HS2 Pro Updater and other questions

[jrfuda]

I have not been around in a while. I have HS2 Pro running on a Hometroller (S2, I think). I have an HS3 license, but just never had the time to upgrade, especially since I've been focused more on getting my pre-Antebellum home livable (been in it since 2010, and still working on it).
Anyway, I'm in the process of removing knob and tube wiring from several sections and replacing it with modern wiring. For the past 5 years, I've pretty much only used HS to monitor my Zwave thermostat and my network. Now that I'm rewiring, I'm adding several Zwave devices back. I originally planned on just using my Aspire RFHDCSG Handheld Remote to set everything up, but am now interested in cloning it over to HS... If possible, I'd like to do as much setup as possible on the remote and then clone it over to HS. I have a Z-Troller. Here are the items I plan on installing.

• 2 of 6 x LE-VRR151LZ Vizia RF Receptacles (had these since 2012, never installed)
• 3 x RFWC5 Aspire 5-button scene controllers
• 1 x RFWC5 Aspire RF Accessory Dimmer
• 6 x RF9540-N Aspire Master Dimmers

The scene controllers will be used to create virtual 3 and 4 way control of 4 of the 6 dimmers and two of the receptacles. The Accessory dimmer will be used to create virtual 3 way of the 5th dimmer, and the 6th dimmer will stand-alone. I'm going with virtual 3-and-4 way control because I still have some access issues with parts of the home not being renovated and am not a big fan of banks of unlabeled switches - preferring the labeled 5-button pads. I understand I'll have some challenges creating scenes with the mix of Vizia and Aspire and just the handheld remote, which is why I want to include HS in the mix. I have, however, read elsewhere that you can manually enter other manufacturer's configuration parameters into the remote, not sure if that will help or not. Does anyone have a list of Leviton's Vizia RF+ Configuration Parameters? I cannot find them anywhere.

I'm also interested in the Aeon labs energy monitor, which leads me to the main reason behind my post. I cannot get the HS2 updater to work. Is it still supported? Is there something else wrong that is preventing my updater from working?

I know that what I should do is update to HS3Pro, since I've already paid for it, however, I'm worried about how hard it would be to do on the HTS2. I recall reading tutorials when HS3 first came out. Anyone have a sure fire, super simple way to update the hometroller. Being away for 5 years, I'm a bit rusty on beyond basic PC configurations and extremely rusty on all things HS. The closest thing to I've done lately is configuring a couple of RaspPis as Minecraft servers for the kids, configuring a Plex server on a Lenovo Q190 and moving my SqueezeServer, I mean Logitech Media Server from my crashing Windows Home Server to a Quantum Byte But those all seemed much simpler that what I recall from my old HS days.
Another option I've considered is installing HS3Pro on something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Industr...-/261962167937

It looks rather capable and the 7 serial ports would be nice (I'm using a RS232 over IP device for serial beyond what the 'Troller has on board at the moment). I'd rather not spend another $300+ at the moment.

The quantum Byte that I'm using for LMS is not a bad option either (no serial ports, though), but I'm not convinced of its stability at the moment. It's a great value, though, at just over $160 with a quad core atom processor, 2 GB RAM and 32GB SSD. Maybe after a few more months I'll have more confidence in it, but right now I cannot figure out how to keep it from going to sleep at random (but long, multiple week) intervals.

Anyway, your thoughts on all of the above?

[Pete]

It looks rather capable

It looks very robust and a device that would fit with your current HS2 hardware and your personal automation conversion to Homeseer 3. Over the years here on the forum mostly seen that everybodys automation and automation hardware varies (along with scripting and plugins). Homeseer 3 as Homeseer 2 provides the opportunity to be able to make it fit just right.

and the 7 serial ports would be nice ...

One of my last Homeseer 2 boxes used a commercial style mITX board with a built in power supply and a laptop style power brick. It had some 6 serial ports on it.

