The -no-tvservice turns off HDMI and -no-usb turns off the USB/ethernet board in order to reduce power consumption. My startup file looks like this: /home/pi/startup.sh -no-tvservice -no-usb

You’ll need the address of your home-assistant installation from the next step. Install xscreensaver and set it to blank.įinally, you’ll need to configure the exact startup parameters by creating or editing ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/autostart.

Copy the startup script to /home/pi/startup.sh.

Set up a static IP address on the wifi or ethernet network.

Configure password-less SSH access (make sure to use the SSH keys from the Home Assistant computer from above).

Set the hostname to spellbook- is the location of this device).

All wired up: Raspberry Pi 3 B+, 7″ Touchscreen, 32GB MicroSD card, and Power supply Raspberry Pi Kiosk Installation You could probably do it for less if you used a smaller screen, older raspberry pi, etc. This comes out to $108 for hardware and $40 for the decorative case, totaling ~$148 per spellbook as of mid-2019. Skip to the end of the post for an exact part-list. They happened to fit the 7″ touchscreen perfectly so that the book can still close easily yet the hardware is hidden. I was able to find jewelry boxes in the shape of books from local artisans near San Francisco for about $40 each. So I decided to build “magic spellbooks” from Raspberry Pis that act as controllers around the house. But home-assistant.io is so much more powerful than these off-the-shelf solutions. There are many easy remote control products out there, like Harmony by Logitech. I needed a way to for guests to control my home automation.

Home assistant on raspberry pi zero