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It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

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Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#251

Post by swiftcoder »

OGWhales wrote: post #244
swiftcoder wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical stuff (window bars and a security door) is much, much more effective I've lived in a couple of countries where everyone has bars on all their windows due to perceived (in some case correctly, in other cases not) crime levels. It's... not great? I'd much rather live somewhere where I don't need to live in a prison compound.

I don't find surveillance cameras better in that regard. I think physical security can look decent too, like wrought iron window security bars can actually look quite nice imo.

> I don't find surveillance cameras better in that regard

Yeah, that's fair. I do prefer living somewhere that requires neither.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#252

Post by al_borland »

fwip wrote: post #248
darrylb42 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had one food delivery driver call me while standing in the middle of the street. Seemed like he was afraid to approach and knock or ring. So strange.

Some people get really weird if you approach their house in a way they don't like. I imagine if that happens a few times to you as a delivery driver, you might be more cautious.

I know people like this, but would assume if they ordered a delivery that the person would be expected and not a cause of alarm. If someone can’t handle a person coming to their door, they shouldn’t be allowed to use delivery services.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#253

Post by [deleted] »

mrb wrote: post #112
lukeify wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are super-sensitive to over-engineering, so you over-engineered your requirements and ultimately your end product, just in a different methodology and framework.

The requirements are not over engineered. They are what they are. Wireless and configurable chime. They are fixed parameters. But my implementation of these requirements is absolutely not over engineered. I argue it is the simplest and most reliable it could be done.

[deleted]

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#254

Post by atoav »

methyl wrote: post #99
atoav wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you find one that meets your requirements that is an option. Granted maybe your requirements are ridiculous. But I also had cases where I DIYed a solution because the commercially available solutions all either didn't fulfil the requirements and/or had anti-features that ruled out their use. I haven't had any regret so far with these solutions, with some of these being active for over a decade. There may be over e…

> That alone is more complex than the whole system the user built here. so what?

Your comment got downvoted, because on this site it is frowned upon to write lazy, confrontative and uninformative comments. If you don't have an argument that furthers the discussion consider not writing instead.

Simple systems have the advantage that there are less moving parts. Less moving parts means less chance of failure. That is a trade-off an engineer will sometimes take even if it means building a new thing, sometimes something with more moving parts is needed and that is okay as well.

Maybe your requirement is to have a doorbell that does work when the internet is out. Who knows? OP might live in a place where this happens more often. Or they might not and like the idea to never again have to think about their doorbell-manufacturers cloud and the latests exploits targeting that IoT product. There are many reasons why simple can be the right choice and any true engineer would say: "depends" instead of "so what".

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#255

Post by VladVladikoff »

IanCal wrote: post #97
VladVladikoff wrote: post #3

I’ve recently been looking into what older gen IoT devices I can buy used for cheap and are also hackable (some existing progress has been done before me is my bar). My first adventure was with an Amazon Echo Dot 2, I picked up two off Facebook marketplace for $5 each and managed to vibe code my way into a working implementation of LibreEcho (which does not currently support the echo dot). I’ve got that wired into my…

What about building something from scratch? Or is it the repurposing you like?

I looked at that at first but man you can’t beat $5. I was looking at a build which was $200 in parts just to get started. It’s also no simple task to build a mic array that is separated from speakers and having a decent speaker cavity etc. my skills with speaker chamber design and 3D printing are no where near my programming skills.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#256

Post by VladVladikoff »

Infiniti20 wrote: post #186
VladVladikoff wrote: post #3

I’ve recently been looking into what older gen IoT devices I can buy used for cheap and are also hackable (some existing progress has been done before me is my bar). My first adventure was with an Amazon Echo Dot 2, I picked up two off Facebook marketplace for $5 each and managed to vibe code my way into a working implementation of LibreEcho (which does not currently support the echo dot). I’ve got that wired into my…

What’s your home local ai setup?

