Hello from Europe

Hello everyone I am Alex(Ari), data scientist (AI + ML) working in an R&D lab at a Research Institute in Europe.
I have a BSc in Computer Science, MSc in Software Engineering and MBA, have worked at Academia and Business. I am currently working as a data scientist with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, currently working on various R&D projects in the field of gaming, ICT in general and Medicine and Health Care. Currently live + work in Hamburg Germany, but I lived and worked all across Europe so I am European Citizen the most.

I am also a gamer and a open source supported FLOSS (Free\Libre Open Source Software) and have being using Linux for 10+ years, I have used all major Linux Distribution from the post popular linux distro family, using Fedora at the moment. Using also custom linux OS router (OpenWRT), custom linux NAS and custom linux smart IOT for home devices for security and various custom linux devices for data security, including custom mobile OS. I have “played” with a lot of smart tech and smart devices using AI+ML.

I joined this group because I am very much a IoT Smart Devices geek and open minded about latest tech, community came highly recommended so I hope to exchange ideas in relation to SmartTech. (have not used Windows since Windows XP, before Windows Vista+7, not up to date on windows 10 or 11, I have used Mac and used if from time to time mostly due to work friends and GF using them), if this is Windows only group say now so I will be more then happy to leave cause I am the last person who knows anything about Windows.

So nice to meet you all and I hope to enjoy the community here. Knowledge is for sharing with everyone

Regards, Alex

This isn’t a windows only group, but this forum as a whole is intended for people who are using the Samsung SmartThings ™ home automation platform.

This particular subcategory is brand new and I’m not quite sure what the moderators intend to put here.

But I do think you will find a more robust discussion of brands other than Samsung, and home automation in general, on the reddit home automation subforum, which is brand agnostic. So it might be more of what you’re looking for. :sunglasses:

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/

2 Likes

Samsung is OK, but I am not into brands, I build mostly use custom build tech, router, pc, phone.
Thank you for the information will have in mind, not sure about reddit, but thanks for the input.

Regards, Alex

1 Like

If you know anything about Groovy, Node.Js, Websockets and APIs, Zigbee and Zwave, then you are at the right place to learn things, but it is mostly a user to user community forum with limited resources.

If you are a tinkerer, search about the new SmartThings API and the AWS Lambda SmartApps, you would find ways to access your device data and use it with your AI background for fancy things.

Otherwise you can have a look on ESP based devices and their (Wifi) integration. There is where you can easily use your knowledge for building your own stuff.

1 Like

Well if you look up my name I mean my game and forum nickname I am member in a lot of tech forums (open source software and hardware etc), since I prefer to keep in touch with what people think about it not just read the news and accept what media or a big company say its true, in forum comments and people reactions you can learn a lot (exception is Facebook and Social Media in general don’t trust the info at all). I joined here to get what people thing about IoT devices by Samsung and related products.

I have a lot of custom build IoT devices from my custom Laptop/PC and Mobile both running Fedora Workstation (mobile still in beta), and few BSD (NAS, firewall and work sat phone) also custom build LAN router using OpenWRT, best router software for now.

I have a lot of small sensor PCs for doors windows bio metrics for me etc mostly Raspberry Pi and similar all connected in LAN, I have a lot of custom build kernels, custom build lan protocols, custom build ssh scripts mostly for monitoring, with more devices it takes more time) so now I need a good and open source way to manage them, I have a good experience with OpenWRT I used to use a custom build routing software on Linux CentOS, took me a long time to manage it, so best on good experience with OpenWRT I said lets find a good IoT manager or way to manage many devices testing one now called OpenHAB, but I like to see what Samsung has in “store” I prefer self managed cloud style I don’t like a “good shiny” app on someone else server :slight_smile:

Not Sure why EPS based devices with wifi, why not just LAN IoT devices like Raspberry Pi 3 or 4+.
I am aware Zigbee and ZWave are wireless protocols, but I don’t use wireless for my IoT devices at least.

I don’t agree Groovy and NodeJS are the best way, MEAN JS or Electron are much better Full Stack development, technically both of them have parts of NodeJS hence we are both right I guess.

Yeah I am not gonna try Amazon services for sure same goes for using Windows ever :smiley:
Samsung Devices I use TVs etc, most of them use some version of Linux.

I like the forum has lots of good information on Smart Devices and its a user community not a company one.

Thank you for the details I will consider them in any case.

Edit: The forum seems very well organized and information is very easy to find with groups structure.

Regards, Alex

Because those can be easily integrated with the SmartThings platform without Requiring much technical knowledge. The vast majority of smartthings customers are looking for consumer-ready plug and play solutions, they are not building their own devices or networks. Some of these are willing to do some additional work one time in order to solve a particular problem, and the sonoff Wi-Fi devices in particular Are an attractive solution for this group.

Most of the members of this forum are trying to limit the number of hubs/ Bridges/servers that they use. The ones that are already running raspberry pis Or other servers requiring that level of technical skill almost always go to home assistant instead of SmartThings.

SMARTTHINGS IS A CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM

SmartThings is primarily a cloud-based system. We as customers do not have the ability to upload code onto our own hubs. And the system isn’t really designed for direct hub message access by outside systems, either.

The developer interface provided is at the cloud level, using rest APIs.

You can’t even change the location.mode of the account from Home to Away Without Internet access, for example.

And smartthings own mobile app does not communicate directly to the hub – – it always goes through the cloud. So if your Internet is down, your app doesn’t work at all. They didn’t have to build it that way, but they did, and it reflects the company philosophy.

So… You put all of that together, and you just don’t typically find the kind of conversations you’re referencing in the context of the smartthings platform.

More often people see an inexpensive device on Amazon that has features that are attractive to them and they just want to know if it’s possible to integrate that with smartthings without adding an additional server. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t, but rarely will it be a direct communication to the hub.

So There are two options for programming: groovy, which is what the smartthings cloud uses now, Or writing in whatever language you want and then communicating cloud to cloud through the REST API.

But it’s intended as an off-the-shelf consumer platform for budget-conscious nontechnical people and the features are designed accordingly.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS WITH TECHNICAL BACKGROUNDS

I myself have a technical background (I was a network engineer), but I initially chose smartthings because I was looking for something that was plug and play to support zigbee. (I am now quadriparetic and have very little use of my hands.)

There are some serious hobbyists in the community, many who were attracted by the richness of the smartthings mobile app and they wanted that for their family. But most of them understand the limitations of the SmartThings platform And use other systems as well if they want either local processing or more code options.

but there are probably even more community members who don’t have a technical background and are interested in following the home automation industry in terms of the features it will provide to non-technical customers for systems that “just work.“ :sunglasses:

Smartthings staff have told us many times that their typical customer has 15 or fewer devices and does not use any custom code at all. Of course the people who are active in this forum are not necessarily “typical,” but I would still say that very few of them are interested in building their own devices.

So again, Sonoff turns out to be a good match to the SmartThings platform for those willing to do the additional set up work. Different things work for different people. but most people running raspberry pis are not trying to use them with SmartThings. :wink:

2 Likes

Well I trust Samsung and use their products inclunding my gaming tv / monitor so I will stick around.
I was not aware that SmartThins is a product / service not just the forum name. I will give it a try when I find time, meanwhile will read the useful input here in this community. thanks for your input and time.

Regards, Alex

1 Like

Or just use them to integrate some devices, what is not possible through the groovy or rest API solutions. Ie.: Mi-Connector, some event loggers to Grafana, Google Assistant Relay, etc.

1 Like

Thank you for the information. Regards, Alex

1 Like