In My last post I mentioned that I had yet to get remotely controllable power to the N64. In the end, I ended upgoing with a TCP Smart 13A Plug (because I am in the UK), but it turned out that it didn’t meet my needs as it was only controllable from an app installed on either Android or IOS. It also worried me that it was obviously controlled by an ESP32 microcontroller and the firmware didn’t even attempt to rebrand the hostname. Although this might meet the needs of some (who just want to be able to reboot their N64 from the couch) this was not good, and trying to make it work through FTTT turned out to be a nightmare. Further investigation (using PI-Hole and Fiddler) showed that it was actually a rebranded Tuya device. This also worried be as this uses a Chinese cloud and I have no idea what they are doing with my information.
A quick search on github.com revealed a promising lead, https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert claimed to be able to “break in” and flash the device with custom firmware. Further more, there is a wide community of open source firmwares for these devices. I settled on Tasmona for this and promptly flashed the device. However the documentation was lacking and I ended up using a template hosted elsewhere.
I am now able to use powershell to turn my device on and off using a simple URL on my local network, with no cloud involved. If I want to control it from my phone, I just connect to the integrated webpage and press a button!
A simple fix with no N64 modification required, and only costing £10! I think you will agree, this is far better than other solutions out there!
NetworkFusion a.k.a JonesAlmighty 
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