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NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

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Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#111
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Secure phones use it. IPhones (Secure Enclave), Pixels (Titan M2).... Yeah, that's not much....

"TPM" =/= Secure Enclave =/= Titan M2 You could argue TPM can work as a generic term for security coprocessors, but on a technical forum that makes as much sense as saying the pixel tablet is an "iPad".

To be fair, I was using TPM a little genetically (hence the "etc"). I (perhaps wrongly) assume most SoC's today have a non-volatile area for storing roots of trust and possibly a bootloader. My only embedded experience was an Android-based tablet project where DRM on the firmware was of major import because features were locked behind time/geo-limited license keys.

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get the hate, it looks like they reverse-engineered the nest thermostat and wrote a firmware for it? That's super cool and the fact that an open source project doesn't have a privacy policy yet doesn't really matter at this point

> ...looks like they reverse-engineered the nest thermostat and wrote a firmware... Not to diminish what this project has done, but they modified existing firmware to make it communicate with a different server. They've also implemented a server for the thermostat API. It's pretty neat but, at this point, it's just a hacked firmware that talks to a different proprietary server. Edit: It's not even a modification to t…

Piling-on to my comment here: They're using an exploit to get access to the filesystem of the device: https://wiki.exploitee.rs/index.php/Exploiting_Nest_Thermost...

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#113

Are they good options for cloud-freeish thermostats? I have two units (one for upstairs and one for downstairs). We have two nests but they’re so frustrating. I’ve lobotomized the “smart behavior” as much as a I can. I want a thermostat that connects to the home assistant I already have

> Are they good options for cloud-freeish thermostats? There are connected thermostats that do not feature a WiFi radio. I don't like zwave (I would really prefer WiFi with a HTTP or MQTT interface) but there is no thermostat that a) has a modern/working WiFi radio and b) a documented API. Venstar is the only company that makes WiFi with an API but they seem to use the cheapest possible WiFi radios and I could never…

I'm working on https://sett.homes which is in this spirit. Instead of an Atmel it's an ESP32.

It uses MQTT with Wifi as you requested :)

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#114
post #3

Have this be an add-on supported by HomeAssistant and I'm in

It's reliant on a bounty iirc for the server and device side code to be open-sourced. Will be about an hour after that I reckon and I cannot wait to contribute.

After you flash the exploit and SSH into the thermostat you can see it at https://github.com/codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat/issu...

It's a boot script called /bin/nolongerevil.sh that supplies its own trust material and redirects traffic intended for frontdoor.nest.com to a hard-coded IP 15.204.110.215. 99.9% of this image is the original copyrighted Nest image. Maybe it's enough for the bounty though? And I suppose you could change that IP to a local server. If you wanted to publish the server side Nest API discovered through WireShark . Just stand up your own http rest server.

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#115
post #89

Seems a good step towards a whole replacement firmware. No real reason to keep running google's code on these things.

I'm reasonably excited about the prospect of this authorship of replacement firmware

I think that putting MQTT on this would be an important step toward local control and connecting it to Home Assistant

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#116

If your boiler supports OpenTherm then get this thermostat controller https://github.com/Alexwijn/SAT Weather comp + low load comp + PID which means your room temperature works at the precision range supported by your temperature sensor. In my case, within 0.02 Celsius. Saves energy and makes your house more comfortable. Operated via home assistant. See real time data in Grafana https://gasboiler.grafana.net/public-d…

We replaced a boiler in our last house a few years back. We got a Vaillant, at least in part because I found that there was a Vaillant add-on board available which could do OpenTherm, and the nest controller could do that in theory too.

When it came to the install I was told in no uncertain terms that even though they produced the board and it was compatible with my boiler, any attempt at installation by myself or their approved installation engineer would immediately void the warranty.

So that was the end of my OpenTherm journey. Thanks Vaillant!

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#118
post #27

The original Nest thermostat and app has been abandonware since 2017, as far as I can tell. We got one in 2014, and I can only remember one change. A couple years into my use of it, the iPhone X came out, with the notch and taller screen. The Nest app eventually got updated to fill the whole screen, and that's it.

To be fair, I can't imagine why an app for a thermostat would need regular updates - aside from what's necessary to keep the app functional on modern OS versions.

Re: NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware

#119
post #39

So, trade the "evil" Google for the totally not evil trust-me-bro "nolongervil Corp"? Don't get me wrong, I love to see things like this, but just go all the way and allow folks to set their own URLs (maybe to servers they own in their own home).

They've announced an intent to open source it after they collect the bounty. So you could probably do just that.
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