Revision as of 00:33, 7 March 2011

Introduction

Hello all. My name is Matt and I live in England. Have been playing with LMCE for a number of years now. I would class myself as a user due to my complete lack of any development skills, so am always keen to help in any way I can. By profession I am a Mechanical Design Engineer in the space industry. In my spare time I enjoy metalwork, woodwork and various other little electronics/DIY projects. Any remaining free time is spent with my extremely patient and long-suffering girlfriend with whom I live.

Software

My current installation is based on the 8.10 beta 23165 23388 23796 snapshot.

Network

It is highly advisable that you adopt the recommended network setup and use 2 NICs in your core. This means that a) things are a lot more likely to work straight out of the box and b) when things DO go wrong, you are far more likely to receive support. In my experience it is definitely worth it.

My external network looks a little bit like this...

Virgin Media Cable Modem -> Netgear Cable Router -> NIC 1 (eth0) on Core

And my internal network...

NIC 2 (eth1) on Core -> Netgear 8-port Gigabit switch

Connected to this switch there are another two Netgear Gigabit switches (switches can be daisy-chained to give you more ports), and connected to these you'll find...

• All of the MDs
• "Normal" computers requiring internet access
• IP Cameras
• DECT phone (via ATA)
• Wireless Access Point (WAP)

Note: If you have a spare wireless router laying around, it can be used as a WAP (this is what I have done using the much loved Netgear WGR614). Just connect it up to a switch (your internal network) via one of the LAN ports (these are the ports that you would normally plug your computers into, NOT the port that you would usually plug your Internet cable into). In the router's admin page, make sure DHCP is DISABLED, and then set it up in the normal way. Your SSID should NOT be your name or give any clues as to where you live, use the strongest encryption you can (I use WPA2) and it makes a lot of sense to set up an access list (MAC filter). This allows you to specify exactly which MAC addresses are allowed to connect, making your WAP very secure. Finally, and this is important if you wish to access the router's admin page again (perhaps you'll want to add a friend's MAC address for example), you must assign a new LAN TCP/IP. This wants to be in the 192.168.80.X format, and should not be an address that is already in use. I used 192.168.80.254.

Core/MDs

This section talks about the main bits of hardware in my home that make up the principal elements of any LMCE system.

Core (Cupboard)

Main hardware includes...

• Motherboard

MSI 870-C45 AMD 770 ATX Socket AM3 Realtek GbLAN controller

• Processor

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.00GHz Socket AM3 2MB L2 Cache

• Memory

Kingston 2GB (2x1GB) DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V

• Power Supply

Corsair 400W CX with 12cm fan, 80Plus Certified Efficiency

• Graphics card

ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe

• Hard disks

OS - Seagate Barracuda ST380815AS 80GB SATA 8MB Cache

Storage - Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB SATAII 64MB Cache

• NIC

Realtek RTL-8169. Clashed with my onboard Realtek RTL8111/8168B, PCI ID overlap issue.

Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+

• TV cards

x2 Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-500

• DVD Drive

Samsung DVD ROM (IDE). Only used when I reinstall.

Additional hardware includes...

• Z-Wave controller

Aeon Labs Z-Stick. This is NOT the recommended interface, but works well for a couple of lights and other simple devices.

Seluxit viaSENS Home Controller. This IS the recommended interface.

• Z-Wave inclusion remote

Aeon Labs Minimote

• UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)

APC Smart-UPS 1400. Powers the Core, modem, external router, one of the switches, cameras, telephone.

• UHF/VHF/FM signal amplifier

Generic mains-powered booster. 1 input, 2 outputs.

• Mouse/keyboard

Keysonic wireless mini-keyboard with integrated touchpad.

In addition to the standard DVD installation instructions, I carried out the following actions on my Core to make it work/get it the way I wanted it...

