KNX/EIB Home Automation Centre

[Titus_Crow]

Hi erpel,

I'm a newcomer here in the Sheevaplug community and EIB/KNX.
I got some Hager stuff from a friend of mine and tried to make it communicate with my comp.
I first tried http://blog.ziki.net/2009/01/12/live-cd-linknx-knxweb/ on my desktop,
and it worked quite well : i was able to detect the knx usb interface, and toying with the
knxweb interface to remotely switch on/off lamps connected to the Hager thing.

Then I said to myself that it would be perfect to use it with a sheevaplug.
In few words, I'm stuck with the findknxusb tool, as it don't find anything :s .
I tried with a debian lenny (through http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/unpack.html tutorial
where i just add your repositories).
I also tried with a debian sid (through http://plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Installing_Debian_To_Flash),
in which I just tried to dpkg -i the .debs you provide.
In any case, I end with no results through findknxusb tool, and I actually don't know if there's another way to guess the right usb:/X:X:X .

I got these informations when plugging usb to the Sheevaplug

Code:

[  947.020000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 7
[  947.180000] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=135e, idProduct=0025
[  947.180000] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[  947.190000] usb 1-1: Product: KNX-USB Data Interface
[  947.200000] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Hager Electro
[  947.200000] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[  947.210000] generic-usb 0003:135E:0025.0005: hiddev96,hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Hager Electro KNX-USB Data Interface] on usb-orion-ehci.0-1/input0

If you have any clue to bypass this issue, that would be fantastic !
(I hope I'm not bound to use a cross-compiling toolchain ><)

Thanks !!!!

PS:sorry for my bad english, I'm french ^^'

[erpel]

It looks as if all the building blocks should be there to do what you want on the sheeva plug. I suspect you are missing some specific drivers for the USB version  (I cannot provide much expertise there since I've only worked with the Siemens IP interface).

You do need a different command line (IIRC) in the /etc/default/eibd-server that I proviced; it should be documented somewhere in on the site of the upstream author:
http://www.auto.tuwien.ac.at/~mkoegler/index.php/eibd

There seems to be some other people having looked for solutions:
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9132.0
http://www.domotiga.nl/projects/domotiga/wiki/Domotiga/EIB

I just did a quick verify and usb should be enabled in the eibd packages. There is always the official mailinglist where you'll certainly get the info from people working with your config.
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bcusdk-list]


UPDATE:

I just noticed that there are some mails in my inbox from the mailinglist about USB backends:

Here you have the trace of eibd when this problem happens:                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
eibd -u usb:2:2:*1:0* -t1023*                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
*Layer 1(08E10BE8,4B6ABDD6) Detect                                                                                                                                                                                                           
Layer 1(08E10BE8,4B6ABDD6) Using 2 (2:2:1:0) (2:129)                                                                                                                                                                                         
Layer 1(08E10BE8,4B6ABDD6) Open   

If you get it working; just drop a note and add your example in the config files as comment.

[Titus_Crow]

Hi !

Finally got the eibd/linknx working 
I had to get git snapshots of pthsem/eibd from the sourceforge repo.
The compilation has been painful, but thanks to bcusdk-list, people helped me
make the whole thing work.
(cf link for the whole discussion)

Code:

~# findknxusb
Possible addresses for KNX USB devices:
device: 1:3:1:0:0 (Hager Electro:KNX-USB Data Interface)
~#eibd -t1023 -d --daemon=/var/log/eibd.log -i usb:1:3:1:0:0
linknx --daemon=/var/log/linknx.log --config=/var/linknx/linknx.xml

my linknx.xml sample :

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<config>
    <objects>
        <object id="C1" gad="10/4/0">Eclairage C1</object>
    </objects>
    <services>
        <knxconnection url="ip:127.0.0.1" />
        <xmlserver type="inet" port="1028"/>
        <persistence type="file" path="/tmp/persist"/>
    </services>
</config>

Playing with knxweb seems to work, I can see my light switch on/off.
However, if I reload the webpage, the lamp icon don't keep the status of the lamp.
For eg, if I switch on the lamp through knxweb, and then I reload the page,
the lamp icon appears in off state.
It's for sure something noobish, but i found the linknx documentation somewhat lacky 
(if you have any clue, you're welcome  )

Anyway, this is quite exciting, Sheevaplug is really a well designed server for this kind of applications !

