I know the open HAB website has resources for the installation of openHABian mannualy on an Ubuntu system.
Has anybody done this and had success using Matt’s products? If I assign designated port numbers, Will it interfere with my SAMBA shares or Plex server that is running on my Ubuntu server?
I would like to build an all in one server instead of having multiple hardware doing multiple things.
Thanks!
I run all my home automation services on Ubuntu servers. I also run my media center and some basic SAMBA shares just as you do. I find that everything runs very well together and have few issues.
As far as Matt’s products go - his firmware leverages MQTT for command and status and that makes his devices very flexible. You can use his devices with OpenHab, Home Assistant, Node-Red and others. If you really want to inflict pain on yourself you can even just publish mqtt commands on a client app, but that has little use outside of troubleshooting. Wrapping your head around MQTT and its concepts of topics is key.
But not knowing your comfort or skill with Ubuntu, or even which Ubuntu you plan to use (dekstop or server), I do want to add this hard learned advice. I run everything in Docker containers now. While initially this adds a layer of complexity, you gain back ease of use and flexibility. there are no shortages of “how to” install Docker on ubuntu tutorials and videos. Once that is done then every thing you add goes up in minutes with minimal frustration. Openhab has a very nice page on the topic here https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/docker.html And if you want to try Home Assistant (Hassio really) or Node-Red, or add Grafana, or Traefik or…you get the point.
If you want more info on this topic just reach back out. I don’t mind sharing configs and things that I have learned on my own journey.
Free Dog,
Thanks so much for the reply! It helps a lot!
I actually managed to get openHABian installed on top of my current setup. Now I am just learning the language of openHAB and everything it has to offer. Im new to the smart home world and do not have a very complex setup quite yet (4 LIFX, Chamberlain MYQ, and a few Chromecast devices). My knowledge of linux and the CLI is novice, but I’m picking up quickly. I am getting familiar with the structure openHAB uses for its conf files.
I am running everything on a pretty hefty custom server, running the latest Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS.
Handling PLEX, Samba (I run a home studio and keep all my media files on the server so I can work on my projects from multiple computers without having to bring my sample database with me on an external, which too my surprise, did not increase load times in my DAW by much… that was exciting for me!)
Docker…
I have heard so much about it, I’ve watched ‘tutorials’, read fourms, but for some reason I cannot figure it out. (did I mention I’m a novice at Linux) I feel like its pretty self explanatory what docker does but I’m just having a hard time.
My next step in openHAB is to figure out MQTT.
Am I understanding correctly that MQTT acts as a communication bridge between select devices and the server? I have WiFi devices connected through bindings in openHAB, but am not running MQTT. Does MQTT improve the connection, or is it a tool to talk with other devices, such as Matts?
EDIT
I understand MQTT now. forget what I said in the paragraph above.
Later down the road if I ever have a question or find a dead end, I will most definitely reach out!
Thank you 