Installing Home Automation Software for Linux

We will need to install and configure:

any USB serial connections to have persistent names,
an MQTT messaging broker,
an interface program for serial connections,
the openHAB home automation server,
an IDE for openHAB development,
the MQTT binding,
and your system specific items and sitemap.

Section 1: Persistent USB serial connections

A number of Engimusing products connect to a home automation system via USB serial connections. If your system uses any USB serial connections you will need to go through this tutorial and use ttyMQTT0 for the name: Persistent USB Serial Connections on Linux

Section 2: MQTT broker messaging software

"MQTT is a machine-to-machine (M2M)/"Internet of Things" connectivity protocol. It was designed as an extremely lightweight publish/subscribe messaging transport. It is useful for connections with remote locations where a small code footprint is required and/or network bandwidth is at a premium." See mqtt.org for more information.

An MQTT broker is used to pass messages between various sensors and control devices. We will use the broker in conjunction with openHAB to allow communication between our devices and openHAB. Follow these MQTT Installation Instructions to install the broker.

Section 3: MQTT serial interface software

If your system uses any USB serial connections you will need to set up the Engimusing MQTT serial interface software by following MQTT Serial Software Instructions.

Section 4: openHAB Server

Next we need to install the openHAB server software. We have two tutorials for installing openHAB on Linux that are both for Debian based systems like Ubuntu. If your system is different select the last link for other systems:

You should have the following page up in your web browser at this point.

openHAB start up screen

Section 5: Eclipse SmartHome Designer

The openHAB project includes an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) called Eclipse SmartHome Designer please install it using these installation instructions.

Section 6: MQTT Binding installation and configuration

Next we will install the MQTT binding in openHAB and configure it by following: MQTT Binding installation and configuration.

Section 7: System Specific configuration