How to install Mycontroller on the RaspberryPI (or any other linux/UNIX system)

Tag

This article is work in progress, all feedback is appreciated!!

Please follow the steps below to install mycontroller on the RPI.

The manual below is divided in 4 parts:

1. Setting up the RPI with a good JAVA version
2. Installing Mycontroller
3. Connecting to the gateway
4. Starting Mycontroller at boot time

(If there are any questions, try the search function first on the forum)

1. Setting up the RPI with a good JAVA version

In this example i downloaded the 32bit version.... (jdk-8u101-linux-arm32-vfp-hflt.tar.gz)
Today (November 3 2017 jdk-8u151-linux-arm32-vfp-hflt.tar.gz is the latest version)

Step 1:
goto: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html, click the download button of Java Platform (JDK) 8. Click to Accept License Agreement, download jdk-8-linux-arm-vfp-hflt.tar.gz for Linux ARM v6/v7 Hard Float ABI.

(If you are running your RPI headless you need to download the software and transfer it using i.e. sftp in binary mode into your RPI, see step 2)

Step 2
goto the directory where you downloaded the software.

sftp user@192.168.178.111 (192.168.178.111 is just an example, use the IP / hostname of the RPI)
bin
hash
put jdk-8u101-linux-arm32-vfp-hflt.tar.gz

press control-D to close the connection.

Step 3:
Once the software is located on the RPI:

Log-in Raspberry Pi, enter the command to extract jdk-8u101-linux-arm32-vfp-hflt.tar.gz to /opt directory.

$ sudo tar zxvf jdk-8u101-linux-arm32-vfp-hflt.tar.gz -C /opt

Set default java and javac to the new installed jdk8.

$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /opt/jdk1.8.0_101/bin/javac 1
$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jdk1.8.0_101/bin/java 1

$ sudo update-alternatives --config javac
$ sudo update-alternatives --config java

After all is completed successful, verify with the commands below.

$ java -version
$ javac -version

(Source: http://www.rpiblog.com/2014/03/installing-oracle-jdk-8-on-raspberry-pi.html)
and this topic

2. Installing Mycontroller
The Mycontroller software is available on github: https://github.com/mycontroller-org/mycontroller ,or if you want to download the software directly click here

IMPORTANT: 1.0.0.Final was the latest one when this blog has written, maybe older when you installing, download the latest version from https://mycontroller.org/#/downloads

First logon to thr RPI with i.e. ssh, once logged on:

wget https://github.com/mycontroller-org/mycontroller/releases/download/1.0.0.Final/mycontroller-dist-standalone-1.0.0.Final-bundle.tar.gz

Once the file is downloaded, extract the archive:

gunzip -c mycontroller-dist-standalone-1.0.0.Final-bundle.tar.gz | tar -xvf -

you should now see a directory called "mycontroller"

# ls -l
total 33104
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root     4096 Nov  3 15:10 mycontroller

Now the mycontroller software is on the system, you might want to move it to a directory of choice... (or not, up to you :))

sudo mv ./mycontroller /opt

Now it is time to start mycontroller

go into the mycontroller/bin directory:

cd /opt/mycontroller/bin

and start mycontroler with the command:

sudo ./start.sh

You should see the output below

/usr/bin/java
java version: 1.8.0_151
Start issued for Mycontroller

(You might have guessed it but stopping mycontroller is done with the stop.sh command)

Now point a webbrowser to: https://<IP-OF-YOUR-RPI>:8443
You should see a login screen

If all of the above works, it is time to connect mycontroller to the radio, so goto step 3.

3. Connecting to the gateway

There are 2 ways of connecting the NRF24L01 radio,

directly to the GPIO header, (See this article) from mysensors.org
connected to an arduino and the arduino to USB of the RPI, (see this article) from mysensors.org

The example below is based on an arduino connected to USB:
0_1509720859961_Screenshot 2017-11-03 at 15.53.26.png
I might be that the device file for your arduino is different compared to the example, some tips to find your device file:

sudo dmesg | grep tty

or:

sudo ls -l /dev | grep tty

and look for device files that point you to an USB one.

