Adding Internet data to your home automation dashboard
Scrape and Show
You can use one line of Bash code to scrape a web page and show the data you're tracking in Home Assistant or Node-RED.
Many home automation solutions provide a central dashboard that serves as a nerve center for the Internet of Things (IoT) environment. From the dashboard, you can monitor and manage light levels, thermostat temperatures, and all the other settings the system controls. Some users don't realize that the dashboard can also provide information from beyond your home network. In other words, you can use the tools of the home automation environment to fetch information from the Internet and display it in a handy at-a-glance view along with your IoT settings.
For instance, you might have personal or hobby topics that you check periodically. These personal data points might be the wave height at a local surf spot, the insect levels at a favorite camping area, or the best time of go fishing. You probably know exactly where to find this information, however, it still requires several steps to start up a web browser, click on a bookmark, and scan the page for the desired data – which might just consist of a single number or a couple of words.
In this article, I will look at how to scrape these hobby data points from web pages with just a single line of Bash code and display the results in the dashboards of two home IoT packages, Home Assistant [1] and Node-RED [2].
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.