Will do. Is it more for security purposes? Reliability?

That’s interesting, I’ll have to read more about mine. I think I purposefully bought the “dumbest” option but will need to experiment with it just like you did

That’s a good point. This can help me with things like adding a DNS server (I’m assuming pi-hole can be run standalone on a mini PC)

Thanks. I thought the already thought out protocols and configurations would make it easier to program the micro controllers to plug in with that rather than building something on my own

My AC is offline, I was thinking I’d just put an infra red LED on a microcontroller in front of it 😅