IE: said box is using one Digi 7 port USB hub (with al la carte USB HS devices) and two Digi 8 port Edgeports and on and off 3 Quatech 4 port Serial servers (floaters). Also utilize Digi / Lantronix USB to network devices. Everything has worked with this for many years now. Current HS3 box running in Ubuntu 14.04 is using one Digi USB hub to one 8 port Edgeport and Wintel Server VB is using one Digi USB anywhere connected to one Digi Edgeport. I have kept the one USB cable thing to the Homeseer 3 box.
Over the years to lessen the number of cables to the Homeseer box I have gone to simple connectivity to the HS2 server using only an audio output, network cable and one USB cable and virtual serial/usb on the network devices. (Mostly refurbished / used Digi stuff, new Lantronix, et al).

Many folks on the forum have opted to purchase larger boxes capable of running multiple virtual PCs (HS3, NAS, CCTV, et al).

Personally here have gone the Linux route with a bit of Wintel. IE: running Homeseer 3 in Linux and a la carte sides running on a Wintel server VB. You can mix and match. (IE Homeseer touch clients run on Wintel, Android, iOS, Homeseer 3 runs on iOS, Linux and Wintel, Homeseer 3 plugins can connect remotely to the mothership (IE run the plugin in Wintel to Linux mothership and vice versa taking shape these days). CCTV is now all Zoneminder IP Cameras (rest of Analog is using Axis Server(s)). Mostly stuck on ZM because I have used now now for over 10 years and I am familiar with it. TV is using a MythTV box which streams live TV / Recorded TV / streaming Internet multimedia to KODI boxes. You can remote control (via Homeseer 3 touchscreens, CCTV and KODI boxes).

Note too that it will be a learning experience like that of going from Homeseer 1 to Homeseer 2 to Homeseer 2.5 to now Homeseer 3.

[jrfuda]

Any word on the updater? Is the HS2 updater pointed at something that does not exist anymore and why I'm getting a connection error?

Anyone have an idiots guide to updating a HomeTroller Series 2 with HS2Pro to HS3Pro? I recall there being additional packages - not just a straight update.

[jrfuda]

OK... I just found my receipt for buying the OS update along with HS3Pro, now I need to figure out where the flashdrives are...

[Pete]

@John

Any word on the updater? Is the HS2 updater pointed at something that does not exist anymore and why I'm getting a connection error?

The update to HS3 was never in the HS2 updater. That said the HS2 updater is still working as I did update one HS2 plugin this morning (weatherXML).

Anyone have an idiots guide to updating a HomeTroller Series 2 with HS2Pro to HS3Pro?

I recall there being additional packages - not just a straight update.

Personally here have helped a few HS users with their Hometroller series 2 and running HS3 on it. While it does run; it's a tad slow. Well it looks from above like you are already looking at another box.

Read here about updating from Homeseer 2 to Homeseer 3.

Upgrading from HS2 to HS3 (including PRO versions)

Homeseer 3 is provided as a file to download. It then does a check when it starts to update itself.

There is also an import / update utility for HS2 users migrating to HS3. Homeseer 3 is just a directory. Install it and back up the directory. Try the import migration path and see if it suits you.

Personally here started all from scratch; but that is me. Note this was after installing HS3 on one of two HS2 boxes. It was running in Wintel. I then switched it to another box running in Wintel then a new box running on Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit.

Also note what you have running hardware and plugin and script wise in HS2 and what you want running in HS3.

[jrfuda]

Thanks. I was not expecting to update HS2 to HS3 with the updater, I just can't get my updater to connect to anything anymore.

It might be a firewall issue or something because I just noticed that, while I can access my HS web pages and can VNC into my Troller without an issue, any communications out seemed to not work, for example, Stunnel can no longer connect to gmail and I cannot load web pages in IE when I try to do so from the troller, so something is not letting the troller talk to the world outside the house.

[Pete]

It might be a firewall issue or something because I just noticed that

One thing here I did with a Homeseer users S2 box was to update the 4GB OS DOM to a newer 16Gb SSD IDE connected DOM (same socket) which helped much as the 4Gb DOM was beyond capacity and messing with HS2 running. It does also make HS2 run a bit faster. I still have STunnel running for HS2. You do not need it for HS3. That said though here use it for other stuff. I can now also put it on my PFSense firewall.

Too; installing Homeseer 3 on the S2 filled it to capacity with really no free space.