• Installed driver for ATI Radeon X300SE in "Hardware Drivers" in KDE desktop (prior to LMCE installation). Note that nVidia cards are recommended; I only used this card because a) I had one and b) I'm happy with UI1 on the core.
• Edited the /etc/apt/sources.list on the Core as explained here after the installation of Kubuntu, prior to updating/upgrading/installing.
• Following LMCE installation, swapped eth0 and eth1 by editing /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules (it is possible to swap the network interfaces via web admin, but I had to ensure that my non-gigabit RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ NIC was on eth0 for the external network).
• To get onboard NIC working, removed and blacklisted r8169 module and installed r8168 module from Realtek site as explained here.
• MythTV setup (accessed via "Computing" from the on-screen Orbiter). I found this page very useful in getting my MythTV set up.
• Set up secure outside access using HTTPS.
• Changed permissions for "public" folder on secondary hard drive, to make life easier from point of view of copying and deleting files, performing my desktop/camera backup, etc. Do a "sudo dolphin", right-click on the public folder, click the "Permissions" tab, and change ownership to your username. Note: I have no idea whether this is safe to do or not.
• ubunut desktop backkup to core wth rsync script
• Edited the crontab to automatically copy the images captured by my security cameras to a new location (I did this because I heard that the recordings expire after 5 days). This cron job occurs every day at 6am, and only new files and folders are copied over. My crontab entry therefore looks like this: "00 06 * * * cp -uR /home/cameras/* /mnt/device/48/public/data/documents/cams"
• Made use of the folder lock feature in order to stop my desktop and camera backups from appearing in the orbiters.

Note: To begin with I had some very annoying network problems. The onboard NIC (Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller) was conflicting with my second NIC (Realtek RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet controller). I could not get them to work together at the same time. I believe it was due to the PCI IDs overlapping. I think that the problem could have been resolved by building the driver from source with some modifications, but this is beyond my level of skill. I resolved the issue by installing the much older NIC listed above, which uses a completely different module to the onboard NIC. It also worked out of the box.

MD (Living Room)

Main hardware includes...

• Motherboard

ASUS AT3N7A-I NVIDIA ION with Intel Atom N330 Dual Core Processor, HDMI Out, 8 Channel Audio, Mini ITX. I replaced the CPU fan with a Scythe, not that the old fan was particularly noisy, but it was still an improvement.

• Memory

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Platinum XTC Memory Kit CL4 2.1V

• Power Supply

FSP Group 1U ATX 180 W max. Replaced original fan with a Scythe also; completely unnecessary.

• DVD Drive

Samsung SN-T083C 8x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Slimline Slot-Loading Optical Drive

• Mouse/keyboard

Rii wireless mini-keyboard with integrated touchpad

• Display

Foehn & Hirsch 42" Full HD LCD TV

Also carried out the following...

• Disabled fan warnings in BIOS (replacement fan is only 2-wire).
• Manually increased alsa volume levels (they were very low) by typing "alsamixer" into a terminal. Make your changes and press "Esc".
• After the initial installation, switch off MD. Select "vdpau" in web admin under "Hardware Acceleration" in "Media Directors". Then click "Update" and "Rebuild Image". Switch MD back on. AVWizard should run again.
• Increased text size in KDE desktop via KDE Menu -> Applications -> System -> System Settings, then select "Appearance" under "Look & Feel"; adjust the font size in "Fonts".
• Increased text size in terminal (Ctrl & +).
• Installed libdvscss2 to allow DVDs to be played (sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2).
• Added button to KDE desktop that activates the orbiter; thank you posde for the tip.
• Installed a backported libxine to allow playback of MKV files; thank you to those who came up with this solution.
• Enabled "Avoid conflicts between live TV and scheduled shows" in MythTV frontend, in an attempt to stop this problem. Press "Esc" whilst watching TV (this is the frontend) to get into MythTV's main menu, then go Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> General. Note: Not sure if this has worked!

deinterlace settings in myth?

