Several years ago I embarked on a home automation journey starting with a Raspberry Pi 4. I called it “The HomePi Project.” The goal was to have an all-in-one system that hosted my home automation, server, security, and network administration just to name a few.

I explored Docker, Home Assistant, HomeSeer, MagicMirror, OpenHAB, Pi-hole, Frigate, and countless other open source softwares to make this project work. As time progressed, I settled on a Docker based Home Assistant installation running several additional containers. In order to improve reliability I offloaded the networking tools to a dedicated Raspberry Pi Zero while still running the sever and automation tools on my “HomePi”. As time went on, task and resource use increased. I upgraded the Raspberry Pi to an HP Thin Client, added a dedicated OPNSense box, and some additional hardware.

During my tinkering, I also picked up an Ender 3 Neo and dove into the world of 3D printing. Quickly I starting tinkering with the printer. I printed parts, installed Klipper, and tuned it to near perfection.

Throughout these projects I attempted to document my process. The idea was to have a reference for me to look back on should issues arise and to serve as a reminder on how I solved some of the challenges I encountered.

Moving forward I have decided to start a small blog and share some documentation with the world. I’m sure many others out there are undertaking similar tasks. Much of the information presented here was compiled from existing documentation along with my own trial and error. I have done my best to include credit where it is due. However, if you notice your work uncredited please let me know.

I cannot guarantee the information provided to be 100% free of errors, security risks, or up-to-date. There is always inherent dangers when following the direction of someone on the internet.