Re: smart plugs???

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 My own phone and tablet are too out of date for their software to install, and I'm not about to change settings on anyone else's. Unfortunately, PyP100 needs the device to be already set up :-{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.