A Micro-PC or unused Computer is a great choice for hosting your local Home Assistant server. In this video I explain why this Dell Optiplex 3050 beats out a Raspberry Pi 4, for a fraction of the cost and with much more performance, before walking you through the installation process, step-by-step! Follow along to repurpose that old machine gathering dust in the corner or to set-up your purpose bought Micro PC.

EDIT 10/5/23: It seems that balena etcher might be having some issues inside of Ubuntu. The Ubuntu step is intended to save time and money by not having to remove your drive and connect it to another PC. If you are able, and have the additional adapter, feel free to skip the ubuntu step and install HAOS straight to your SSD on the PC. If you do NOT have the adapter, continue with the Ubuntu installation. If you have issues with Balena Etcher, please try the built in Ubuntu Disk Imaging tool or download the Raspberry Pi Image tool. Both of which should allow you to choose the HAOS file and target your SSD for install. If you need help, please reach out to the support channel on the Chuck Builds Discord!


Time Stamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:19 Why to choose a Micro-PC
02:56 Preparing BIOS Settings
04:37 Download Balena Etcher and Ubuntu Image
05:30 Creating the Bootable USB
06:17 Booting into Ubuntu OS
09:35 Flashing Home Assistant onto the PC
10:38 First Boot into Home Assistant OS
11:30 (Optional) Wifi Setup from Command Line

Link to Balena Etcher : https://etcher.balena.io/
Link to Ubuntu OS Image: https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Link to HomeAssistant installation section: https://www.home-assistant.io/install...


Commands to Setup Wifi via Command Line:

network info

network update wlan0 --ipv4-method auto --ipv6-method auto --wifi-auth wpa-psk --wifi-mode infrastructure --wifi-ssid WIFI-NAME --wifi-psk WIFI-PASSWORD

Replace WIFI-NAME and WIFI-PASSWORD with your network information, use quotes if there's spaces


If you would like to support my channel, I have linked the following products mentioned in my video from Amazon that I will make a small commission off of, if you buy it using my below links. I've included the price at time of posting for comparison sake.

Amazon Link:
Amazon Basics 128gb USB3.1 Flash Drive ($10) : https://amzn.to/45BMgkR

Dell Optiplex's under $200 on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Pbl9r1