How to Install Node-Red to Home Assistant – Using Node-Red for Complex Home Automations

Node-RED is a flow-based, low-code development tool for visual programming, originally developed by IBM for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services as part of the Internet of things. Node-RED provides a web browser-based flow editor, which can be used to create JavaScript functions.

This guide will show you how to install Node-Red to Home Assistant and take you through a basic flow.

Node-Red is a low-code development tool for building simple to complex automation flows. The software runs within a web browser and works great within Home Assistant. The software is relatively easy to learn and allows easy viewing of complex logic flows.

Using Node-Red gives you an excellent visual overview of automation flows, making it much easier to understand, edit, and create. You can build flows that control automatic gates, lights, water pumps, and more.

If you haven’t already, we reco

This tutorial will explain how to install Node-Red to Home Assistant. We also go through the basics of setting up an automation flow. Both of these topics give you a decent insight into how you can get the most out of the software.

Installing Node-Red

Node-RED: Low-code programming for event-driven applications

The installation of Node Red is very straightforward, but there are a few requirements for a smooth installation process.

To install Node-Red within Home Assistant, you must run a version that supports add-ons such as supervised or the operating system. Alternatively, you can set up Node-Red as a separate docker and connect it to Home Assistant.

1. Within the Home Assistant web interface, click on the settings tab and then click on add-ons.

2. Click on add-store in the bottom right corner of the screen.

3. Using the search box, search for Node Red. Alternatively, you can scroll through the page until you find the Node-Red add-on.

4. The page you should now see will contain all the details about the add-on. You can check through all the details if you want to know what you are about to install. Once you are ready to install, click Install.

5. Now, navigate to the configuration tab. In this tab, locate the credential_secret field and enter a strong password. Make sure you save this password, as you may need it in the future. I use 1Password for storing passwords, but other software such as Bitwarden or Nordpass (Affiliate Link) would also be solid choices.

You will also need to disable SSL if it is not enabled on your Home Assistant installation. To disable SSL, click the SSL button so it is greyed out. If you leave it on and Home Assistant does not support SSL, Node-Red will fail to start.

Once you are done, click on save.

6. After you have saved the credential secret and disabled SSL, return to the info tab. On this page, click on “Start“. Node-Red should start without issue. If it is not starting, navigate to the log tab and look through the logs for errors.

7. If you click on Node-Red in the sidebar or “Open Web UI” on the add-on page, it will take you to the Node-Red application. You can now start writing your flows to automate your Home Assistant setup.

Creating your First Node-Red Flow

Node-Red can be a little daunting at first, but once you understand the basics, it is a powerful tool that allows you to handle complex and simple automations.

In this short tutorial, we will go through the basics of creating a flow that uses a Home Assistant node.

The following steps will take you through how to send a notification whenever the temperature of our weather station exceeds 15°C.

1. The first node we will use is the “Events: State” node. Drag this node onto the grid

Next, double-click on the node to open the options available. Fill in each of the relevant properties. Below is what I filled in.

• Name: Check Temperature
• Server: Home Assistant
• Entity: Outdoor Temperature
• If State: >= 15 (Greater or equal to 15)
• For: 1 Minute
• State type: Number

I also do not have any checkboxes ticked for “Ignore State Change Event When“.

2. Next, drag and drop a debug node. These nodes will output data that can help diagnose and fix issues with your flows.

On each node, there are dots. These dots represent different functions. For example, our Check Temperature node has two dots. One is for when our logic is false, and the other for when it is true.

We click and drag our true node and connect it to the debug node.

The flow will run when you click deploy in the top right-hand corner.

In this example, if the temperature exceeds 15°C, the debug node will output after 1 minute. If it is not higher than 15°C, nothing will output.

3. Next, we will want to notify our users that the temperature is too high. To do this, drag a “Call Service” node onto the grid. Connect the true output to the input on the “Call Service” Node.

Now, double-click on the call service node to edit it. Fill in each of the relevant properties. Below is what I filled in.

• Name: Enter the name that you want the node to be referred to.
• Server: You shouldn’t need to update this as it should be Home Assistant.
• Domain: You will need to set this to notify.
• Service: Choose a device that you wish to notify. Choosing the notify option will notify all possible users.
• Data: This is where you need to specify the notification details. At the bottom of the properties is an example. Clicking “Load Example Data” will pre-populate the data field, which you can easily edit.

Below is an example of my entry into the data field.

{
   "message":"Temperature is too High!",
   "title":"The temperature is higher than 15°C."	
}Copy

4. To avoid too many notifications, you may want to place a delay node. This node will allow a single notification to be sent for a specified time. To do this, drag and drop a delay node in between our check temperature and notify gus nodes.

Double-click on the delay node and update the settings to the following.

• Action: Rate Limit and All Messages.
• Rate: 1 msg(s) per 15 minutes.
• Change Queue Intermediate Messages to Drop Intermediate Messages
• Name: Rate Limit

These properties will allow a single message every fifteen minutes. Any messages that try to be sent in the meantime will be dropped.

5. You should now have a basic flow that will notify users whenever the temperature goes above 15°C for over a minute. Feel free to change and alter this flow for other purposes.

You can remove the debug node if you are finished debugging. Alternatively, you can click the green square next to the node to deactivate it.

Conclusion

I hope you now have Node-Red installed and configured on your Home Assistant installation. Our basic flow introduced some basics of using the software to run automations. Once you understand the basics, you can create some cool automations using the data from some of the sensors and devices in your home.

We are constantly working on more Home Assistant tutorials, so if there is anything that you would like to see, please let us know. I recommend checking out some of the other tutorials for great ideas on what you can do with this amazing software.

If you encounter any problems or have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment down below. source

Node-RED, the visual programming tool for Internet of Things

 

From the beginning of programming, one of the industry’s main challenges has been to facilitate the applications development to simplify the integration between the hardware devices, the software and us, the humans. Thanks to Node-RED we are much closer of this goal. Programming, without programming.

What is Node-RED and what is it for?

Node-RED is an open-source development tool based on visual programming that was created by IBM to connect hardware devices, APIs and online services.

Node-RED is a solid tool, easy to learn, and it does not require any programming knowledge. It has been consolidated as one of the main applications for real-time data management and transformation for IoT and Industry 4.0 solutions.

Node-RED allows to graphically connect predefined blocks, called nodes, to develop a concrete task. The nodes connection, usually a combination of input nodes, processing nodes and output nodes, when wired together, make up a flow.

Among all the available nodes we can find standard protocols as MQTT, REST, Modbus, OPC-UA, Bacnet, Websocket; and third party API integrations as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Twitter, Facebook and many more.

 

 

Where can I install Node-RED?

Node-RED is built on Node.js, taking full advantage of its power and assuring scalability, liability and low hardware requirements. These features allow to run Node-RED in personal computers, cloud servers and low-cost embedded hardware.

If you want to take your first steps in Node-RED you just need to click here to access to all the documentation. Follow step by step how to install the tool on your computer, your cloud services regular provider or your embedded device eManager.

 

Nodes library

The nature of the tool, being open source, and the facility to develop new nodes, come together into a nodes library which grows each day with new community contributions.