Do not forget to add the user account you are using to the dialout group in /etc/group (only aplies to non-root user accounts!)

4. How to auto-start mycontroller at boot time

If Mycontroller needs to be started at boot time, it can be easily done with the script below:
(make sure you change the path in the script to the directory where mycontroller is installed!! in the example below it is /opt/mycontroller)

copy the contents below into a file called mycontroller in /etc/init.d

#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/mycontroller

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          mycontroller
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start daemon at boot time
# Description:       Enable service provided by daemon.
### END INIT INFO


# The following part always gets executed.
#echo "This part always gets executed"

# The following part carries out specific functions depending on arguments.
case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting Mycontroller"
        /opt/mycontroller/bin/start.sh
    ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping Mycontroller"
        /opt/mycontroller/bin/stop.sh
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/mycontroller {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

Once the file is ready, make it executable:

sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/mycontroller

The ls -l output should now be:

#ls -l /etc/init.d/mycontroller
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 790 Oct 22 11:32 /etc/init.d/mycontroller

once this is all fixed execute the command below:

sudo update-rc.d mycontroller defaults

if the system reboots, mycontroller will be stopped/started automagically!
check with:

sudo service mycontroller status
● mycontroller.service - LSB: Start daemon at boot time
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/mycontroller)
   Active: active (exited) since Sat 2017-10-28 17:42:10 CEST; 1 weeks 1 days ago

Stopping mycontroller manually:

sudo service mycontroller stop

Starting mycontroller manually:

sudo service mycontroller start

skdzzz

@tag said in How to install Mycontroller on the RaspberryPI (or any other linux/UNIX system):

Installing Mycontroller

The following commands in part 2 should be run with sudo:

sudo mv ./mycontroller /opt
cd /opt/mycontroller/bin
sudo ./start.sh

Tag

@skdzzz

You are right!, Thx!
Update done

TomG

Thanks much for this tutorial.

If the mycontroller directory (part 2) is not moved to /opt, then the /etc/init.d/mycontroller script (part 4) needs to be edited appropriately.

benhub

The links in this getting started guide are quite old and should be updated. Or maybe better: Link to the download page instead: https://mycontroller.org/#/downloads

I ran 1.0.0.Final for some days now and wasn't aware that this is an old release.

jkandasa

@benhub Thank you! I have added the following lines in the original blog.

IMPORTANT: 1.0.0.Final was the latest one when this blog has written, maybe older when you installing, download the latest version from https://mycontroller.org/#/downloads

zoomx

@Tag said in How to install Mycontroller on the RaspberryPI (or any other linux/UNIX system):

Connecting to the gateway
There are 2 ways of connecting the NRF24L01 radio,

What about ESP8266 gateway?

jkandasa

@zoomx

What about ESP8266 gateway?

What type of library are you using inside ESP8266? If MySensors it works

francois

any change in the install process with MyController 1.4.0?
Is the JAVA version update still necessary with the new raspbian image (2019-04-08)?
keep up the good work
cheers
F

skywatch

@francois No changes for installation as far as I am aware.

As for Java, it's always best to use the latest version for security and compatibility unless there is a compelling reason to use an older version.

jkandasa

@francois There is no change in the installation process. You can use the latest version of java 1.8.x

sherif

@Tag All installation steps applied very well and mycontroller is running well.
except part 4 to start automatically as i ca not find a file under name: mycontroller inside init.d folder. also not able to create new text file inside same folder?

Tag

@sherif

Hi Sherrif!,

What error do you see?
have you tried to create the file in /etc/init.d with the command:

sudo touch /etc/init.d/mycontroller

How to install Mycontroller on the RaspberryPI (or any other linux/UNIX system)

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