Next up, Ring Doorbell...

Next up, the Ring doorbell.   Originally it worked fine with Wink.  But ever since Ring turned on 2FA (a good thing) the integration showed "broken".  The Ring App still worked just fine, but not via the link in the Wink App.   So, time for me to introduce Home Bridge.

Homebridge is the Open source effort to "bridge" things into Homekit.  It runs on things like a Raspberry Pi (any model) and had a vibrant community that is producing may plugins.  There are plenty of options for many devices (you'll hear more about various Homebridge plugins and other details in other posts... in this one I'll just focus on what I had to set up initially to get the Ring Doorbell working...).

First, looking for commercially supported things.  Around the same time I stumbled on the Starling hub (previous post) I came across HOOBS which is basically "Homebridge that works straight out of the box (thus it's name -- Homebridge-Out-Of-the-Box" )    So, why is this something that I looked at?

Well first, let's give some background on Homebridge.   It's an open source project.   What does that mean (to the non-tech crowd)?  It means that a lot of people, band together to work on a software project and make the results freely available to others.  No cost.   That sounds good, right?   Well there is no such thing as a free lunch (even in software).  So what's the downside?   Support isn't really available.  At least in the sense that you think of with a normal product.  No phone number, no e-mail, etc.   You're on your own but if you know how to write code, you can debug, tweak, fix, change any behaviors you want.   But if it doesn't work...well you can chat on forums, post questions to the developer(s), ask your friends, etc.  But that's it.

It's fix it yourself, or hope someone else does and shares the result. (that's the hope/promise of open source as well)

Now it isn't uncommon for companies to be created for the explicit purpose to SUPPORT software like this (Red Hat is the obvious example...though not the first company to do so).    Why is this important?

Well two fold.

First, they test the software.  Really test it (ok, so maybe the level of testing that happens varies by package, but hey, it gets more testing than what a developer would have done... at least in some cases...some developers DO  good testing, but it's not always the case).   So that's the first advantage.

Second, they package stuff up so that it doesn't take a degree in Computer Science to install it.   That's probably the MAIN benefit.

So, HOOBs is just that, a company created to make it easier to use Homebridge.  And to test/certify different plugins to make sure new versions aren't broken, break other things, etc.  Basically trying to make the Open Source Project more "usable" especially for non-tech folks.   So great, right?  

Well not always.  When RedHat first got started there was some fairly big uproar about someone making money off the efforts of all the Linux folks work.   Fairly understandable... work gets done for free, someone else swoops in and takes it... does some testing, packaging and starts charging for what you made.   HOOBs is no exception.      Similar push back has been happening... 

Now, HOOBs offers three products -- a "starter kit".... which is basically a Raspberry Pi, Case and Software pre-installed for $169 ( as I write this) -- second,  via a SD card with the SW pre-installed ($19.90) or lastly as  a "free-download-but-ask-for-donation"

Now, the opinions I read said HOOBs was started just to make money.  Is that wrong?  No.  But I can see why people complain.... they did work and others are profiting off it.   But on the flip-side, HOOBs DOES offer some value -- Testing and packaging.

I had run a Homebridge set up on a Raspberry Pi Zero for a while... and had issues (at least with the older versions...)  It would run for a while then disappear from Homekit.   And from the network.  A reboot fixed it.

But  I had tried it on a couple different pieces of HW, and that didn't change the behavior.  And the HW worked fine otherwise.   So,  had continued to play/test it... and  had one running for a long time.    When it was running, it did work as advertised, but it was hit or miss if it was running.

Upgrading was "tricky" (you had to make sure of a lot of dependencies were right, etc.)  I have a MS in Computer Science, which helped.... but it didn't pass my "I'd just like this to work" test.

So, with Ring broken, I thought I'd give HOOBs a try.   Donated and downloaded the SD card.   Fired it up, and fairly simply got a Home Bridge set up going.   Added the Ring plugin and yes, it showed up in Homekit.   So, the basic test worked.

 I ran this for a few weeks (this was during the start of the Corona-19 lock down... so I had some time to play with it) and it seemed stable... didn't disappear from network or Homekit.  It felt like a more polished version of Homebridge.  The instructions on plugins were taken from the Open Source Project, so those were still a bit confusing...  but it was working better.