Nowadays we can find more than 2500 available nodes in the Node-RED official library, including Smart Home integrations, converters between IoT protocols, geolocation functions, OAuth2 authentication and many more.

 

Hello world in Node-RED

To conclude this article there is no better way than taking your first steps on Node-RED generating the classic Hello world. Below, we show step by step the process to achieve it:

Message creation with Inject node

1. If you are running Node-RED on your computer, you can access http://127.0.0.1:1880 or whatever address or hostname you’re using
2. If it is our first time in Node-RED, we will see a flow named Flow 1
3. On the node palette on the left side of the Node-RED, we will select the Inject node and will drag it onto our flow
4. In order to edit the node we will double click on it. After that, we will select string on the Payload field and we will write Hello world!
5. Once we finish the previous steps, we click Done

Printing our message

1. In order to add a destination for our message we will select the Debug node. We will click and drag it onto our flow. It’s very important to place it on the right-hand side of the Inject node
2. To connect both nodes we just need to click the Inject node’s output and drag it to the Debug node’s input. A wire that links both nodes will be created
3. Debug node will automatically print the message to the console window as we will see in the next step

Deployment

1. In order to start our application you must click on Deploy button
2. Now click the Debug tab in the right-hand side of the editor window
3. Finally, to launch our message you will click on the blue button coming out from the left-hand side of the Inject node
4. “Hello world” will appear on the Debug screen. Welcome to Node-RED!

 

As PickData, we firmly believe in solutions like Node-RED, because those allow you to focus on what really matters, bring our added value to the solutions and skip losing time between ins and outs of the usual programming. source

 

Node-RED has replaced my complex Home Assistant automations, and it does them so much better

The self-hosting ecosystem is rife with cool and quirky apps designed to automate every facet of your life. There’s the holy Terraform and Ansible combo for home lab enthusiasts who love watching VMs come to life without pressing a single button, while n8n can handle all software-based automations. On the smart home side, you’ll often find Home Assistant as the most recommended utility for creating schematics to control your IoT gadgets. And well, HASS can serve you well with its trigger-action workflows.

For YAML experts, you can even design long scripts to automate your smart home. But once you get into complicated workflows involving multiple sensors, actuators, and if-else statements, HASS starts to become rather unintuitive. While I still rely on Home Assistant for quick automations, Node-RED is my preferred platform for creating extended automation workflows spanning several smart devices in my living space.

There’s nothing you can’t pull off with Home Assistant blueprints

It pairs well with my Home Assistant devices

But HASS isn’t the only data server for my Node-RED instance

I consider Home Assistant the centerpiece of my rat’s nest of an apartment and have mapped most smart devices, IoT gadgets, and even home lab equipment (via HACS integrations) to my HASS hub. As such, it acts as a data-gathering terminal in addition to its role as a control center.

Since my Node-RED instance is connected to my HASS server, it can directly grab statistics from my devices and push any message payloads I define in my custom workflows. I use a standalone Node-RED container instead of running it on top of Home Assistant, so I don’t have to rely on just HASS for my smart home automation.

On that subject, I’ve already connected my Node-RED server to a Raspberry Pi-based MQTT broker, so I can automate MQTT communication with just these services. Heck, it even integrates with external APIs and webhooks, making it perfect for the times when I want to use the VMs and containers from my Proxmox server for my home automation projects.

Amazing for automation chains

The node-based workflow makes everything easier

Upon first glance, a Node-RED canvas filled to the brim with node chains, functions, and variables can seem intimidating. However, the ability to represent every device as a node makes it easy to organize everything, and I can import multiple IoT products inside a single workflow.

On Home Assistant, I’d have to cycle between the Entities, Helpers, Scripts, and Events tabs every time I want to create a multi-device automation chain. Besides the added advantage of accessing my smart devices from a single page, Node-RED lets me reuse the function nodes as many times as I want, which is a godsend for projects requiring complex if-else logic with branching instructions.

No more YAML shenanigans

Although YAML syntax is nowhere near as complex as a mainstream programming language’s coding rules, it’s a pain to design complicated workflows with it. Home Assistant makes YAML scripting somewhat easy with the Developer Tools tab, but it’s far from the most intuitive option, especially since I can just use Node-RED.

That’s because Node-RED has a minimal coding approach, as even the most complicated automation can be arranged in a node-based workflow. This visual aspect makes it easier to add nested logic, chains of loops, and long branches in a Node-RED canvas. As if that’s not enough, I can install custom modules and libraries for most communication protocols and external APIs in Node-RED.

Solid troubleshooting provisions

Finally, Node-RED makes finding errors in my workflow a cinch. It’s a lot easier to detect errors in a Node-RED-based flow than a huge YAML file, where I can have several indentation errors because of accidentally pressing the Spacebar or Enter keys. In contrast, my mistakes are infinitely easier to catch on Node-RED’s canvas, as I can see how the different gadgets affect each other.

That said, HASS is better for simple automation projects

So far, I’ve only discussed why Node-RED suits my smart home projects. But I’d be biased if I didn’t talk about its drawbacks. Despite providing easier methods for automating complex projects, Node-RED has a steeper learning curve than Home Assistant. Plus, community-created blueprints are a neat utility in Home Assistant for casual users who want to quick put together motion-controlled lights.

However, if you’re looking to build something as convoluted as a surveillance system that automatically turns on the lights and sets the right thermostat temperature when it detects your presence, it’s a good idea to go with Node-RED as your automation platform. source

Home Assistant with Node-Red

/root/config/custom_components/nodered/__init__.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/__pycache__
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/binary_sensor.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/config_flow.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/const.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/discovery.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/manifest.json
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/save.txt
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/sensor.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/services.yaml
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/switch.py
/root/config/custom_components/nodered/websocket.py

/root/config/custom_components/nodered/.translations/en.json

30 years ago today, the home computer era came to an end with the bankruptcy of Commodore. For fans of the cult computers C64 and Amiga, it is a day of mourning

Commodore International filed for bankruptcy on April 29, 1994. The company was later liquidated, with its assets purchased by the German company Escom. Escom then continued to develop the Amiga line until they also went bankrupt in July 1996. 

April 29, 1994, was a sad day for many computer nerds. With the insolvency of Commodore, a pioneer disappeared from the market, a company that shaped the home computer sector like no other with computers such as the C64 or Amiga. It was the end of a slow decline and the result of many wrong and inflexible decisions – Commodore often reacted too late to market developments and had no suitable response to the shift towards PCs and modern consoles.

Jack Tramiel founded Commodore. Born Idek Trzmiel in Poland, he was a Jewish child who survived the concentration camp in Auschwitz and forced labor in Ahlen near Hanover. After the war, he moved to the USA. In 1948, he learned basic technical skills in the US Army, which he later deepened as a typewriter mechanic in New York.

He moved on to Canada and founded the Commodore company in 1954. It sold typewriters, which it imported cheaply from Czechoslovakia in individual parts, assembled and sold under license. After low-cost Asian manufacturers entered the market at the end of the 1950s, Commodore switched to calculators.

