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MisterhouseOnUbuntu

Lieven Hollevoet edited this page Sep 22, 2014 · 1 revision

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction Download & Install Ubuntu Configure Ubuntu Enable Remote Access with SSH Getting Extra Serial Ports Working Download & Install Support Packages Download & Install Misterhouse Configure Misterhouse Startup Scripts First Steps The .Ini file Configuring X10 Equipment

Introduction

In this HowTo I describe in detail how to set up a Ubuntu Linux computer with Misterhouse. The instructions are specific to a configuration where the Misterhouse box is intended to be run headless (that is without a monitor) in a closet tucked away somewhere. This configuration is useful when you want your Misterhouse server near all of the other messy electronics required to interface to your house (weeder cards for digital i/o, PA systems for speech throughout the house, etc.)

Because this is intended to be a headless installation, no GUI is installed. As a result, you will need to do all of the installation at the command line. Although it will be helpful if you know a little Linux, I have included all of the commands and full paths to files that I had to use to set up the box so even a newbie should be successful without searching around for additional help.

In the following instructions, you will be doing most of the installation remotely – that is you will be working from a terminal window on a computer on the same LAN as your Misterhouse server but not directly at the physical console of the MH box.

__Details of My Configuration__

These instructions were developed on the following hardware & software configuration. This may not be entirely relevant but should help you to understand if you are working with something similar or not.

  • Dell PowerEdge 2200 (Dual Pentium 333 Mhz)
  • 256 mb memory
  • 2 x 10 gb scsi hdd
  • network adapter card (a built in network interface works too)
  • STB 4 port serial card (or you can use USB converters)
  • PCI sound card (but you can use the internal one)
  • Ubuntu 12.04LTS Server Version (Precise Pangolin)
  • Misterhouse version 2.200

__Other Assumptions__

Your system, network, and objectives, will inevitably be a little different from mine. Following is some additional information about the environment in which I developed these instructions. If these are different than yours, you will have to make some adjustments.

  • You are going to do a clean installation of Linux on your target system.
  • You are working on a network that has DHCP (which automatically assigns ip addresses to computers that connect to the network).
  • You are able to connect to the Internet.
  • You know how to get around a little in Linux (changing directories, editing files with nano, etc.)
  • You have another computer on your network that can use ssh to connect to the Misterhouse box you are going to set up.
  • You are on a LAN of some sort with local IP addresses (like 192.168.xxx.xxx, 10.1.xxx.xxx etc.)
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