Knowledge base

This section will provide underlying information on topics and terms mentioned throughout the implementation process. It is recommend to use your browsers search function (strg + f).

ZigBee

Zigbee is a wireless technology developed as an open global standard to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power wireless IoT networks.

Smart device

A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols.

Firmware

Firmware is a software program or set of instructions programmed on a hardware device.

Image

In computing, a system image is a serialized copy of the entire state of a computer system stored in some non-volatile form such as a file.

SSH

SSH, also known as Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell, is a network protocol that provides administrators with a secure way to access a remote computer.

Headless computer

A headless computer is a computer system or device that has been configured to operate without a monitor (the missing “head”), keyboard, and mouse.

Docker

Docker is a tool designed to make it easier to create, deploy, and run applications by using containers.

Docker Compose

Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With Compose, you use a YAML file to configure your application’s services.

Rhasspy

Rhasspy is an open source, fully offline set of voice assistant services for many human languages.

Service

With computer software, a service is software that performs automated tasks, responds to hardware events, or listens for data requests from other software.

Web socket

A WebSocket is a persistent connection between a client and server.

MQTT

MQTT is a simple messaging protocol, designed for constrained devices with low-bandwidth.

ZigBee2MQTT

ZigBee smart home devices are everywhere today. ZigBee2MQTT is a software that allows you to control them all.

Bridge

A Bridge is hardware or software that connects devices on a home automation network and controls communications among them.

Wake Word / Hot Word

A word or words that you say in order to make an electronic device, or a feature on a device, ready to work.

Natural-language understanding (NLU)

Natural language understanding (NLU) is a branch of natural language processing, which involves transforming human language into a machine-readable format.

API (Application Programming Interface)

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.

URL

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is nothing more than the address of a given unique resource on the Web.

Daemon

A daemon is a program that runs continuously and exists for the purpose of handling periodic service requests that a computer system expects to receive.

mpd

MPD (music player daemon) is an audio player that has a server-client architecture. It plays audio files, organizes playlists and maintains a music database, all while using very few resources. In order to interface with it, a separate client is needed.

SQLite

SQLite is an in-process library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine.