Jonas HietalaModify

Nerdy things I enjoyed

• I read a few books this year.

  The whole Dungeon Crawler Carl series was absolutely amazing and it quickly jumped up to one of my favorite series of all time.

  I can’t be held accountable for everything I’ve ever said to a stripper.

• Board games are great.

  I still don’t play nearly as much as I’d like to but my kids are quickly growing up and to my eternal joy they’re all interested in board games! Isidor (8) has been loving Radlands, Loke (5) likes Chronicles of Avel, and Freja (3) loves Dragon’s Breath. My personal favorite is Luthier and I think it might be my absolute favorite game right now.

• Computer games have made a small comeback.

  As my kids have been gaming more I’ve regained a little bit of interest in gaming too. I’ve been playing a little Core Keeper and Beyond All Reason with Isidor and it felt really fun.

• Migrated my Neovim config to Fennel.

  Eh, it was fun to play with a new language.

Things I accomplished

• I wrote 12 blog posts, not great, not terrible.

• I managed to push back my fantasy writing ambitions to the future.

  It’s important as I tend to get stuck on things, preventing me from making progress in other parts. I really don’t have the time or energy to try to write a fantasy book right now, but making my brain see that wasn’t easy.

• 2025 was the first full year running my company.

  I’m still consulting for the same company I started out with and I enjoy it. It feels good to say that I haven’t blown it completely just yet.

• Switched to GrapheneOS.

  I took a big step forward in de-Googling and to increase my personal security by moving to GrapheneOS. I’m super happy about it.

• Built my second 3D-printer, a VORON 0.

  

  It’s good! It’s fun! And I’m already planning my next printer…

• We migrated away from Sonos in our Kitchen.

  We got tired of buggy vendor lock-in and now we use my own Music Assistant based setup. If things break we can now blame me instead of Sonos.

• I built my server first rack to host a new homelab server.

  

  I still need to cleanup the cables and write a blog post about it.

Tentative plans/goals/wishes for 2026

1. Go on some roller coasters with the family.

   We’re planning to go to Liseberg in Göteborg and I know the kids will love it.

2. Lose weight and build muscle.

   I’ve been having a rough year training and health wise. Not being able to get a consistent strength training routine, inconsistent sleep, and spouts of depression has made me gain too much weight again.

   Getting it sorted should (must) be a high priority this year.

3. Get our own training space for our martial arts club.

   I’ve been wanting to get our own place for quite a while and I feel that we need to make it happen sooner rather than later.

4. Develop a company product MVP.

   While I enjoy the consulting work I do at the moment my goal is to one day have a project of my own that can earn me money. I have a couple of ideas I want to pursue and I was going to do it in 2025 but I didn’t get far enough for that.

5. Migrate my homelab to the recently built server and expand on it.

   I have this newly built server that’s just sitting idle. I need to migrate my old services to it and I’ve got ideas for lots of stuff I want to put there.

The plan

Besides fixing the printer I also wanted to prepare for a multi-color solution such as the Box Turtle and make some quality of life changes.

1. Replace the problematic leadscrew with a replacement part I received from LDO and replace the POM nuts on the other leadscrews.

2. Install the Inverted electronics mod.

   I’ve been using the RockNRoll mod to give access to the electronics compartment by tilting the printer backwards. The Inverted electronics mod would instead allow me to lift the bottom plate to access the electronics compartment and I want to do it before installing a Box Turtle on top of the printer.

3. Replace the Stealthburner with the Jabberwocky toolhead.

   This introduced a series of changes:

   1. Move to an umbilical setup with the Nitehawk36 toolboard.

   2. Use sensorless homing to get rid of the Y drag chain.

   3. Replace TAP with the Beacon probe.

   4. Finally, install the Jabberwocky.

Replacing the POM nuts

I’ve had issues before where one of the POM nuts were ground down and I felt it was happening again. The printer didn’t completely fail like before but it was sometimes getting really bad first layers in that same corner and the Z probe was occasionally failing to configure Z tilt.

I replaced all three POM nuts together with the whole lead screw (I got a new one sent to me by LDO the first time it failed but I hadn’t installed it yet).

This is apparently a common problem with some LDO kits that have coated lead screws. I still have two of the old ones that I may have to replace in the future.

Inverted electronics

I’ve been looking at the Inverted electronics mod even before finishing my Trident printer. But it wasn’t possible with the Print It Forward service I used to print parts for my first 3D printer, and after the printer was completed I didn’t feel the need to redo the wiring again.

Overall it was surprisingly easy to reinstall all the electronics. It was made easier by the move to umbilical and a single USB cable to the toolhead as it removed quite a bit of wiring:

One issue I had with the mod is that the cutouts for the Z motors were a bit large, with gaps where stray filament or heat can escape through. I tried to cover them up by placing some foam tape around the motors:

Why the Jabberwocky?

I’ve been wanting to replace the Stealthburner toolhead a long time:

1. The cooling for PLA is quite bad.
2. PLA has a tendency to clog (seems like a decently common problem with Rapido and Stealthburner).
3. Resolving a clog when it happens is a pain in the ass.
4. It lacks a filament sensor and a cutter (for multi-color).

But what to choose? There are quite a few interesting toolheads I considered:

1. Dragon Burner

   I use the Dragon Burner in my VORON 0 and using the same toolhead is boring.

2. Archetype

   A pretty fun toolhead and I was considering the Mjölnir version. It does require you to flip your XY joints to hang upside down and I couldn’t find a filament sensor or filament cutter for it, so I ended up skipping it.

3. XOL

   XOL seems like a very well regarded and mature option with tons of support. It boasts much better cooling for PLA, which is one of the main reasons I want to migrate away from the Stealthburner.

4. A4T-toolhead

   A4T seems similar to XOL, while having even better cooling and a slightly simpler assembly. It would also make use of the Dragon hotend I’ve got lying here, gathering dust.

5. Jabberwocky

   An all-in-one toolhead solution with filament sensors and a filament cutter that seems to have some quality of life features I think I’d really enjoy:

   Flip up Extruder. Probably an industry first, a tool-less easy to access toolhead design so that one can access the blade or the filament path for servicing and troubleshooting. This allows a user, in the event of hopefully a rare problem during a filament changing print the ability to access the filament path to clear it of issues and continue with a print job.

The A4T-toolhead is interesting but the (supposedly) easier maintenance and multi-color consistency of the Jabberwocky really appealed to me.

Building the Jabberwocky

I struggled a bit to get the filament to load/unload consistently by hand. I rebuilt the toolhead but in the end I believe I just didn’t have enough grip on the filament to guide it past the gears down into bottom hole.

Beacon wiring

Most of the wiring came as-is except for the cable between the Beacon and the Nitehawk36. I got the Nitehawk36 side of the cable pre-made in the Nitehawk36 kit but I had to pin the Beacon side myself.

