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Hi
Go with me here... I recently pick up a unresponsive Vera Secure from eBay for next to nothing, thinking I’d could have a go at trying to restore it, if only as a play thing..
Situation - The power led comes on, but the internet and service leds just flash - no connection made (and even using a direct cable and Wireshark, I can’t see an arp request being made to see if it has a default in address) - I’ve also tried various reset button combinations - no luck.
Perhaps this post is a long shot, but seeing so many familiar ex Micasaverde/Vera forum names - i thought I’d at least ask - just in case anyone had any guidance/advice etc. I could use ..
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Hi!
I was tipped off about this forum while bitching about my Vera on the Vera forum, as I had grown accustomed to over the years. I know that's not very nice, but that thing brings out the worst in me (and has even driven me to drink on occasions 😉 )!
Anyway, how about a little intro in case anyone is actually interested? I did odd jobs, saved up for and built my first PC from components by the time I was 15 (back when you had to know how to get around a DOS prompt and a 120Mb hard drive was a big deal). Within 6 months I had my own BBS up and running. The internet wasn't really a thing back then -- did AOL really count? I only really discovered home automation almost a decade later, again before it had really taken off. Back then I was using X10 because it was still one of the only consumer options and I had no electronics background. Over the years I have experimented with several home automation technologies, 90% of them ending up as useless scrap and a waste of money. Today I feel like not much has changed, but things are moving in the right direction (wide scale adoption -> more money invested in improving tech to try to get us to part with our money, am I right?). I've never really had the funds to go all out or to get the more expensive gear, but I've found some products that have been worth sticking with -- namely my Elk-M1G and one or two other obscure devices. I recently was "renovicted" during the pandemic and decided to move from my modest apartment in the city to a house out in the woods in the middle of nowhere.
So here I am, with an almost clean slate, looking to set this place up better than ever. The internet access sucks out here, but the house is mine to do what I will with it. I envision a keyless entry system even better than the last one I devised, walls that literally talk and eventually even roboticized structure & furniture (eg. Aquarium lids that rise for maintenance, hidden doors that slide open, a table that transforms into a bar, etc.).
For the moment, though, I'd like to figure out how to replace this *&$%ing Vera. Funds have been tight lately, but at the moment I have several pieces of hardware I can start with: The Elk (as mentioned), ~20 LIFX bulbs/strips, a handful of Amazon Echos, a few Zwave devices, some IR and audio stuff, the Vera, a few other odds and ends.
Ultimately, I'd like to set up a low-power system like a NUC or something that will always be on, running automation as well as handling audio (most likely multi-zoned). I built my last PC as a gaming PC, but I can use it to experiment until I'm ready to purchase an HA system.
Where do I start if I want to learn about OpenLuup? I skimmed through the forums, but they seem quite advanced and are a little beyond my abilities. I do CAD/CAM, not programming, unfortunately!
Thanks!! -
654a0b44-6cec-4466-8701-3566067abbd0-image.jpeg https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpanic.com%2Fblog%2Fpanic-status-board-2013-edition%2F&psig=AOvVaw1ERsyah34ZkmLnpWaYLgu-&ust=1600418906446000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCODol5Xn7-sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE
I’ve always liked the idea of having a screen, located somewhere in the house that would allow me to see the status of pretty much everything. (Hardware wise I’m just think of a basic Rasp Pi, fixed to a vesa mount, screwed to the back of an old monitor screen)
I’ve tried a number of tools/apps over the years, one of which was PanicBoard (where the above image comes from) - which seemed to have some potential, but the owners stopped developing/investing in that a while back.
What are people using ?
Is there something, perhaps a single tool/app that this community would collectively support/promote, one that no matter what HA you used, you could submit information to and have it displayed ?
**** Just to be clear, I’m referring to status/information boards, not a touch based, control board where you can turn things on/off etc..***
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General discussion on all things MQTT.
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Not sure this is in quite the right place (again) but I have a device that exists in z-way that I simply cannot remove. It seems to be a zombie. I have no idea what it was.
It claims to be a routing binary sensor that has not woken up since August
I go through the 'Only do this if your device is broken' and it simply will not go.
