I’ve been tinkering with home automation for a couple of decades. I have a mix of X10 and newer Zigbee / Zwave devices.
Until recently, I was using a package called HomeGenie. Support seems to be falling away on that one.
I now have an Echo and 2 Dots. These can control all the new stuff via a Samsung SmartThings hub. I selected that one because it has both Zigbee and Zwave radios. That part is good. The part where it needs an internet connection to work for most functions is NOT GOOD. Internet down => lights not working. Not good at all.
So my latest project is to add a local control mechanism. To do this, I’m trying to implement a system called Home Assistant. It’s open source, written in python, and runs on a lot of platforms ( most linux flavors, and windows if you jump thru a few hoops ). I’m planning to pair this with a USB Zigbee / Zwave radio.
My initial move was to try and run this on my FreeNAS box, since it’s always on and has cycles to spare. That turned out to be a bad idea. Ever step of the way is a problem, since BSD is NOT linux. Close, but not. In fact this last week’s experience on that has soured me on FreeNAS to the point that I may dump it and switch to OpenMediaVault, which runs under Debian, and hence should have no problem supporting Home Assistant. A Raspberry Pi is also an acceptable host. There’s a package specifically for RPi.
Home Assistant is very do it yourself. The setup wil take some work, but the forums are pretty friendly ( totally unlike the FreeNAS forums ), and examples are plentiful.
Best of luck with whatever system you choose. Seems to be a good time for home automation. Lots of new stuff on the market.
BTW - PLEASE do not turn this into a NAS discussion. If you have strong feelings about FreeNAs you wish to express, please start a seperate thread.