For Those interested in Home Automation using Home Assistant - Linux Pro Magazine Article ....

[OldMidWest Swabbie]

For those that are interested in using Home Assistant,  there was an article published in the October 2017 issue of Linux Pro Magazine as part of the issue's main focus - " IoT At Home " -  Home Assistant article reference ... 

You will find that within this article, they approach implementation slightly different than what was presented in the January Meeting's presentation :  

"Home Assistant requires a Linux System.  An ordinary Raspberry Pi, acting as a dust catcher under the sofa is fine.  Home Assistant makes no particular demands on the memory and processing power.  If you prefer to keep your home-grown projects farther apart,  Proxmox VE  or other virtualization platforms provide a useful service. " 

"To get started, create an additional user for the Home Assistant account and install additional packages on Ubuntu Server 16.04 : 

adduser --system homeassistant 

apy-get install pyton-pip python3-dev 

pip install --upgrade virtualenv 

Next install Home Assistant in a virtual environment in the home directory of the user account you just created (see listing 1). "

 
"One advantage of locking up Python in a virtual environment is that,  if necessary,  Home Assistant can install more Python packages during operations, and the installation will occur in a separate directory tree - without the need for root privileges on the base system.  ... 
The project  documentation  offers a detailed description of how to configure Home Assistant so that it automatically restarts after a reboot. " 

This issue also covers, Streaming with a Rasp Pi Zero W, Whonix - Put your privacy first, along with Adding AI to your homegrown scripts with TensorFlow,  and Ranger Fast File Management with the use of vi-like key bindings among other articles. 

So now it is up to your own creativity as to how you wish to go forward on automating your home because Home Assistant, as we learn this month, that this program is quit flexible in offering a automation platform as an Open Source program.  Good Luck in handling your project.  Take Care !