Linux Ubuntu PCI How To

Hi All

After much headache and grabbing bits of information from around the internet, and seeing no real up to date guide on getting this running along with multiple help requests with no definitive answer, here is my guide to using C-Gate under Ubuntu connected to a PCI via a physical serial port (i.e. not a USB to serial adapter).

Ubuntu

Fresh install of Ubuntu 14.04 Server AMD64 - in my case this is from the iso onto on a VMware ESXi 5.5.0 virtual machine (VM).

Update/upgrade Ubuntu to latest

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Set static IP address
(reference: http://www.sudo-juice.com/how-to-set-a-static-ip-in-ubuntu-the-proper-way/)

Edit network interfaces:

Code:

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

I update the file to be as follows, subsituting your suitable IP addresses as needed to match you network configuration:

Code:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.230
gateway 192.168.1.254
netmask 255.255.255.0
dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

Restart networking components:

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

The above command actually failed to update the networking interface, so I rebooted the server with:

Code:

sudo shutdown -r now

Setup SSH
(reference: https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/openssh-server.html)

Code:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

From here on I use PUTTY to communicate with the server command line rather than a VM console.

Install Java (Oracle JDK 8)
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-java-on-ubuntu-with-apt-get

Add the repository to apt-get and update:

Code:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update

Install the JDK:

Code:

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-jdk

Install the RXTX CommAPI library for serial communication in Java:

Code:

sudo apt-get install librxtx-java

Install C-Gate
(reference: http://www.addictedtopi.com/post/96351714013/installing-c-gate-on-a-raspberry-pi)
However I did not setup the SER2SOCK option detailed on the page.

Install C-Gate:
Visit http://www2.clipsal.com/cis/technical/downloads/c-gate and change the wget command to the address of the most recent C-Gate zip file if you wish to use the latest version

Code:

wget http://203.41.170.20/downloads/CGate/cgate-2.10.5_3140.zip
sudo apt-get install unzip
unzip cgate-2.10.5_3140.zip
sudo mv cgate /usr/local/bin 

Create a startup script for C-Gate:
Note - here I made some small modifications to the script provided by Addicted to Pi (originally from these forums).
Most importantly I moved the user the process runs under to a variable "USERID", I used the root user (which is possibly very unsecure - changing this to a more suitably priveliged user highly recommended!)
Added code to specify the serial ports available "PORTLIST" to the JDK, in my case the PCI was connected to ttyS0 (COM1 in windows speak) - this permits the 'port list' command to work in C-Gate.

Code:

sudo vi /etc/init.d/cgate

Code:

#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          cgate
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Should-Start:      $portmap
# Should-Stop:       $portmap
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Example initscript
# Description:       This file should be used to construct scripts to be
#                    placed in /etc/init.d.
### END INIT INFO

test -x /usr/local/bin/cgate/cgate.jar || exit 0
CGATEDIR=/usr/local/bin/cgate
CGATEJAR=$CGATEDIR/cgate.jar
CGATEPID=$CGATEDIR/cgate.pid
JAVARE=/usr/bin/java
PORTLIST="/dev/ttyS0"
PARAMS="-Xms32M -Xmx256M -DSERIAL_PORT_LIST=$PORTLIST -Djava.awt.headless=true -jar -noverify $CGATEJAR"
LOCKFILE="$CGATEDIR/cgate.lock"
USERID="root"

case "$1" in
start)
        echo -n "Starting C-Gate server:"
        cd $CGATEDIR
        start-stop-daemon --start \
                --chuid $USERID \
                --chdir $CGATEDIR \
                --make-pidfile --pidfile $CGATEPID \
                --exec $JAVARE \
                -- $PARAMS &
        echo "."
        ;;
stop)
        echo -n "Stopping C-Gate server:"
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet \
                --pidfile $CGATEPID
        if [ -e $CGATEPID ]
                then rm $CGATEPID
        fi
        echo "."
        ;;
restart)
        echo -n "Restarting C-Gate server:"
        cd $CGATEDIR
        start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet \
                --pidfile $CGATEPID
        start-stop-daemon --start \
                --chuid $USERID \
                --chdir $CGATEDIR \
                --make-pidfile --pidfile $CGATEPID \
                --exec $JAVARE \
                -- $PARAMS &
        echo "."
        ;;
*)
        echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/cgate (start|stop|restart)"
        exit 1
        ;;
esac
exit 0

Change the permissions:
Again here more suitable user and permissions highly recommended.