The colors of the wires in cable were all over the place but there’s a description on the PCB of both the Nitehawk36 and Beacon so I just had to take care to match them. I also referenced the Nitehawk36 documentation and the Beacon documentation.

Cutter installation woes

I had real difficulties installing the blade into the blade holder. There was some filament in the hole (likely due to poor print tuning) and I managed to break the holder when I tried to install the blade:

As I didn’t have a working printer when it broke I had to make it work without the filament cutter initially. Luckily I didn’t break anything crucial…

Software setup

I had to make some software changes but luckily they were quite straightforward:

1. Use sensorless homing.

   I just followed the VORON documentation.

2. Setup the Nitehawk36 toolboard.

   LDO has setup instructions and the Jabberwocky GitHub contains klipper settings.

3. Setup Beacon for Z offset and mesh calibration.

   Their quickstart documentation was fast and easy. I did not setup Beacon Contact; maybe I’ll get to it one day.

What’s next?

After months of not having a working 3D printer I’ve gotten renewed energy to play around with the printer again. I’ve got some loose plans for some mods to make on this printer:

• Reprint the Jabberwocky and try to get the filament cutter up and running.
• Build and test the A4T-toolhead.
• Install a nozzle scrubber.
• Build a Box Turtle.

… Or maybe something else? Who knows!

The rewrite

I wanted to rewrite my Neovim configuration in Fennel (a Lisp that compiles to Lua) and while doing so I wanted to migrate from lazy.nvim to Neovim’s new built-in package manager vim.pack.

This included bootstrapping Fennel compilation for Neovim; replicating missing features from lazy.nvim such as running build scripts and lazy loading; modernizing my LSP and treesitter config; and trying out some new interesting plugins.

Please see my new Neovim config here.

Structuring the config

If you’ve got a small configuration having it all inside a single init.lua is probably fine. Somehow I’ve gathered almost 6k lines of Lua code under ~/.config/nvim so showing it all in one file isn’t that appealing.

I first wanted to separate the configuration into a core/plugin split, where non-plugin configuration happens in core and plugin configuration lives under plugin. However, to support lazy loading with a single call to vim.pack.add I decided to go back to letting the files under plugin/ return plugin specs, like lazy.nvim does for you.

With Fennel support under fnl/ this is how my configuration is structured:

init.lua                ; Minimal bootstrap to load Fennel files

fnl                     ; All Fennel source in the `fnl/` folder

├── config

│   ├── init.fnl        ; Loaded by `init.lua` and loads the rest

│   ├── colorscheme.fnl

│   ├── keymaps.fnl

│   ├── lsp.fnl         ; Config may reference plugins

│   └── ...

├── macros.fnl          ; Custom Fennel macros goes here

└── plugins

    ├── init.fnl        ; Loads everything under `plugins/`

    ├── appearance.fnl

    ├── coding.fnl

    └── ...

lua                     ; Lua stuff is still loaded transparently

ftplugin

└── djot.lua            ; nvim-thyme doesn't load `ftplugin/`

It’s not a perfect system as I’d ideally want the plugins/ to only add packages while I would configure the plugins in config/. But some plugins use lazy loading making it more convenient to do it together with the plugin spec.

Bootstrapping Fennel

There are a handful of different plugins that allows you to easily write your Neovim config in Fennel. I ended up choosing nvim-thyme because it’s fast (it hooks into require and only compiles on-demand) and it allows you to mix Fennel and Lua source files.

nvim-thyme contains installation instructions for lazy.nvim and it references a bootstrapping function to run git to manually clone packages. But we’re going to use vim.pack and it makes the bootstrap a bit cleaner:

vim.pack.add({

  -- Fennel environment and compiler.


  "https://github.com/aileot/nvim-thyme",

  "https://git.sr.ht/~technomancy/fennel",

  -- Gives us some pleasant fennel macros.


  "https://github.com/aileot/nvim-laurel",

  -- Enables lazy loading of plugins.


  "https://github.com/BirdeeHub/lze",

}, { confirm = false })

(I added lze to my bootstrapping too as I’ll use it later when adding lazy loading support, it was simpler having it in the bootstrap.)

nvim-thyme also instructs us to override require() calls (so it can compile on demand) and to setup the cache path (where it’ll store the compiled Lua files):

-- Override package loading so thyme can hook into `require` calls

-- and generate lua code if the required package is a fennel file.


table.insert(package.loaders, function(...)

  return require("thyme").loader(...)


end)



-- Setup the compile cache path for thyme.


local thyme_cache_prefix = vim.fn.stdpath("cache") .. "/thyme/compiled"

vim.opt.rtp:prepend(thyme_cache_prefix)

And now we’re ready to write the rest of the config with Fennel!

-- Load the rest of the config with transparent fennel support.


require("config")

Now we can continue with Fennel fnl/config.fnl or fnl/config/init.fnl:

;; Load all plugins


(require :plugins)



;; Load the other config files


(require :config.colorscheme)


(require :config.keymaps)


(require :config.lsp)

;; etc...

There’s one last thing we should do to make the bootstrap complete: we should call :ThymeCacheClear when nvim-laurel or nvim-thyme changes. The recommended way is to use the PackChanged event, with something like this:

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("PackChanged", {

  callback = function(event)

    local name = event.data.spec.name



    if name == "nvim-thyme" or name == "nvim-laurel" then

      require("thyme").setup()

      vim.cmd("ThymeCacheClear")

    end

  end,

  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("init.lua", { clear = true }),

})



vim.pack.add(...)

But if we for example force an update for nvim-laurel (by deleting it with vim.pack.del({"nvim-laurel"}) and restart Neovim) we get this error:

Error in /home/tree/code/nvim-conf/init.lua..PackChanged Autocommands for "*":

Lua callback: /home/tree/code/nvim-conf/init.lua:12: module 'thyme' not found:

        no field package.preload['thyme']

        cache_loader: module 'thyme' not found

        cache_loader_lib: module 'thyme' not found

        no file './thyme.lua'

        ...

There is no order guarantee for the packages and so PackChanged for nvim-laurel may run before thyme has been loaded. I worked around this with a variable that I check after vim.pack.add, which will guarantee that all packages have been added before we try to require a package:

local rebuild_thyme = false



vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd("PackChanged", {

  callback = function(event)

    local name = event.data.spec.name



    if name == "nvim-thyme" or name == "nvim-laurel" then

      rebuild_thyme = true

    end

  end,

  group = vim.api.nvim_create_augroup("init.lua", { clear = true }),

})



vim.pack.add(...)




table.insert(package.loaders, function(...)

  return require("thyme").loader(...)


end)




local thyme_cache_prefix = vim.fn.stdpath("cache") .. "/thyme/compiled"

vim.opt.rtp:prepend(thyme_cache_prefix)




require("thyme").setup()



-- Rebuild thyme cache after `vim.pack.add` to avoid dependency issues

-- and to make sure all packages are loaded.


if rebuild_thyme then

  vim.cmd("ThymeCacheClear")


end

Building a convenient plugin management system

I wanted to migrate to vim.pack but it’s missing a few key features from lazy.nvim:

• It can’t automatically require all files under a directory.
• There’s no lazy loading support.
• It can’t run build scripts (such as make after install or update).

