Do you know if there are any technical limitations why my hub needs to be registered in order to download update files?
If this is not a technical limitation, but rather an arbitrary business decision, this seems to go against the cloud free / privacy oriented approach that Hubitat is using as their main selling point.
Can’t think of a technical reason, think it is more about authenticating the device and ensuring that firmware is only downloaded to a known hub and not some other device posing as one.
If you explicitly disabled the cloud controller, then yes, you'd need to enable. Registration is not required, but cloud services are, as downloading the update is done over cloud.
After updating to .181 or .184 (not fully sure which one) I also had a problem with updates. My hub were showing no updates available. In my case there are no additional conditions related to cloud/online/ofline.
I fixed the problem by forcing newer firmware using restore tool. Starting the next version things went back to normal. Later update were issued just fine.
Github also lives in the cloud, and I can download things from there without needing Hubitat cloud services.
I love Hubitat: the freedom of the dev platform, the awesome community, the fair business model. More importantly, the core values Hubitat stands for resonates deeply with my need for privacy.
So far there are only 2 things that I consider arbitrary business decisions, and give me "corporate vibes":
The current issue: you need to enable cloud services (hub keeps open a connection to Amazon Web Services 100% of the time) in order to download firmware updates once a month.
You need a Hub Protect subscription in order to make a full hub backup (that includes Zigbee radio data).
I understand that this is not a problem for the majority of folks here, but it kinda slowly killing the joy for me.
Well this is also for remote menus. That said, it's been discussed in the past, they don't want to leave open updates for anyone to have access to. As a network engineer and security consultant, I don't really have a problem with this myself. As to the radio backup, well most other systems don't allow you to back up that data at all. (ST is starting to allow zigbee but not z-wave)
By design, the hub ships with a stable firmware capable of running entirely without cloud, which is their mission statement. We are fortunate to get free updates for a box that costs as little as Hubitat does. How many companies give you free updates for life?
Thanks for your feedback. The hub was designed to run entirely without cloud. Both updating the hub and the cloud backups are additional services that are not required for the hub to function properly.
We could say you need to buy a new hub if you want to get the latest features, like many other companies do, but instead, we make those new features available to everyone. This may not be ideal for some, but the alternative (to require buying a new hub) would give users a lot more "corporate vibes", don't you agree?
Not sure if this is a bug or feature, but I was able to update my hub to the latest platform version using the Diagnostic Tool, without enabling the cloud services. Yay!
I'd assume feature, as the Diagnostic tool is the path when other stuff breaks down. Glad you have a yay. Just so you know, you are not allowed to leave the community. We will send in Rover if you try.