Any ideas (apart from ignore it)?Cheers
C
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Hi all
Possibly a long shot - but does anyone know of a way, (maybe you have some code or know of an app) that can help you discover the IR codes of a device when you’ve lost the remote?
Looking online there seems to be a growing number of IR banks, yet I can’t find anything on the market that could cycle through a huge set of different codes (e.g just the power on/off) to let me know which ones are compatible ?
When you consider so many things these days are made in the same place, and often thing can just be re/badges versions of other items - it’s likely that a sets of codes for one branded product will work in the most part with another ..
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Since one member asked at one point about the "front end" and "back end", I drew this showing the controller from the base to the tip along with what I have found to be the best options from my testing. Almost every controller will try to integrate all elements, especially commercial ones but... they all have strengths and weaknesses so if one can have a medley of the best ones...
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Hi all. Looking for some guidance as ever
This
luup.inet.wget('https://api.telegram.org/bot1225075966:AAHS5rwhCpOx0hwq3mOnNjtCSKiDeAS6B4/sendMessage?chat_id=@Coalport58&text=House mode is home')Works fine
This
luup.inet.wget('https://api.telegram.org/bot1225075966:AAHS5rwhCpOx0hwq3mOnNjtCSKiDeAS6B4/sendMessage?chat_id=@Coalport58&text=House mode is Home')Throws a 400 error:
openLuup.client:: WGET error status: 400I have munged the bot key to post here, but just changing the 'h' to 'H' breaks it. Any ideas why?
C
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We are a smart home startup based in England, we are looking for a co-founder/advisor who is good at iot software development.
Many thanks -
What are the projects you're working on?
Summer is over, and that (unfortunately) means more time indoor and (luckily) more time to build things.
I have almost nothing in my backlog and it's boring 🙂
I appreciate a couple of (crazy) ideas.
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Is there one? I know TTS is working but suddenly woke up at 0300....
...or does it just use Vera. That seems unlikely from what I know of the architectureTIA
C
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So, I'm trying to execute the same code I had for years to mount my synology NAS for datamine (I know, old stuff), but I'm getting this:
mount -o user=vera,pass=pass //192.168.1.26/Backups/Vera/datamine /datamine mount: mounting //192.168.1.26/Backups/Vera/datamine on /datamine failed: No such deviceIt used to work until 3 days ago, then I had to factory reset my Vera Plus and now this. Packages are OK:
opkg update opkg --force-depends install kmod-fs-cifs opkg --force-depends install kmod-nls-utf8 kmod-nls-base kmod-crypto-hmac kmod-crypto-md5 kmod-crypto-miscI've already trying anything, with no luck. Any ideas?
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My quest to build a central usb to serial server (hub) continues 🙂
The goal is to make a core set of usually local devices available to other HA controllers over the network to use (via Ser2net).
Current list includes ..
Current Cost Energy Monitor Rfxtrx433 Transceiver Bluegiga BLED112 BluetoothNext up is a Z-Wave Module ZMEEUZB1
What other devices do people think would be a good to add to the ‘hub’ ?
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I just noticed from other forums that IFTTT has started some serious payment plans with a very restrictive free tier.
IFTTT Plans - IFTTT Plans - IFTTTFind the right plan for Pros, Developers and Businesses.
This was writing on the wall from the beginning and why I tested it for the entirety of 5mins and requested to delete my account back 3 years ago. The idea to me was mind boggling: Having a multitude of platform API integrated by them in the cloud so every signal and command would go through them. This outside dependency, could not remain free and would offer poor reliability security/privacy and performance by design and is intrinsically inefficient. Now if you want to continue using it, you get to pay for it.. What a waste of time and energy...
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Sorry for the long title 🙂
After building, for the want of a better term, a “Ser2net Server” in order to share various USB/Serial devices With Vera/Node-Red etc.
I’ve recently added Bluegiga’s BLED112 Bluetooth (https://www.silabs.com/wireless/bluetooth/bluegiga-low-energy-legacy-modules/device.bled112) with the goal that I can integrate all the personal bluetooth devices worn in the house (i.e fitness trackers etc.) into some sort of presence awareness set-up.
All my other usb/serial devices, such as a Current Cost energy monitor, DSC Alarm Panel and a RFCOM Rfxrtx433 transceiver which are connected are all working well, and with the ability to share each device I’ve been able to integrate them into the different HA solutions I use.