Investor Gould joins Commodore

The Canadian businessman Iving Gould not only helped when Commodore was in difficulties in 1965, but also bought up over 17 percent of Commodore shares (worth over 400,000 dollars). Through several further financial injections, Gould became Commodore’s largest investor over time.

When the Asian suppliers also put pressure on the calculator sector, Commodore expanded its portfolio to include pocket calculators. Tramiel had seen the then new devices on a trip to Japan and came back with the idea of bringing them onto the market himself. Commodore purchased the corresponding processors from Texas Instruments – when TI, of all companies, brought its own calculators onto the market at dumping prices, Commodore was determined to become less dependent on suppliers.

This was achieved with the takeover of chip manufacturer MOS Technologies in 1976. Commodore not only acquired a supplier for pocket calculators, but also the developers of the important 8-bit chip MOS 6502. Chief developer Chuck Peddle immediately suggested building their own computer. Commodore’s first computer, the PET 2001 PET = Personal Electronic Transactor), made its debut at CES 1977. With a 6502 chip, monochrome monitor, cassette drive and 8 kilobytes of memory, it was a first success for the company. And not only that: with the MOS 6502, Commodore was now the supplier of one of the most important CPUs, which ran in many 8-bit systems such as those from Apple or Atari.

Home computers for the masses

Commodore launched the first low-cost computer on the market in 1981 with the VC 20: for 300 dollars, the device offered a 6502 processor, 5 kilobytes and rudimentary color graphics, which was the entry point into the computer world for many. In 1982, it was the best-selling home computer and the first Commodore computer to exceed one million units sold.

This success was only followed by the Commodore 64, which was released in September 1982 and turned the 8-bit market on its head: with an estimated 17 million units sold, it is considered the most successful home computer of all time. In the shadow of this success were devices such as the Commodore 128 or the Commodore 246 series, which did not sell nearly as many units.

Tramiel was a tough and feared businessman. His understanding of business had to be followed by the staff and endured by the trading partners. When Jack Tramiel was not allowed to bring one of his sons into management and had a falling out with Irving Gould over the company’s direction, he left Commodore in 1984, taking some of the best developers with him. Tramiel bought the Atari company and openly went into battle against Commodore.

Commodore, in turn, had now lost its boss and some of the C64 developers. Although the Commodore 64 dominated the 8-bit market, they had no access to the emerging 16-bit wave. This came with the purchase of a small company called Amiga. Under the leadership of developer Jay Miner, who was already in charge of chip development for the Atari 400/800, a small team of developers had wanted to develop the best home computer ever since 1982, but there was no major investor behind the project and they were constantly struggling to survive. Although the presentation of the Lorraine prototype at the 1984 CES was a success, it did not attract any investors.

A loan almost turned the Amiga into an Atari

Instead, Amiga obtained a loan of 500,000 dollars from Atari – well before the takeover by Jack Tramiel – to continue developing its project. When Tramiel’s Atari takeover talks later leaked out, the Amiga developers panicked. They were still smarting from a takeover meeting in which Tramiel had wanted to take over the company at a dumping price months earlier. If Amiga didn’t pay back the 500,000 dollars by August, he would probably have become their boss.

At the last second, Commodore bought Amiga for 27 million dollars and paid Atari off. Tramiel, still in takeover negotiations, had no idea what the 500,000 dollar check meant and later sued Commodore, which ended in a settlement a few years later. With Commodore behind them, the Amiga engineers developed the Amiga 1000, which celebrated its premiere in New York on July 23, 1985.

With the Motorola 68000 with 16 (internally 32) bits and 7.16 megahertz, four-channel sound and up to 4096 simultaneous colors, the Amiga was graphically far ahead of the competition at the time. The AmigaOS was also the first widespread home computer with an operating system that was capable of preemptive multitasking. However, the Amiga was not yet positioned correctly: With a remote keyboard, it looked more like an office computer and was still too expensive for the children’s room, while Atari already had a keyboard computer with the same processor on the market with the Atari ST.

The Amiga’s breakthrough came with the Amiga 500, released in 1987. It was a keyboard computer similar to the C64, but with the performance data of the Amiga 1000 and also significantly cheaper than the first version of the series. Games such as Turrican, Defender of The Crown, Shadow of The Beast, Settlers and Lemmings demonstrated the Amiga’s outstanding capabilities and led to Commodore overtaking Atari in terms of sales over time.

Later, more professional Amigas and CD versions appeared

The Amiga 2000, also released in 1987, was intended to appeal to more professional users. It had a separate keyboard and a spacious housing for additional cards. In 1990, the CDTV, an Amiga 500, was released as a CD console: very stylish, but unfortunately otherwise with technology that was now five years old. The Amiga 3000 was again intended for professional users. It was not until 1992 that two Amigas appeared with the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000, whose graphics capabilities were able to compete with the emerging VGA PCs. However, they came too late to turn the tide.

Amiga 500 Plus was supposed to replace the Amiga 500 in 1991, but brought hardly any improvements and instead incompatibilities. The Amiga 600, which appeared in 1992, was also not a real further development, as the performance data remained more or less the same. It had more compact dimensions due to the omission of the numeric keypad, the design was based on the Amiga 1200, but the processor was still the 68000 with 7.16 megahertz. As an alternative to its own Amiga series, Commodore successfully offered IBM PC-compatible computers, occasionally with the PC 10 to PC 70.

The Commodore 65 almost came onto the market as the successor to the C64 in 1992, until the planners at Commodore realized that new 8-bit computers were no longer in demand. The last product, the Amiga CD32, came too late as a CD console to save Commodore from insolvency. On April 29, 1994, the time had come: Commodore was bankrupt.

The German PC distributor Escom then took over the rights to the Amiga and continued to distribute the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 until 1996, when they themselves had to file for bankruptcy independently of the Amiga. Since then, the rights to the Amiga and Commodore names have passed into different hands.

Today, an active nerd community takes care of Commodore’s legacy: enthusiasts continue to supply the systems with software and expansions. C64 has a huge fan base. It was even re-released four years ago in an FPGA version in its original size and with technical innovations. On the Amiga, you can also play via FPGA on the Amiga 500 mini-console, or you can play on the original device with an SD card partition. Lovers of classic devices can also meet at exhibitions such as the recent Retro Computing Festival in Paderborn. source

buy a modern version here

The rise and fall of Commodore

buy a modern version here

https://goodshepherdmedia.net/30-years-ago-when-the-c64-and-amiga-pioneer-commodore-went-bankrupt/

Drop in search traffic is a reminder technological advancement can displace long-established tech giants

Websites will soon serve primarily as data sources for AI platforms, not destinations for humans, Mailchimp predicts

In a matter of months, artificial intelligence has begun to change how people search for things online in ways that have alarmed some marketers.

Consumers who use traditional search engines like Google and Bing are now greeted atop their search results by AI-generated summaries of the topics at hand. A growing number of consumers now also turn directly to large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT to answer everyday questions or guide their purchases.

Both developments have begun to eat away at the clicks and website traffic that marketers have earned over time by spending millions of dollars on search engine optimization, or SEO. They have also created a wave of businesses claiming to specialize in new industry acronyms such as generative engine optimization (GEO), answer engine optimization (AEO) and, of course, artificial intelligence optimization (AIO).

