I agree. The suggestion of getting a test bed was really only meant to be an option if he didn't want to risk his production setup while he played around with a new way of deploying HA.
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Good point! Can never have too many PCs…
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The irony is that, once you set up proxmox, you don't need a separate dev system because you just set up new containers/VMs when you need them. If they don't work out, just delete them!
I would not go down the Proxmox route until you fully understand what it might buy you in the long run. It sounds like have not even scratched the surface of what the HAOS platform has to offer. Trust me, HAOS running Add-Ons is trivial compared to running docker containers, maintaining and updating those containers, etc...
If you move to running Home Assistant Core as a container, you lose the ability to run HA Add-Ons altogether. That complicates the process of running additional containers that you may want to use with HA Core.
Not saying Proxmox is a bad a solution, but based on my personal experience, I would tend to advise new users to simply run HAOS and keep everything as simple as possible. If you're an expert Linux system admin, then by all means have at it. Just realize that your 'hobby' will be quite a bit more than Home Automation - it will include a decent chunk of Linux system administration and maintenance. HAOS takes care of 99% of that for you.
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You can definitely get in the weeds if you want. But the maintenance and system administration is less than you think. That's especially true if you are using the proxmox scripts I linked above. Many of the containers listed there include the option of just typing update to bring that container up-to-date.
Again, if you like the simplicity of HAOS, you have the option of running it as a VM with the benefit of proxmox backups to bail you out. Honestly, backup and snapshot capabilities are almost worth it all by themselves.
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For now, Sure. Unrelated I have been looking at a bit stronger Mini PC's to potentially replace my laptop that I am used docked, essentially as a workstation. Ive been trying to decide Between a Stronger Mini Pc or a full-blown desktop.
As for the mini–PC I have, I'm fairly sure I'm not putting much if any load on it currently. I'm sure I could do substantially more with it and took the suggestion for the new minPC (which is the one I have, for the same price, they must always be on a Limited time sale for that price) as a suggestion to use it for testing and experimentation rather than for full production. I am actually giving the idea some serious consideration. Truth be told, as of right now, I can see potential having three computers of sometime in addition to the MiniPC running HA. I need to update/upgrade my main computer. I've toyed with getting a MiniPC and replacing windows with Linux just to play with it and learn more about using Linux. I have also considered a mac or mac mini, though that is the one I really can't justify.
This whole thread had gone on into a deeper discussion than I initially anticipated. It has been interesting and provided much food for thought, though I'm pretty sure my wife isn't going to see it that way!