I could’ve given up and gone back to lazy.nvim but that just wouldn’t do.

;; List all files, with absolute paths.


(local paths (-> (vim.fn.stdpath "config")

                 (.. "/fnl/plugins/*")

                 (vim.fn.glob)

                 (vim.split "\n")))

;; Make the paths relative to plugins and remove extension, e.g. "plugins/snacks"

;; and require those packages to get our pack specs.


(local specs (accumulate [acc [] _ abs_path (ipairs paths)]

               (do

                 (local path (string.match abs_path "(plugins/[^./]+)%.fnl$"))

                 (if (and path (not= path "plugins/init"))

                     (do

                       (local mod_res (require path))

                       (table.insert acc mod_res))

                       acc)

                     acc))))

{:src "https://github.com/romainl/vim-cool"}

[{:src "https://github.com/nvim-lua/popup.nvim"}

 {:src "https://github.com/nvim-lua/plenary.nvim"}]

(local specs (accumulate [acc [] _ abs_path (ipairs paths)]

               (do

                 (local path (string.match abs_path "(plugins/[^./]+)%.fnl$"))

                 (if (and path (not= path "plugins/init"))

                     (do

                       (local mod_res (require path))

                       (case mod_res

                         ;; Flatten return if we return a list of specs.

                         [specs]

                         (each [_ spec (ipairs mod_res)]

                           (table.insert acc spec))

                         ;; Can return a string or a single spec.

                         _

                         (table.insert acc mod_res))

                       acc)

                     acc))))

(vim.pack.add specs {:confirm false})

;; Override loader when adding to let lze handle lazy loading

;; when specified via the `data` attribute.


(vim.pack.add specs {:load (fn [p]

                             (local spec (or p.spec.data {}))

                             (set spec.name p.spec.name)

                             (local lze (require :lze))

                             (lze.load spec))

                     :confirm false})

{:src "https://github.com/romainl/vim-cool"

 :data {:event ["BufReadPost" "BufNewFile"]}}

(local specs (accumulate [acc [] _ abs_path (ipairs paths)]

               (do

                 (local path (string.match abs_path "(plugins/[^./]+)%.fnl$"))

                 (if (and path (not= path "plugins/init"))

                     (do

                       (local mod_res (require path))

                       (case mod_res

                         [specs]

                         (each [_ spec (ipairs mod_res)]

                           (table.insert acc (transform_spec spec)))

                         _

                         (table.insert acc (transform_spec mod_res)))

                       acc)

                     acc))))

{:src "https://github.com/romainl/vim-cool"

 :event ["BufReadPost" "BufNewFile"]}

{:src "https://github.com/romainl/vim-cool"

 :data {:event ["BufReadPost" "BufNewFile"]}}

(λ transform_spec [spec]

  "Transform a vim.pack spec and move lze arguments into `data`"

  (case spec

    {}

    (do

      ;; Split keys to vim.pack and rest into `data`.

      (local pack_args {})

      (local data_args {})

      (each [k v (pairs spec)]

        (if (vim.list_contains [:src :name :version] k)

            (tset pack_args k v)

            (tset data_args k v)))

      (set pack_args.data data_args)

      pack_args)

    ;; Bare strings are valid vim.pack specs too.

    other

    other))

{:src "https://github.com/A7Lavinraj/fyler.nvim"

 :on_require :fyler

 :after (λ []

          (local fyler (require :fyler))

          (fyler.setup {:icon_provider "nvim_web_devicons"

                        :default_explorer true}))}

{:src "https://github.com/A7Lavinraj/fyler.nvim"

 :on_require :fyler

 :setup {:icon_provider "nvim_web_devicons" :default_explorer true}}]

(λ transform_spec [spec]

  "Transform a vim.pack spec and move lze arguments into `data`


   and create an `after` hook if `setup` is specified."

  (case spec

    {}

    (do

      ;; Split keys to vim.pack and rest into `data`.

      (local pack_args {})

      (local data_args {})

      (each [k v (pairs spec)]

        (if (vim.list_contains [:src :name :version] k)

            (tset pack_args k v)

            (tset data_args k v)))



      (λ after [args]

        ;; Call `setup()` functions if needed.

        (when spec.setup

          (local pkg (require spec.on_require))

          (pkg.setup spec.setup))

        ;; Load user specified `after` if it exists.

        (when spec.after

          (spec.after args)))



      (set data_args.after after)

      (set pack_args.data data_args)

      pack_args)

    ;; Bare strings are valid vim.pack specs too.

    other

    other))

;; `:setup` needs to know what package to require,

;; therefore we use `:on_require`


(when (and spec.setup (not spec.on_require))

  (error (.. "`:setup` specified without `on_require`: "

             (vim.inspect spec))))




(λ after [args]

  ;; ...

{:src "https://github.com/eraserhd/parinfer-rust"

 :build ["cargo" "build" "--release"]}

;; Before `vim.pack.add` to capture changes.


(augroup! :plugin_init (au! :PackChanged pack_changed))

(λ pack_changed [event]

  (when (vim.list_contains [:update :install] event.data.kind)

    (execute_build event.data))

  ;; Return false to not remove the autocommand.

  false)




(λ execute_build [pack]

   ;; `?.` will prevent crashing if any field is nil.

  (local build (?. pack :spec :data :build))

  (when build

    (run_build_script build pack)))

(λ run_build_script [build pack]

  (local path pack.path)

  (vim.notify (.. "Run `" (vim.inspect build) "` for " pack.spec.name)

              vim.log.levels.INFO)

  (vim.system build {:cwd path}

              (λ [exit_obj]

                (when (not= exit_obj.code 0)

                  ;; If I use `vim.notify` it errors with:

                  ;; vim/_editor.lua:0: E5560: nvim_echo must not be called in a fast event context

                  ;; Simply printing is fine I guess, it doesn't have to be the prettiest solution.

                  (print (vim.inspect build) "failed in" path

                         (vim.inspect exit_obj))))))

{:src "https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter"

 :version :main

 :build #(vim.cmd "TSUpdate")}

(λ execute_build [pack]

  (local build (?. pack :spec :data :build))

  (when build

    (case (type build)

      ;; We can specify either "make" or ["make"]

      "string" (run_build_script [build] pack)

      "table" (run_build_script build pack)

      ;; Run a callback instead.