Email software platform Intuit Mailchimp has seen a steady drop in web traffic since AI-assisted search started allowing people to gather information about the company and its products without visiting its sites, according to Ellen Mamedov, global director of search engine optimization.

In order to counter the shift, Mailchimp began updating its sites to better serve the so-called crawlers, bots that visit pages across the web to collect the data that informs the answers provided by AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, Mamedov said.

Technical search elements, like the speed at which pages load and the snippets of code used to track user activity, are more important for these bots and AI-driven searches than for traditional search engines, according to Mailchimp’s research.

Mailchimp says traffic to its website has dropped due to the influence of large language models and AI overviews in search results. Photo: Rafael Henrique/Zuma Press

The bots are designed to absorb and process information as quickly as possible, which is why they prefer faster-loading sites that have been optimized for machines rather than human readers, according to Mamedov. Websites in general will evolve to serve primarily as data sources for bots that feed LLMs, rather than destinations for consumers, she said.

If Mailchimp doesn’t regularly make sure these elements are up-to-date, “we’re definitely going to be left behind,” said Mamedov.

Chief marketing officers trained on classic SEO have seen similar traffic declines in recent months, and many aren’t aware that their companies’ sites haven’t been tailored to AI platforms or even made accessible to their bots, said Natasha Sommerfeld, partner in consulting firm Bain & Co.’s customer practice.

They’re also contending with the rapid rise of so-called zero-click search. Eighty percent of consumers now resolve 40% of their online search queries without clicking any links, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people conducted by Bain in December. Forty-two percent of people who regularly use generative AI said that they use such tools for shopping recommendations, the same survey found.

OpenAI announced last month that ChatGPT will soon roll out a shopping button that redirects users to a merchant’s website, where they can buy the product they were researching.

That could begin to address marketers’ AI challenge by letting people shop through ChatGPT, said Joy Howard, chief marketing officer at Back Market, a marketplace for refurbished electronics.

LLM searches don’t yet drive sales, and they only account for 0.2% of traffic to Back Market’s sites. But such traffic is 470 times higher than it was last summer, and it will continue to grow, said Howard.

Back Market is tweaking its SEO practices accordingly. It has focused more intently on updating individual product pages, for example, because some consumers ask LLMs to identify products that suit their needs and tastes before using search engines to locate and potentially buy them, Howard said. Back Market has also begun using a more conversational tone in its product copy, since its search team has found that LLMs like ChatGPT prefer everyday language to the detailed descriptions that often perform best in traditional search engines, she said.

“This is not big for us yet, but it could be,” she said of LLM searches.

Very few consumers have entirely replaced Google or Bing with ChatGPT, said Nikhil Lai, principal performance marketing analyst at Forrester. OpenAI says ChatGPT now processes roughly one billion searches a week, but Google handles 5 trillion searches each year, or around 100 times that total, according to its most recent figures.

Trust is a question as well, with only 15% of consumers now willing to share their financial information with generative AI tools, according to Bain.

As AI assumes a larger role in search, however, marketers will increasingly focus on how closely AI-generated summaries and prompt responses match the way they want their brands to be perceived, Lai said.

“SEO teams have been caught flat-footed,” he said. “Traffic and ranking and average position and click-through rate…none of those metrics make sense going forward.” source

Microsoft purchased Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion

Microsoft’s Skype has finally shut down, concluding its 22-year tenure as the once-dominant internet calling and messaging service.

Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion in what was then its largest-ever acquisition. At its peak, Skype had more than 300 million monthly active users and was synonymous with internet-based voice and video calling. For many, Skype was their first experience of speaking to someone halfway across the world for free, a radical shift from the dominance of telcos and expensive long-distance calls.

The service steadily declined in relevance in recent years, with its active user base shrinking to approximately 36 million by 2023 as competitors such as Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft’s own Teams platform gained traction.

Teams has since grown to 320 million monthly users, far surpassing Skype’s remaining user base. The company’s decision to discontinue Skype is apparently part of a broader effort to prioritize artificial intelligence features within Teams. Employees who worked on Skype will be reassigned to other projects rather than being laid off.

Skype played a key role in popularizing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, enabling businesses and individuals to connect around the world with minimal costs. It also served as an early testbed for AI-powered real-time language translation, a feature Microsoft showcased in a widely publicized demonstration in 2014. However, its frequent UI changes, reliability issues, ill-conceived social media-like features, gradual shift toward enterprise, and inability to keep pace with newer competitors, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately led to its obsolescence.

Existing Skype users had until May 5 to migrate their data and contacts to Teams or seek alternative solutions. Skype’s legacy lives on in the VoIP technology it helped to normalize—but as a product, it stands as a case study in how brand recognition alone can’t save a stagnant platform.

source

RIP Skype (2003–2025), survived by multiple versions of Microsoft Teams

Skype is no more, as Microsoft is retiring the once-popular video calling service on Monday.

Shutting down Skype will help the software giant focus on its homegrown Teams service by simplifying its communication offerings, Microsoft announced back in February.

To ease the transition from the platform, its users will be able to log into the free version of Teams using their existing credentials, with chats and contacts migrating automatically.

“Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey,” Jeff Tepper, Microsoft president of collaborative apps and platforms, said in a statement.

Businessman discussing work on video call with team members. (iStock / iStock)

Those who do not want to use Microsoft Teams Free can export their Skype data. Those who do nothing will have their data deleted in January 2026, Microsoft’s website says.

Skype first launched in 2003. When Microsoft acquired it in 2011 for $8.5 billion, the service had around 150 million monthly users. When the popularity of Zoom surged during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, that number had fallen to roughly 23 million.

The decline was partly because Skype’s underlying technology was not suited for the smartphone era.

Access ANY Network (remotely) What is a Hacker Dropbox?

What is a Hacker Dropbox? (and why you need one….even if you aren’t a hacker)

Build your Hacker Dropbox with Twingate (it’s free): https://ntck.co/twingate_ztna
Raspberry Pi Imager: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
Buy a Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi 4: amazon.com
Raspberry Pi 5: amazon.com

• Here is a great definition from ChatGPT: a small, discreet, and often portable device designed to be covertly placed in a target network to provide remote access for a hacker or penetration tester. It typically contains hardware and software configured to exploit the network or collect sensitive information.
• If you’re a hacker…this is a no brainer. Get instant access to a remote network by dropping off a device. But….if you’re not a hacker…why do you need this?

Family HelpDesk Support

• If you’re like me, you are likely the official technical support for your family and friends. I also inherited the role of helpdesk support for my church…these kinds of things just happen by default when you are in tech and people find out about your technical skills.
• This isn’t an easy thing to do, especially when it comes to troubleshooting networks for your family. Is the network up? Why is it slow? Sometimes a FaceTime call just isn’t going to cut it.
• If I’m going to be the support for my church and family, I’m going to take my role seriously. I need FULL control of the remote network……no more playing around!!!
• With the Hacker Dropbox, I can drop off a small device, in my case it’s going to be a Raspberry Pi 4. (it can be a lot of things, as long as the device is Linux-based and is 64-bit). Instantly I get access to this remote network, enabling me to provide remote support and access any device.

