I'm looking for door & window contact sensors and motion sensors to replace an old Simon 3 ADT security system. I've read a lot of posts and such and I'm still having a hard time picking out sensors that will work with an existing Smarthings v2 Hub (currently used for lights) and eventually Home Assistant once life calms down a bit more and I have time to go through all the setup. As I understand it, matter/thread support was added in the v3 hub so I don't have this on my ST v2.

I'd like to avoid anything from Amazon and locally functioning sensors are preferred.

Can anyone advise on how to pick good devices? There seems to be tons of info out there, but I'm having trouble sifting through it for the info I need. This is a surprise for a family member who has been considering replacing an older system. I'd like to get it in place before they have the chance to buy a crappy, locked down, spyware riddled system from a company like Amazon so that I can be sure everything will transition smoothly to Home Assistant later.

Hello fellow internet cyclists,

I did my fair share of extreme stuff as a teen, but most of my adult cycling has been trips around town on paved or gravel trails. I ride 1200-1500 miles a year. I've been wanting to get back into mountain bikes because my main enjoyment in cycling comes from the exploration and discovery aspect of things and I've worn out my city's paved trail network. I live in a mountainous area with good trail access. Also most of the group rides around here tend to be off road.

In general I find that spending money on a lot of things works in the same way. You have to spend a certain amount to get upgraded from Teemu/Wish/Amazon trash to a good reputable product with parts support and consistent quality. You can also keep spending money forever to get increasingly marginal improvements.

What have you found to be the sweet spot for features vs price in a hardtail MTB?

I've considered the Trek Fuse Sport, the Salsa Rangefinder Diore 11, Canondale Habit HT3, Trek Rosco 7, but I'm open to hearing other Lemming's experiences. I'm a thin guy but approx 6'4" (195cm) tall.

Lastly, are any of the bike brands known for being particularly anti right to repair? I'd like to avoid supporting people who want to limit my freedom and I want to be sure I can get a wide range of compatible parts at a good price.

Location: USA

I need advice on investments. I want someone to do my taxes, or at least advise me.

I've always done my own taxes and managed my investments. I'm looking for someone to help me with investment strategy. I know to look for a fiduciary as they are required to act in my interest. I also want to talk to someone who can help me leverage and optimize investment losses that I might experience to offset my income.

Obviously I'm not looking for an actual name or business. I'm just not sure what the business name or job title is for someone who does all of this so I can locate someone locally. Basically what is a CPA combined with an investment advisor called? Or how do I get my investment advisor and tax preparer to collaborate on strategy?

Has anyone found any good videos explaining NYC congestion pricing? Most of what I'm finding are fear mongering news clips. I understand there is some subtlety to the issue and I was hoping some urbanist/bike/traffic engineering/numtot youtubers would have done an in depth review explaining whats good and whats not.

I'm putting a hitch on my car so I can take my bike to some state parks in the Spring. UHaul will install a 2" or 1.25" hitch with or without a "hidden crossbar". I know little about cars and towing.

How badly will I restrict my rack choice by opting for the cheaper 1.25"? I won't be using this for anything but bikes.

Hi folks. I've been running some form of Linux since about 2006 or so. Hardware support has gotten so much better, and yet here I am, looking for personal experiences people have had using action cams with their Linux based operating systems. I've done research on this, but most of the info I've found is out of date or barely-relevant AI-generated tech chum-buckets. I'd prefer your individal experiences as fellow linux users, good or bad. Product recommendations are okay, but I'm also interested in broader observations. I'm hoping to record some footage on my bicycle, a chop it up on my computer later. I'm particularly interested in:

• Do you own an action cam and does it work with Linux?
• What totally rad sport/hobby do you use it for?
• Are there things that kind-of work, or are crippled versus on a non-Linux OS.
• Are you able to update the firmware over Linux or from he device itself? (I have windows for emergencies, but prefer not to use it.
• How does the device mount and have you had issues with file transfers?
• Is there any special software that helps you use your device, for example "piper" can help me configure fancy mice.
• Can you use your device as a webcam?

Thank you for any insight you can provide.

As I understand it, HRV - Heart Rate Variability allegedly measures the spacing in beats. More variability means your body is chillin' and relaxed; less variability means something is physically stressing you, like sickness, lack of sleep, etc.

At the end of Aug, I was starting to feel under the weather so I cut back on training and spent some time resting. Eager to not lose momentum, I headed out on a 40 mile bike ride as soon as my HRV was almost back to normal and pushed it right back down again.

Lesson learned: err on the side of giving yourself too much time to recover. Hope you found it interesting!

