If this is the kind of project you want to support:

1. Build or buy a #HestiaPi
2. Tell your friends
3. Contribute: bug reports, beta testing, documentation, code, answering questions on the forum, or building hardware for others (we don't currently accept monetary donations)

I have been supporting this hardware for over 5 years now and want to keep doing so as long as I can.

Having more people contribute makes it easier. Having more people buy hardware let's me buy in bulk & cut prices.

I've spent a lot of time not just thinking about this, but living it. I've had the core of the #HestiaPi (#OpenHAB) abandon support for all versions of Java that can run in a Raspberry Pi Zero W. 😩

So now our project is at a crossroad. How do we proceed? It'll run on the Pi Zero 2 W, but what about all our original users who have a pi soldered onto their PCB?

I think I see a path forward that will let still use the existing hardware & OpenHAB. It'll be a lot of work, but I think we can do it.

#RaspberryPi may have their own problems, but they've been solid on supporting both their #hardware and #software.

They even publish a minimum number of years they are going to keep producing each model of hardware. This allows projects to plan around that, which gives rPi a leg up when it comes time to decide which hardware to use.

I hope you enjoyed my reflections on the state of long term support and comparing commercial IoT to #OpenSource #IoT.

What can be done about the #OpenSource world to make things more #sustainable?

The biggest thing, by far, is to make things as simple as possible! That means you will inherently have fewer dependencies.

Depend on libraries that have long term support.

Contribute upstream whenever possible. Mainly code, but if you are selling #hardware, money too.

So what can help with the long term support (LTS)?

There's really no helping the commercial world as long as they're trying to make a profit. The limited exception would be companies who not only make this their central business model, but also establish a track record of delivering on that promise. There are almost no business who have managed to pull this off. They used to be more common, but people are either unwilling or unable to buy the higher quality stuff these days.

In the case of #OpenSource projects, it's a little different, and some projects are great at long term support. The challenges are that the #software and hardware that they depend on frequently stop getting supported. At that point, do they spread people thin to stay doing long term support for all the things they depend on?

If it's #hardware, that's probably not an option even if you have dozens of volunteers.

It's still a cost problem, but the cost is people's time, not #money.