So getting back to the point of my post, and with the BLED112 connected, I can access it via the pi no problem and using this .py script (. https://github.com/jrowberg/bglib/blob/master/Python/Examples/bled112_scanner.py) - so I can do a few things when logged into the pi, but what I’m struggling with at the moment is how to get clean information out via ser2net. Currently everything looks jumbled/corrupted and I’ve tried to change the Ser2net serial/connection settings for it but that hasn’t resulted in any noticeable improvements .
Ser2net .conf settings.
4004:raw:0:/dev/ttyACM0:115200 8DATABITS NONE 1STOPBIT max-connections=4Is anyone on this forum using the BLED112 in any capacity today ? Ideally with Vera/OpenLuup ?
Screenshot below of what’s seen via telnet (Remoter is the iOS app I’m using , but the N065H is a model of fitness band my wife has.
C8FF65D2-9BA7-4696-B085-64170A42D3E1.jpeg
And attached below is what seen from the pi when the python script is run..
0E3B2939-3751-4804-9599-835BC9741524.jpeg
Within the above you have the MAC of the Bluetooth device, plus the strength of the signal, so the makings of some good presence/range automation capabilities 🤩
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General Information - I thought some of the regulars would like to register. Links down the bottom,Interesting that they are looking into the failures....wonder if there will be any mention of you know what.....
Z-Wave Works With Amazon, Google, Samsung, Apple, Comcast Virtual Conference
by DrZWave
Silicon Labs is hosting what was intended to be an in-person conference in Austin Texas but is now a virtual online conference on IoT ecosystems - the Works With Smart Home Developer Event September 9-10. The best part is it is now FREE to attend any of the in-depth technical sessions and you don't have to wear a mask. The downside is that we don't get to experience all that great music down in Austin - well, there's always next year!Virtual IoT Works With EcoSystems from Google, Amazon, Apple for Z-Wave development engineers
Works With Smart Home Developer Event - Silicon Labs Works With Smart Home Developer Event - Silicon Labs
Attend Works With Smart Home Developer Event virtually to learn how to work with ecosystem partners to connect devices, platforms and protocols. Live or on-demand.
I am hosting the Z-Wave track and will be making several presentations including a detailed look at Silicon Labs latest release of Simplicity Studio V5 which just came out yesterday. We'll also have presentations on developing Z-Wave Smart Hubs and Z-Wave Certification. I'll also be describing some IoT failures - you learn more from your failures than your successes. We have speakers and engineers from all of the ecosystem partners, not just Silicon Labs folks. Learn from the experts from across the industry!What is Works With 2020? The smart home developer’s virtual event where you will have the opportunity to interact with our ecosystem partners from Amazon, Google, Samsung, and Z-Wave to connect devices, platforms and protocols and be able to immerse yourself in keynotes, a panel discussion on Project CHIP, hands-on, and technical sessions led by smart home engineers who are building the latest advanced IoT devices. The Works With event is live, all-online, free of charge, and you can join from anywhere around the world.
Works With Z-Wave Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung IoT SmartHome conference 2020
Click here to Register Today and feel free to forward to the rest of your team.Here’s an overview of what you won’t want to miss:
Specialized Engineer-Led Tracks – Educational sessions and technical training designed for engineers, executives, developers, business development and product managers.
Hands-On Workshops More than 12 workshops and hands-on sessions to give you experience, knowledge and confidence to develop and accelerate smart home development.
One-on-One Developer Meetings – Schedule a meeting with Silicon Labs or an ecosystem partner to get 1:1 technical guidance.
Join me in September and learn how to smoothly get your IoT device plugged into any and all of the ecosystem partners. Register today, it's totally free and you can join from anywhere in the world. See you September!
