Tech Tinkering
New home for Miscellaneous Tech Projects/Procedures
We'll see how these shakeout ... I suspect there will be some reorganization and categorization of topics (e.g. smarthome, privacy) as worthwhile articles are salvaged from ventures.tpedersen.net. The notes on this page will likely be very random and may well be incomplete or a total mess!
Salvaged sub pages:
Acer Aspire One OS Alternatives - Notes from tests of various operating systems on AAO Netbook (2013-2022)
Dealing with the demise of Google Apps Legacy Free & Classic Sites ... roller coaster deadlines!
<More to come?>
Misc Tech Notes, Tweaks or Struggles
Learning Python [AGAIN}
Building a NLP Python Development Environment: Attempting to get the same world on Macbook AND Raspberry Pi. Probably just a bookmark collection for now:
SpaCy on my Pi and Mac?
Virtual Environments: Everybody seems to be doing it!
Python venv: how to create/activate/deactivate/delete @ https://python.land/virtual-environments/virtualenv
Intro/benefits @ https://kyletk.com/index.php/2017/10/28/python-benefits-using-virtual-environment/
The Right & Wrong way to install Python @ https://opensource.com/article/19/5/python-3-default-mac
Lightweight/Simple IDE that runs on Mac and RPI
Geany for now (been there/done that). More @ https://www.geany.org/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42013705/using-geany-with-python-virtual-environment
Apple Homekit: Interfacing Non-compliant Cameras [done]
Homebridge Tweak: Adding Cameras to Apple Homekit world to integrate into IOS Home app and to see how they may fit into home automation. The following uses older/cheap WiFi cameras that were previously interfaced using their own apps. Not too difficult, here are a few notes and links from the activity.
Camera Plugins: Gadzooks! There were 20 options when searching for Homebridge plugin @ https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=keywords%3Ahomebridge%20camera. Settled on Homebridge Camera FFmpeg, it seems to works fine. Installed plugin via Homebridge Config UI X . Some camera naming oddities but plugin seems to do fine with multiple cameras.
Interface strings for cameras: There is a large database of working/tested configurations on GitHub, will submit our working configs to the DB if everything seems solid. There is also a handy-looking RTSP directory @ https://security.world/rtsp/.
Other useful links:
Bottom-line: Cameras work but of marginal utility, will play with adding MotionEye to our HomePi world to incorporate into home automation.
Migrate from Smartthings V1 hub to Aerotec [done]
We will see how this all works out: Samsung/Smartthings sent an email offer to get an Aeotec hub for $35. Appears that ST is getting out of the hardware biz? Anyhoo, our ST hub is pretty old, v1 from 2014 or ..... so .... I bought the new hub. Will attempt to keep ST devices going for a few more years - looks easier than making a zigbee/z-wave gizmo out of a Raspberry Pi! This chatter may become a page of its own ...
Objective: Migrate ST V1 home hub and devices to Aeotec
Notes/Research
Aeotech Smartthings area - https://aeotec.com/smartthings/
Aeotech Smart Home Hub Setup - https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000240326
AND ... The kick in the pants to get this going: Our SmartThings Hub (2013) will stop working on June 30, 2021!
ST Forums @ community.smartthings.com (Note: ST is, indeed, a POS - it always has been. This forum is fun, lots of whining)
Migrating to Aeotec - https://community.smartthings.com/t/migrating-to-aeotec/211876
New Hub - https://community.smartthings.com/t/anyone-order-a-new-st-hub-from-the-smartest-house/222386
Official Update Regarding Hardware - https://community.smartthings.com/t/an-update-regarding-our-hardware/208259
Step by Step (apparently no migration tool for ST Hub V1 to Aeotech .... soooo hereeeee weeee goooo)
Inventory: In our case, we have Smartthings AND Homebridge (see homepi project). We use ST for some automation & remote access. but native homekit (Apple Ios) around the house ... e.g. - "Hey Siri, turn on the light"
The Smartthings Mobile App has always been total junk ... no config print or download/restore. I guess we make record (by hand) of config
I snapped a iPad screenshot of the stuff in the menu bar - this will be a MAJOR prob for large configurations:Rooms, Devices, Scenes, Automations, SmartApps & mainscreen to show which devices were in which rooms! Yeeesh!
Main Screen to show which devices were in which rooms!
Via the ST Developer Site (https://graph.api.smartthings.com/) ...
Created a spreadsheet (copy/paste) of Smartthings stuff My Devices and My SmartApps
Simplify: In our case (destined for apple homekit), reduce the number of devices that are directly controlled by ST hub.
Some Hue Bulbs were paired directly with the ST hub, these were reset and moved back to the Hue hub where they belonged!
Smartthings is a friggin rats-nest! We moved EVERY device that we could AND automations to homekit.
