Using Home Assistant in Mixtile Edge 2 Kit

Mixtile Edge 2 Kit can run a huge possibility of applications, and Home Assistant is one of them. This document describes how to install Home Assistant to Mixtile Edge 2 Kit and access its dashboard.

Installing Home Assistant

Note: If your Mixtile Edge 2 Kit already has Home Assistant pre-installed, skip this step.

Important: Before you start, make sure you have backed up all important data.

1. Download the following files:

   • upgrade_tool (macOS: upgrade_tool_v2.13_for_mac; Ubuntu: upgrade_tool_v2.22_for_linux)
   • Home Assistant image
   • SPL loader file: required only for the MaskRom mode.

Note: This document takes macOS as an example to illustrate the installation process. If you use Windows or Ubuntu, see https://www.mixtile.com/docs/installing-an-operating-system-on-mixtile-edge2-kit/ for more information.

2. Enter a boot mode as needed:

   • Loader mode: Press and hold the Recovery button, power on Mixtile Edge 2 Kit by connecting it to a PC via a USB-C cable, and then wait about 2 seconds before releasing the Recovery button.
   • MaskRom mode: Press and hold the MaskRom button, power on Mixtile Edge 2 Kit by connecting it to a PC via a USB-C cable, and then wait about 2 seconds before releasing the MaskRom button.

   Note:

   • If the connection fails, try another cable or add a 12V power adapter.
   • To find the Recovery and MaskRom buttons, remove the screws and then the body shell of Mixtile Edge 2 Kit.

3. Unzip the upgrade_tool_v2.13_for_mac package. Then go to the directory where you have unzipped the package and run the command below to make upgrade_tool executable. Enter your admin password if prompted.

   sudo chmod u+x upgrade_tool
   

   If you are alerted that the app developer cannot be verified:

   1. Open System Settings.
   2. Click Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click the Open Anyway button to confirm your intent to open or install the app.

4. (Optional) Run the command below to flash the SPL loader to Mixtile Edge 2 Kit (required only for the MaskRom mode). Replace [your_folder_path] with the actual location of the SPL loader file.

   ./upgrade_tool db /[your_folder_path]/rk356x_spl_loader_v1.13.112.bin
   

5. Run the command below to write the Home Assistant image to Mixtile Edge 2 Kit. Replace [your_folder_path] with the actual location of the image.

   ./upgrade_tool wl 0 /[your_folder_path]/image-release-raw-format-mixtile-edge2-homeassistant12.2-rc2-240822.img
   

   It may take about 2 minutes for the installation to complete. Once it’s done, you have successfully installed Home Assistant to Mixtile Edge 2 Kit.

Booting up Home Assistant

Once the installation is complete, reboot Mixtile Edge 2 Kit as follows:

1. Connect Mixtile Edge 2 Kit to the Internet via an Ethernet cable.
2. Connect Mixtile Edge 2 Kit to a monitor via an HDMI cable. If you are using only one Mixtile Edge 2 Kit, you may skip this step.
3. Power on Mixtile Edge 2 Kit by connecting the USB-C cable to the device’s USB-C port and to a compatible power adapter. Then plug the adapter into a wall outlet.

If your Mixtile Edge 2 Kit is connected to a monitor, you can see the Home Assistant CLI similar to the one below on its startup:

You can now access Home Assistant as follows:

• If you have only one Mixtile Edge 2 Kit in your network, access http://homeassistant.local:8123.
• If you have more than one Mixtile Edge 2 Kit in your network, get the IP address of Mixtile Edge 2 Kit from the monitor connected, and access Home Assistant at http://[your_IP_address]:8123 (replace [your_IP_address] with the actual one).

It might take about 20 minutes for Home Assistant to be initialized at the first startup.

Congratulations! You can now explore Home Assistant’s features and configure it as you want!