DrZWave | July 30, 2020 at 8:22 pm | Tags: WorksWith | Categories: 700 series, Best Practice, Coding Guides, News, Presentations, Summit, Z-Wave Controllers, Z-Wave Developers, Z-Wave Mesh, Z-Wave Network, Z-Wave Slaves, Z-Wave Users | URL: https://wp.me/p6tsK6-o5
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DrZWave / Jul 30, 2020 Z-Wave Works With Amazon, Google, Samsung, Apple, Comcast Virtual Conference Z-Wave Works With Amazon, Google, Samsung, Apple, Comcast Virtual Conference
Works With Amazon, Google, Apple and more Smart Home EcoSystem vendors. Learn how to design your product to work with these 800 pound gorillas
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Derick Schweppe Mycroft – Open Source Voice Assistant - Mycroft Mycroft – Open Source Voice Assistant - Mycroft
Mycroft is an open source voice assistant, that can be installed on Linux, Raspberry Pi, or on the Mark 1 hardware device. Our opensource skills are written in Python and we have a very friendly developer community. Come join us!
I have been following this project with great interest and am thinking about testing it. Eventually, I believe this is the way to go and will eliminate all the GH and Echo ecosystems.
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I picked up a new WD SSD for practically next to nothing (wow, have prices on storage dropped) and want to replace the SDC in omy HS4 Pi that I added Node Red to.
I know that a thread existed on this, perhaps on the Vera forum before it was censored. I can't find it here can anyone point me in the right direction.
Thks -
In the pseudo code below settimeout always times out after ten seconds. I can set the timeout to any value and it always times out when it reaches the set value. But why? The transmit is fine and the data is rx'ed OK exactly as expected. ie the expected data is always the length expected. There are no partial results.
The only way to get it to work is to set the timeout to zero. ie no timeout delay and use socket.select to become a defacto timeout. It works great after that.
-- Socket library version is: LuaSocket 3.0-rc1 m_tcp = socket.tcp() m_tcp:settimeout(10) -- set to zero when using socket.select fix m_tcp:connect('ip_address', port) repeat -- send request local txMsg('Data request. Hi what is the hardware status? (ongoing)') m_tcp:send(txMsg) -- THIS fixs the problem as long as m_tcp:settimeout() is set to zero -- Wait on the socket for 50 msec for rx data. -- The rx data will arrive in the rx buffer in less than this time. -- *** local rxlist, _, selectStatus = socket.select ({m_tcp}, nil, 0.05) -- get the response to the request -- get the 16 byte data header, that contains the length of the payload local expectedLength = 16 local s, status, partial = m_tcp:receive(expectedLength) if (status == "timeout") then print('timeout') end -- the returned data amount varies but we know what it is from the header just rx'ed expectedLength = s[1] s, status, partial = m_tcp:receive(expectedLength) -- do this every 0.5 sec; -- we're regularly updating the status of a hardware device luup.sleep(500) until false
Favorite lightweight linux distro?
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Not having a background in IT, I only stumbled into linux because of home automation.
I got familiar with OpenWRT because of vera and ubuntu server because it is the newbie friendly, seemingly most supported distro.I am looking for a super lightweight linux distro to act mostly as a server (potentially to host the whole home automation controller pyramid) either for a laptop or a mini PC. I just gave peppermint a shot and was surprised to see a CPU 6C temperature drop at idle vs. ubuntu server in spite of it having an additional GUI. Being a laptop, the GUI is convenient.
I am now thinking of Elive (Debian based) and WattOS (Ubuntu based).
Any recommendations? -
For our workloads (web and apps, mainly in cloud), in combination with Kubernets, we regularly use Alpine. it's very lightweight, but you can build an image with exactly the things you need: https://alpinelinux.org/
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Hi Raf, i know Debian because it runs on a Pi and the headless version looks pretty small and quick.
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Debian all the time, anywhere!
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At PointPub, we use Debian anywhere, either on rPI, pine64, rockpro, servers, VMs, etc.
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Thanks, I definitely looked at both Debian and Alpine.
On Debian, it seems like you all like the hardcore base OS. Any reason not to consider the seemingly lighter offshoots like Elive?
I am struggling a bit to already see big differences between debian and ubuntu which is based on it but then they each have other distros spawn off of them too... They share the same linux kernels, following different version update strategies. Maybe I am wrong but shouldn't programs and packages compiled on one be able to run on the other?
For having dug deep into openWRT for example, the shift after chaos calmer to the LEDE branch led to binaries no longer being compatible due to a change in the C library used in the kernel. I don't seem to see anything similar between ubuntu and debian. Merely different apt repository differences?