Luckily, we had our HomePi: Homebridge running on a Raspberry PiConnect all non-compliant devices to homebridge.io
Hue v1 hub: https://github.com/ebaauw/homebridge-hue#readme
Turn new Smartthings hub into a simple zigbee & z-wave hub/controller:
https://github.com/tonesto7/homebridge-smartthings#readme
Reset any Homekit Compliant devices and connect directly to Home app
In our case - isolated IoT subnet - it was important to have ios device connected to target WiFi network
Apple Accessory info @ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204893
WiFi devices: I found "Set up New Device" in Settings/Wi-Fi an easy route for WiFi-only devices
Resubnet: Yeeesh! HomePod pretty much requires iOS devices on the same subnet as HomePod and all those creepy IoT thingies!
Managed to keep our main systems w/ data isolated - Mac's, PC's, Linux & MIPi, of course
Had to move HomePi to 'Things' subnet
MoviePi: Fix YouTube Kodi App [solved]
Background: YouTube Add-on on Kodi stopped working in past year or so. I simply stopped using it on my parent's MoviePi. Created another MoviePi for our house and YouTube seemed to work fine ... FOR A WHILE. I'll be back to figure this out and clean this up
I fugured this out a while ago - step-by-step is in MoviePi Recipe
Notes/Research
This guide walked me thru Google API Key - https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/kodi/youtube-api-key.html
More on YouTube Add-On here - https://koditips.com/setup-use-youtube-kodi-addon/
Web Interface - https://www.comparitech.com/kodi/kodi-web-interface/
Duplicate LIFX Bulbs in Homekit [solved]
Another cleanup item
The Problem: One of our LIFX (wifi) bulbs appears to have paired with Smarttings AND Homekit. Shows up twice in home app.
This was easily fixed when I moved from the Smartthing Hub to Aerotec - THERE WAS NO MIGRATION TOOL! I simply reset the LIFX bulbs and now use native HomeKit (Apple), never moved them back to Smartthings! See below ... we now now using Smarthings for as little as possible ... in our home, only to control original Smartthings devices (Centralite Zigbee) or Z-Wave.
Factory Reset article here - https://support.lifx.com/hardware-resetting-your-lifx-ryXKbdiLO
Hue V1 Bulb Factory Reset [solved]
The Big Issue: Our "Smarthome" is getting outdated. Hubs and devices purchased during the dawn of IoT are slowly being dropped from support
Little Issue: We have a lone v1 Hue Light bulb that was paired directly to a v1 Smartthings hub. I needed to factory reset it and move to the Hue Hub in an attempt to get a few more years out of it. Here's my How-to-collection and hopefully a procedure that works
Circa 2017 (some broken links):
From smartthings forum: https://community.smartthings.com/t/hue-bulb-factory-reset-solved-if-your-hue-bulb-is-on-a-zll-channel/84967,
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Reset_Philips_Hue_Bulbs
Using Bulb Serial number and Hue App - MUCH Easier! https://www.howtogeek.com/247801/how-to-troubleshoot-your-philips-hue-lights/
This last one worked! Simple! Bulb operates fine via Hue app so I deleted the ST bulb! Too Easy!In Hue App: Room Setup, add bulb to desired room - sos you can see it!
in Smartthings App: Delete the old/original bulb. It will still show in app after the move, but ST can't control it
Easier than the last time I tried this ... BUT ...
ST "Smart Lighting" app is now gooffed upped! When I try to adjust ANY Automations in the Smart Lighting App - I see "Something Went wrong. Please try to reinstall the SmartApp again" ... which is a pain in the arse because we have all sorts of complicated lighting automations that were really hard to define on the stupid ST app in the first place.
Ack! Rebooted the hub, reset all IOS ST apps, still the same ... will have to hand-record all automations and delete, re-add the "Smart Lighting App"(This is going to turn out bad, I just know it!) . The topic is on fire on the ST support board @ https://community.smartthings.com/t/help-smart-lighting-app-issue-with-error-something-went-wrong-please-try-to-install-the-smartapp-again. I put a watch on it and filled my email inbox!
I basically recreated all of the Smart Lighting App rules using the 'Automations' feature on the new ST app. Really wasn't that bad to do. I'll bet the ST folk are trying to get others to use this feature and get rid of the smart apps. They should just say something on the forum!
Stuff to Research
Data Privacy, Data Science & Division - How'd we get here
This stuff goes back to approx 2008 when I got creeped out by the Creepiness factor .... how did we get here
Link Collection for now ... will be weeding thru these ...
Going-going ... Privacy stuff from ventures
IoT Security & Privacy Resources (thru 2019) @ https://web.archive.org/web/20230128135623/http://ventures.tpedersen.net/errata/iotsecurity
Online Privacy Check up (thru 2018) @ https://web.archive.org/web/20230402122508/http://ventures.tpedersen.net/projects/online-privacy-checkup
Jan 28 is Data Privacy Day (thru 2017) @ https://web.archive.org/web/20230531191054/http://ventures.tpedersen.net/projects/dataprivacyday2015-passtheword
Online Privacy 3-Step (2013) @ https://web.archive.org/web/20230531182810/http://ventures.tpedersen.net/projects/onlineprivacy3-step
Privacy Primer (2012) @ https://web.archive.org/web/20230531193048/http://ventures.tpedersen.net/projects/privacyprimer
Privacy on the Web: Is it a Losing Battle? @ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wharton-podcast/privacy-on-the-web-is-it-a-losing-battle/
Politics & Campaigns