This is NOT VPN

• This is not a VPN (VIrtual Private Network) solution….it’s much better.
• This is a ZTNA (Zero-Trust Network Access) solution. It’s called Twingate and I’ve been using them for a long time in my business and personal networks. I talk more about them in the video above but in short, they allow you to get and give remote access to networks in the most secure way. They are used by everyone from large enterprises to homelabbers looking to access their Plex server.
• This isn’t the first video I’ve made about them but this is the first time I’ve featured a use-case like this.
• Oh, it’s also FREE for home labbers. (And…cough….businesses that don’t have a ton of employees….like me.)

You don’t need to know ANYTHING about the network

• I wanted this to be a turnkey solution even if you don’t know anything about the remote network. All you’ll have to do is plug in an ethernet cable (or connect to wifi….but you’ll need to know the SSID and password) and you will know everything you need to know about that network…..but how?
• Twingate has a powerful API that allows us to do many things…including write python scripts that will automagically tell us the private IP address of our Hacker Dropbox (Raspberry Pi) and the Public IP address of the network, giving us instant access to this Hacker Dropbox AND the network.
• This guide will contain that script.

What do you need?

• Any Linux-based 64-bit system will do. You’ll need at least 1 CPU and 2GB RAM (recommended)…but you can go as low as 512MB of RAM.
• You can also run this as a Docker container, which is my favorite way to deploy this in my home lab.
• In this example, with the Hacker Dropbox, I’m using a Raspberry Pi 4 running Raspberry Pi OS Lite – 64-bit and installing it directly on the system (no docker container)

What other hardware options do I have?

Again, this can be many things, but here are some ideas to get the juices flowing:

• ZImaboard
• Raspberry Pi 4/5
• Raspberry Pi 400/500
• Old laptops
• NAS
• Intel NUC or other mini-pcs

The Tutorial

Step 1 – Setup Twingate

This setup is VERY easy and is all done in the cloud.

• Sign up for Twingate here: https://ntck.co/twingate_ztna
  • You’ll create a new Twingate network

!

Step 2 – Add your first remote network

You will be prompted to go through a wizard, we can skip that for now.

• Click on Remote Networks

!

• And then add a Remote Network

!

• Choose on-premise for location

!

• Once created, we’ll click on the remote network link to jump in and add more config…like adding a connector.

!

Step 2.5 – Prep your Hacker Dropbox

• This will vary based on what device you choose but this will normally involve installing a compatible OS (64-bit Linux OS) and getting access to your device via CLI.
• I demo flashing an SD-card for the Raspberry Pi 4 in the video.

Step 3 – Adding a connector for your remote network

The connector, in our case, will be the Hacker Dropbox, a linux-based device running Twingate software, aka, The Connector

• Click on Deploy Connector

!

• Good practice, run sudo apt update to make sure all your repos are up-to-date (this will different for you if you are running something that isn’t Debian-based)
• For the Raspberry Pi example, we are installing the Twingate connector directly on the OS, no container. So we’ll select Linux as our option.

!

• Now, generate your access tokens. These will automatically be added the command we’ll use to install Twingate here in a moment.

!

• Copy the provided command

!

• Paste that command in your terminal and watch the magic happen.

!

!

• We are actually….done. Check Twingate to see if your connector is up.

!

Step 4 – Add a remote WiFi Network (if not using ethernet)

• This will be Raspberry Pi specific.
• Run this command to access the NetworkManager TUI

sudo nmtui

• Edit a connection

!

• Select Add

!

• Select WiFi

!

• Add SSID and Password (you’ll need to know this for the remote network)

!

• Select Ok and then hit ESC to save and get out of there.

Step 5 – Use the Twingate API to learn about the remote network

You only need this option if this is a network you are unfamiliar with. So, for example, you might be offering remote support for your family and you will likely already know their network, 192.168.1.0/24 (for example) and you may have set the static IP address of your Hacker Dropbox and can easily, manually add this as a resource in Twingate.

• Generate an API token

!

• Our script will be provisioning resources so we’ll need to give it a good amount of access.

!

• Copy that key and put it somewhere safe.

!

Run the Python Script

• You’ll need another computer, can be anything that can run Python. (which…can be anything, Windows, Mac, Linux.)
• You’ll also need Python3 installed, refer to your OS-specific documentation to install Python.

Create the script

• Create a new python script

nano twingate.py

• paste the following script
• Replace the following variables:
  • API_URL
  • API_KEY
  • TARGET_NETWORK_NAME

from gql import gql, Client
from gql.transport.requests import RequestsHTTPTransport

# Twingate API settings
API_URL = "https://****your Twingate network here****.twingate.com/api/graphql/"  # Replace <subdomain> with your Twingate subdomain
API_KEY = "YOUR TWINGATE API KEY"
TARGET_NETWORK_NAME = "YOUR REMOTE NETWORK"  # Replace with your target network name

QUERY_REMOTE_NETWORKS = gql("""
query GetRemoteNetworkDetails {
  remoteNetworks(after: null, first: 10) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        name
        connectors {
          edges {
            node {
              id
              name
              publicIP
              privateIPs
              remoteNetwork {
                id
                name
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
""")

MUTATION_CREATE_RESOURCE = gql("""
mutation CreateResource($name: String!, $address: String!, $remoteNetworkId: ID!) {
  resourceCreate(
    name: $name,
    address: $address,
    remoteNetworkId: $remoteNetworkId
  ) {
    ok
    error
    entity {
      id
      name
      address {
        type
        value
      }
    }
  }
}
""")

def setup_client():
    transport = RequestsHTTPTransport(
        url=API_URL,
        headers={"X-API-KEY": API_KEY},
        use_json=True,
    )
    return Client(transport=transport, fetch_schema_from_transport=True)

def get_target_network(client):
    response = client.execute(QUERY_REMOTE_NETWORKS)
    for edge in response["remoteNetworks"]["edges"]:
        network = edge["node"]
        if network["name"] == TARGET_NETWORK_NAME:
            return network
    return None

def create_resource(client, name, address_value, remote_network_id):
    params = {
        "name": name,
        "address": address_value,
        "remoteNetworkId": remote_network_id
    }
    response = client.execute(MUTATION_CREATE_RESOURCE, variable_values=params)
    if not response["resourceCreate"]["ok"]:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to create resource: {response['resourceCreate']['error']}")
    return response["resourceCreate"]["entity"]

def automate_resource_creation():
    client = setup_client()

    print(f"Searching for target network: {TARGET_NETWORK_NAME}...")
    target_network = get_target_network(client)

    if not target_network:
        print(f"Network '{TARGET_NETWORK_NAME}' not found.")
        return

    print(f"Found network: {target_network['name']}")
    remote_network_id = target_network['id']

    for connector_edge in target_network["connectors"]["edges"]:
        connector = connector_edge["node"]
        public_ip = connector.get("publicIP")
        private_ips = connector.get("privateIPs", [])

        if public_ip:
            resource_name = f"Resource-Public-{public_ip.replace('.', '-')}"
            print(f"Creating Resource for public IP: {public_ip}...")
            resource = create_resource(client, resource_name, public_ip, remote_network_id)
            print(f"Resource created: {resource['name']} (ID: {resource['id']}, Address: {resource['address']['value']})")

        for private_ip in private_ips:
            resource_name = f"Resource-Private-{private_ip.replace('.', '-')}"
            print(f"Creating Resource for private IP: {private_ip}...")
            resource = create_resource(client, resource_name, private_ip, remote_network_id)
            print(f"Resource created: {resource['name']} (ID: {resource['id']}, Address: {resource['address']['value']})")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        automate_resource_creation()
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")

• Save the file.