MD (Kitchen)

MD (Bedroom)

MD (Bathroom)

MD (Study)

This MD is running on a virtual machine on my standard desktop computer, which is running a lean, mean Ubuntu 10.04 + Fluxbox installation., built up from a minimal command line install. It has a second VGA screen (my larger main screen is on DVI) which I have set up as a separate X head, and is dedicated to this MD. The MD runs UI1, and performs well enough for what I need. See here for details of the orbiter. I created the virtual machine like this.

MD (Wood Workshop)

MD (Metal Workshop)

MD (Garage)

Orbiters

Every MD features an on-screen orbiter. In addition to the on-screen ones...

Mobile Orbiters

• Main mobile orbiter

Have just bought the Storage Options Scroll Tablet PC to use as my main mobile orbiter. I will be trying out the Android orbiter on it.

• Mobile phone

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic running Web Orbiter 2.0 in standard Symbian browser with 480x320 resolution (iPhone). I find it handy to bookmark the orbiter page, and place a shortcut on the main screen for quick and easy access. I also use this device a lot for (secure) outside access over HTTPS.

• Ubuntu laptop

The lady's Ubuntu laptop which we generally use for surfing, work, etc wherever we happen to be. It is running Web Orbiter 2.0 in Google Chrome. We never use this in fullscreen mode (press F11 in your browser if you wish to do this) as we prefer to just have it on standby in a tab. Therefore the resolution of the Orbiter is set lower than the resolution of the laptop screen.

• Nintendo DSi

My mate's DSi, running Web Orbiter 2.0 with a resolution of 480x320 (iPhone) in the standard browser. This resolution allows for all text to be read relatively easily, but does mean a lot of scrolling about is required. I wouldn't use it personally. Might be worth playing with other resolutions/skins to make it more usable.

Wall Orbiters

• Nokia N800 in hallway
• Nokia N800 in kitchen

Other Orbiters

• Study desktop

My main desktop, which has another Web Orbiter 2.0 set up on it in much the same way as the mobile Ubuntu laptop. It is for controlling the virtual MD on the desktop machine (I find the on-screen controls on the MD itself to be a bit "twitchy"). See MD (Study) for more details.

• carPC

I am currently in the process of building a mini ITX carPC for my modded Mk1 MX-5 (called the Miata over the pond), running a lightweight Ubuntu + LXDE installation. The last component I need to get is the touchscreen, but the rest of it is very much finished, although I do intend on upgrading the speakers and adding an amplifier (a necessity due to the lack of head unit). The system is capable of utilising CDs/DVDs (audio, video, data), USB sticks/flash cards, and also features an aux-in for any personal music player that my passenger might have on their person. The system is also capable of FM radio, MP3 playback, video playback, digital TV, Internet browsing, SatNav, vehicle diagnostics.... and controlling LMCE (Web Orbiter 2.0 in Chrome). I thought this would be useful from the point of view of opening/closing the garage door, switching on/off the lights, checking the house on long journeys, etc.

Home Automation

This section looks at the remaining hardware in my home, relating specifically to home automation.

Lights

• Duwi dimmer switch (Living Room)

2 wire in my case (more common in Europe), check your current switch/dimmer first REMEMBER TO ISOLATE THE LIGHTS AT YOUR FUSE BOX - ALWAYS TEST THE LIVE (BROWN or RED) WIRE WITH A TESTER LIKE THIS FIRST!!! Bear in mind that you only count the wires connected to the switch itself; if like mine your earth is connected to the backbox, then this doesn't count as a wire. Very pleased with this device, superb build-quality, great tactile response, easy to set up. This is my second dimmer switch, after a very bad experience with the ACT HomePro ZDW232 as explained here. In my opinion you should avoid these dimmers like the plague. They are the cheapest, but it shows. Spend a little bit more and get the Duwi, which is comparable in price. Anything else I have found has been prohibitively expensive.

Security

Very important. Having been the victims of a burglary, this is an area that perhaps you should consider concentrating on first. You just don't think it is going to happen to you... until it does. And it's a horrible feeling.