      "function" (call_build_cb build pack))))




(λ call_build_cb [build pack]

  (vim.notify (.. "Call build hook for " pack.spec.name) vim.log.levels.INFO)

  (build pack))

Error in /home/tree/code/nvim-conf/init.lua..PackChanged Autocommands for "*":

Lua callback: vim/_editor.lua:0: /home/tree/code/nvim-conf/init.lua..PackChanged Autocommands for "*"..script nvim_exec2() called

at PackChanged Autocommands for "*":0, line 1: Vim:E492: Not an editor command: TSUpdate

{:src "https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter"

 :version :main

 :after_build #(vim.cmd "TSUpdate")}

;; Capture packs that are updated or installed.


(g! :packs_changed {})




(λ set_pack_changed [name event]

  ;; Maybe there's an easier way of updating a table global...?

  (var packs vim.g.packs_changed)

  (tset packs name event)

  (g! :packs_changed packs))




(λ pack_changed [event]

  (when (vim.list_contains [:update :install] event.data.kind)

    (local pack event.data)

    (set_pack_changed pack.spec.name event)

    (execute_build pack))

  false)

(λ transform_spec [spec]

  (case spec

    {}

    (do

      ;; Split keys to vim.pack and rest into `data`.

      ;; ...



      (λ after [args]

        (local pack_changed_event (. vim.g.packs_changed args.name))

        (set_pack_changed args.name false)

        (when spec.setup

          (local pkg (require spec.on_require))

          (pkg.setup spec.setup))

        ;; Run `after_build` scripts if a `PackChanged` event

        ;; was run with `install` or `update`.

        (when (and spec.after_build pack_changed_event)

          (spec.after_build args))

        (when spec.after

          (spec.after args)))



      (set data_args.after after)

      (set pack_args.data data_args)

      pack_args)

    other

    other))

{:build "make"

 :build ["cargo" "build" "--release"]

 :after_build #(vim.cmd "TSUpdate")}

Some Fennel examples

You’ve already seen how Fennel code looks like but what about configuration with Fennel? One of the negative things of moving my configuration from Vimscript to Lua was that simple things such as settings options or simple keymaps is more verbose.

So how does Fennel compare for the simpler, more declarative stuff?

set relativenumber


set clipboard^=unnamed,unnamedplus


set backupdir=~/.config/nvim/backup


let mapleader=" "

vim.opt.relativenumber = true

vim.opt.clipboard:append({ "unnamed", "unnamedplus" })

vim.opt.backupdir = vim.fn.expand("~/.config/nvim/backup")

vim.g.mapleader = [[ ]]

(set! :relativenumber true)


(set! :clipboard + ["unnamed" "unnamedplus"])


(set! :backupdir (vim.fn.expand "~/.config/nvim/backup"))


(g! :mapleader " ")

local map = vim.keymap.set

map("n", "<localleader>D", vim.lsp.buf.declaration,

  { silent = true, buffer = buffer, desc = "Declaration" }

)

map("n", "<leader>ep", function() find_org_file("projects") end,

  { desc = "Org projects" }

)

map("n", "]t", function()

  require("trouble").next({ skip_groups = true, jump = true })


end, {

  desc = "Trouble next",

  silent = true,

})

(bmap! :n "<localleader>D" vim.lsp.buf.declaration

       {:silent true :desc "Declaration"})


(map! :n "<leader>ep" #(find_org_file "projects")

      {:desc "Org projects"})


(map! :n "]t" #(do

                 (local trouble (require :trouble))

                 (trouble.next {:skip_groups true :jump true}))

      {:silent true :desc "Trouble next"})

vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, "@symbol.elixir", { link = "@label" })

local overrides = {

  { name = "@symbol.elixir", val = { link = "@label" } },

  { name = "@string.special.symbol.elixir", val = { link = "@label" } },

  { name = "@constant.elixir", val = { link = "Constant" } },

  -- And around 100 other overrides...


}




for _, v in pairs(overrides) do

  vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, v.name, v.val)


end

(hi! "@symbol.elixir" {:link "@label"})


(hi! "@string.special.symbol.elixir" {:link "@label"})


(hi! "@constant.elixir" {:link "Constant"})

local group = augroup("my-autocmds", { clear = true })

autocmd({ "VimEnter", "WinEnter", "BufWinEnter" }, {

  group = group,

  callback = function(x)

    if string.len(x.file) > 0 then

      vim.opt_local.cursorline = true

    end

  end,

})

autocmd("WinLeave", {

  group = group,

  callback = function()

    vim.opt_local.cursorline = false

  end,

})

(augroup! :my-autocmds

          (au! [:VimEnter :WinEnter :BufWinEnter]

               #(do

                  (when (> (string.len $1.file) 0)

                    (let! :opt_local :cursorline true))

                  false))

          (au! :WinLeave #(do

                            (let! :opt_local :cursorline false)

                            false)))

return {

  "https://github.com/stevearc/conform.nvim",

  { src = "https://github.com/mason-org/mason.nvim", dep_of = "mason-lspconfig.nvim" },

  { src = "https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig", dep_of = "mason-lspconfig.nvim" },

  "https://github.com/mason-org/mason-lspconfig.nvim",

  {

    src = "https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter",

    version = "main",

    after = function()

      vim.cmd("TSUpdate")

    end,

  },

}

["https://github.com/stevearc/conform.nvim"

 {:src "https://github.com/mason-org/mason.nvim" :dep_of :mason-lspconfig.nvim}

 {:src "https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig" :dep_of :mason-lspconfig.nvim}

 "https://github.com/mason-org/mason-lspconfig.nvim"

 {:src "https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter"

  :version :main

  :after #(vim.cmd "TSUpdate")}

return {

  "folke/snacks.nvim",

  priority = 1000,

  lazy = false,

  opts = {

    indent = {

      indent = {

        enabled = true,

        char = "┆",

      },

      scope = {

        enabled = true,

        only_current = true,

      },

    },

    scroll = {

      animate = {

        duration = { step = 15, total = 150 },

      },

    },

    explorer = {},

  },

}

{:src "https://github.com/folke/snacks.nvim"

 :on_require :snacks

 :lazy false

 :setup {:indent {:indent {:enabled true :char "┆"}

                  :scope {:enabled true :only_current true}}

         :scroll {:animate {:duration {:step 15 :total 150}}}

         :explorer {}}}

Notable plugin updates

Neovim is moving quickly and I’ve had a bit of catching up to do in the plugin department. I won’t bore you with an exhaustive list; just a few highlights.

;; It's optional so we need to use packadd to activate the plugin:


(vim.cmd "packadd nvim.undotree")

;; Then we can add a keymap to open it:


(map! :n "<leader>u" #(: (require :undotree) :open {:command "topleft 30vnew"}))

(require-macros :macros)



;; Convenient way of installing LSPs and other tools.


(local mason (require :mason))


(mason.setup)



;; Convenient way of automatically enabling LSPs installed via Mason.


(local mason-lspconfig (require :mason-lspconfig))


(mason-lspconfig.setup {:automatic_enable true})



;; Show diagnostics as virtual lines on the current line.

;; It's pretty cool actually, you should try it out.