Now, we’ll create a python virtual environment

• This will make sure we can install packages and prerequisites without hurting your other projects. (if you have some….if you don’t…that’s okay….it’s just good practice)
• First make sure you have it installed. See below for Linux.

sudo apt install python3-venv -y

• Also make sure you install PIP

sudo apt install python3-pip

• Now create a Python virtual environment and activate it.

python3 -m venv twingatesomething

source twingatesomething/bin/activate

• Install the pre-reqs

pip install gql requests requests.toolbelt

• Type to run the script

python3 twingate.py

• Check your resources in Twingate…you should see something cool

!

Internet advertisements have become very obtrusive and more apparent over the last several years. Users conducting research from various sources on the web are often met with a vexatious experience full of distractions. Children watching YouTube videos that have inappropriate advertisement content embedded in the videos are also becoming a concern for many parents. Normally users will install ad-blocking software and extensions on their operating systems and web browsers. Most of the software installed for ad-blocking purposes ends up not being updated and extensions for web browsers often stop working when the web browser itself has been updated.

A more efficient solution is now available thanks to single board computing.  The Raspberry Pi being the most readily available single board computer. For a mere $16 anyone can have a multi-platform, network-wide ad blocker on their local network. This software plays very nice in both office and home networks. Pi-hole offers a wonderful dashboard with real time analytics if you’re someone who loves numbers.

Below is an example of a Raspberry Pi, with Pi-hole installed showing real time stats via an LCD installed on the Raspberry Pi:

So what is needed to get this project going?

• Raspberry Pi Kit – $16
• Ethernet Cable (Optional) – $6
• Screen for Raspberry Pi (Optional) -$20

After you have purchased these components it’s very simple to install Pi-hole.

You can install an Operating System image on your Raspberry Pi. Step-by-step directions are provided and the entire process takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Installing Pi-hole:

1. Install Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi. The program can be downloaded here or via the install “curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash|”” command.
2. Configure your router DHCP settings to force clients in using your PI-hole as their DNS server. You can also manually configure each device but that takes much more time than blocking ads on the whole network at once. This step sounds more difficult than it actually is. The only thing that you have to change are some ports and DNS settings on your router. Most routers have this setting displaying on the main page and it can be changed within a matter of a few seconds. A straightforward guide is provided on Pi-Holes official site.
3. Completion! Your Pi-hole blocks all advertisements at a DNS level. This means your whole network is protected and any device connected will automatically block online commercials even inside Apps and programs. You have freed your laptop, iPhone, Nexus tablet and desktop PC from all online commercials! Enjoy faster loading times on all your favorite websites and apps.

If you’d like to pull up Pi-holes nifty dashboard and see how many advertisements were blocked from your entire network you’ll see a clean interface exactly like the one below :

Fun Facts About Pi-hole :

– The code is completely open, and you are able to modify it in any way you’d like. (Yay for open-source!)
– Pi-hole is very lightweight as it only handles DNS queries and returns a blank HTML file so it doesn’t need much processing power. (Yay for efficiency!)
– Pi-hole will run on most Debian-based distros and is the preferred platform for it.(Yay for compatibility!) source

Block Internet ads at home with Pi-hole

LETS DIVE DEEPER….

How does Pi-hole work?

Pi-hole blocks ads by acting as a DNS sinkhole.

To understand what a DNS sinkhole is, you need to understand what DNS is. Here are a few key terms:

IP address: unique numeric address of a web resource (e.g. 104.22.23.160)

DNS: Domain Name System, associates domain names with IP addresses

DNS server: a server that translates domain names into IP addresses

Domain Name: unique alphanumeric address of a web resource (e.g. raspberrypi.com)

When you type www.raspberrypi.com into your browser, your computer asks a DNS server where to find that domain. The DNS server responds with an IP address (e.g. 104.22.23.160). Then your computer queries that IP address for the resource you’re looking for.We use domain names because IP addresses aren’t very human-readable; it’s a lot easier to read and write “raspberrypi.com” than four bytes’ worth of numbers.Usually, your computer queries a DNS server hosted somewhere on the internet. It might be hosted by your internet provider, a website hosting company, or any company that runs a lot of servers. Your machine submits a domain, and the DNS server returns the IP address corresponding to that domain. The DNS server doesn’t care if the domain provides something you want (like the article you’re trying to read) or an ad. It just resolves domains into IP addresses.

Here’s where Pi-hole comes in. Pi-hole stands between your network and a DNS server. Consider a client device, like your smart toilet, performing a DNS lookup for a domain. The Pi-hole in your network acts like a DNS server; DNS lookups from all client devices, whether that’s your smart toilet or your phone, go to the Pi-hole.

But Pi-hole doesn’t store a perfect up-to-date mapping of all domain names to all IP addresses. Instead, Pi-hole queries a real DNS server outside of your network. However, before it queries that real DNS server, Pi-hole checks a blocklist. If the domain passes this filter, Pi-hole requests the IP address from the DNS server, and returns it to the client device on your network. If the domain doesn’t pass the filter — if it’s included on the blocklist — Pi-hole returns a non-routable address such as 0.0.0.0.

The following diagram shows a lookup via a Pi-hole for the unblocked domain raspberrypi.com:

The following diagram shows a lookup via a Pi-hole for the blocked domain raspberryads.com:

TL;DR: Pi-hole blocks requests made to ad domains from your network, before the requests ever leave your network. Your client devices can’t connect to domains that host ads, but can connect to domains that host useful content.

Overview

To install a Pi-hole in your network, you’ll need to do the following things:

1. Configure a Raspberry Pi running Raspberry Pi OS.
2. Set up Pi-hole software on your Raspberry Pi.
3. Direct DNS queries on your network to your Raspberry Pi.

Supplies

• Raspberry Pi
• suitable power supply (see the documentation for details)
• microSD card (see the documentation for details)
• adapter to connect your microSD card with your usual computer
• USB cable (check your 3D printer for details)

For the initial SD card setup, you will need:

• Another computer connected to your network. We’ll refer to this as your usual computer to distinguish it from the Raspberry Pi computer you are setting up.

Choose a Raspberry Pi

You can use any Raspberry Pi model for this. We recommend Zero 2 W if you can’t decide which model to use.

Configure your Raspberry Pi

To begin, follow the Getting Started documentation to set up your Raspberry Pi. For your operating system, choose Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) to run headless (without a mouse and keyboard).

