As an openHAB user from OH1.0 up to now, I have to veto. I set up openHAB1.0 in 5 minutes and got it up and running with the demo. This was my Windows Desktop Computer.
The first thing I made after I got openHAB up and running, was to install the knx binding and to add one simple Item to switch one Light through the demo (just added my Item…). This was another 5 minutes, because I had to lookup the group addresses which are essential for knx communication. 10 Minutes. Really!
I was very impressed and setup a vm to host the openHAB server. This took some time, but in general it was the setup of java, all parts were manually installed and as I did not install java in debian before, I had to lookup how to do this. But finally, I got an openHAB vm and since then used it.
In question of openHAB2, I found it much less convenient for my needs (well, no auto discovery with knx…) and much more complex to understand. Text configuration was so simple!
I think, the whole point is, to do it step by step.
First step should be a simple demo without any hardware. Then get the correct binding for your first piece of hardware to include. Get the first Item to switch or display something real.
Repeat until finished
OH3 could contain dedicated simulator binding, which provides collection of different kind of things.
Simulator binding could also provides HW simulation web page for things, where user could see the real hardware behaviour and change the HW state.
E.g. TV thing, simulation web page shows real picture of the TV and TV remote controller. When user “plug” power cable from web page, user could see that OH discovers the TV and/or thing is set to ONLINE. User could change volume via remote controller or from OH and see how both parties behave.
Simulators doesn’t need to cover all functionality, but just few basic functions.
One simulated thing could be more complicated which introduce also bridge in the game like HUE bridge + bulbs.
This kind of simulator binding would not be just usable for tutorials, but could also be used to test new concepts. So when new concepts are added to OH, users and binding developers could study OH features via simulators and eventually simulator binding code would be the reference implementation for binding developers.
I once drew such a graph a long time ago (OH 1.8 days), not sure what happened to it.
Not shown is that channels can interact directly with Rules (Trigger channels), Things can interact directly with Rules (Things status triggers), Rules can interact directly with Things (new OH 2 style Actions) and that’s not even beginning to address new capabilities with the OH 3 rule engine where Rules can create and/or modify Things and Items and such.
It also doesn’t show how this all operates on an event bus so those arrows aren’t really direct communication in all cases. Some go through the event bus, others go through the OH core API, etc.
As an incomplete model of the relationships between concepts, the above is OK. But I fear it’s too incomplete and thus gives a false understanding of what’s going on. And once we add in more details I fear it become too hard to follow. Not sure how to handle that.
Your graph is actually exellent, Rich. What your graph doesnt show, I believe is what already known to advanced or experienced users. And they dont really need this graph at that time
The graph you already have would do just fine as a “general over-view”, or a kinda like “first look over-view”, specially for new users, which is why it will do just fine in a introduktion, I think.
A more enhanced graph could be done for those who read futher to a more advanced section. But I will not be the one doing this
FWIW, this is sort of how I think, too. Don’t want to overwhelm people at first.
Which is another general point I would like to stress. Let’s start simple. Well, as simple as possible. Give people some easy success initially, then expose more ideas as they dig deeper into it. Which will motivate them to continue. JMHO.
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But main thing I wanted to share was about perhaps using draw.io (which now actually redirects to https://app.diagrams.net) in the event it is decided to do any simple diagrams (in general).
I searched for long time for some tool to draw little diagrams, flowcharts, etc… Never found one I liked. They were all awkward in one way or another. Some of you may also know I eschew proprietary solutions right out of the gate (draw.io is F/LOSS).
The platform is online, making collaboration easy. You can also install a “desktop” version.
All the basic symbols, lines, arrows you probably need are available right out of the box.
Finally, diagrams can be exported to XML files, which makes them super easy to store in a Git repository and store plain text changes to, send patches around, etc… so perfect for a big collaborative project like OpenHAB.
I have no affiliation to the project, just a happy user after searching very long time for such a tool. Overjoyed to finally find one where I can focus on organizing my thoughts / ideas, rather than learning the tool itself. Therefore it actually aids your creative process, instead of hindering it (well, at least for me). Anyway it’s online so you can try it super easily.
Got it up and running in n Ubuntu VM.
I started with oh2 more than 6 months ago. I tot used to it. Now, looking at oh3… Was overwhelming …
Now reading your’getting started’’ is very welcome ! I Choosing a real world example with hue makes it better to understand.
Thanks!
I’ve found your documentation and it’s great!
Waiting for part 7 and …
I could start with OH3, set some settings (language,location, metrics,…) Create model, add hue binding so I got things and items.
In OH2 you could add a location to a things (like living room, dining room…). And when you then clicked on “control” on the main openhab screen, the things were grouped per location.
in HO3 you can create a model, but I didn’t find yet, where it is used for.
Also created a small sitemap in OH3. Is nice, but, it wasn’t that difficult for me, since for OH2 I created that in a text file. I wished the sitemap would be more modern. Now, it’s more like an old fashioned html.
I also tried to create a simple rule and it worked. And I guess you can create moreless complicated rules. Although, the code that the “rule creator” makes, is “not my thing”. As I’m a programmer, I probably will create my rules by hand, in code, in Jython. That, I didn’t try yet.
What I also missed, is the “log viewer”… Maybe it’s somewhere, I didn’t find it yet
It’s a bit overwhelming, starting with OH3. I’m glad I know a bit about OH2.
I know, it’s still early, so things can only get better and better. But, it looks promising.
I hope it’s not too overwhelming for beginners…
Anyway, I’m very glad you are making an introduction. Thanks!
That has never been part of openHAB itself. That log viewer is Frontail and openHABian comes with it installed and configured to follow openHAB’s logs. What I don’t know yet (haven’t had time to play with OH 3 yet) is whether there is a way to add Frontail to the new UI like you could add a new tile to the old dashboard.
When will OH3 into test phase? I started to use it. Actually biggest problem I have to continue testing is with Zwave binding. I can’t add discovered items from inbox to things.Untitled-1.log (32.9 KB)
apt/yum/dnf packaging is ready for when openHAB 3.x is green lit for alpha testing. I’ll post instructions on how to install it (as you can’t have openhab2 installed at the same time) nearer then.