The updater not working can just be relating to a space issue on the DOM. Curious now; what does the DOM show you have in available free space on your drive?

You can run Homeseer 3 on an Rasberry Pi 2 these days. Here have one running HS3 lite (Zee-2) and one heavy box (iSeries).

[jrfuda]

One thing here I did with a Homeseer users S2 box was to update the 4GB OS DOM to a newer 16Gb SSD IDE connected DOM (same socket)...

Earlier today I ordered a 16GB SLC 44 PIN DOM with a 68/55MB/s read/write vs the 40/28 of the innodisk 4GB DOM that is now in the troller.... Looking up specs, it appears a regular SSD would have gotten me a little over 100 on read and about the same on write, but what I've ordered should give a decent boost in addition to more storage.

I'll probably stick with the drive I ordered, but were there any issues getting the regular SSD to fit? There appears to be a secondary IDE slot in the board as well, anyone use that and add a second disk?

[Pete]

The issue I had was just purchasing a DOM that would fit. The DOM's that go off on a right angle didn't fit. It is the one that is vertical that fits just right. I think too there was a laptop IDE and regular IDE connector on the motherboard. I just purchased one that would replace the one in there.

Actually it is really tight inside there for just about any add. You can purchase an SSD / ZIF / IDE thing that could fit maybe OK. The RW increase helps a bunch.

Your bottleneck though will still be the CPU / Memory on the S2. Well the one I was playing with had the Via Epia 1Ghz single core CPU which was a pretty good low energy CPU. The next one up was using an Intel Celeron single core CPU.

When running Homeseer 3 and using Chrome / Firefox on the box it was very slow. Externally it was slow but a bit faster. Best to try it and see.

I imaged the old DOM to the new DOM using an Ubuntu live ISO CD. I copied the old DOM to a USB stick, replaced the DOM and copied the USB image to the new DOM.

Current RPi2 is using a 16Gb microSD and current iSeries is using one of those tiny .M2 SATA 128Gb drives. The .M2 SATA card is as big as my fingernail.

I though I had done a DIY here on the forum on the updates with pictures. Now I cannot find them.

[jrfuda]

Current RPi2 is using a 16Gb microSD and current iSeries is using one of those tiny .M2 SATA 128Gb drives. The .M2 SATA card is as big as my fingernail.

What OS are you using on the Pi2? I have a Pi B+ and a Pi2, both running Raspbian and used solely as Minecraft servers for the kids (OK, I play too). They're sharing a UPS made for low draw, which will keep them powered for about 8 hours during a power failure - bottom line, is they never restart unless I make them restart... I think I'm around 8 months uptime on the B+ right now.

Questions is, do you have a startup script that launches HS when the Pi boots? I've never been able to figure out how to get anything to startup on boot of my pis, so I always have to manually launch the minecraft server in a screen via SSH.

My only other issue is it looks like the Pi2 runs regular HS3 and not pro, which means no free plugins, or is there a workaround if you have a pro license but are running on a Pi?

[Pete]

What OS are you using on the Pi2?

Same as you on two of them. One is running HS3 lite and the other CumulusMX / Davis weather station.

I am trying to melt one and have mounted it in the attic via a POE cable.

I put PiFace RTC shim clocks and a Z-Wave + GPIO card in the HS3 lite box. (you can also do Z-Net or purchase a USB Z-Wave Plus stick). You will like Z-Wave plus more than your current Z-Troller.

Questions is, do you have a startup script that launches HS when the Pi boots?

Yes. Here do it two ways. One via an Upstart script and one via a Cron job. I manage the two RPi2's via Webmin; easy to edit and add stuff with Webmin. (also utilize SSH / WinSCP).

You can run HS3 Pro on it. I have tested it to run fine except if you want to do a lot on it.

so I always have to manually launch the minecraft server in a screen via SSH.

1 - Install Webmin

A - wget hxxp://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.760_all.deb
B - sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl apt-show-versions python
C - dpkg --install webmin_1.760_all.deb

2 - Configure your Cron job to start with RPi2. (upstart script is a bit more stuff).

I've attached a webmin picture. The cron job is a one liner starting a bash script.

