One last question. Would you guys recommend BK Hobby openhab videos? It seems he does a good job explaining openhab but then recommends you use visual studio to install all your bindings because using paper UI binding disappear if you use it with any other addon install method. I discovered if I delete OPENHAB\openHAB-conf\services\addon.cfg I can get around this. However I can not determine if this was fixed in 2.5.3 release from google search. Anyway
Wonder what you guys think about BKhobby videos?
The binding install issue with paperui?
If I do use paper ui can i also use the samba share \OPENHAB\openHAB-share\openhab2-addons to drop addons i want to install without this also causing issues with addons disappearing?
I recommend nothing but the official documentation and expert advice from here.
This is an example of false advice. That tells me to avoid that source.
Unless it uses the REST API, Visual Studio (or Visual Studio Code) cannot install bindings. Binding can either be installed through the Paper UI or manually by placing in the addons folder. Both methods can coexist but manually installed bindings do not appear as installed in the Paper UI.
OK great to hear that about that being false info. I did delete addons.cfg and it seemed to work my bindings installed through paperui stayed Ill try it without doing this and see if I have that problem.
I also used the manual install method through the addons folder and that apparently wont show up in the paperUI so how do i find them?
BK Hobby is a long-time openHAB user who participates in the forums, but I think you need to look at the timestamps on the videos (same as you would look at the timestamps on forum posts) to determine if the information is still relevant.
I don’t think it’s bad to watch videos, same as I don’t think it’s bad to read an openHAB tutorial on a random website. But the most up-to-date and relevant information is going to come from the documentation and the OH community.
@Bruce_Osborne, it’s been awhile since I used a beta binding (since they were incorporated into 2.5), but I’m fairly sure they showed up in PaperUI’s interface since I used inbox discovery.
Let’s not through the word "false"around too much. I haven’t watched the videos, so I need to leave open the possibility that you misinterpreted BK Hobby due to not yet having a solid grasp on openHAB. That happens a lot around here, so I’m not pinning blame on you or him.
I’m unclear on why you deleted addons.cfg. I’m fairly certain OH needs that file to exist.
I think the real question is, why do you want to do both? I would personally recommend to use PaperUI for any official bindings that are available in 2.5.3., and only resort to manual install if you’re using a beta or a test binding. In those cases, you would need to remove the official binding in PaperUI and then just drop the binding file into the addons folder.
I feel like this has somehow gotten way more complicated than it needs to be for you.
I was hoping to just use paperui keep things simple but then I ran into the above binding which it what I need to install and it can not be installed via paperui because its not listed. You have to manually install it which i did. I guess as much as you try to make openhab newbie proof which I love its always going to not be completely noob proof.
Also from my understanding unless you comment out addon.cfg its not used. So deleting it should be fine. Ive already proven that but rebooting without the file. However I also read that it would be recreated and it is not showing in the samba share which makes me wonder.
In that case, there’s no official binding. So, I’m guessing that’s why it doesn’t show up in PaperUI. Without looking closely, I assume it has to be configured via text files.
To be honest, this is exactly why I encouraged you to just get your system running and get comfortable before tackling complex stuff. The IP camera is definitely in the realm of complex stuff.
I know it sounds like we’re trying to parent you, but we’re really not. The reason we give this advice is so that people don’t get discouraged and frustrated while trying to learn openHAB, because this system is not easy to learn. (We see a lot of people coming from systems like Samsung SmartThings and wondering why it’s not all drag and drop. You can either have simplicity with limited options or complexity with unlimited options. It’s nearly impossible to have both.)
You’ll also find that longtime users are less inclined to help when they feel that new users have skipped the basics. I don’t mind having conversations like this, because I think it helps new folks like you to adjust to the expectations. It’s worse, in my opinion, when things quickly turn negative due to mutual frustration. In a little over a year, I’ve seen too much of that.
I can’t remember ever needing to touch addons.cfg, so I can’t comment other to say that I don’t think it should have been necessary to delete it.
OpenHAB makes its own addons.config file down in userdata. addons,cfg was for users in openHAB 1.x to delpoy addons, if I recall correctly
They may show up under the Configuration menu. If you need to automatically discover a Thing sometimes you go to the Inbox and select SEARCH FOR THINGS. If needed you will be presented with a menu of bindings.
Russ I really appreciate how you handle things on this forum. I only got into openhab for that camera binding actually. So it has to be the fist thing I setup. I kinda wanna do lighting but it would all be tied to that camera binding. See the video below for what I wanna do after I get the ipcamera binding working. The idea is to have my cameras say something when they see something basicly. We have a lot of opportunist thief’s around Albuquerque. I want them to know there being watched by my cameras.
This is exactly what I wanted to know. I found the IPcamera binding listed and I’m ready to see how this goes in discovery. I know im going in the backdoor to get openhab going but i’ll circle around and learn the basics through BKhoby and lookup whats old and missed in those videos.
That depends on the binding rather than how it is installed. The zwave binding you need to search & choose no matter how the binding is installed. My point is that the binding actively appears in the UI but does not show in the installed list.
Well, it doesn’t have to be, but I appreciate your perspective. It would cost all of $20 to buy a wifi smart plug.
That’s fine so long as you know that some of your problems in setting up the IP camera might be self-inflicted. So long as you try to figure it out for yourself before asking questions, you should be able to avoid snarky responses. People here just want to see that a good effort was made (showing your work helps).
You guys have been so helpful. I looked into doing lighting second and you wont believe this. My lighting will also be complicated. I have leviton decora smart switches. SO I have to use another oddball python script install for that. At least I have some python knowledge.
Yeah I picked the wifi ones because I did not want to hub, i wanted to use alexa and google home directly and now that I am getting into openhab it will be my hub.
I think @madhits is saying that he’s already installed a bunch of switches, so there’s no going back without spending a bunch of money.
@madhits, that is unfortunate that you didn’t come across OH until now. Hopefully that Python script works, as it doesn’t look like the guy who provided it has been on the forum in awhile.
yeah i did not want a second wireless signal running in my house and choose wifi as it made things simple. I figure later if I want some battery powered stuff I would go with zigby. I know in the coming years these standards will start to disappear and I figured wifi is not going anywhere.
Don’t get @Bruce_Osborne started on WiFi devices. He has legitimate reasons to hate them.
If I started over again I’d go straight to ZWave whenever possible. Devices tend to be more expensive and it can be finicky at times, but there’s a lot of support for it in the community (Bruce being one of the go-to members). I don’t see ZWave disappearing any time soon.
For MQTT, you just need to install the Mosquitto broker (via openHABian config tool) and then install the MQTT binding. After that, you can configure the binding to talk to Mosquitto using PaperUI or text files.
Are you actually installing Tuya-based devices, or just wanting MQTT? If the latter, I don’t think you need that tutorial.
