# Hardware Selection help for beginner **URL:** \ **Category:** Beginners\ **Tags:** milight, echo, harmonyhub\ **Created:** [September 30, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://community.openhab.org/t/hardware-selection-help-for-beginner/14638 "2016-09-30T06:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 9
**Author:** ![rlkoshak](https://community.openhab.org/user_avatar/community.openhab.org/rlkoshak/32/75251_2.png) [@rlkoshak](https://community.openhab.org/u/rlkoshak)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://community.openhab.org/t/hardware-selection-help-for-beginner/14638/9 "2016-10-02T03:21:10Z")
> [@sir\_luddite](#): > > hope that I can offer some contribution back to the forum. Answering questions on this forum has been the number one way I’ve learned. My personal HA system is pretty modest compared to most but through answering questions my knowledge has expanded way beyond my personal needs. Especially when it comes to coding rules. Don’t hold back. NOTE: The Docker deployed OH does have some limitations. See this posting for my experiences with it. Overall I’m really happy but if I needed to use the Exec binding or Network binding I would be disappointed. > [@Running openHAB 2 in Docker](https://community.openhab.org/t/running-openhab-2-in-docker/14267): > > Please see the [Docker Installation Page](https://docs.openhab.org/installation/docker.html) and [DockerHub Readme](https://hub.docker.com/r/openhab/openhab/) for the most recent instructions. Update Jan 30, 2018 Upgrades are now handled by the container. Update Jan 20, 2017 This update is an almost complete rewrite of the tutorial to comply with recent changes to OH and in preparation of moving the tutorial to the official docs. Update Nov. 12 The latest build as of Nov. 10 #579 reworks the locations of a lot of config files moving them from runtime/karaf/etc and rutime/etc to userdata/et… If you are not afraid of a little DIY, you probably can’t get any cheaper than a PIR and an ESP8266 and some MQTT comms. However, unless you have a 3D printer or are good at fabrication the aesthetics of the commercial units, overkill or not, will be much better than most DIY projects. > [@schmirgo](#): > > i should put the directories /var/log and /tmp to a ramdisk. you can google that by entering “linux tmp on ramdisk” and also “linux log on ramdisk”. I posted an Ansible playbook that does that (and a bit more) here: > [@Corrupt FileSystems every 2-3 month?](https://community.openhab.org/t/corrupt-filesystems-every-2-3-month/13057/21): > > I would add moving /var/lib/openhab/persistence in addition to /var/logs to another medium. In a mid to large sized system with persistence configured would result in a whole ton of writes as well, perhaps as much if not more than logging depending on the number of Items and persistence approach. Though the risk of losing that medium produces more of an impact than just losing the logs, particularly if you are using persistence to track long term data. Also, moving ‘everything that writes’ is… > [@schmirgo](#): > > so far i never had any SD card break anymore. Your approach works as long as you make light use of persistence. If you are using rrd4j or MapDB to store the state of every Item every minute that will be a lot of writes as well. However, you most likely do not want to wipe these out every day at 3 am. > [@schmirgo](#): > > i would use bluetooth to detect the presence of a mobile phone in an apartment and then conclude someone is home. Or the Network Health binding to detect when your phone is home through pings. Scripts running on routers are also commonly used. I have a Python script that does this for BT as well. > **[GitHub - rkoshak/sensorReporter: A python based service that receives sensor inputs...](https://github.com/rkoshak/sensorReporter)** > > A python based service that receives sensor inputs and publishes them in various ways. > [@schmirgo](#): > > Another possibility would be using some app thing like IFTTT (on Android) to push location data of your phone to the openhab server. This would require an open port to the internet and static IP (or dynamic dns) for your openhab server Or use the My.openhab binding which supports OAuth2 connectivity to IFTTT (there is an openHAB channel). No open ports or dyndns mess to deal with along with all the security risks that comes with that. > [@sam](#): > > I can also see my neighbours energy meters and door bells… i expect I could trigger the doorbell if i was feeling mischievous 😈 The security engineer in me see this as an argument against my using this technology. Also, due to interference, it is important to limit the number of wireless technologies you are using. I’ve got WiFi, Zwave, and RFM69HW and I can already see some evidence of interference between the three. > [@sam](#): > > Re presence detection: the problem with using phones for presence detection is (certainly in the case of the iPhone) that the device is not constantly broadcasting its ip. There is a long thread on how to get that to work using hping. > [@BEGINNER Guide to iPhone Presence?](https://community.openhab.org/t/beginner-guide-to-iphone-presence/14173): > > Many, many apologies for the Newbie questions in advance! I’ve been reading all of the posts for setting up Presence detection using OpenHAB, but there is a lot of conflicting information and incomplete steps. I’m unable to find a step-by-step guide on the boards, Reddit or any guides. Can someone please assist? I’m open to any solution that works reliably to flip a virtual switch that shows I’m home when my phone is home. I am currently using Raspbian Jessie, OH1 and have an iPhone 6. I f… However, I rely on a combo of just standard Network Health and BT detection and it works like a champ. > [@sam](#): > > Top tip, using IFTTT with Google Calendar you can schedule actions anywhere you can access your calendar, you can also set the various recycling days. Link that into your “good night” house shutdown scene and get a vocal reminder to put the relevant coloured bin out before you go to bed 🙂 There is also a Caldav binding that will let you connect to your calendar directly rather than going through IFTTT, if you so choose. However, I don’t think there is a working version of this binding for OH 2 yet. --- _[View the full topic](https://community.openhab.org/t/hardware-selection-help-for-beginner/14638)._