[kimx]

Hi, I'm very impressed to read all these succes story with eibd on the sheeva plug. I hope my story will have a happy end to . I'm using a usbinterface to connect to the bus. Unfortunatly the packages provided by erpel don't support this feature right now. I've seen that the user Titus_Crow compiled his own version of eibd and pthsem and his attempt was a success. My problem is that I don't know how to do that. I red the mailing list but I didn't understand how to build my own version. Here my question: can someone share his build or could you (erpel) update your packages?

Thank you very much

kimx

[erpel]

I'll port pthsem since it has been released; for eibd; it's better to wait for a new release. Maybe the new pthsem release already solves you r problems.

If I would not be swamped with work last week; I would already have prepared the package.

[kimx]

Thank you very much for the effort of porting this project. Hopefully the newer pthsem will fix my problem. After your release I will test it and report back to you. In the meanwhile thank you.

kimx

[kimx]

Thank you erpel. I've seen your updates and got them right away.
Unfortunately my problem isn't solved. How could this be? The user Titus_Crow got it working with a snapshot from git which was older than your build. Maybe I'm missing something else? The usb interface gets listed in the dmesg:

Code:

root@sheeva:~# dmesg |grep usb
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-datafab
usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-freecom
usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-jumpshot
usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-sddr09
usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-sddr55
usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 2
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 3
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 4
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 5
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using orion-ehci and address 6
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
generic-usb 0003:135E:0021.0001: hiddev96: USB HID v1.01 Device [Berker GmbH & Co. KG KNX-USB Data Interface] on usb-orion-ehci.0-1/input0

After mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb I can cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

Code:

root@sheeva:~# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

T:  Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#=  1 Spd=480 MxCh= 1
B:  Alloc=  0/800 us ( 0%), #Int=  0, #Iso=  0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0002 Rev= 2.06
S:  Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.32.8 ehci_hcd
S:  Product=Marvell Orion EHCI
S:  SerialNumber=orion-ehci.0
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=  0mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=   4 Ivl=256ms

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  6 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=135e ProdID=0021 Rev= 1.02
S:  Manufacturer=Berker GmbH & Co. KG
S:  Product=KNX-USB Data Interface
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr= 50mA
I:* If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid
E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=  64 Ivl=2ms
E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS=  64 Ivl=2ms

The interface seems to be recognized but the command findknxusb gives no result:

Code:

root@sheeva:~# findknxusb
Possible addresses for KNX USB devices:

I don't know how to solve this issue.

Btw the dependencies on eibd-server include the package  libpthsem20 and libknx requires pthsem. Is this ment to be so?

Thank you very much.

kimx

[erpel]

I suspect that Martin updated pthsem to do a release depending on the new features of bcusdk later on.

If I have some time at noon (that is a very big if ATM at work); I'll try to get a temporary svn snapshot out for you.

[kimx]

Thank you very much. I like people like you. Sharing their knowledge with the community is a wonderfull thing. Did the kernel has anything to do with the eibd-stuff?

kimx

[Titus_Crow]

Hi kimx,

Just a few words to say that I have read your mail and I saw also your posts here,
I'm just currenly overloaded at work ^^'.
Just to clarify things, I downloaded a snapshot for both pthsem and bcu-sdk.
From what I read, you didn't mention that you got a snapshot for the bcu sdk
(maybe I've read too quick). This could be the answer you were looking for.

About the kernel, there should be no problem from 3.4.19 and later versions.
Another way to investigate could be the [Berker GmbH & Co. KG KNX-USB Data Interface] you use.
Maybe there is some incompatibility I have not faced with my [Hager Electro KNX-USB Data Interface].
You might expose your problem in the bcu-sdk list ^^

Anyway, good luck for making the whole thing work, this is tricky, but funny too 

@erpel : just wondering, have you initiate any validation process of your packages with the debian team ?

[erpel]

it is currently on hold, while we look into merging Martins' changes on pth in the official branch. I haven't heard about this in a couple of weeks; maybe we should poke Ralph (pth maintainer) again.

