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    Computer Suggestions

    Look's like it is time to move my HS3 installation to a dedicated mini-computer. I know Homeseer sells dedicated boxes but I would prefer to use something that I could repurpose if needed in the future. I have thought about getting something with enough power to support blueiris in the future but they may be asking too much. Would like to keep the unit light and energy efficient and hopefully on the less expensive side, say 300 or under.

    I found these on amazon: MINIX Neo Z83-4 , Intel Atom X5-Z8300 Cherry Trail Fanless Mini PC Desktop Computer Windows 10 (64-bit) [4GB/32GB/Dual-Band Wi-Fi/Gigabit Ethernet/Dual Output/4K] but wasn't sure if they would work as just a dedicated HS box. any suggestions or thoughts are welcome.

    PS I would prefer to stick with windows given my current plugins.

    #2
    I have a Qotom Q350P running Windows 10 Pro. I bought this bare bone model https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and built it out with 8GB of RAM and a SSD drive. It runs GREAT and I've had zero problems in the past 4 months. This model has 4 serial ports and 6 USB ports plus it has a WIFI card in it. I actually just bought a second one as a spare/test box. By the time I bought the OS, I think I have maybe $425 in each one.

    The wall mounting system is pretty neat and allows you to put it in pretty much any orientation you want.

    Comment


      #3
      I have a gigabyte brix with ssd and 4gb of ram, similar to the homeseer SEL
      It's been bullet proof so far

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Techvet View Post
        I have a Qotom Q350P running Windows 10 Pro. I bought this bare bone model https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and built it out with 8GB of RAM and a SSD drive. It runs GREAT and I've had zero problems in the past 4 months. This model has 4 serial ports and 6 USB ports plus it has a WIFI card in it. I actually just bought a second one as a spare/test box. By the time I bought the OS, I think I have maybe $425 in each one.

        The wall mounting system is pretty neat and allows you to put it in pretty much any orientation you want.
        Originally posted by gd1210 View Post
        I have a gigabyte brix with ssd and 4gb of ram, similar to the homeseer SEL
        It's been bullet proof so far
        Thank you for both of the suggestions, I will check both out. I had looked at the gigabyte but the reviews were a little mixed. As for doing a little project work on a bare bones comp, that could be a good weekend project. Thanks again.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by gd1210 View Post
          I have a gigabyte brix with ssd and 4gb of ram, similar to the homeseer SEL
          It's been bullet proof so far
          Do you have a link by chance to the one you picked? Also, any guess how much electricity it uses? Thx

          Comment


            #6
            I just wanted to weigh in on this. I use a notebook laptop with 4g ram, core 2 duo, 160g HD. Having a laptop has a lot of advantages. It basically has it's own battery backup built in. If you want to include something you can walk around with it. It's portable so it can go anywhere you want to put it. Being that it has both wifi and ethernet, unplugging from ethernet and being portable is very useful especially during include or going into another room to add events etc.. The smartstick+ is a bonus also.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by cowinger View Post
              I just wanted to weigh in on this. I use a notebook laptop with 4g ram, core 2 duo, 160g HD. Having a laptop has a lot of advantages. It basically has it's own battery backup built in. If you want to include something you can walk around with it. It's portable so it can go anywhere you want to put it. Being that it has both wifi and ethernet, unplugging from ethernet and being portable is very useful especially during include or going into another room to add events etc.. The smartstick+ is a bonus also.
              Not a bad idea as well. None of the rest of my stuff is on power back up but this would be a start. All good ideas.

              Comment


                #8
                It's been a couple of years that I DIY'd two computers for Homeseer 3. One is running Wintel and the other Linux. Base iSeries motherboard and 16Gb memory is the same for both. Both utilize pico PSU's and are doing fine today. The Pico PSU's utilize 4-6 AMP 12VDC laptop style bricks.

                The Homeseer user wanted something that could be fit on to a wall board next to his alarm panel. The mini cases are the same ones that I utilize in two vehicle car pc's today. The other larger case is from a batch of cases that I purchased a few years back. It matches 6 other computer servers today (Linux and Windows). Changed the included Intel CPU fan (too tall) for a 1U quiet server style CPU fan. Went to .M2 style small SSD drives in the two computers. I do not recall the total cost of these but guessing that they were less than $500 with no OS. DIYing your Homeseer 3 computer provides you with an opportunity to a la carte individual components.

                Older servers are using BCM motherboards with built in 19VDC inputs going to laptop style power bricks.

