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From: Pancho <Pancho.Jones@proton.me>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux.mint
Subject: Re: smart plugs???
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2025 20:31:58 +0000
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On 1/15/25 16:32, Mike Scott wrote:
> Hi all. I'm looking for a so-called "smart plug" to control from linux.
> 
> I've just had a bad experience with tp-link's offering, which requires 
> using a phone to set it up - and enabling in-app purchases to do so, how 
> unnecessary! My own phone and tablet are too out of date for their 
> software to install, and I'm not about to change settings on anyone 
> else's. Unfortunately, PyP100 needs the device to be already set up :-{
> 
> 
> So - is there a smart plug around that can be set up and controlled from 
> linux without all the garbage the makers seem to want to inflict?
> 
> TIA.
> 
> 

I think you have to be careful that they are not controlled by a cloud 
service. If you have a cloud service you need a working wan connection 
and you are exposed to the cloud service provider disappearing.

I use an open source firmware called Tasmota, which can be installed on 
some devices but not others. I have installed it in a Sonoff device, 
maybe 5 years ago, but it was a pain.

More recently I have bought Athom plug sockets with Tasmota 
pre-installed. The ones I have include energy meters as well as a switch.

Tasmota gives you a HTTP webserver to control the plug, and also allows 
you to communicate via mqtt (message queue protocol).

I have bought 10 of these a few years ago. I bricked one (maybe because 
it didn't work properly), another one part of the energy meter doesn't 
work, another one the switch doesn't work. So 7 good, 2 partial, one 
total failure.

I use them all the time, in a minute I will turn my bed's electric 
blanket on.

My knowledge is a few years old, maybe there are new and better solutions.