(vim.diagnostic.config {:virtual_text false

                        :severity_sort true

                        :virtual_lines { :current_line true })



;; I like inlay hints.


(vim.lsp.inlay_hint.enable true)




(augroup! :my-lsps

          (au! :LspAttach

               (λ [_]

                 (local snacks (require :snacks))

                 (bmap! :n "<localleader>D" snacks.picker.lsp_declarations

                        {:silent true :desc "Declaration"})

                 (bmap! :n "<localleader>l"

                        #(vim.diagnostic.open_float {:focusable false})

                        {:silent true :desc "Diagnostics"})

                ;; etc

(vim.lsp.config "expert"

                {:cmd ["expert"]

                 :root_markers ["mix.exs" ".git"]

                 :filetypes ["elixir" "eelixir" "heex"]})




(vim.lsp.enable "expert")

(require-macros :macros)




(local nvim-treesitter (require :nvim-treesitter))



;; Ignore auto install for these filetypes:


(local ignored_ft [])




(augroup! :treesitter

          (au! :FileType

               (λ [args]

                 (local bufnr args.buf)

                 (local ft args.match)

                 ;; Auto install grammars unless explicitly ignored.

                 (when (not (vim.list_contains ignored_ft ft))

                   (: (nvim-treesitter.install ft) :await

                      (λ []

                        ;; Enable highlight only if there's an installed grammar.

                        (local installed (nvim-treesitter.get_installed))

                        (when (and (vim.api.nvim_buf_is_loaded bufnr)

                                   (vim.list_contains installed ft))

                          (vim.treesitter.start bufnr))))))))

Ending thougths

It would be better to gradually evolve your Neovim config over time instead of doing these large rewrites. But afterwards it feels pretty good as I can once more try to claim with a straight face that I know what’s in my configuration and what it’s doing.

The vim.pack migration was more painful than I had expected. It’s still an experimental nightly feature and it’s missing a lot of nice features that lazy.nvim has. I’ll keep using vim.pack as I think I’ve gotten it to a state of good enough but I’m looking forward to vim.pack becoming more feature complete.

Fennel is fun to write in and I will keep using it where I can. To be honest though, for basic configuration I was expecting Fennel to make a bigger difference than it did. It’s nicer for sure but it’s nothing revolutionary.

Then again, it’s the little things in life that matters.

The direct zigbee binding is good but not great

I’m a huge fan of using direct bindings in Zigbee to directly pair switches to lights. This way the interaction is much snappier; instead of going through:

device 1 -> zigbee2mqtt -> controller -> zigbee2mqtt -> device 2

The communication can instead go:

device 1 -> device 2

It works if my server is down, which is a huge plus for important functionality such as turning on the light in the middle of the night when one of the kids have soiled the bed. That’s not the time you want to debug your homelab setup!

The Hue Tap Dial can be bound to lights with Zigbee2MQTT and dimming the lights with the dial feels very smooth and nice. You can also rotate the dial to turn on and off the light, like a normal dimmer switch.

Unfortunately, if you want to bind the dimmer it also binds the hold of all of the four buttons to turn off the light, practically blocking the hold functionality if you use direct binding. There’s also no way to directly bind a button press to turn on or toggle the light—dimming and hold to turn off is what you get.

To add more functionality you have to use something external; a Hue Bridge or Home Assistant with a Zigbee dongle works, but I wanted to use Elixir.

Communicating with MQTT in Elixir

The first thing we need to do is figure out is how to receive MQTT messages and how to send updates to Zigbee devices.

{Tortoise311.Connection,

 [

   # Remember to generate a unique id if you want to connect multiple clients

   # to the same MQTT service.

   client_id: :my_unique_client_id,

   # They don't have to be on the same server.

   server: {Tortoise311.Transport.Tcp, host: "localhost", port: 1883},

   # Messages will be sent to `Haex.MqttHandler`.

   handler: {Haex.MqttHandler, []},

   # Subscribe to all events under `zigbee2mqtt`.

   subscriptions: [{"zigbee2mqtt/+", 0}]

 ]},

{Phoenix.PubSub, name: Haex.PubSub},

defmodule Haex.MqttHandler do

  use Tortoise311.Handler

  alias Phoenix.PubSub




  def handle_message(topic, payload, state) do

    payload = Jason.decode!(payload)

    PubSub.broadcast!(Haex.PubSub, Enum.join(topic, "/"), {:mqtt, topic, payload})

    {:ok, state}

  end


end

defmodule Automation.TapDialExample do

  use GenServer

  alias Phoenix.PubSub



  @impl true


  def init(_opts) do

    # `My tap dial` is the name of the tap dial in zigbee2mqtt.

    PubSub.subscribe(Haex.PubSub, "zigbee2mqtt/My tap dial")

    {:ok, %{}}

  end



  @impl true


  def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, payload}, state) do

    dbg(payload)

    {:noreply, state}

  end


end

payload #=> %{

  "action" => "button_1_press_release",

  ...

}



payload #=> %{

  "action" => "dial_rotate_right_step",

  "action_direction" => "right",

  "action_time" => 15,

  "action_type" => "step",

  ...

}

def set(payload) do

  Tortoise311.publish(

    # Important that this id matches the `client_id`

    # we gave to Tortoise311.Connection.

    :my_unique_client_id,

    "zigbee2mqtt/My hue light/set",

    Jason.encode!(payload)

  )


end

Button presses

With the MQTT communication done, we can start writing some automations.

def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "button_1_press_release"}}, state) do

  set(%{state: "TOGGLE"})

  {:noreply, state}


end

def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "button_3_hold"}}, state) do

  set(%{hue_move: 40, color: %{saturation: 100}})

  {:noreply, state}


end




def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "button_3_hold_release"}}, state) do

  set(%{hue_move: 0})

  {:noreply, state}


end

def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "button_2_press_release"}}, state) do

  double_click_limit = 350



  now = DateTime.utc_now()



  if state[:last_press] &&

       DateTime.diff(now, state[:last_press], :millisecond) < double_click_limit do

    # If we double clicked.

    set(%{color: %{hue: 60}})

    {:noreply, Map.delete(state, :last_press)}

  else

    # If we single clicked.

    set(%{color: %{hue: 180}})

    {:noreply, Map.put(state, :last_press, now)}

  end


end

def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "button_2_press_release"}}, state) do

  double_click_limit = 350



  now = DateTime.utc_now()



  if state[:last_press] &&

       DateTime.diff(now, state[:last_press], :millisecond) < double_click_limit do

    set(%{color: %{hue: 180}})



    # The double click clause is the same as before except we also remove `click_ref`

    # to signify that we've handled the interaction as a double click.

    state =

      state

      |> Map.delete(:last_press)

      |> Map.delete(:click_ref)



    {:noreply, state}

  else

    # When we first press a key we shouldn't execute it directly,

    # instead we send ourself a message to handle it later.

    # Use `make_ref` signify which press we should handle.

    ref = make_ref()

    Process.send_after(self(), {:execute_single_press, ref}, double_click_limit)



    state =

      state

      |> Map.put(:last_press, now)

      |> Map.put(:click_ref, ref)



    {:noreply, state}

  end


end



# This is the delayed handling of a single button press.


def handle_info({:execute_single_press, ref}, state) do

  # If the stored reference doesn't exist we've handled it as a double click.

  # If we press the button many times (completely mash the button) then

  # we might enter a new interaction and `click_ref` has been replaced by a new one.

  # This equality check prevents such a case, allowing us to only act on the very

  # last press.

  # This is also useful if we in the future want to add double clicks to other buttons.

  if state[:click_ref] == ref do

    set(%{color: %{hue: 60}})

    {:noreply, Map.delete(state, :click_ref)}

  else

    {:noreply, state}

  end


end

Dimming

Now, let’s see if we can create a smooth dimming functionality. This is surprisingly problematic but let’s see what we can come up with.

