As the @bsdcan lists of talks and tutorials have been posted, I can officially announce my presentation:
Don't Freeze in the Cloud: Reclaiming Home Control with NetBSD
In 2010, I was taking more flights than cups of coffee. After a two-week trip, I returned home to a nasty, albeit expected, surprise: an indoor temperature of 7.8Β°C (46 F). Possessing more time than money, I decided to solve the problem my own way. I built a custom Python-based control system, accessible only via VPN, to manage my heating.
In 2015, after moving houses, this system was demoted to a secondary role, replaced by a shiny, commercial "smart" thermostat. However, I continued to maintain and update my custom solution for fun.
Fast forward to October 2025: major cloud providers faced significant outages. My commercial thermostat became dumber than a mechanical switch. I was reduced to manual two-hour overrides, with no visibility into settings or usage. It was a wake-up call: keeping my home warm should not depend on someone else's server.
I dusted off my solution and adapted it to modern needs - powered, of course, by NetBSD, running on the very same hardware that served my previous home for years.
In this talk, I will share the journey, the technical challenges, and the architectural decisions behind the project. I will demonstrate how NetBSDβs stability and low footprint make it the ideal operating system for long-term, "set-and-forget" home automation, allowing us to reclaim control from the cloud.
#NetBSD #BSDCan #BSDCan2026 #RunBSD #OwnYourData #Presentation #Talk
FreeBSD Foundation
Stefano Marinelli
Jason Tubnor π¦πΊ