Hello SelfHosted!

I've been a Linux enthusiast since ~2006, but I still have gaps in my knowledge and I would not consider myself a "fully-competent" Linux server admin at this point in time. I have to read a lot and ask a lot of questions to figure out things more knowledgeable users may do in their sleep. I'm gonna call myself "begintermediate".

I'm working on simplifying my storage, backups, and general digital hygiene. I have multiple devices split across two locations and I end up having to use hard drives to periodically move files back over to my main desktop for sorting and archiving. If I want to access older files, I have to copy them from my main storage on the desktop to a hard drive, my NextCloud, or whatever device I want to access them on. I would like to avoid this drudgery by moving my file storage to a NAS (don't really even need access outside the network, though it could be useful if I understood it enough to keep it secure). I also hope to simplify by backups in some way because currently all my devices just back up to a different pair of portable drives one of which I hand-carry offsite.

Requirements:

• 4TB+ storage to start
• Expandability, I don't know how storage needs will change over time, but 32TB seems like a fair upper end before wanting to update the whole system.
• Would like to be able to run a few docker images for things like media server, open project, restyaboard, etc. I'm not sure if it makes sense to do this on the NAS or just get a simple NAS and do this stuff in a VM on my laptop or with a Rasberry Pie.
• I don't particularly want to spend more than $600 to get started, but wouldn't mind having empty bays for later as I currently don't have too much data.

Usage:

• 1-4 TB (someday up to 32TB) of files (docs, books, photos, videos, device backups, configs & code snippets, etc.)
• Video, Photo, Music Access via Android Devices
• Video and Photo access via a media portal (like plex or open media vault)
• Would consider moving nextcloud here (currently on the public cloud) if uplink is fast enough.
• Some sort of access via iDevice would be nice in case I want to give another some storage space.

Questions:

1. Does it make sense to mix my uses, i.e. media server, open project, etc. co-existing with file server for my docs and general files. Can I segregate portions for only local access?

2. I don't have tons of time to maintain this. Nextcloud hasn't been a pain, I log in here and there and make sure everything is updated (nextcloud and the server) and I run the NextCloud security scan to make sure I get an A+. Does it make sense to go for something like the better Synology NASs that can run docker images or would it provide better affordability/functionality to use a mini-pc or a FBmarketplace/craigslist slim pc hooked up to a drive enclosure or something else frankenstein-y. I don't mind doing basic maintenance, but I can't afford to spend every other weekend rebuilding things.

3. I have a dead WD MyBook Live and MyBook Cloud on my shelf. WD never updated them to fix the critical security issues, I missed the 40% off upgrade window, and they're not safe to run with network access. They also sucked even when they were new. I want to avoid products doomed to become dead-end abandonware before I'm ready to upgrade. Are there NAS brands that are known to be better/worse with this? How does homemade NAS fare as far as hardware support and having to upgrade/rebuild when OS versions change.

4. Can I purchase/build a simple NAS that I use for storage and serve the files for my media server through a different device like my laptop? Is this better/worse than just streaming from the NAS itself or will I not notice in most cases?

5. It sounds like some of the pre-built machines can use drives of different sizes which would allow me to re-use the barely used drives inside of the WD devices. Do any of the self-build solutions allow for this.

6. I would LOVE some book/media/community recommendations for digital hygiene and how to handle store, backup, maintain the deluge of information in our modern lives.

   All in all, I would appreciate any insight on a solution that gives a good balance between features & configuration, affordability. and maintenance time-investment. I figure a community of enthusiasts is a better place to learn than marketing copy.

   Thank you for any help you can provide!

Hello Fellow Fitness Focused Lemmings!

I started biking more a few years ago for fitness purposes and the thrill of exploration. Strava has a feature where you can overlay all your rides on top of a map that you can pan and zoom in and out on. They call this the "Personal Heatmap". I always try to cover new ground and explore places I haven't been and (as a map nerd) it gives me a thrill to see all my tracks and even the epic long distance rides I did on trips or a few years back.

1. Does anyone else know of any other applications or programs that can do this?

I like how Strava shows the "heat" (how many times you've been through a particular route will change the color), but this is not absolutely essential for me. Most important is that I can put all my GPX files on top of a map in a giant messy web of everywhere I've been.

Extra credit goes to any recommendations of FOSS solutions because my main motivation here is to make sure that I can persist my data even if I am not using Strava anymore.

2. Additionally, if you know of any other communities on Lemmy that might be well-positioned to answer these questions, I would appreciate your insights as well.