Download and installed:

Cygwin

ActivePerl 5.8.9.827

Digitemp

1-wire drivers

misterhouse_src_2105.zip

xampp

jpgraph

So, from the top, this install is on kT’s old laptop, a Dell Lattitude CPi with only 500 mGhz power and 128 MB ram. Running WinXp (sorry Linuxers, but I still need win on this system for a servo project in progress, but I am learning Linux) which is about obsolete for any other use around here, but seems to be suited for my Cellar control system. I did put a new 40 Gig drive in, which will not only help it last, but also provide plenty of area to collect data for years to come. One of the nicer features, beyond just being compact and low energy usage, is the battery system on it is fairly decent, and can house two batteries, providing almost 8 hours of backup time if/WHEN the power goes out.

I’m using an old pcmcia ethernet card to connect to the network, and a new usb>serial converter to connect the X10a CM11 controller for the actual fan switching. This leaves the built in serial port open for the temperature sensors (digitemp did not seem to like the usb adapter setup).

Pretty much the same list of software being used as before with special attention paid to versions (specifically the perl version had to be 5.8 to accommodate Misterhouse. The full version of MH has some perl with it, as well as the XAMPP system, but it seems like I had trouble setting this up previously, and found that it worked to download my own activestate. Maybe someday I’ll try this again and condense everything [next install!!!]) php 5 is being used (default in xampp), as jpgraph now has a stable version for this.

Cygwin
Perl Activestate 5.8
digitemp
1-wire Drivers
Misterhouse
Xampp
JpGraph

I also used:

Real VNC (to access from other pc’s)
TweakUI (to bypass the XP login; surely there’s another way!?)
7zip (to unzip gztar)

And a few more preferential software installed on this flatbox:

HTML Kit (color coded and line numbers)
Firefox
CCleaner To keep it clean. defrag once in awhile helps too.

The system will restart on reboot by placing three files in the startup folder of xp (start>all programs>startup [right-click and explore]):

1) xampp control
2) bat file that sets where mh.private.ini is located and starts mh
3) web browser with graph for refreshing values

These last two are included in the package of files used for the current system.

digitemp needs to be run to set a configuration file in the digi/win directory:
from command prompt (start>run>command)
c:\digi\win digitemp_ds9097u -s /dev/ttyS0 -i -u digitemp.conf
(it might be possible to just copy the conf file [included in files] but I’m not sure… always assumed it needed to be run for each system setup)

The following are directory names and hierarchy for file locations:

Cygwin: cygwin
Digitemp:
digi\php.php
digi\fanOn.jpg
digi\fanOff.jpg
digi\ftp_off.pl
digi\ftp_on.pl
digi\ftp_htm.pl
digi\temptable.txt
digi\win\digitemp.conf
Jpgraph: jp
Misterhouse:
misterhouse\mh
misterhouse\mycode\fan.pl
misterhouse\mycode\mh.private.ini
Xampp:
xampp\htdocs\mc\line3.php
xampp\htdocs\mc\b.htm
Perl: perl

There are a few things that require changing for other’s system(s), namely passwords, which i’ve simply replaced in these archived files with typical Password, username. Obviously if you name your db’s or tables differently, do so appropriately in these files, and the websites and online directories would also need to be changed:

fan.pl needs password changed on line 27
ftp_htm.pl and ftp_off.pl and ftp_on.pl need these lines customized: 7, 10, 18
php.pl needs these lines customized: 25, 28, 37
line3.pl needs this lines customized: 7

MySQL database and table are both named “digi”. SQL structure is include with files.

The online display for this system is still in the same spot at:
Cellar Monitor

And a stash of all the software (some is just links to installers) is put here for safe keeping.

And a little plagiarism is due:

Below is copied from misterhouse install page

Download and install Perl version 5.8 (or higher) from http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl . The 12 MB zip file installs into about 43 MB of disk space. The also have older versions available while will work, but 5.6 had a memory leak problem and 5.0 is, well, kind of old

After installing the core Perl package, you will likely want to install a few optional packages. mh will run without them, but they are easy to install and give it more function. Activestate has provided ppm (Perl Package Manager), a nifty way of automatically downloading and installing packages. Unfortunatly, some of the packages we need are not yet avaliable from ActiveState for perl version 5.8, but Randy Kobes has kindly made them available at his site. You can install them with the following:

> cd \perl\bin (modify to match your directory)
> ppm
ppm > repository add http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms
ppm> install GD
ppm> install DB_File
ppm> install Tk-JPEG
ppm> install Win32-Setupsup
ppm> install DBI (if you want to interface to a database server)
ppm> install DBD-mysql (if you want to interface with a mysql server)
ppm> install Scalar-List-Utils (if you want AOL im)
ppm> exit

two more needed for my script:

date-calc
time-local

Note: The above from the MH site states “5.8 (or higher)”, but I had troubles with 5.10 that seemed to go away when 5.8 was installed instead.