Here is the Homeseer 3 RPi2 Upstart script.

#!/bin/bash
NAME='HomeSeer'            # Server handle for the screen session
DIR='/HomeSeer'
USER='root'                # Start HomeSeer as root. You may use a non privileged user
                           # Note: if homeseer is running as non-root user
                           # remove 'sudo' command in file 'go' in HomeSeer folder
                           # and change setting gWebSvrPort to value > 1024 in settings.ini
PWD=`pwd`
RETVAL=0 

service_start() {
    if [ -f /var/run/$NAME.pid ]; then
        if [ "$(ps -p `cat /var/run/$NAME.pid` | wc -l)" -gt 1 ]; then
            echo -e "$NAME is already running (pidfile exists)."
            return 1
        else
            rm -f /var/run/$NAME.pid
        fi
    fi
    [ -f $DIR/go ] && cd $DIR && su -c "/usr/bin/screen -S $NAME -d -m ./go" $USER
    cd $PWD
    sleep 5
    ps -ef | egrep "[S]CREEN.+${NAME}" | awk '{ print $2 }' > /var/run/$NAME.pid
    [ -s /var/run/$NAME.pid ] && echo "$NAME started."
}

service_stop() {
    if [ -f /var/run/$NAME.pid ]; then
        if [ $(ps -ef | egrep -c "[S]CREEN.+$NAME") -ge 1 ]; then
            #invoke shutdown command to homeseer...
            for char in $(printf "\\r s h u t d o w n \\r") ; do 
                su -c "/usr/bin/screen -p 0 -S $NAME -X stuff $char" $USER
                sleep 0.1
            done
            sleep 15
        fi
        if [ "$(ps -p `cat /var/run/$NAME.pid` | wc -l)" -gt 1 ]; then
            echo -e "$NAME did not stop gacefully. Killing it"
            [ -s /var/run/$NAME.pid ] && kill `cat /var/run/$NAME.pid`
        fi
        rm -f /var/run/$NAME.pid
    else
        echo -e "$NAME is not running."
    fi
}

case "$1" in
'start')
    service_start
;;
'stop')
    service_stop
;;
'restart')
    service_stop
    sleep 5
    service_start
;;
*)
    echo "Usage $0 start|stop|restart"
esac
# --------------------------------------------------------

[jrfuda]

Pete, thanks for all the info - will come in handy for other Pi endeavors, even if I don't put HS on one.

The add-on boards sure do increase the cost, but It's still one of the lowest prices around, especially since I'd need a zwave controller anyway.

[Pete]

You can with your update licensing to HS3 try Homeseer on either the RPi2 or Hometroller S2. It will run faster on the new RPi2 than the Hometroller S2.

Homeseer 3 is very portable.

IE: it is just a directory in Linux and Windows that you can copy from one device to another.

Your Z-Troller will work fine with the RPi2 (Linux) or the Hometroller S2.

[jrfuda]

I fixed my HS Updater and Stunnel issue. Turns out the static IP settings I had on the troller still had some bad DNS servers - probably the same ones I had when I moved from Texas 5 years ago. I swapped in the Google DNS servers (only one I knew off the top of my head) and now they're both working fine.

I received my new DOM over the weekend, but have not installed it because I realized I had nothing in the house that could display a VGA signal, I've done nothing but VNC to the troller since we upgraded the last old TV a couple of years ago. I have an inexpensive VGA-to-HDMI converter on the way.

We'll see how this goes. Still may end up with a RPi2 install and use the troller for something else.

[Pete]

Good news John.

Yeah here my older 4:3 LCD displays all have VGA. The newer wide screen ASUS LCDs have VGA, HDMI and DVI (well and come with these cables).

You can configure the DOM without the S2 if you want with various adapters.

Went to PFSense here a few years back. Today it is set up with 8 network interfaces for multiple WAN (load balancing / failover and multiple internal networks).

You can go Intel based mini PC new or old these days. My KODI boxes are all intel based Aopen Digital engines (core duos). I purchased these for $35 each refurbished.

I am already pushing the RPi2 running Zee-2 not doing a whole bunch with it. I am not pushing the mITX iSeries motherboard with 16Gb of memory today.