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Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

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Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#61

Post by jon_richards »

SomeHacker44 wrote: post #48
jon_richards wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to have blackout blinds that close every night and open 30 minutes before my alarm goes off. I haven't been able to find a quality (quiet!) product that does this.

I have Hunter Douglas Pirouette blinds in my room, controlled by Control4. They are very quiet when going from open to close or vice versa, but loud going up to down. Look at a video to understand the difference. Recommended, but not cheap.

Yeah, you know it's going to be expensive when you have to call and ask for a quote. It's funny that even the expensive options haven't figured out how to make a quiet electric motor. If you don't mind me asking, how much did yours end up costing per window?

Someone else mentioned the ikea shades coming out in October, so I might wait and see how those are. Potentially much cheaper, but no slatted blind effect, so the only option would be to fully raise/lower them (and deal with whatever noise that generates).

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#62

Post by dredmorbius »

temporaryvector wrote: post #38
icebraining wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use a simple timer for the AC? Do you come home at different times each day?

Yes I do, even when I know when I'll get home, plans can change. A timer also can't tell me if my AC is actually on, may fail in the case of a power outage or I may forget to set it, as such using a timer doesn't provide a meaningful improvement over just turning on the AC when I get home and tolerating the heat for half and hour or so. In the end, a timer has no feedback, so a closed loop system will always be bette…

You do realise that power draw likely averages less than 350 watts. Your A/C running for an additional hour or two a few days a month would cost you a dollar or two, max.

Given that the load is likely removing peak daytime heat, then sustaining a less-challenging night-time temperature, the net impact is probably even less.

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#63

Post by derefr »

rohan1024 wrote: post #39
sjwright wrote: post #5

The article seems to lack a TLDR so here's one. It is a "software distribution for smart home gateways which allows users to directly monitor and control their smart home over the web, without a middleman." Devices supported: - Raspberry Pi - Turris Omnia Protocols supported: - HomeKit - ZigBee - Thread - MQTT - Weave - AMQP Framework languages supported: - JS (Node.js) - Python - Rust - Java - C++ (for Arduino) Home…

> without a middleman Are you saying that I should be able to connect to my home directly over the Internet? How does it bypass NAT.

You configure your router to not use NAT for IPv6, and get your ISP to provide you more than a /128, is how. This is why industry is adopting it and consumer devices aren’t.

(IPv6 space is big enough that there’s no reason that residential ISPs shouldn’t be assigning everyone larger prefix ranges by default, but that doesn’t mean they will. They probably think they can up-sell it. Thread is a great, simple protocol for the hypothetical world where the residential ISPs give up on this practice. It’s not so great for the world we’re in, unless you’re already using some separate VPN overlay network.)

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#65

Post by Iv »

tiniuclx wrote: post #49
tlrobinson wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Usually, you can only talk to your IoT gateway over the web, and then tell it to control its children. Thread simplifies all of that and lets you directly talk to any child via its IPv6 address[1]. But I don’t want every one of my potentially buggy IoT devices to be directly addressable on the Internet. Ideally they’d each be isolated, with the minimum connectivity needed to the hub.

Yes, you can isolate individual devices the same way you'd isolate any IPv6 device on your home network - using a firewall. Normally you would firewall away your entire home network and only open up connectivity to the devices you want. Additionally, you can configure the firewall on the Border Router as well, which is the device that actually interfaces between Thread and other networks.

That's a shot in the dark, but I may ask it here: Do you have a simple documentation that would tell someone who knows how to route an IPV4 network and avoid the pitfalls, what is the correct way to do it in IPv6? I struggle to find a good summary of the things one needs to know

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#67

Post by H1Supreme »

tlrobinson wrote: post #47
tiniuclx wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supporting Thread in particular is an interesting choice, because as far as I'm aware Thread is one of the most open-source IoT stacks[0]. Thread isn't really used in consumer hardware, which is probably the reason it's so obscure within the hacker community, but there's a lot of buzz around it within industry groups. Companies like Google, ARM, Amazon, LG, NXP, Samsung and many others are supporting the development…

> Usually, you can only talk to your IoT gateway over the web, and then tell it to control its children. Thread simplifies all of that and lets you directly talk to any child via its IPv6 address[1]. But I don’t want every one of my potentially buggy IoT devices to be directly addressable on the Internet. Ideally they’d each be isolated, with the minimum connectivity needed to the hub.

Thread uses something called a Border Router to handle the Thread Network / Home Network communication. The end devices can only communicate with the router, which then could make a potential http request or whatever. Giving an end device direct web access would have to be a deliberate move.

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#68

Post by [deleted] »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #60
m12k wrote: post #16

What's HN's thoughts on IoT? To me it looks like yet another buzzword from the "wouldn't it be neat?" crowd (the same people who previously gave us a lot of hype about Semantic Web and P2P social networks) but as before none of the applications are actually worth the hassle, this prevents critical mass from ever being reached, and in reality it's mostly just a way for appliance companies who are already overcharging…

It's a great idea, but companies are building products that no one wants. Here's a few ideas of products / services / suites of items I would actually buy for my home: - Machine to completely do my dishes. End to end. It puts them from the sink to the dishwasher. Runs the dishwasher. Takes them out of the dishwasher and puts them in the cabinet. I do not care if this takes 5 hours - it can run overnight. I just don't…

[deleted]

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#69

Post by knd775 »

hokkos wrote: post #34

It seems to handle a use case I was looking for. I have a cheap xiaomi aqara hub that is homekit compatible, and I want to exports its data. Sadly usually the use case is to connect a non homekit iot to a homekit server from an apple device with homebridge. Here their HomeKit adapter use a lib called hap-controller-node that seems to be a homekit server. I will have to try this. https://github.com/mozilla-iot/homekit…

What do you mean by export its data?

Re: Mozilla debuts implementation of WebThings Gateway open-source router firmware

#70

Post by knd775 »

jore wrote: post #33
polskibus wrote: post #31

Is that compatible with smart home platforms like hass.io?

from what I understood, it is either home assistant, or this WebThings Gateway, it is not possible to use both at the same time

It's definitely possible to use both at the same time. But, there's no reason to.
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