Code:

sudo chown -R root:root /usr/local/bin/cgate
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/cgate/cgate.jar
sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/cgate
sudo update-rc.d cgate defaults

Setup C-Gate access permissions:

Code:

sudo vi /usr/local/bin/cgate/config/access.txt

Add a line using the IP address of your windows computer which will run C-Bus Toolkit:
In my case I allowed any IP on the network access (255 act as wildcard), here you really should limit this to a single IP - read the C-Gate documentation for further detail.
remote 192.168.1.255 Program

Move the libjspLux86_64bit.so into the JDK library path:

Code:

sudo cp /usr/local/bin/cgate/libjspLux86_64bit.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64
sudo chmod +x /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libjspLux86_64bit.so

Restart/start the C-Gate service:

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/cgate restart

This should now report that 'C-Gate is running'

In my case now I needed to shutdown the VM, add the serial port to the VM config and restart the VM.

Code:

sudo shutdown now

In fact a reboot may be required, or at least restarting the Java JDK process to pickup the new libjspLux86_64bit library.


Connect C-Bus Toolkit to C-Gate

Keeping a console open to Ubuntu may help with diagnosing any C-Gate errors.

Launch C-Bus Toolkit
File->Disconnect C-Gate - to disconnect from the local C-Gate instance
File->Connect to Remote C-Gate
Enter a suitable site name and IP address (192.168.1.230 in my case)
Find C-Bus Networks
Select Scan COM Ports
Select /dev/ttyS0 (or other device as set in /etc/init.d/cgate PORTLIST variable)
Use as Default Interface


From there you should have a working C-Gate server on an Ubuntu box, I was able to find my project and scan the units etc.

You may wish to change the configuration files (/usr/local/bin/cgate/config) and copy over your own previous project XML files (/usr/local/bin/cgate/tag).

You should edit the XML file locate the <interfaceaddress>COMX</interfaceaddress> parameter and modify it to the correct address such as /dev/ttyS0.

Cheers
Gizi

 

Thanks,

Tested the changes and have updated the post to reflect those recommendations.

Cheers

 

Thanks for the helpful tutorial! I've now got C-Gate running on a remote Raspi .

Is there a way to get this working using the USB ports? I've tried to access /ttyUSB1 but I get an error saying that Java can't find the jspLuxArm library. It seems that cgate comes with x86 and x64, but nothing for Arm. Is there a way around this?

edit: Got it running using this: http://www.addictedtopi.com/post/96351714013/installing-c-gate-on-a-raspberry-pi

 

Thanks for the posts all,

quick question - does anyone think there should be any issues with the Pi/CGate connecting to the CBus network via a 5500CN Network Interface?

i.e. not via a direct serial or USB connection?

I've setup the Pi and can connect to C-Gate via toolkit on my windows PC but dont have a CBus install here to test. Will go to a friends to test in the next few days (who has a 5500CN) but just wanted to know if anyone was aware of any other setup steps that may be needed?

Thanks,
Damian

 

that was how I had my setup - sold house so its all packed up for the new place.

mine was slightly complicated, had a WiPi for the network connection (to my LAN) and was using the Ethernet adaptor of the Pi connected directly to the 5500CN. but if you have all the devices connected via Ethernet, youll have no problems. In your project you need to specify the IP of the 5500CN for C-Gate to know to connect there.