@DesT, what is preventing you for example from running the ubuntu build of z-way-server on your debian install? -
@rafale77 I can try and let you know! Should work!
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@rafale77 The binary is working, I can start it. I would need to do a test to "upgrade" my real setup!
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@rafale77 Looks like I can be able to do something, I just need to find which file I need to check to make sure I don't override something!
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@rafale77 said in Favorite lightweight linux distro?:
Any reason not to consider the seemingly lighter offshoots like Elive?
None at all
I am struggling a bit to already see big differences between debian and ubuntu which is based on it but then they each have other distros spawn off of them too... They share the same linux kernels, following different version update strategies. Maybe I am wrong but shouldn't programs and packages compiled on one be able to run on the other?
They might, and probably will. But sometimes they wont't. I can't honestly recall the lat time I found that happening, and I can't also recall the last time I tried to do something on Ubuntu that wouldn't work on Debian (or any of the derivatives) that didn't
Most of the issues that I used to struggle with were installation methodologies and locations.
C
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The files in the folders /opt/z-way-server/config and in /opt/z-way-server/automation/storage are the ones related to your backups in the expertUI and smarthomeUI respectively.
The plugin files typically don't get overridden but just in case, they are stored in /opt/z-way-server/automation/userModules. -
Thanks! I think I will test Elive next! Then maybe Arch(Bang?) or Bohdi.
50+ Best Lightweight Linux Distros for 2020 – ThisHosting.Rocks
The ultimate list of the best lightweight Linux distros for 2020. Every distro has (extremely) low hardware requirements and it’s great for old computers.
25 Best Lightweight Linux Distros To Reinvigorate Old Computers In 2020
Are you owning an old computer or laptop having limited specs to run a powerful operating system? Then lightweight Linux distributions would be the perfect choice to resurrect your old buddy.
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I used to love Mint but have no idea what it's like now.
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I am testing the spicier peppermint!
It's more lightweight and so far I am liking it. The use of the laptop for the home automation controller has the advantage of including a built in UPS... and a screen and keyboard when needed. When I look at what one can get for ~$100 for laptops these days, it's starting to challenge the use of SBCs. -
@rafale77 said in Favorite lightweight linux distro?:
I am testing the spicier peppermint!
It's more lightweight and so far I am liking it. The use of the laptop for the home automation controller has the advantage of including a built in UPS... and a screen and keyboard when needed. When I look at what one can get for ~$100 for laptops these days, it starts challenge the use of SBCs.Yes, but, well, big and prone to overheat if you try and run them with the lid shut. If you run them with the lid open, then dust.....
C
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True! but it also depends on how old the CPU is and what you buy. The Chromebook class of Gemini Lake CPUs have TDP of 8W! From my testing they consume about the same power as a rPi 4 (with the screen off) at peak and run much cooler while offering 3-4X the performance. Yeah they are more expensive but not by much. My N4100 mini PC is one such example... passively cooled and powered by POE. power requirements are even lower than for an rPi4.
I am testing a refurb laptop with an i7 8550u 15W-TDP which is now completely passively cooled idling at 34C (ambient of 22C) and needs to be "benchmark stressed" to hit 65C. (ok I admit it, I modded the cooler to get to this result. The laptop offers more room for passive cooling solutions...) Surprisingly as I reported above the peppermint OS made a difference vs. ubuntu which led to my question.
I left the laptop on with the lid closed overnight and to the touch, I can't tell that it is on... No warm spot anywhere. With ubuntu server it would slowly creep up and steady at 42-43C which was detectable to the hand.
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Hehehe. Chromebooks are a bit different I accept. And not what I was thinking about running laptops. Some laptops are fine running with the lid shut. Others not so much
C
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I think that a rock64 from pine64 can be a very nice board to run a bunch of "home automation" stuff!
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I end looking at alpine and turns out the show stopper is musl vs. glibc... the same problem as LEDE vs openWRT so there will be compatibility issues with most of what we run which are compiled with glibc.
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@rafale77 I never tried with complex setup, because IOT/web loads have usually few dependencies, but I was always fascinated because of the ability to create a container of few megs and the easy load on the target system.
Moving away from Alpine
