Improve Out-of-the-Box Experience
Posted: 25 Oct 2014 20:09
I have been wrestling with the RaZberry hardware and software for a number of days now. Things work...but not consistently. Devices that show solid connections one day show no connection or poor connections the next, even though nothing has changed (i.e., I haven't moved the pi nor rebooted it).
However, I started with a stock pi software installation that was provided by the vendor from whom I purchased the pi. While I believe it's the same as what is available after a virgin install from the RaZberry site I can't be sure of that.
So I downloaded the latest official RaZberry image and burned a new SD card from it.
That's not providing a good out-of-the-box experience either. Observations so far:
1) The locale setting process in the official distribution, from within raspi-config, is broken. When you try to set a locale, it appears to work. But the next time you try to set a locale-related value (e.g., time zone) you get a bunch of error messages about various environment variables not being set.
A solution/workaround that I found via google is to add:
to the .bashrc file in your home directory (i.e., your default logon directory). Exit the terminal session and log in again, and re-run raspi-config. This time you'll be able to set the locale variables (e.g., timezone) without error messages.
2) The online instructions on what to do after initial system configuration are unclear. The text:
The problem was that I missed the period between "find" and "zwave.me". I suggest the page be reformatted to indicate "find.zwave.me" is a hyperlink.
3) After fixing that user error and surfing to find.zwave.me I did see the expected login screen. But there was no IP address visible anywhere.
I suspect this is because I am running behind a firewall. If that's the case...well, no offense, but who in their right mind would run a home automation system >>except<< behind a firewall?
Again, if firewalls are an issue, the instructions should reflect that.
4) I then tried to go to the configuration screen directly. Surfing to localhost:8084 (which I think is a lot simpler than typing in the IP address of the pi, BTW) gave me the following error:
Searching /etc showed that there was no /etc/zbw directory, let alone /etc/zbw/userid. It looks like zbw isn't installed in the official download.
So I did an upgrade following the instructions on the Download page. This resulted in a large number of packages being installed. Including, apparently zbw, because after the upgrade the configuration screen appeared properly and I was able to note my RaZberry ID and set a new password.
It's possible my earlier problem (#3) was also due to not being upgraded (i.e., maybe it didn't have anything to do with the firewall).
I am now off to reconfigure my z-wave devices.
But I would strongly urge the company to do one of two things, in addition to fixing the problem I noted in #1 (which appears to affect a number of pi OS distros):
- upgrade the img file available via the Download page so it is, in fact, running all the required and latest software.
- change the instructions on the Download page to indicate you MUST do a z-wave upgrade, even on a virgin install.
Of the two, I favor the first one. The latest image should be the latest image, period. It should function absolutely correctly when burned onto an SD card. Requiring users to do an upgrade of a virgin image is counterintuitive.
- Mark
However, I started with a stock pi software installation that was provided by the vendor from whom I purchased the pi. While I believe it's the same as what is available after a virgin install from the RaZberry site I can't be sure of that.
So I downloaded the latest official RaZberry image and burned a new SD card from it.
That's not providing a good out-of-the-box experience either. Observations so far:
1) The locale setting process in the official distribution, from within raspi-config, is broken. When you try to set a locale, it appears to work. But the next time you try to set a locale-related value (e.g., time zone) you get a bunch of error messages about various environment variables not being set.
A solution/workaround that I found via google is to add:
Code: Select all
export LC_ALL=C2) The online instructions on what to do after initial system configuration are unclear. The text:
led me to start X, fire up Midori (the default browser in this version of the pi OS) and surf to zwave.me. Which apparently is NOT what I'm supposed to do, as nothing at all like I was expecting to see showed up. All I saw was the z-wave.me website, not an IP address or configuration screen.After about 1 minute open a web browser and point to find.zwave.me. Below the login screen you will see the IP address of your RaZberry system. Click on the IP address link to open the configuration dialog.
The problem was that I missed the period between "find" and "zwave.me". I suggest the page be reformatted to indicate "find.zwave.me" is a hyperlink.
3) After fixing that user error and surfing to find.zwave.me I did see the expected login screen. But there was no IP address visible anywhere.
I suspect this is because I am running behind a firewall. If that's the case...well, no offense, but who in their right mind would run a home automation system >>except<< behind a firewall?
Again, if firewalls are an issue, the instructions should reflect that.4) I then tried to go to the configuration screen directly. Surfing to localhost:8084 (which I think is a lot simpler than typing in the IP address of the pi, BTW) gave me the following error:
The same thing happened BTW when I surfed to IP_ADDRESS_OF_PI:8084.ZBox ID: Err(1.18.3): main.c: 528: The spawned process 'bash:cat /etc/zbw/userid' has exited with code 1 and says: cat: /etc/zbw/userid: No such file or directory
Searching /etc showed that there was no /etc/zbw directory, let alone /etc/zbw/userid. It looks like zbw isn't installed in the official download.
So I did an upgrade following the instructions on the Download page. This resulted in a large number of packages being installed. Including, apparently zbw, because after the upgrade the configuration screen appeared properly and I was able to note my RaZberry ID and set a new password.
It's possible my earlier problem (#3) was also due to not being upgraded (i.e., maybe it didn't have anything to do with the firewall).
I am now off to reconfigure my z-wave devices.
But I would strongly urge the company to do one of two things, in addition to fixing the problem I noted in #1 (which appears to affect a number of pi OS distros):
- upgrade the img file available via the Download page so it is, in fact, running all the required and latest software.
- change the instructions on the Download page to indicate you MUST do a z-wave upgrade, even on a virgin install.
Of the two, I favor the first one. The latest image should be the latest image, period. It should function absolutely correctly when burned onto an SD card. Requiring users to do an upgrade of a virgin image is counterintuitive.
- Mark