Creating home automation devices with ESPHome
Automatic Home
© Lead Image © Valeriy Kachaev, 123RF.com
With an ESP32 or Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller board, you can easily create your own home automation devices. Thanks to ESPHome, you don't even have to be a programmer.
Many home automation devices can be controlled through WiFi, but often these devices have limitations. For example, they might only work through the manufacturer's cloud service, they might be difficult to integrate with your own home automation system if you prefer to do everything local, they might lack advanced functionality, or they might be difficult to update.
Luckily, you can install alternative firmware on many existing or homemade devices. In this article, I introduce you to ESPHome [1], which supports numerous devices with an ESP32, ESP8266, or RP2040 microcontroller (the chip in the popular Raspberry Pi Pico W), although ESPHome support for the RP2040 is still in development. In the examples in this article, I'll use the Raspberry Pi Pico W. However, if you encounter any issues with your own projects, I recommend an ESP32 development board.
With ESPHome, you can create your own home automation devices with a supported microcontroller board that you connect to LEDs, sensors, or switches. What sets ESPHome apart from other solutions like Arduino [2] or MicroPython [3] is that you don't need to program. Instead, you configure which components are connected to which pins on the board. ESPHome then generates the necessary C++ code and compiles it into firmware that you can install on the device (see also the "Replacing Firmware on Commercial Devices" box).
[...]
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
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.