Cameras

• x3 Panasonic BL-C10
• x2 Foscam FI8905W (plugged into external router due to the unresolved issue described here)

Note: As mentioned in both of these camera pages, I had to manually edit some of the scenarios before they would work, as they were pointing at the wrong camera for some reason. I also found that some scenarios were not automatically generated, and had to be added manually. Go to into web admin, click on "Show devices tree" at the bottom of the left-hand pane, then click on "My Scenarios" (again, bottom of left-hand pane), click on "Security Scenarios", and then at the bottom of the right-hand pane, press the "Add My Scenario" button. This opens a new window. In the new window, type a "Description" (this will be the scenario's name), select a "Scenario Type" ("Security Scenarios" in this case), leave "Design Obj" blank, and for "Template" select the "Security - View Camera" option. Then select all the rooms you want to add the scenario to. Press the "Save" button. This new scenario should appear at the bottom of the security scenario tree/list - click on it. Scroll down to the "Scenario Commands" section, and under "Devices" select "[Local Orbiter]". Wait a sec. Then under "Command" select "Goto screen" button. Press the "Add" button. Press the "OK" button. Enter "15" into the "#159 PK_Screen (int)" field, and press the "Save" button. Press the "OK" button. A new "#2 PK_Device (int)" field should appear. Enter the Device # of your camera. Press the "Save" button. And that's it!

Note: All of my cameras make use of Power over Ethernet (PoE), despite not being models that support it! Nor do I have any switches/hubs that "spit out" PoE at the Core end. To see how it is achieved, take a look at "Tool Time" at the end of this page for a Howto video explaining the required steps (inspired by b4rney on the forums, thank you mate!). Powering devices in this way is very useful in that you only need to run a single Ethernet cable for both data and power. Brilliant for cameras, especially outdoor ones. Also useful if you want your cameras to be on a UPS, as PoE allows all of the power plugs to be in the same place.

Sensors

• Everspring SM103 door/window sensors (Z-Wave)

Finally working (thank you hari!). Just purchased some additional contact sensors to celebrate, so I can experiment with rigging multiple doors/windows with a single unit, will report back.

Smoke detector planned

Lighting

My living room lights are set up to come on at sunset. This is achieved in web admin via "Events handler"->"Respond to Events" by selecting "Sunset" under "New event". Enter a description also. Click "Add", and use the wizard of your choice to select the required device and command.

When we are away for extended periods, I have the living room lights turn off late at night, and then switch on the bedroom light for a short period before they get switched off also. This is just to give the impression that somebody is in.

Telephone

Vonage, DECT phone, soon to be Sipgate

Climate

Watch this space!

Tool Time

This section comprises of a selection of Howto videos and photographic guides for various DIY projects that can be carried out around the home, in order to achieve that seamless, perfectly integrated LMCE installation. My aim is to always stay away from technical jargon as much as possible, and to try to use standard/simple tools and components that aren't going to break the bank. You can always get hold of me on the forums or in IRC (irc.freenode.net #linuxmce) if you fancy a chat.

Howto...

Planned

• Howto: Construct a rear mounting MD casing for any TV screen with a VESA mount (with slot loading DVD drive).
• Howto: Mount a TV on the wall with MD hidden behind (with a slot loading DVD drive).
• Howto: Make a wall-mounted orbiter (inspired by Techstyle's framing idea). Surface mounted or recessed (flush fitting)?
• Howto: Install a new back box (e.g. for z-wave light switch) and make good the wall (having destroyed it in the process).
• Howto: Chase wall channels, embed cables and make good the wall.
• Howto: Build a single/double bed with integrated "stowable" flat screen TV and MD. LMCE-controlled motor perhaps.
• Howto: Build a waterproof bathroom MD/orbiter (combined touchscreen device?)
• Howto: Make your own ceiling/wall speakers using (decent!) multimedia speakers (if, like me, you are not a complete audiophile, this avoids having an external amp to hide away).
• Howto: Build your own charging cradle/stand for your mobile orbiter (avoid switching it off all the time).
• Howto: Make your own cat6 patch cables
• Howto: Make any device Power over Ethernet (PoE)