Rotating the dial produces a few different actions:

dial_rotate_left_step

dial_rotate_left_slow

dial_rotate_left_fast

dial_rotate_right_step

dial_rotate_right_slow

dial_rotate_right_fast

brightness_step_up

brightness_step_down

Let’s start with dial_rotate_* to set the brightness_step attribute of the light:

def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, %{"action" => "dial_rotate_" <> type}}, state) do

  speed = rotate_speed(type)

  set(%{brightness_step: speed})

  {:noreply, state}


end




defp rotate_speed("left_" <> speed), do: -rotate_speed(speed)


defp rotate_speed("right_" <> speed), do: rotate_speed(speed)


defp rotate_speed("step"), do: 10


defp rotate_speed("slow"), do: 20


defp rotate_speed("fast"), do: 45

This works, but the transitions between the steps aren’t smooth as the light immediately jumps to a new brightness value.

With a transition we can smooth it out:

# I read somewhere that 0.4 is standard for Philips Hue.

set(%{brightness_step: speed, transition: 0.4})

It’s actually fairly decent (when the stars align).

As an alternative implementation we can try to use the brightness_step_* actions:

def handle_info(

      {:mqtt, _topic,


       %{


         "action" => "brightness_step_" <> dir,

         "action_step_size" => step

       }},

      state

    ) do

  step =

    case dir do

      "up" -> step

      "down" -> -step

    end



  # Dimming was a little slow, adding a factor speeds things up.

  set(%{brightness_step: step * 1.5, transition: 0.4})

  {:noreply, state}


end

This implementation lets the tap dial itself provide the amount of steps and I do think it feels better than the dial_rotate_* implementation.

Note that this won’t completely turn off the light and it’ll stop at brightness 1. We can instead provide brightness_step_onoff: step to allow the dimmer to turn on and off the light too.

set(%{hue_step: step * 0.75, transition: 0.4})

rotate: fn step ->

  # A step of 8 translates to a volume increase of 3%

  volume_step = step / 8 * 3 / 100



  # Clamp volume to not accidentally set a very loud or silent volume.

  volume =

    # HAStates stores the current states in memory whenever a state is changed.

    (HAStates.get_attribute(kitchen_player_ha(), :volume_level, 0.2) + volume_step)

    |> Math.clamp(0.05, 0.6)



  # Calls the `media_player.volume_set` action.

  MediaPlayer.set_volume(kitchen_player_ha(), volume)

  # Prevents a possible race condition where we use the old volume level

  # stored in memory for the next rotation.

  HAStates.override_attribute(kitchen_player_ha(), :volume_level, volume)


end

A use-case: the boys bedroom

We’ve got a bunch of lights in the boys bedroom that we can control and it’s a good use-case for a device such as the Tap Dial.

A generalized tap dial controller

The code I’ve shown you so far has been a little simplified to explain the general approach. As I have several tap dials around the house I’ve made a general tap dial controller with a more declarative approach.

For example, here’s how the tap dial in the boys room is defined:

TapDialController.start_link(

  device: boys_room_tap_dial(),

  scene: 0,

  rotate: fn _step ->

    # This disables the existing circadian automation.

    # I found that manually disabling it is more reliable than trying to

    # detect external changes over MQTT as messages may be delayed and arrive out of order.

    LightController.set_manual_override(boys_room_ceiling_light(), true)

  end,

  button_1: %{


    click: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(boys_room_ceiling_light(), %{state: "TOGGLE"})

    end,

    double_click: fn ->

      # This function compares the current light status and sets it to 100%

      # or reverts back to circadian lighting (if setup for the light).

      HueLights.toggle_max_brightness(boys_room_ceiling_light())

    end

  },

  button_2: %{


    click: fn state ->

      # The light controller normally uses circadian lighting to update

      # the light. Setting manual override pauses circadian lighting,

      # allowing us to manually control the light.

      LightController.set_manual_override(boys_room_ceiling_light(), true)

      # This function steps through different light states for the ceiling light

      # (hue 0..300 with 60 intervals) and stores it in `state`.

      next_scene(state)

    end

  },

  button_3: %{


    click: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(boys_room_floor_light(), %{state: "TOGGLE"})

    end,

    double_click: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(isidor_sleep_light(), %{state: "TOGGLE"})

    end,

    hold: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(isidor_sleep_light(), %{hue_move: 40, color: %{saturation: 100}})

    end,

    hold_release: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(isidor_sleep_light(), %{hue_move: 0})

    end

  },

  button_4: %{


    click: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(loke_lava_lamp(), %{state: "TOGGLE", brightness: 254})

    end,

    double_click: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(loke_sleep_light(), %{state: "TOGGLE"})

    end,

    hold: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(loke_sleep_light(), %{hue_move: 40, color: %{saturation: 100}})

    end,

    hold_release: fn ->

      Mqtt.set(loke_sleep_light(), %{hue_move: 0})

    end

  }


)

I’m not going to go through the implementation of the controller in detail. Here’s the code you can read through if you want:

defmodule Haex.Mqtt.TapDialController do

  use GenServer

  alias Haex.Mqtt

  alias Haex.Mock

  require Logger



  @impl true


  def init(opts) do

    # This allows us to setup expectations and to collect what messages

    # the controller sends during unit testing.

    if parent = opts[:parent] do

      Mock.allow(parent, self())

    end



    device = opts[:device] || raise "Must specify `device`, got: #{inspect(opts)}"




    # Just subscribes to pubsub under the hood.

    Mqtt.subscribe_events(device)



    state =

      Map.new(opts)

      |> Map.put_new(:double_click_timeout, 350)



    {:ok, state}

  end




  def start_link(opts) do

    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts)

  end



  @impl true


  def handle_info({:mqtt, _topic, payload}, state) do

    case parse_action(payload) do

      {:button, button, fun} ->

        # We specify handlers with `button_3: %{}` specs.

        case fetch_button_handler(button, state) do

          {:ok, spec} ->

            # Dispatch to action handlers, such as `handle_hold` and `handle_press_release`.

            fun.(spec, state)



