefühl der Überforderung. Was tun bei technischen Schulden? 😱 Mehr dazu in meinem Artikel: https://hobbyblogging.de/technische-schulden-in-home-assistant #SmartHome #HomeAssistant #Automatisierung
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heise+ | Smarte Bewässerung ohne Internet: Gardena-Pumpe im Praxistest
Der Gardena Haus- & Gartenautomat 5000 SilentComfort bietet smarte Gießautomatiken ohne Umweg übers Internet – aber nicht so komfortabel leise wie versprochen.
#Automatisierung #Hardware #IT #SmartHome #Technik #Test #news
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heise+ | Smarte Bewässerung ohne Internet: Gardena-Pumpe im Praxistest
Der Gardena Haus- & Gartenautomat 5000 SilentComfort bietet smarte Gießautomatiken ohne Umweg übers Internet – aber nicht so komfortabel leise wie versprochen.
#Automatisierung #Hardware #IT #SmartHome #Technik #Test #news
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🔧🚪 "Understanding" IoT protocols is like trying to differentiate between two equally baffling shades of beige. 2603 researchers gathered to debate #Zigbee vs. #Matter over Thread, discovering that, shockingly, both are equally capable of making your smart fridge marginally more intelligent than a dumb rock. 🍞📡
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.04221 #IoTProtocols #SmartHome #TechDebate #FridgeIntelligence #HackerNews #ngated -
🔧🚪 "Understanding" IoT protocols is like trying to differentiate between two equally baffling shades of beige. 2603 researchers gathered to debate #Zigbee vs. #Matter over Thread, discovering that, shockingly, both are equally capable of making your smart fridge marginally more intelligent than a dumb rock. 🍞📡
https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.04221 #IoTProtocols #SmartHome #TechDebate #FridgeIntelligence #HackerNews #ngated -
Hitzewellen machen das Zuhause oft unerträglich. Ich habe mir eine Klimaanlage einbauen lassen, um endlich wieder durchschlafen zu können. Klar, das kostet und erfordert Planung, aber die Lebensqualität ist es wert. Wer überlegt, sollte die Optionen gut abwägen! https://hobbyblogging.de/klimaanlage-haus-nachruesten #SmartHome #Klimaanlage
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Hitzewellen machen das Zuhause oft unerträglich. Ich habe mir eine Klimaanlage einbauen lassen, um endlich wieder durchschlafen zu können. Klar, das kostet und erfordert Planung, aber die Lebensqualität ist es wert. Wer überlegt, sollte die Optionen gut abwägen! https://hobbyblogging.de/klimaanlage-haus-nachruesten #SmartHome #Klimaanlage
