Should we include OpenHAB 2 on the new emonSD image?

emonSD
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1

I’m working on an updated emonSD image based on Raspbien Stretch.

What do you think, should include openhab or not, and if so should we upgrade to OpenHAB2? OpenHAB 1 has historically been included installed and pre configured on the emonSD: openHAB - Guide | OpenEnergyMonitor

Please select from the following, you can select multiple choices :smiley:

  • Include OpenHAB 1
  • Include OpenHAB 2
  • Pre-configured to work with OpenEnergyMonitor and actively running
  • Installed but disabled by default
  • No, please don’t include OpenHAB. I will install it myself if I want it
  • I have no interest in OpenHAB
  • Other (please comment)

0 voters

NodeRED will definitely be included, it’s far too useful not to! Node-RED - Guide | OpenEnergyMonitor

2

I tried to set up OpenHAB but found it far to complicated and counter intuitive. There feels to be some disconnect between UIs and configs and connections and and and…

So, FWIW, the basics should be set-up whatever version, but if you need to edit config files via a text editor then no.

1 Like
3

Besides openHAB 2, Grafana would make sense for me :slight_smile:

3 Likes
4

No real need to include it though. Installation is as easy as dpkg -i grafana_archive_name.deb
No dependencies, no hassles. Just a single file to install.

5

Does that also install Influx ?

6

Hi Dave,

Are you asking if dpkg -i grafana_archive_name.deb installs InfluxDB?

7

Yes, but I guess it doesn’t
Dave.

8

Installing InfluxDB is as easy as Grafana.

dpkg -i influxDB_archive_name.deb is all it takes.

Like Grafana, one file, no dependencies, no hassles.

It’s a little different on a Pi. e.g. for the 1.6.1 version:

tar xvfz influxdb-1.6.1_linux_armhf.tar.gz

But otherwise, the same as the deb package install. One file, no dependencies.

9

Thanks for that, I downloaded a image from here with everything ready to go - it’s still working now perfectly.

Dave.

10

I’m going to bang the DietPi drum again (sorry).

Grafana and InfulxDB both available from their installation menu.

1 Like
11

Thanks for the feedback. It’s looking like the consensus is not to include openhab setup or configured on the new image.

1 Like
12

Why not HomeAssistant? I’ve been struggling to attempt to install it on the same PI but I got problems such as:

  • Docker = OK
  • Trying to install samba = Fail :frowning: Cannot make it start.
  • Try to upload my homeassistant config by Winscp to /home/pi/homeassistant/config = Fail… permission denied can’t find a way to enable root to try to connect and upload my hass configs :’(

Feeling frustrated :cry:

13

If you’re not going to include openhab2, can I suggest you make it easier for people to install by:

  • Setting the required tmpfs directories and symlinks so a simple “apt install” will work. This is non-trivial to get right, so would be really helpful
  • Adding openhab2 to the apt sources list. This is not so important, as it’s a simple one liner, but would still be useful.

Both these changes would have almost zero overhead on the emonSD but would make it easier for those who want to install openhab2

14

The new emonSD image will not include openhab. However we have done away with the read-only root partition making it trivial to install OpenHAB following their official raspbian install process.

15

Are you getting rid of the “low write” stuff totally? or still using tmpfs etc, but just not mounting root as readonly?

When is the new emonSD likely to be available? I’ve just started setting up a box with the 13Jun18 image. Should I wait for the update?

Are you planning another beta? I’m happy to help test it.

While you’re making changes… I was looking at the way things are done in rc.local and in particular the need to restart services after creating symbolic links. I think that could all be handled much more cleanly by using /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d to set up the required directories/links which will run before any services are started.

16

I wouldn’t expect that image to progress any further and you may find yourself in a minority group regarding bugs and support etc, The older images are fully supported and (apparently) the next version will be significantly different to the existing images, so that would suggest the end of the road for the 13Jun18 beta image. If you need an image immediately, IMO you should use the older image for now.

See the Mosquitto won't start on boot after raspbian and emonsd update thread (among others) NOT using rc.local is a longstanding point of discussion, although specific details about the next image have not been openly discussed in any detail, Glyn has stated that although the next image will not be RO it will still have the log files in RAM, so we do not yet know if the rc.local stuff has been dropped yet and/or how the logfiles are going to be managed.

17

From what you are saying, you might be better to self install especially if you are not using an EmonPi. I do this using DietPi as the base image (but not using their ‘emoncms’ package that is basically the emonhub install).

The key thing is that, the dropping of the RO is due to changes in how the data is written to ‘disk’ so a elf install should be as reliable as the SD image.

The SD is more of a new user image and it seems you might be a bit more than that :smile:.