Summary
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Home Assistant OS 18.0 compresses the default swap to 1-4GB, improving device usability.
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Exchange increases slightly
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It also updates the Linux kernel to 6.18 and speeds up image flashing – get the new OS on GitHub.
It’s no secret that we at XDA love Home Assistant. We’ve dealt with it (and its a new AI tool) for a while and there is no sign of us stopping. One of our favorite uses for Home Assistant is to plug it into a low-end system like a Raspberry Pi and do smart home actions with it.
Unfortunately, Home Assistant OS doesn’t work very well on systems without a lot of RAM; that is, until now. A new update for the OS added a new setting that better respects the low amount of RAM in your system.
Home Assistant OS 18.0 brings new changes for low RAM counts
Moreover, it now runs on a newer version of the Linux kernel
As seen LinuxiacHome Assistant OS 18.0 is finally released. It’s worth noting that it’s not the Home Assistant app that’s getting an update; it’s the OS that keeps everything running. So you won’t see this update for your regular Home Assistant app.
One of the most interesting changes in Home Assistant OS 18.0 is the change in default RAM swap size. The OS should now run better on devices with 2GB of RAM or less, and will also take up less space on computers with more than 12GB of RAM:
Default replacement size
The default swap file size was previously set to 33% of system RAM, which produced a swap file that was too small to be useful on systems with little RAM, and unnecessarily large on systems with lots of RAM. The default size is now compressed between 1 and 4 GB:
On systems with up to 2 GB of RAM, the swap file will increase slightly compared to previous releases.
On systems with more than 12 GB of RAM, the swap file is limited to 4 GB, and an existing large swap file will be recreated in a smaller size.
The manually configured swap size is still respected.
However, not all. The update also brings the Linux kernel from 6.12 to 6.18, and flashing new images is much faster. If you want to check out the changelog and download it yourself, head over to the page the project’s GitHub page.