          :not_found ->

            {:noreply, state}

        end



      {:rotate, step} ->

        case fetch_rotate_handler(state) do

          {:ok, cb} ->

            call_handler(cb, step, state)



          :not_found ->

            {:noreply, state}

        end



      :skip ->

        {:noreply, state}

    end

  end




  def handle_info({:execute_single_press, ref, cb}, state) do

    # Only execute the callback for the last action.

    if state[:click_ref] == ref do

      call_handler(cb, Map.delete(state, :click_ref))

    else

      {:noreply, state}

    end

  end




  defp handle_press_release(spec, state) do

    single_click_handler = spec[:click]

    double_click_handler = spec[:double_click]



    cond do

      double_click_handler ->

        now = DateTime.utc_now()



        valid_double_click? =

          state[:last_press] &&

            DateTime.diff(now, state[:last_press], :millisecond) < state.double_click_timeout



        if valid_double_click? do

          # Execute a double click immediately.

          state =

            state

            |> Map.delete(:last_press)

            |> Map.delete(:click_ref)



          call_handler(double_click_handler, state)

        else

          # Delay single click to see if we get a double click later.

          ref = make_ref()



          Process.send_after(

            self(),

            {:execute_single_press, ref, single_click_handler},

            state.double_click_timeout

          )



          state =

            state

            |> Map.put(:last_press, now)

            |> Map.put(:click_ref, ref)



          {:noreply, state}

        end



      single_click_handler ->

        # No double click handler, so we can directly execute the single click.

        call_handler(single_click_handler, state)



      true ->

        {:noreply, state}

    end

  end




  defp handle_hold(spec, state) do

    call_handler(spec[:hold], state)

  end




  defp handle_hold_release(spec, state) do

    call_handler(spec[:hold_release], state)

  end




  defp call_handler(nil, state) do

    {:noreply, state}

  end




  defp call_handler(handler, state) do

    # If a callback expects one argument we'll also send the state,

    # otherwise we simply call it.

    case Function.info(handler)[:arity] do

      0 ->

        handler.()

        {:noreply, state}



      1 ->

        {:noreply, handler.(state)}



      x ->

        Logger.error(

          "Unsupported cb arity `#{x}` for #{state.device} tap dial expecting 0 or 1 args"


        )



        {:noreply, state}

    end

  end




  defp call_handler(nil, _arg1, state) do

    {:noreply, state}

  end




  defp call_handler(handler, arg1, state) do

    case Function.info(handler)[:arity] do

      1 ->

        handler.(arg1)

        {:noreply, state}



      2 ->

        {:noreply, handler.(arg1, state)}



      x ->

        Logger.error(

          "Unsupported cb arity `#{x}` for #{state.device} tap dial  expecting 1 or 2 args"


        )



        {:noreply, state}

    end

  end




  defp parse_action(%{"action" => "brightness_step_" <> dir, "action_step_size" => step}) do

    step =

      case dir do

        "up" -> step

        "down" -> -step

      end



    {:rotate, step}

  end




  defp parse_action(%{"action" => action}) do

    case Regex.run(~r/button_(\d)_(\w+)/, action, capture: :all_but_first) do

      [button, "press_release"] ->

        {:button, String.to_integer(button), &handle_press_release/2}



      [button, "hold"] ->

        {:button, String.to_integer(button), &handle_hold/2}



      [button, "hold_release"] ->

        {:button, String.to_integer(button), &handle_hold_release/2}



      _ ->

        :skip

    end

  end




  defp parse_action(_action) do

    Logger.debug("Skip fallback tap dial action: #{inspect(action)}")


    :skip

  end




  defp fetch_button_handler(button, state) do

    spec = state["button_#{button}" |> String.to_atom()]




    if spec do

      {:ok, Map.put(spec, :button, button)}

    else

      :not_found

    end

  end




  defp fetch_rotate_handler(state) do

    if spec = state[:rotate] do

      {:ok, spec}

    else

      :not_found

    end

  end


end

GrapheneOS works and it’s convenient

When people talk about GrapheneOS they will understandably focus on the privacy and security aspect. I’ll go into it a later but I think it’s important to first dispel the idea that GrapheneOS is only for the hardcore tech savvy user or that you’ll have to sacrifice a lot of functionality.

While GrapheneOS isn’t quite as simple as stock Android (I had to tweak a few settings to get some apps working) the experience has been very smooth.

App compatibility

Apps are also just as easy to install as on stock Android. I’ve installed most of the apps from the Play Store just as I would’ve on stock and they work just fine.

So far I’ve had a grand total of two issues with any apps I’ve tried:

1. At first I couldn’t copy BankID over from my old phone.

   I had to tweak some permissions and disable some of the location privacy features of GrapheneOS before the phones recognized each other. Presumably there’s some security measure there so that you can only copy it if the phones are nearby.

   

2. The AI detection feature of MacroFactor refused to work.

   MacroFactor is a food tracking app where you can take a photo and it’ll try to infer the food from the picture but uploading the photo simply failed. It’s a pretty cool feature and I instead use the app Cronometer that has the same functionality.

   MacroFactor uses Play Integrity which may in some cases break certain apps. I’ve got a few other apps that also uses Play Integrity but they don’t have any issues.

I was worried that I’d run into issues with the banking apps as I know there are some banking apps that have issues, but all the Swedish banking apps I’ve tried work well.

You can of course install apps from other sources such as F-Droid, Accrescent, Obtanium, or manually as well.

The best privacy & security in a modern phone

While other Android compatible distributions such as CalyxOS and LineageOS all mention privacy and security as benefits they’re nothing like GrapheneOS. In some cases—as with CalyxOS where security updates have seen significant delays—they may provide even less security compared to stock Android.

Everything I’ve read suggests that GrapheneOS takes security and privacy very seriously. I feel that sometimes they may take a too extreme stance but I can respect that, despite being overkill for the threat levels I care about.

See for example this comparison of Android-based Operating Systems.

What about Apple then? Aren’t they great at privacy and security? While I’m sure they’ll respect your privacy more than Google, I just can’t trust a company that shoves ads into their wallet app.

Pixel devices, the big drawback with GrapheneOS

It would’ve been great to have more choices. If I only looked at hardware I might have gotten the Fairphone 5 as I like the idea of repairability, ethically sourced components, and a phone made in the EU. I also like the idea of a smaller phone and a Flip phone would’ve been great. Or maybe a really cheap phone (or tablet) as I don’t care that much about performance and could save some money.

But alas, GrapheneOS only support Pixel devices (for now). There’s a handful of phones to choose from but only a single tablet.

I guess the best way to degoogle right now is to buy from Google… So I got the Pixel 9a for myself and the Pixel Tablet for our family. (Admittedly, they’ve been pretty great.)