After spend the past couple of weeks attempting to get an instance of mc working on a Linux (Ubuntu) box, time has run out for the time being and it’s become important to get mc running, so I’ve switched back to setting up a winXP box to host mc. Once again, this blog will become a station for documenting the process and related, hopeful, progress. I’ll also jot a few notes down about what I learned working with Linux and the VR portion of mc.

Here’s a list of tasks (completed as of this writing) required for setup:

Update XP with special interest in having sp2 installed before snooping around the net much.

7 zip (recommended for unzipping jpgraph)

perl activestate

pm needed**:

db_file (for mh version 2.103)

gd-graph will also load gd

DBI:

Xampp (can now use php5 with latest version of jpgraph)

note that latest version of xampp (dec. 2007) has a slight bug in it and requires this to be downloaded also: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=32bc1bee-a3f9-4c13-9c99-220b62a191ee&displaylang=en

run xampp_setup

digitemp*

jpgraph* (new version just released earlier this month works with php5)

misterhouse:

create folder c:\misterhouse

create folder c:\misterhouse\mycode

open \mh\bin\mh.ini and save it as \mh\bin\mh.private.ini

edit mh.private.ini :

code_dir = $Pgm_Root/code/test, c:/misterhouse/mycode

voice_cmd = MSV4

cm11_port= com2

ibutton_cycle_minutes=10

lat 37deg 58 min

lon 91 25

latitude = 37.9833
longitude = -91.4176

remove test_x10.pl and mytest.pl from ./code/test AND

remove all items via web interface misterhouse home>setup mr house>Edit Items (must be same time as removing the above modules before restarting or it’ll crash)

ini editor>web>web_refresh (remove: meta http-equiv=”Refresh” content=”600;url=/misc/photos.shtml” /) [stops pictures]

dbi:mysql settings???

I also downloaded VNC Real to make working much more comfortable (from my laptop on the sofa!) Access Control set for +192.168.0.100/255.255.255.255

Failed to remember that CYGWIN is required to run digitemp. Also need to add CYGWIN to the user define PATH in xp. will elborate as time allows…. in a bit of hurry right now..

Note to self (you didn’t think all this was here just for you!) Serial driver for dual serial pci card is in G:\serialDRivers\ITD\IT887x

**perl modules are installed via a program call ppm, which is started from a command prompt (start/run/cmd) BE SURE TO CHANGE VIEW TO ****ALL**** PACKAGES. (yelling at self at 5:00 am after spending hours trying to download and install db_files.pm)

*unzipping these was a two step process: first one created a zip file from gz zip file

With that done, there is only one package to download from mh; the clearly marked “src” file. Download and unzip into the “mh” folder on the root directory (usually “c:\ ” by default in windows). I call the folder mh so that it’s easier to execute perl modules from there (not to mention easier to type!). The xp command line does not like more than 8 digits…. a throw back from the dos days. You can work around it, but easier just to name the folder something short from the get go. Speaking of command line, Microsoft has a new, high powered command line called Windows Power Shell that I discovered during this project. Some nice little features… if nothing else, it’s color coded.

That’s really all there is to install MH. If you navigate to the bin folder, there’s an executable mh file in there that will start the program. Two windows should appear. One looks like a command line window and the other is a small gui (graphical user interface) that has a couple sub windows to display options and what’s going on. I will show you how to turn this off, as it’s really not needed. You can access everything you need from either a regular browser (IE, Firefox or the like) or run things from the command line.

First set of details should be acknowledgment for those who helped me with this project. There were many points along the way that it felt a little too out there for my level of skills. Most of this stuff is Linux centric and those involved have little tolerance for noobies without who lack the ability to formulate questions (that be me!). Anyway, the first to take me under his wing was Peter Woodall, who picked up one of my questions from the Mr. House list and provided me with the core perl script for reading the temps with Digitemp, via Mr. House. At that time I had got as far as getting Mr. House to read the sensors, but it was very sluggish and there are some other features with Digitemp that make it very attractive to work with. Which brings me to the second helpful hand, Brian C. Lane is still very much involved with his projects and responded patiently to my questions on his list. Another respondent from that list was Mark Richards (do a google on that name!), who pointed out the power of JpGraph and gave a bit of guidance on how to set it up.

These are the folks I had direct contact with, but there’s a host of others who placed their info on the web that helped me get along silently but instantly. For those, I carry forward that help by placing this information here with the hope that it helps others. (not a real humanitarian here, the main reason for posting this is that I have the information available to me.

Tizag One of the best resources I’ve come across on the net for php, perl and mysql. Plain english with examples.

Perl01 Some perl basics.

Perl02 Nice forum with a host of knowledgeable AND helpful people.

Textpattern One of the problems with doing research is that you find so many other fun toys, er, tools that may be useful. This site has a great explanation about installing Xampp, but is based around another interesting title software. …… next project!

JpGraph Forum, doesn’t look very responsive. I just lurked here….. so far.

The results can be viewed at the PeacefulBend.com site at the Cellar Control Center .

The collection of files created are here . Their hierarchy is that that exists on the working box, which is a dell 1 GHZ with winXP.

Details to follow.