During the OS customisation stage, edit settings as follows:

• Enter a hostname of your choice (we suggest pi-hole for this tutorial)
• Enter a username and password; you’ll need these later to authenticate
• Check the box next to Configure wireless LAN so your Pi can automatically connect to Wi-Fi
• Enter your network SSID (name) and password; you can find these in your Wi-Fi settings or on a sticker on your router
• Check the box next to Enable SSH so we can connect to the Pi without a mouse and keyboard

Connect via SSH

Open a terminal on your computer. If you use a Windows computer, you may need to install a terminal; we suggest PuTTY. Enter the following command to connect to your Raspberry Pi, replacing the <username> placeholder with your own username that you chose in Imager:

$ ssh <username>@pi-hole.local

If ssh asks you if you’re sure you want to continue connecting, reply yes. Enter the password you chose during advanced configuration when prompted.

You’ll know you’ve connected successfully when you see the following prompt with your configured username and hostname:

<username>@<hostname>:~ $

Now that you’ve connected to your Raspberry Pi, run two commands to make sure that all of your packages are up to date:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade

Once the package update commands finish running, reboot your Raspberry Pi to allow all changes to take effect:

$ sudo reboot

Running this command will disconnect you from the Raspberry Pi SSH session. Wait a few seconds for your Raspberry Pi to reboot, and enter the ssh connection command again to reconnect to your device.

tip

On most terminals, press the Up arrow key, then the Enter key to re-run the most recent command.

Install Pi-hole

Run the following single-line command to run the Pi-hole setup script:

$ curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

The setup script is relatively self-explanatory, but follow these tips if you aren’t sure how to proceed:

• When warned about needing a static IP address, click Continue to proceed; we’ll deal with this later
• When prompted to select an interface, select wlan0 to use your Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi connection
• When prompted to choose an upstream DNS provider, choose OpenDNS
• Include StevenBlack’s Unified Hosts List
• Install the Admin Web Interface
• Install lighttpd and the required PHP modules to run the Admin Web Interface
• Enable query logging
• When prompted to choose a privacy level, choose Anonymous mode

When you see “Installation complete!”, the setup is complete. This screen shows the IP address of your Pi-hole, a link to the admin interface, and your administrator password.

• Save this password somewhere safe, like a password manager — you’ll need it to work with your Pi-hole in the future
• Save the IP address — you’ll need it to configure a static IP address shortly

Pi-hole only provides a single administrator account, so there’s no username. Press the Control key (Command on macOS) and click the link to the admin interface that uses an IP address. It’ll look something like http://192.168.1.24/admin. Don’t use the pi.hole domain link yet; until we configure the Pi-hole as our DNS provider, it won’t work. The link should open in your browser. You can also copy and paste the link into a browser if control + click doesn’t work in your terminal. Use the admin password from the setup script output to authenticate. You can now see your Pi-hole admin console! We recommend bookmarking this console for future maintenance.

Configure your network to use your Pi-hole

warning

The tasks below require you to change global settings in your wireless network. You might break your internet connection (for a little while). Proceed with caution!

To complete these tasks, visit the admin interface for your router. You can usually access the admin interface through your router’s IP address. Here are a couple of common ways to find that interface:

• Run the following command on your Raspberry Pi to output your router’s IP address:

  $ nmcli -f IP4.GATEWAY device show wlan0

• Check for a sticker on your router — look for a value called “admin URL” or similar

Once you’ve found the IP address, log in to your router’s admin interface by typing the address (sometimes with the suffix /admin) into your browser. Enter your username and password (if you don’t know these, you may be able to find them on a sticker on your router). Now that you’ve got your Pi-hole configured, you have three choices to use it to block ads. All of them involve getting Pi-hole between your network and the internet:

• configure Pi-hole as the DNS server for your network
• configure Pi-hole as the DHCP provider for your network
• manually point devices at Pi-hole for DNS

It’s easiest to use your Pi-hole as a DNS server. However, some routers don’t provide a setting to control the default DNS server. If you can’t set a DNS server, try configuring Pi-hole as your DHCP provider. And if you can’t do that either, you can always manually point devices at the Pi-hole for DNS — it’s not as good as full-network ad blocking, but it’s a lot better than nothing.

Configure Pi-hole as your network’s DNS server

This is the most common way of configuring a Pi-hole. For this method, you’ll first assign your Raspberry Pi a static IP address from your router’s interface, then point your router’s DNS server settings to the Pi-hole’s static IP address. With this setup, your router controls IP reservations across your network, but devices on the network send DNS queries to your Pi-hole instead of to a DNS server on the internet.

Assign your Raspberry Pi a static IP address

IP addresses are unique numeric codes that allow you to directly interact with devices on your network. For instance, many routers automatically assign themselves the first address in the IP block they are using, such as 192.168.1.1. Most networks use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to assign IP addresses to devices automatically. These IP addresses are known as dynamic IP addresses, because they can change at any time.

To run a Pi-hole on your network, we recommend assigning your Pi-hole a static IP address. A static IP address never changes. This allows devices on your network always to find the Pi-hole at the same address.

To start, run the following command on your Raspberry Pi:

$ hostname -I

You should see output similar to the following:

$ 192.168.1.24

This value is the current (dynamic) IP address of your Raspberry Pi on the network.

To assign a static IP address, you also need the MAC address of your Raspberry Pi. A device’s MAC address is a hardware identifier that your router uses to uniquely identify it. Run the following command to find the MAC address of your Raspberry Pi:

$ nmcli -f GENERAL.HWADDR device show wlan0

You should see output similar to the following:

GENERAL.HWADDR:                         A8:42:EA:58:E0:1C

The value on the right is the MAC address of your Raspberry Pi. Now that we know your Raspberry Pi’s MAC address and IP address, we can configure your router so it always associates the Raspberry Pi’s MAC address with its current IP address. Effectively, we’re turning the current dynamic address into a static one using the MAC address. In your router’s admin interface, configure a static IP address for your Raspberry Pi. There are several ways to accomplish this, depending on your router:

• You might be able to find this setting in the “Advanced” section of the router admin interface. Look for a list called “DHCP Reservations”, and enter your Raspberry Pi’s IP address and MAC address.
• Look for a list of connected devices and find your Raspberry Pi’s IP address or MAC address. Select the option to “Always use this IP address” to make the IP address reservation static.
• Check the documentation for your router model for specific instructions.

Set Pi-hole as your network’s default DNS server

Once you’ve assigned your Raspberry Pi a static IP address, you can configure individual devices to use Pi-hole as a DNS server in their network settings. But this process is tedious, and some devices don’t provide an easily accessible DNS server setting. However, there is an easier way: most routers automatically suggest a DNS server for devices connected to your network. All you have to do is change the suggested server in your router’s settings, and your entire network should start using your Pi-hole for DNS.

Look for a setting called DNS in your router’s admin interface. You may be able to find the setting in a section called “Internet”, “DHCP”, “Internet Connection”, or “DDNS”.

Enter your Pi-hole’s IP address in the DNS (or similarly named) field.

If your router provides multiple custom DNS fields, add your Pi-hole address in each field.

important

Whatever you do, don’t add any separate DNS entries after the Pi-hole entries — this can break Pi-hole’s ad blocking functionality. When your Pi-hole blocks a domain, it returns a non-routable address such as 0.0.0.0, and some devices will query the secondary DNS server when the first server returns such a non-routable address. If your secondary DNS server isn’t a Pi-hole, every single request blocked by Pi-hole will succeed on the secondary server, and ads will load as if you weren’t running an ad blocker at all.