Software is more important than hardware

I’ve had an interesting shift when I evaluate mobile devices; instead of comparing phones primarily by hardware I prioritize the software on the phone.

Today, more than ever, hardware upgrades in new phones provide diminishing returns for ever increasing prices. There’s little practical difference between a new phone and a phone from a few years ago and savvy people can save a lot of money by simply avoiding the constant stream of new releases.

Before I bought the Pixel 9a I used the Fairphone 4 for almost 4 years, and it was performing just fine! If I hadn’t gotten the urge of trying out GrapheneOS I would’ve still be happy with the Fairphone hardware (which was a bit underpowered already at release).

Software on the other hand is more important than ever and for me it’s what makes or breaks a phone today.

The right software will protect your privacy and help keep your device secure, while the wrong software will fill your phone with uninstallable bloatware and cripple performance after system updates (if they deign to provide them).

For example, I’ve used a Galaxy Tab A7 Lite as a dashboard for my smart home for a while and it worked great. Then I installed an update and it suddenly became extremely slow, so slow that you barely could interact with the UI without punching the damn device. Even though the hardware is great, Samsung crippled the device for no reason.

With the right software your device works for you, not against you. It’s not a lot to ask for, yet in the modern day that’s very rare indeed, and it’s why I’ll only be buying mobile devices supported by GrapheneOS for the foreseeable future.

The woes of Sonos

We’ve had a Sonos speaker in our kitchen for more than a decade. At first I was very happy with it; the speaker was easy to use, it integrated well with Spotify, and despite being a single fairly cheap speaker the sound was pretty good.

But gradually the experience got worse:

1. The speaker sometimes refused to play songs via Spotify.
2. We couldn’t connect to the speaker via the Sonos app (having to unplug the speaker and pray to the Sonos god that it would be enough to fix it).
3. Playback randomly paused.
4. The speaker lost WIFI connection, reconnecting after a while.
5. Finally, the radio integration stopped working altogether (this is critical for my girlfriend who always listens to the radio).

It could be worse—at least our speaker wasn’t bricked and we (supposedly) dodged a bunch of other issues by never upgrading to the new app.

The new setup

1. Use Music Assistant as the central controller for streaming music and radio to different players and speakers.

2. Setup an Arylic A50+ amplifier that Music Assistant can control.

   Together with a pair of speakers it replaces the Sonos in the kitchen.

3. Connect Music Assistant with Home Assistant to control playback via our smart-home dashboard and automations.

4. Setup more players for Music Assistant to control.

What is Music Assistant and why is it awesome?

Music Assistant is a service that acts as a hub that connects different providers and players, letting you control the sound in your home from one central location.

So you could have this kind of setup and let Music Assistant connect them together in whatever way you wish, including multi-room setups (if the players are from the same ecosystem, such as Airplay or Squeezebox):

Here’s a few reasons why I think Music Assistant is awesome:

Trying out different players

I was fairly lost in what kind of amplifier and music player I should get.

There’s a lot of options out there but I was worried about paying a lot of money for something I wasn’t sure it would integrate well into my smart home setup. Here’s a few options I’ve tried:

Sonos

It’s pretty funny, the Sonos speaker works better with Music Assistant than with the Sonos app. The radio completely stopped working via the Sonos app, while I can use Music Assistant to play the radio on the Sonos speaker.

The speaker might still disconnect or stop playback at odd times but it’s good enough to raise the mood in the washing room.

Squeezelite on Linux

I hate modern smart TVs with a passion so to stream we use a computer running Linux, connected to a dumb amplifier with some speakers. It works well but it makes it a bit more cumbersome to play music.

By installing Squeezelite the computer acts as a squeezebox client, effectively transforming it into a smart player for Music Assistant and Home Assistant to stream music to.

A HifiBerry player

As I had a Raspberry Pi lying around it made sense to try the HifiBerry AMP2 that transforms the Pi into a surprisingly capable amplifier and smart music controller. For simplicity I decided to start with their operating system HifiBerryOS that hopefully should “just work” and be open enough for me to manually fix things if needed.

While it works very well as a Spotify Connect device or to play over Bluetooth I had issues with it acting as a Squeezelite or Airplay client as the volume was super low when I tried to stream to it from Music Assistant.

It might be a software issue with HifiBerryOS but I haven’t had the energy to debug it or try other OS versions. Maybe I’ll revisit it when I want to outfit another room with speakers.

Arylic A50+

I was planning to use the HifiBerry to power two new speakers in the ceiling in the kitchen to replace the Sonos. But I got stressed out by the HifiBerry not working properly and the kitchen renovation was looming ever closer so I bought the Arylic A50+, hoping that it would work better with Music Assistant.

The device supports both Airplay and Squeezebox like the HifiBerry but again there were some issue with the volume being very low. I don’t know if both devices just happen to have similar bugs, if there’s a bug with Music Assistant, or if it’s some weird compatibility issue.

Sigh.

But there’s another way to make it work; the Arylic has an excellent Home Assistant integration and if you go that way then Music Assistant can use the Arylic as a player properly. You need the LinkPlay integration in Home Assistant and then enable the Home Assistant integration in Music Assistant.

(I tried the same with the HifiBerry integration but for some reason the HifiBerry media player exposed from Home Assistant didn’t show up in Music Assistant.)

Home Assistant integration

Music Assistant integrates well with Home Assistant. Setup is straightforward:

1. Add the Music Assistant integration in Home Assistant:

   

   This will expose all players in Music Assistant to Home Assistant (such as the Squeezebox players running on Linux).

2. Enable the Home Assistant plugin in Music Assistant:

   

   This will expose all media players in Home Assistant to Music Assistant (such as the Arylic or the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition).

With this setup you can setup Home Assistant actions to start a particular radio station, add a media player card to start/stop playback, or simply give Music Assistant access to more players.

It’s not perfect

Music Assistant is a fairly young open source project so minor bugs are to be expected. There are also two larger feature that I miss:

• I’d like to have access to my library even when I’m away from home. Maybe an Android app with native volume controls, notifications, and support for offline listening?

• A better widget for Home Assistant.

  

  For basic sound controls in the kitchen I use the Mini Media Player card but I’d like a better way to filter through playlists and music via the Home Assistant Lovelace UI. I currently embed the Music Assistant dashboard itself via an iframe but the UI is a bit too clunky for the size of my tablet.

What’s next?

Still, I must admit, I’m stoked about finding a smarter way to control music throughout our house and I’m searching for an excuse to expand the setup in the future. Here are some ideas I have:

• Speakers in the kid’s room to play music or audio books before they go to sleep.
• More music in my exercise space (it kind of works if I increase the volume of my office speakers, but it’s not ideal).
• A proper Hi Fi setup for true music enjoyment somewhere in the house.

Despite some integration issues and us not using Music Assistant to it’s fullest potential it has still improved our setup in a major way.