Hi everyone
Every few weeks I wake up and the server hosting openhab has restarted for some reason because I haven’t installed OH as a service yet this takes my smart home offline for is there a way too stop this force windows too not restart or logoff ect.
I also use a peice of software called next pvr this has the capability to stop windows from shutting down or restarting while it’s running I’m hoping for the same sort of thing
This is caused by Windows update. Depending on what version of Windows you are running I don’t know if there is much you can do to prevent this. There was a big hullabaloo when make started doing that. But, I think there are ways to configure the updates so they don’t reboot for the Pro Windows 10 and Windows server editions.
Thanks Rich
I’m starting too have enough of running OH on windows and am seriously considering a move to the RPI3 it will be more reliable and it will also be easier too get stuff up and running as the community seem too write docs for the RPI
Yeah!!
I’m here for the long run now
I’m not getting rid of my smart devices and OH is definitely the controller i’m going too use although i haven’t tried any others but i did do my research first
How different is running OH on a rpi compared too windows?
What are the main differences ?
All the files are split up in different locations.
Linux has a very different set of metaphors compared to Windows. Everything is represented as a file. Devices, drives, processes, etc are all files. So, for example on windows you might have a device at comm port 1, on Linux you will have a file at /dev/ttyUSB0.
There are always half a dozen ways to do everything.
I could go on and on about the differences, but even now you should notice a trend. There are very few differences in OH itself beyond where to look for files and contents of config files.
It would be a good idea to go through a Linux for dummies or one if the dozens of getting started with Linux tutorials just to get comfortable with the commands line and different commands.
I highly suggest getting a cheap external HDD/sdd from the start and use openHABian to set up the RPi. openHABian has an option to might everything to the external drive automatically. You will almost certainly ended up doing this eventually so you may as well start now.
Thanks again for the reply
That sounds quite confusing
How much would i have too mess with the linux side of things at the moment i never really use no windows stuff its all text edits and web browsing would it actually be necessary to know how to use linux most stuff is written in the posts and there are quite a few videos online related too RPI and OH?
eg. my nas runs linux but i never have too think about that as its all browser based
That would be the plan maby offload the data too my nas i already know that OH doesen’t play nice with the SD card 
It is actually highly simplifying. If everything is released as a file, you have a limited set of ways you need to learn to interact with anything in the system. Want to see how hot your CPU is? cat the contents of /dev/CPU. Want to see the comments of the system log? cat the contents of /var/log/syslog. Want to see what state the sensor contacted to GPIO pin 17 is reporting? cat the contents of /dev/gpio/17 (note, I’m not at a computer to tell if theses are indeed the correct files, I’m just listing them here for illustrative purposes).
To do the same thing on Windows you would have to learn at least three different internal API s and possible three different tools and ways to access the information.
You will need to know how to ssh to the machine and from the command line run commands, navigate the file system, possibly edit files. openhabian-config will be able to do the rest.
However, if something goes wrong you will need to know a lot more, depending on what went wrong. I recommend learning what you need to know BEFORE you after under pressure because your entire OHb system is offline and broken.
openHABian is not browser based. It is command line shell script based so to interact with openhabian-config you will need to ssh to the machine and run it. It automatically creates a file share you can mount as a network driver in Windows to access all you oh config files.
The best thing to do is to install openHAB as a service. It really is just a 5 minute job and the instructions are quite simple Service instructions.
You can stop Windows updating by saying its on a metered connection but that will also nag the life out of you too.
Learning openHAB AND Linux at the same time will be tough.
I agree i didn’t think there would be much need for knowing how the base OS works under OH and OH is difficult enough without dealing with an unknown environment
Just for scale though. Everything I mentioned above that you need to know how to do on Linux would take you maybe two hours at most to learn. If you have ever used cmd or PowerShell on Windows you will be fine. Its just some of the commands are the same.
But I will say this again as I’ve said it before. You should have at least a minimal familiarity of how to use the operating system upon which you run ANYTHING. If you don’t you will be pretty much helpless when something goes wrong.
I have but not much only very basic commands in CMD like using the diskpart function but like i have said before im not scared to try and learn failing is better than not trying
I didnt think i could learn OH’s text files but here we are
I already feel like that sometimes with OH running on windows and i have been using windows for years and am very familiar with it
but for the price of PI £35 you cant really moan and would be fun too try and learn if i didn’t like it i could always re purpose it as a small nas for my freind or any other countless things PI can do
The pros also outweigh the cons when running OH on PI
You can do an awful lot now in paperui (with the rules engine installed). OH can be very frustrating as the syntax often isn’t consistent – Eclipse Smart Home Designer helps.
Windows isn’t as well supported in OH too which means a hunt sometimes but eventually you get the hang of it.
Good Luck
Phil
Mail](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986) for Windows 10
I first started with the experimental engine but quickly moved too text rules i would not go back text is far superior just the amount of changes you can make in a short time is the main reason
my items are now text and i have created my first sitemap the other day i have been busy working on other more important parts of my system
Thanks a little bit of luck is always needed around here
its on my todo list
Great, if you need any help with W10/OH side let me know. The running as a service makes life a lot simpler (as does ESD).
Mail](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986) for Windows 10
Use VSCode with the openHAB extension. ESH Designer is hopelessly out of date now and not being maintained any longer.
I already use vscode amazing tool
Tbh I don’t know how people manage with standard text editors I have seen people use them on YouTube it’s just a horrid wall of text vs code and the openhab extension changes this
Thanks. Wasn’t aware of that -reading older issues the recommendation was always ESD – which always took an AGE to load. Have VSC so will take a look.
Mail](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986) for Windows 10
(UPDATE) My PI is on its way 
What will I need too do too transfer my setup over
I know how too used the Jasondb files for paper ui all my items and rules are text
I’m planning on installing the ready made openhab on pi the one with decent graphs and mqtt already setup openhabian?
Is it as simple as setup pi update it install OH and move config files over
Im going too watch some videos on YouTube about the setup