Configure Pi-hole as your network’s DHCP provider

If your router doesn’t support configuration for static IP addresses or DNS servers, you may still be able to use your Pi-hole automatically across your network. First, check whether you can change the network DHCP server in your router settings. If you can, you can use your Pi-hole both as a DNS server and as the DHCP server that handles IP address reservations across your network.

First, navigate to the Pi-hole admin console. If you type your Raspberry Pi’s IP address into your browser, it should redirect you there.

In the left side menu, select the “Settings” page.

In the DHCP tab, in the “DHCP Settings” block, check the “DHCP server enabled” box.

Pi-hole should pre-populate the IP address range with the IP block that your router currently uses, and the router IP address with the router’s current IP address. You can leave these values as they are. Click the Save button in the bottom left to start hosting a DHCP server from Pi-hole.

Finally, visit your router’s admin interface, and set your Pi-hole’s IP address as the DHCP provider for your network. When your Pi-hole is functioning as the DHCP provider, your router delegates all IP-related tasks to it. This includes DNS server configuration, so your Pi-hole can suggest itself as the default DNS server for all devices on your network. Check the documentation for your router model for specific instructions.

Manually point devices at Pi-hole for DNS

On many devices, you can configure DNS settings in Wi-Fi preferences. Look in the “Advanced” section of your Wi-Fi or wired connection preferences for a DNS server setting. Put your Raspberry Pi’s IP address in this field. Your device should immediately start issuing DNS queries to the Pi-hole.

Unless you’ve configured a static IP address for your Raspberry Pi, this IP address can change at any time without warning. Follow the instructions under “Assign your Raspberry Pi a static IP address” in the DNS section above to configure a static IP address — this will prevent your device from losing its connection to the Pi-hole (and most of the internet!) when your Pi-hole’s dynamic IP address changes.

Is my Pi-hole working?

With a Pi-hole acting as the DNS server for your network, many pages will load without ads at all. Most privacy-invading trackers won’t work either. You’ll still see cookie and app install banners, because those can’t be blocked at the DNS level. To check to see if your Pi-hole is working correctly:

• Check out Adblock Tester. Without Pi-hole, many browsers score near 0; with Pi-hole, you should see a score at or near 100.
• Try visiting http://pi.hole/admin/login.php. Pi-hole always routes the pi.hole domain to your Raspberry Pi when you use Pi-hole as your DNS server.
• Visit any site where you normally see ads and visually confirm that ads are no longer there.
• Check the proportion of “queries blocked” on the Pi-hole dashboard. Many networks see between 10% and 50% of queries blocked!
• Check the DNS server used by other computers in your network. You should be able to find this information in “Details” or “Advanced” Wi-Fi settings. If you see your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, your configuration worked!

If you’ve completed all of the setup steps but you’re still seeing ads (or, worse, DNS queries don’t resolve), try the trusty solution of turning your router off and on again. This should disconnect all devices from your network and renew all DHCP leases, putting your new settings into effect for every device. Congratulations! Your home network is now protected from ads. Put a slice of bread in your smart toaster, watch a movie on your smart TV, and flush your smart toilet in the comfort of privacy and security. source

 

1. Install a supported operating system

You can run Pi-hole in a container, or deploy it directly to a supported operating system via our automated installer.

Docker install

Supported operating systems

2. Install Pi-hole

Our intelligent, automated installer asks you a few questions and then sets everything up for you.  Once complete, move onto step 3.

Install Pi-hole

3. Use Pi-hole as your DNS server

Configure your router’s DHCP options to force clients to use Pi-hole as their DNS server, or manually configure each device​ to use the Pi-hole as their DNS server.

Use Pi-hole as your DNS server

4. Block ads everywhere, even on the go

By pairing your Pi-hole with a VPN, you can have ad blocking on your cellular devices, helping with limited bandwidth data plans.

Pi-hole + VPN

Network-wide protection

Instead of browser plugins or other software on each computer, install Pi-hole in one place and your entire network is protected.

Block in-app advertisements

Network-level blocking allows you to block ads in non-traditional places such as mobile apps and smart TVs, regardless of hardware or OS.

Improve network performance

Since advertisements are blocked before they are downloaded, network performance is improved and will feel faster.

Monitor statistics

Our Web interface offers control of your Pi-hole and a central place to view statistics.  We also include an API for extending these stats.

Web Interface

In addition to blocking advertisements, Pi-hole has an informative Web interface that shows stats on all the domains being queried on your network.

Built-in DHCP Server

Pi-hole works fine with an existing DHCP server, but you can use Pi-hole’s to keep your network management in one place.

Manage White And Black Lists

Fine-tune your experience by blacklisting or whitelisting domains.  Extend this capability with powerful regex statements.

Query Log

See all the domains being queried on your network, where they originated, and more.

Long Term Statistics

Queries are stored in a database and can be queried at any time.  Learn about what’s happening on your network over time.

Audit Log

Keep track of the most queried domains and add them to a white or blacklist from a central page.

Privacy Modes

Choose from four different privacy modes that works for your environment.

Other Settings

Control and configure other settings from the Web interface.

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The AI WiFi DeAuther Tool That Lives of a WiFi

Pwnagotchi was created by , a hacker, maker, security researcher, AI and physics nerd that we all love and appreciate.

It’s a super cute lil’ buddy which eats wifi connections and lives on a small computer which can fit in your pocket.

Pwnagotchi is an “AI” that learns from the WiFi environment and instruments bettercap in order to maximize the WPA key material (any form of handshake that is crackable, including PMKIDs, full and half WPA handshakes) captured.

Get started building one by checking out the official project on GitHub: https://github.com/evilsocket/pwnagotchi

Unofficial list of Pwnagotchi builds and parts with notes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pwnagotchi/comments/11bxv0n/i_created_pwnnotes_a_simple_collaborative/

Pwnagotchi is an A2C-based “AI” powered by bettercap and running on a Raspberry Pi Zero W that learns from its surrounding WiFi environment in order to maximize the crackable WPA key material it captures (either through passive sniffing or by performing deauthentication and association attacks). This material is collected on disk as PCAP files containing any form of handshake supported by hashcat, including full and half WPA handshakes as well as PMKIDs.

Learn more about the project and how it started on the author’s blog.

pwnagotchi org

Pwnagotchi is an A2C-based “AI” powered by bettercap and running on a Raspberry Pi Zero W that learns from its surrounding WiFi environment in order to maximize the crackable WPA key material it captures (either through passive sniffing or by performing deauthentication and association attacks). This material is collected on disk as PCAP files containing any form of handshake supported by hashcat, including full and half WPA handshakes as well as PMKIDs.

Instead of merely playing Super Mario or Atari games like most reinforcement learning based “AI” (yawn), Pwnagotchi tunes its own parameters over time to get better at pwning WiFi things in the real world environments you expose it to.

But…why?

To give hackers an excuse to learn about reinforcement learning and WiFi networking—and have a reason to get out for more walks.

Also? It’s cute as f—.

Buy yours today! or Here