                Since then also built a HS3 box from a Pine64 2Gb machine and Xi5A. Both of these run Ubuntu 16.04 / 64 bit today and are doing well.
                Concurrently purchased a PipoX7 Atom Baytrail mini PC configured to be an HSTouch computer which is connected to an openframe 15 " multitouch LCD.
                This computer was configured to triple boot and tested Android, Windows 10 and Ubuntu on it. Left it a Windows 10. Only issue with it is that it uses a USB style built in integrated NIC. This does prevent me from waking it up remotely although I can touch the screen to wake it up.

                Homeseer Computer DIY 2015




                Running HS3 in Linux here and using a Wintel Server Virtual box to run MS SAPI for Homeseer.

                BTW here is a picture of a BCM industrial style mini iTX board and specifications. (lots of Gold mentioned)

                Using older BCM motherboards for PFSense, Zoneminder (X2), MythTV, HS2 (legacy) boxes.

                BCM MX170QD motherboard (suggested price of $309 USD with no CPU or memory).

                [ATTACH]61002[/ATTACH]
                • High Reliability Gold Plating Connectors
                • Intel LGA1151 socket supports 6th/7th generation 14nm Intel Kaby Lake/ Skylake Core i7/i5/i3 and Celeron processors
                • 2 x (Gold Plated) SODIMM slots support up to 32 GB
                • Dual Channel DDR4 system memory
                • Supports 3 Independent Displays
                • 2 x DP (Gold Plated), 1 x HDMI (Gold Plated), 1 x LVDS
                • Optional eDP
                • 4 x SATA III (Gold Plated), 4 x USB 2.0 (Gold Plated), 6 x USB 3.0 (Gold Plated)
                • 2 x COM Ports
                • 1 x PCIe x16 (Gold Plated)
                • 1 x mini-PCIe (Gold Plated) with SATA III support
                • 1 x M.2 (Gold Plated) (2280 or 2242)
                • 1 x 4-pin DC-in (Gold Plated)
                • iAMT 11.0
                • Optional TPM 2.0
                • Kaby Lake processors support OS Win 10 and above; support Win 7 with external video cards
                Last edited by Pete; May 5, 2017, 06:53 AM.
                - Pete

                Auto mator
                Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by cowinger View Post
                  I just wanted to weigh in on this. I use a notebook laptop with 4g ram, core 2 duo, 160g HD. Having a laptop has a lot of advantages.
                  +1
                  I've done the same. Refurbished off-lease laptops are relatively inexpensive, and many are designed for durability and reliability (eg. Dell Latitude) and often come with Win pro installed. HS and it's plug-ins do not require bleeding edge features nor unusual horsepower, so a box that is a few years old will have more than enough capability. (I have several devices including an Edgeport connected by USB, so I can't pick mine up and move it around the house, but I use VNC to do that bit.)

                  (You do miss out on the fun of building a cool box like Pete's though. )
                  Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
                  HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

                  HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Here first Cumulus server was running on a laptop and it did well for years. Updated Cumulus to Wheezy / RPi2 a couple of years ago to shrink down the footprint. It is running fine today. Next maybe going to utilize WeeWx Linux software for the weather station which will let me combine the Davis weather station stuff with 1-Wire weather sensors. That said too if I go to utilizing the wireless doo-all meteostick then I can combine wireless Davis instruments (more than just one weather station) and 1-wire instruments.

                    The small computer building stuff comes from multiple mini pc installations in two vehicles over the years integrating video to HU displays (tapping in to the automobile OEM video bus is a bit more granular stuff).
                    - Pete

                    Auto mator
                    Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                    Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                    HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                    HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                    HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                    X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I bought this
                      https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16883800009

                      And popped in a 8GB stick of RAM, and deplattered 2TB external drive.

                      It cost more than some options out there, but I have a full Windows 10 box that is pretty darn fast. All for well under $400

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I was also looking into the Minix Neo Z83-4 for the ultra low power consumption of about 4-5 watts idle.
                        Would that be a good choice?
                        would it support a microsoft kinect.

                        It would not be used for anything else just to run the Home Automation software and kinect, Insteon PLM/USB.

                        Ty.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          All great suggestions! Going to give the following a try unless anyone says run away... figured it is pretty light weight and uses minimal power. Fingers crossed it works out.





                          Now I get to figure out how to move the HS3 installation...

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Very nice Brad!!

                            Let us know how it goes for you.
                            - Pete

                            Auto mator
                            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Pete View Post
                              Very nice Brad!!

                              Let us know how it goes for you.


                              Pete, think it will work for a headless HS3 platform? I just don't have the time to build a computer... I looked at the posts you shared previously and it felt like the specs were similar to a shade ahead of what we looked at last year

                              Comment

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