Now, another reason I was curious about HOOBS was that there is a Homebridge plugin for Wink.  Using a Wink developer account (which I had... not ALL that hard to get set up... but it does tend to take a lot of time for them to approve them..) it offered to bridge Wink devices into Homekit.  At least the ones with mappings (i.e. The "refuel" gas tank sensor doesn't map into anything that Homekit knows about)

Remember, this was  BEFORE the Wink e-mail...and I was curious how and if it worked.  After puzzling thru the instructions (which had link issues -- HOOBs copies of docs linked in some places to their site, in other places back to the Wink plugin's home page..) I got it set up.   And 'lo, it did work (and there was some rejoicing :-) )

I completed this work on May 3th.  Yes, 3 days before Wink's e-mail....

So, all that work and basically for 'naught.

What to do... what to do.... HOOBs was working, but what was I going to do about all the other Wink devices (well... that's the topic of this blog... so you'll find out all about that... )

Anyway, during this, I was looking at how I could bridge the other Wink hub devices (since I decided fairly quickly that "subscription-fatigue" is a real thing and I didn't want to pay another one...)  and stumbled over some of the threads about the "push back" over HOOBs charging for Homebridge.

Yes, it had some "certified" plugins (and you could add the "uncertified" ones...) but aside from being stable (at least compared to my earlier experience) it didn't add anything functionally different from basic Homebridge.   So I understood the argument....

In response to HOOBs, the homekit community apparently got motivated (no idea if this was planned before HOOBS or not.. I didn't dig into the history tooo much) and built their OWN packaged release.

HOOBs ran ok,  but since I have a pile of Raspberry Pi's around, I thought, what the heck, let's try the "official" Homebridge image.  Downloaded it... and while not as smooth as HOOBs to set up (the time services had some hiccups... but this was just days after the 1.0 release, I expected a few hiccups) it set up and ran.  And it was very similar to HOOBs... same basic dashboard, etc...

So, Orange or Purple... (both use the Homebridge logo, just different color) Well since I'm partial to Purple, I decided to try it for a while... (I still have the HOOBs Pi, it's just turned off)

Now it's been a few weeks and I've stuck with the official Homebridge version so far...   So....

Time for Pro's and Cons..... A little different this time...
First Pros for offical release,
Then Pros for HOOBS...

I'll leave it up to the reader to figure out the appropriate Cons :-)


Pros (for Offical Homebridge release):

• Memory wise, The official version seems to run in less memory however... 1/3 vs 1/2.  I believe both have the same plugins (not sure if same versions though...)
• While I don't have any personal issue with HOOBs making money off Homebridge,  I'd prefer to be a little bit "closer" to the source.  Fixes tend to get released there first... (though double edged sword... issues... i.e. time config, also bite you)  
• Official version is free.
• Dashboard configuration I like a little better in official version, the logs are front and center and as detailed as you like.
• The updating seems to be done in a more "informative" way.  You get presented with release notes that cover all the changes since the previous update (of both plugins and "core" homebridge)
• Password protected to start, nice splash screen.  

Pros (for HOOBs):

• While both seem stable, HOOBs has a slightly slower release cadence and does "something" to certify plugins.    That does provide some piece of mind.... Is it really different?  Haven't run both long enough to say.
• HOOBs charges.. and "recommends" a donation for download.  Any money go to homebridge developers (aside from HOOBs folks)?   No idea.  But you do get some value for it... perceived or real, you'd have to be the judge.
• Customer Support -- HOOBs using Facebook Messenger and I got answers back for the questions I asked quickly.  It was basically run like a "corporate-help-desk-chat" from a webpage.  This was nice... and does add value.  It helped me debug the Wink plugin config that otherwise would have taken me a lot longer.  
• Password protected to start, nice splash screen.

So, overall, I'd be hard pressed to say one wins hands down... I like purple better than orange... so for now I'm sticking with the official home bridge version.   And before I forget, both support Ring and push it into Homekit quite nicely!   The Pros and Cons for that:

Pros:

• Ring camera shows up in Homekit.  Static and Video.
• Allows use of 2FA authentication.
• Both are fairly standard SD card images to install.  If you've set up a raspberry pi, you'll already be familiar with what to do.
• Supports Sound, but I've not figured how to use that in Homekit.

Cons:

• Yet another hub to worry about...
• Getitng a refresh token can be a little scary for tech-unsavy.
• Configuration takes a bit more knowledge than say Starling hub.  Not terrible and the official release version has a nice UI page with descriptions that help.
• No view of History... at least in Home apps... you can still go to Ring app that didn't change.

So, that's the first Homebridge set up.. and the second thing I got migrated in my "Life After Wink..."