4 posts were split to a new topic: Feedback on ease of use
Fairly new to Hubitat, but the "deeper" I go, the more I like it. So far there has been nothing I have not been able to get to work (except some hardware), but some stuff have felt "counter-intuitive" at first (having a "computer expert" & "programming" background). This in turn has led to some "sh*t, I have to redo this from the start"-moments, as it has become clear that while my first solution is working there exists a (much) better one that I did not know about/understand at the time.
What I would REALLY like is a "Hubitat Bible"-kind of publication. You know, one of those "old skool" books having a thousand pages with explanantions, suggestions, tips and tricks at all levels, and weighing a ton. But so central and important that you order a new copy every second year due to your previous one falling apart. (And for the record: my first one was the C64 Programmer's Reference Guide, and few books have influenced my life to that degree http://cini.classiccmp.org/pdf/Commodore/C64%20Programmer's%20Reference%20Guide.pdf).
So far my biggest gripe have been the driver ecosystem. I would like to see most commercially commonly available hardware handled either within the "compatibility" list, or within a separate "compatible with generic drivers"-list and a "there is a working community driver for this thingy"-list. It is a ¤$!#£&% hassle to check (and ensure) that there actually is a driver that will work (in Hubitat) with whatever z-wave/zigbee thingy you want to try/use. I can handle the installation and manually selecting a driver if I know that there actually is one, or if the system recognizes the thingy and selects a correct driver (specific or generic). What I dislike is the black hole you drop into either when trying to connect a thingy to Hubitat or once connected and trying to get it to actually work.
I have almost always gotten help from the forum, and everything has gotten easier the more I learn. But that the forum have proven itself to be a fantastic resource does not translate into that a user should have TO ASK for help, when buying "commonly available stuff" for his/her system.
While I do get that the keeping the official compatibility list continuously updated is a huge task that is quite impossible in practical terms, and while I am extremely grateful for all community-made drivers, I do not understand why there is no "thingy X rev. Z confirmed as working with Hubitat [use this generic/community driver]"-database. Now THAT would be an ENORMOUS help (to me at least).
Just so the critical "where is the generic driver compatibility database/information?" above doesn't get misunderstood: I started with a "chinese phone app"-option, did a brief fling with HA , and then found Hubitat. It is, in my opinion, clearly the very best there is (in many ways Hubitat was a real "godsend" for me). But that does not mean it could not be improved...
Won't find an argument here in this Community. The Platform gets updated at a pretty rapid rate. Keeping up with that is probably the difficulty you mention.
You should make one. You have the same access to the elements of that DB as we do. I have made a couple of attempts including one based off of HPM's db of Packages. (The DB that HPM reads is open source on github.
HPM Repository JSON
You have to traverse each record to it's end.) I even extended the HPM Package JSON definition to include "descriptive" that is exclusively intended for the HPM BrowsePKG website. I think that HPM's Search capability, especially using Fuzzy (an Azure based search) is the best way to find a community package, because it's the one place developers go to get the most visibility on their efforts.
This Community has a rich set of community members (all volunteers) that like answering these questions. Please don't stop asking