Warning this device does not have armhf support for the phoscon sofware
Their web page says it does by saying Rpi3B is supported, but as the there is no deconz s/w available for armhf, it cant.
Also a pet hate of mine is charging extra for shipping to the UK above the rates to any other country in the EU, and they cant use the excuse it’s because we are an island.
So is the Republic of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. That breaks EU regulations…
now to try and get my money back
So does the version of deconz that’s available for raspbian not support the new conbee?
the page I went to was
https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2/install#raspbian
On that page it says
The RPi3 is an armhf device, the same as my Odroid XU4
In fact I compile some softwre for RP13 users on my XU4 as as it has a bit more umph
When you install the repository and after an apt update
you get
sudo apt install deconz
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package deconz
I also checked dconz in case of a typo
neither on the repository.
The page also mentions the supported distributions:
On Raspbian deCONZ is available for armhf. You can check your distribution with the command:
cat /etc/os-release
If you don’t have Raspbian Jessie or Stretch installed the documented installation procedure doesn’t work.
As alternative you can also manually download the Raspbian Jessie armhf .deb packages from links provides at the deCONZ github repository
I managed to get a bit further, but their support is limited.
there is just one thing that stops it being used by all the different RPi clones, including the Odroid XU4, which is ideal for HA use, and that is a dependency for wiringpi
not needed as the linux amd64 version doesn’t need it. nor do the windows versions, just sloppy programing.
The software is propietary, and the source code is not available, albeit the source code for the plugins is opensource. For the price they charge they should either provide open source code or tidy up their code so it does not want a dependency for something thats not needed.
I’ve requested a RMA and I will be returning it to them.
RPis will work but the clones will not
libwiringpi is used for the RaspBee in order to trigger reset and bring the module in bootloader mode for firmware updates. Since the RaspBee is Raspberry Pi specific, this code isn’t needed on amd64/Windows platform.
In recent GCFFlasher version 3.3 it is possible to reset the module without libwiringpi via a serial command, but this only works if a recent firmware version is already present on the module, so it’s no silver bullet.
Disclaimer: I’m the dev of the firmware update tool and parts of deCONZ.
Please believe me I’ve spend many days and multiple times to get rid of libwiringpi but it’s not that easy. Hopefully it will be possible in future via libgpiod or some other generic Linux mechanism. The differences between distributions make this pretty challenging.
[…] or tidy up their code so it does not want a dependency for something thats not needed.
This might actually be a part solution at least for ConBee/ ConBee II devices. Perhaps loading libwiringpi only dynamically and mark the dependency optional could work, I’ll put it on the check list.
but as far as Dresden are concerned everything linux is on amd64, and of course being German they are right ! and everyone else in the world is wrong
deCONZ for armhf is supported on Raspbian Jessie and Stretch, also Debian works as seen in the marthoc Docker container. Recently we have introduced a new automated build system with cross-compile support via Docker, so soon more platforms like arm64 will be added.
They would find that if they released their precious source code, it would be ported to other platforms and they would sell more conbees, sums up as arrogance and ignorance.
The deCONZ application with the closed core is just one option. There are also fully open source projects which support ConBee, ConBee II and RaspBee:
edit: (as new user I’m not allowed to reply more than 3 times)
If ANY supplier of goods makes a misleading statement on their product page, it is against EU law.
To say Linux and to limit the processor type to amd64 only is misrepresentation.
The product installation page does list all officially supported platforms and distributions including Raspbian which is armhf. Yes there are also some more coarse descriptions like “Microsoft Windows 7 / 10, Ubuntu, Raspbian, Docker” with the intention that interested readers also read the more detailed content like the install instructions.
https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2/install#ubuntu
https://phoscon.de/en/conbee2/install#raspbian
If ANY supplier of goods makes a misleading statement on their product page, it is against EU law.
To say Linux and to limit the processor type to amd64 only is misrepresentation.
I’m returning my Conbee2 today to Dresden.
I expect a problem as they have stated they would give a credit note, and I require a full refund.
When it comes to buying direct from Dresden-Elektronk : Caviat Emptor
It also needs on the HA documentation to state that Deconz is closed source propietary software
Please stop the negativity you continuously express in your posts. Not just in this topic but other as well.
i think they have been pretty clear what it supports, your clone isn’t one of them.
So i don’ t think any misrepresentation by them.
I disagree if you look at the data they put on their page its says
Supported operating systems: Windows 7/10, Ubuntu Linux, Raspbian and Docker
Ubuntu linux supports , i386,amd64,armhf,PPC64el, plus the different “flavours” on each.
That is the listing given by Ubuntu
so by saying they support an OS that supports the above, but only supporting amd64
is misrepresentation.
If I am running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on an armhf platform, I expect it to be supported if they say they support the OS.
If they had printed Ubuntu amd64 only, that would not be misrepresentation, but they didn’t so it is.
@richard-g8jvm we now know your are not happy with the product provided by Dresden. Nevertheless, you are expressing yourself in the wrong place. You issue is with Dresden and I would suggest you’d take it up with them directly.
Thanks.