I don't know if it's changed but I felt like a super genius a few years ago when I finally got my HA up and running on a pi, and I'm a linux person and former system admin. There's Home Assistant and Home Assistant Core, Docker or not Docker, install HACS or don't. Some things don't seem to work unless you're on a Docker container but then it's a pain to ssh in and find folders to install stuff. I really hope it's better now as my HA install has mysteriously died and I haven't had the heart to dig in and see what the issue is so I'm guessing I'm going to have to start from scratch.