I saw a smart home the other day and I got to admit, my caveman DNA was activated and I got jealous. My caveman DNA demands that I also make my home a smart one.

The thing is, I kind of don't really know how and where to begin, thus why I came to you guys for help.

I know that I want to do this gradually, over months or years, apply new smart devices like smart plugs, sensors, cameras, and the like little by little. As for appliances, only when mine stop working and need replacement.

I also want to be able to control my AC, my electric shutters, check how much energy my house is using and how much my solar panels are producing. These ones, I admit, are the ones that I'm most unsure about on how to go about it. I'm not an electrician, and might need to hire one.

As for a server, that's already taken care off. I have a synology server, or a raspberry pi 5 if for some reason my synology can't handle it. I know of "Home Assistant", is this the best software or do you recommend others?

Needless to say, I don't want to be dependent on companies or cloud services. This is a self-host project. I'm tech-savvy, I don't mind to get my hands dirty, but I do want to build something that is stable. "Set it and forget it" kind of thing.

So my question are:
1- Do you have any recommendations of where I should start? Like for example, light switches first, then smart plugs, etc.
2- If I should take into consideration the number of devices. Could they potentially clog my router or my wifi AP's if they get too many? If yes, is there a way to prevent this?
3- Do you have any article or guide or video that you recommend me checking out?
4- Do you have any tips, advice or warnings in general? Like problems that you know that I'll run into later, or things that you don't think are worth smartifying, etc (whatever you want to say, give it to me, I'll appreciate anything)

Thanks to all of you who gave me guidance in the thread about password managers. It got me thinking I should expand the question to overall best practices regarding security, just in case I have any other important blind spots.

What are the essential do's and don'ts of digital security for the average person?

Hey all. My old computer is fine, but the Oculus software has recently pushed an update where it no longer starts up, attempting to repair the software uninstalled it, and the install errors out despite clearing out the install cache and existing files while running it in network capable Safe mode with Defender off as recommended.

Eventually I narrowed it down to this error. https://forums.oculusvr.com/community/discussion/71083/cant-install-software-exiting-with-code-18 and since I'm using an old HP xw8400 build with two Xeon 5355 processors, it does kind of check out that this latest update finally became incompatible with my processor and it may be time to upgrade anyway. To my knowledge, there isn't really a way to get a more modern processor onto the motherboard, and I'm not going to rage at Oculus for not supporting hardware they were never supporting in the first place. (Auto Update and being unable to downgrade is meh, but I'm not going to win that fight.)

So what would you guys recommended for a new processor/ram/motherboard combination? My Graphics Card (RX480) and hard drive is still fine, and I'd like to keep it on the cheap for as much as we can do with VR.