All the ITPs are there though.

Since all else is depending on pth(sem), it's a bit of a blocker until this is cleared up.

[erpel]

I'm just currenly overloaded at work ^^'.

Join the club :-) releases that should be done yesterday, Indian guys poking for input and requesting packaging yet another weird Java version, giving input on web interfaces and all in between trying to do some gstreamer work on odd and dodgy encoder support.

Anyway, good luck for making the whole thing work, this is tricky, but funny too 

The Sheeva is just perfect for this. It was a bit tricky to get the dimmer working perfectly (had to enable bus feedback to get the icons right); but it's working now and unless I add more devices, I wouldn't know what's missing with this combination.

The web interface is just so sweet to see if our 5yr twins are sleeping or yet again playing with the lights on :-)

Running the web interface over an ssh tunnel with the firefox foxyproxy extension to filter on your IP/mask is nice to see if you have killed all your lights, if someone arrived or just to switch the heating on if you're getting home early (the normal stuff you've obviously automated that with the sheeva).

[dlh]

Hi,

Your instructions for updating the plug are the clearest that I've seen. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem in that the kernel is not able to find the file system. I note that the file sizes are different from that in your log posting, so I assume that the archive is newer that that used the post. 
Here's the tail of the boot log - it looks like I need to play around with bootargs:

oprofile: using timer interrupt.
TCP cubic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 17
lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
rtc-mv rtc-mv: setting system clock to 2000-02-07 12:16:19 UTC (949925779)
UBIFS error (pid 1): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi0:rootfs", error -19
VFS: Cannot open root device "ubi0:rootfs" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
1f00            1024 mtdblock0 (driver?)
1f01            4096 mtdblock1 (driver?)
1f02          519168 mtdblock2 (driver?)
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[<c0032b24>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xdc) from [<c041cb3c>] (panic+0x3c/0x128)
[<c041cb3c>] (panic+0x3c/0x128) from [<c0008f24>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x21c)
[<c0008f24>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x21c) from [<c00090fc>] (prepare_namespace
+0x8c/0x1c8)
[<c00090fc>] (prepare_namespace+0x8c/0x1c8) from [<c000844c>] (kernel_init+0xdc/
0x114)
[<c000844c>] (kernel_init+0xdc/0x114) from [<c002e45c>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/
0x8)

[kimx]

Thanks for your help. This community is awesome.

Another way to investigate could be the [Berker GmbH & Co. KG KNX-USB Data Interface] you use.

I've a setup running on a laptop without problems. The problems are somewhere else. Titus_Crow if you could share your packages so I could try it on my plug. I'm very confident and I hope it will run on my plug in the near future

kimx

[erpel]

oprofile: using timer interrupt.
TCP cubic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 17
lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
rtc-mv rtc-mv: setting system clock to 2000-02-07 12:16:19 UTC (949925779)
UBIFS error (pid 1): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi0:rootfs", error -19
VFS: Cannot open root device "ubi0:rootfs" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
1f00            1024 mtdblock0 (driver?)
1f01            4096 mtdblock1 (driver?)
1f02          519168 mtdblock2 (driver?)
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[<c0032b24>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xdc) from [<c041cb3c>] (panic+0x3c/0x128)
[<c041cb3c>] (panic+0x3c/0x128) from [<c0008f24>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x21c)
[<c0008f24>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x21c) from [<c00090fc>] (prepare_namespace
+0x8c/0x1c8)
[<c00090fc>] (prepare_namespace+0x8c/0x1c8) from [<c000844c>] (kernel_init+0xdc/
0x114)
[<c000844c>] (kernel_init+0xdc/0x114) from [<c002e45c>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/
0x8)

I've updated the version since then, mainly to include support for a number of DVB devices (see other post). You need to verify your settings and go over the install procedure again. See if you modified your settings correctly under "Booting in the final system".

Code:

setenv mainlineLinux yes
setenv arcNumber 2097
setenv bootargs 'console=ttyS0,115200 ubi.mtd=2 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=ubifs'
setenv boot_nand 'nand read.e 0x2000000 0x100000 0x400000'
setenv bootcmd 'run boot_nand; bootm 0x2000000'
saveenv
reset