I’ve been tinkering around with home labbing off and on for several years, but never really got into the thick of it, until recently.
Several years ago, a good friend (now gone) gifted us an Afinibot A3SU 3D printer along with a Raspberry Pi 3B. We set it up with OctoPrint and got a fair bit of use out of it for a while. Eventually, the printer needed some parts replaced, so it got shelved. And then life happened. I lost my cat. We moved. Twice. I had major surgery.
The Pi had been sitting idle through all of that, waiting for us to finally pick the project back up. With our previous place, I’d been thinking more seriously about expanding our smart home setup and doing something a bit more deliberate with my cobbled-together home lab.
I’ve had pieces of a smart home for the better part of the past decade or so (don’t at me, it’s not my fault I’m getting old and can’t remember when I bought my Hue starter kit, and I don’t feel like scrolling through my Insta history). As I’ve moved over the years, I’ve always made it a point to figure out a way to continue integrating my smart home with my home-home.
That paused when we moved into that stacked condo. The wiring was obnoxious, and the light fixtures required an overhaul to our bulb inventory. And then suddenly I was booked for my major surgery, and it became less of a priority.
It continued to stay in the back of my mind throughout my recovery, but shifting priorities all year meant it was something I’d focus on tomorrow, but tomorrow never happened.
Fast forward to Halloween, and I’m planning ideas with our neighbours for next year and how I can integrate smart home features. That had me excited again, and I was planning out decorating for Christmas when we’re hit with the news that we’re gonna have to move.
Not wasting any time (we’ve already been through the nightmare of taking a landlord to the LTB and didn’t want to deal with it all again, though we kept it in our back pocket just in case), we find a house. And so the smart home planning begins again. In earnest.
As part of upping the smart home game, I had been looking into some options over the last few years and kept coming back to Home Assistant (and other things, but this post isn’t about them). I had settled on this being the route we’d take with the house. Somehow. Eventually.
I kept going down the Home Assistant rabbit hole, and kept thinking about what hardware I’d run it on. I seriously contemplated getting a Home Assistant Green, even went so far as to budget for it, but eventually decided that spending money on an underpowered device I’d want to upgrade in six months felt pointless. Might as well invest in something else from the start.
I hadn’t settled on the hardware I wanted to use – I contemplated getting a mini PC, but couldn’t commit. The move came and went, and while I was away dog-sitting for my sister and brother-in-law, I was reminded of how horrible the thermostat at our new place was. I needed to get something smarter, but compatible with Home Assistant. I settled on an ecobee.
When I got back, Home Assistant wasn’t on my mind until an untimely power outage fried the existing thermostat. It was showtime for the ecobee.
Once it was installed, I kept thinking about how I needed to do more while we were still settling in and unpacking. The Pi! It was in front of me this entire time.
I hadn’t outright forgotten about it. I quite literally packed it up for the move. But it was always designated for (and labelled) “3D Printer stuff!” It had its purpose in our new home, even if its purpose was indefinitely on hold.
I figured I might as well use it for Home Assistant. Debated getting a separate SD card so I could preserve OctoPrint, but without knowing how soon we’d revisit the 3D printer project, I decided to not spend a penny more.
Once I made the decision, I didn’t waste any time. I grabbed it off the shelf and got it connected to the network.
It felt good, like I was finally putting something back to use that had been waiting quietly. And it wasn’t just about finally trying Home Assistant. This was the last thing Pete ever gave me.
It still worked.
It still mattered.