3090 GPU, Qwen atm, but probably going to switch models at some point.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#257

Post by VladVladikoff »

KPGv2 wrote: post #60
VladVladikoff wrote: post #3

I’ve recently been looking into what older gen IoT devices I can buy used for cheap and are also hackable (some existing progress has been done before me is my bar). My first adventure was with an Amazon Echo Dot 2, I picked up two off Facebook marketplace for $5 each and managed to vibe code my way into a working implementation of LibreEcho (which does not currently support the echo dot). I’ve got that wired into my…

Amazon had these little Dash buttons about 10 years ago. The goal was you would click one, and it would re-order that product from Amazon. Many were branded. Basically just a wifi button. I hacked one so I could, in my brain fog, record the moment i started and finished feeding my infant by sending a ping to a server via a simple click. There's a bunch up on eBay. Could probably 3M tape one beside your door. Easy sol…

This is cool! I have wanted a button I could slap when I sit down at my desk that sets off an hour timer to get up and stretch.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#258

Post by cube00 »

al_borland wrote: post #252
fwip wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people get really weird if you approach their house in a way they don't like. I imagine if that happens a few times to you as a delivery driver, you might be more cautious.

I know people like this, but would assume if they ordered a delivery that the person would be expected and not a cause of alarm. If someone can’t handle a person coming to their door, they shouldn’t be allowed to use delivery services.

> would assume if they ordered a delivery that the person would be expected and not a cause of alarm

The problem is they've probably gone to the wrong house before and met an owner who got defensive.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#259

Post by DarmokTanagra »

qmr wrote: post #66
johnhtodd wrote: post #27

I am constantly amazed that people rely on anyone else's compute infrastructure for things like doorbells, cameras, locks, switches, or sensors (network infrastructure is, at the moment, a seemingly acceptable integration for isolated communication.) There is inevitable over-pricing and capture by these companies; it's in their nature. Add to this the security and downtime risks, and the equation really doesn't look…

The notion disgusts me. All of my shit is open source and locally hosted. I couldn't find a front door camera I liked so I ended up building my own from parts. Having worked for "the cloud" for years, I tell everyone I know, there is no cloud, there is only other people's hard drives.

gross, everything I own is smelted from raw silicon that I sourced from the beach down the street.

Re: It takes 5 cloud services to hear my doorbell

#260

Post by ncruces »

close04 wrote: post #220
ncruces wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and the person engaged with them is pointing out that more complex solutions exist because someone added other requirements. Maybe “I want a configurable chime” is just a less popular requirement than “I want to be notified on my phone even if I'm not at home.” Also, Excel is famously complex because, despite most users only using 20% of the features, no one uses the same 20%, so if you want cover close to 100%…

> Excel is famously complex because, despite most users only using 20% of the features, no one uses the same 20% I think you're comparing 2 very different scenarios here. Excel is solution engineered to meet every requirement under the sun, for every possible user. "The doorbell" is something designed and built by 1 person to meet exactly their own requirements. whstl (the other commenter) insists that he is better s…

> "The doorbell" is something designed and built by 1 person to meet exactly their own requirements.

Nothing wrong with that.

Also nothing wrong with people going to great lengths to build an Excel replacement that fits their exact requirements like glove, by ignoring 99.9% of what makes Excel … excel.

The issue is calling Excel over engineered for catering to everyone else:

> You would be surprised that 99% of the solutions out there are complete over engineered stacks that depend on wifi devices, Internet access, connecting to various cloud services...

Even if all some people wanted was a custom sound on their doorbells, I bet many of those people will want to transfer the sound using a smartphone rather than an SD card they can't modify with a computer many don't own. And, given that capability, even more people will want to be notified of a ring on their phones, and then why not when they're outside (maybe on the backyard) away from the LAN, and then why not while they're at work, and so on and so forth.

The “over engineered” solutions are actually engineered to cater to everyone else, that is all.

And to make whstl's point: I find it much easier to justify internet and cloud to support a doorbell that's genuinely more useful (rings remotely) than SD cards and custom hardware to justify something as … frivolous as changing the bell's sound.

PS: I just spent $70 modding a $20 Casio watch. I loved every second of it.

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