Remote access for Linux, remote.it, made simple

Updated 2025-03-23 !

Sometimes it's really nice to reach your applications, secure and quick, at home when you are somewhere else. 

There are several applications but this post will be describe a really quick setup with remote.it on a Raspberry Pi(RPi) or another Linux platform. Of course there also is a Windows version.

The most used services are; http, ssh, vnc, rdp, SAMBA(smb/cifs) ..... and or non-commercial use, with up to 5 devices, it's free !

I'm using it to access Home Assistant, display NodeRed dashboard, access servers with "ssh" and file sharing with SAMBA there all applications are running on RPi:s at home.

Home Assistant for beginners or easy start

Updated 2025-03-14 !

What is the purpose of a Home Assistant(HA) according to Wikipedia ?

Home Assistant is free and open-source software used for home automation. It serves as an integration platform and smart home hub, allowing users to control smart home devices. The software emphasizes local control and privacy and is designed to be independent of any specific Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. 

Even for me, as someone running Apple HomeKit and Homebridge, it is a fantastic piece of software that bridges almost everything and enables highly intelligent integrations.

Since it is widely used, there is a wealth of information available. However, I couldn't find a clear "bullet list" on how to get started. This post will primarily contain links to other sources rather than writing extensive explanations myself.

Install Weather34 with WeatherLink, v2 API

Updated 2025-01-08 OK PHP 8.2 !

This post is an update from a former post which handles on how to set up a weather WEB-site with data from Davis Weather Link(WL) but here adapted to the latest WL API v2.

Any product that reports weather data to WL can be used as a source for this weather template.

This is made without additional software such as Cumulus, Weather display or the Meteobridge product.

DMI forecast API for atmosphere, ocean and sea ice, free !

Updated 2025-01-04

DMI is the Danish Meteorological Institute and the Open Data API provides free and open access to DMI’s data.They are covering a pretty big area not just Denmark.

I'm maintaining the weather station for Domstens yacht club and have become really interested in weather "issues".

The actual use case for me is that I have to change the mooring, of our boat, if the water level exceeds 60 cm from normal. For several years I have been searching for a free forecast API so I can get an early warning when the water level rises.

Node-Red is used.

Receive temperature, 433 MHz sensors, with RTL-SDR

 

Updated 2024-12-01 !

In my underfloor heating project, using Node-RED, I have to have one sensing thermometer per room/zone, seems to be 8 in total, so therefore it would be nice with a wireless battery sourced device with good resolution and frequent updates.

During the test phase I used a Z-way device but the resolution was pretty bad. Another device mentioned is the Ruuvi tag but since it's a bluetooth device the transmitting range could be better.

After some googling I went for 433 MHz devices.

Underfloor heating with PID controller, NodeRed

Updated 2024-11-14 !

In a former post I did some hacking/checking how our underfloor heating control system handled the valves, actuators, regulating the heat. 

Now it was time to do some tests with NodeRed(NR), with a PID controller, and a Shelly 1(S1) connected via WiFi and driving the actuator.

The actuators are in my case controlled by 24 VAC and the S1 accepts 110 - 240 VAC, 24 - 60 VDC and 12 VDC. So in this case it was simple to just add a rectifier and a capacitor, to the 24 VAC, to get approx 36 VDC to source the S1.

CTC heatpump MODBUS interface

Updated 2024-11-14 !

The installation of a CTC heat pump(HP), EcoAir 600, and the indoor module, Eco Zenith i360, was not optimal from the beginning, so to monitor it closely I checked how to retrieve data. 

The newer CTC HP:s are always shipped with a MODBUS TCP interface, without any additional hardware, which solved the issue.

MODBUS was new to me but after some reading and checking I found that there is a NodeRed node which solves the interface dialog.

MODBUS RTU gateway, WiFi, Ethernet, WEB server

In my project to get data from the Swegon Casa HRV, FTX, i needed a new solution to distribute the MODBUS data from the CASA.

The thing is that I have a Raspberry Pi(RPi) that is the central HUB for everything going on in our house, but away from the CASA, and the data is there vizualized in a NodeRed dashboard.

Since the CASA RTU is serial, using Waveshare USB to RS 485, and I didn't want to install a new long cabel to the central RPi I used another RPi which is near the CASA.

Node-Red quick install

Updated 2024-11-06 !

Node-Red(NR) is Flow-based programming for the Internet of Things

This post isn't made as a complete install guide, there are several, just some links to the best information I have found.

The best thing is that even if you don't are a skilled programmer, but like logic flows, you can make really advanced things. It's pre-installed on some Raspberry Pi(RPi) distributions.

Running Node-Red with multiple instances ?

Swegon CASA, HRV (FTX), rotary heat exchanger and MODBUS

Fresh air at home is very important ! For more than 15 years ago, at a major renovation of our house, we installed an HRV or in Swedish FTX system. Since then there have been nice updates for FTX equipment so when one of the fans was a little noicy and when the motor for the rotor died it was time to do an upgrade instead of repairing the old one. So we purchased an CASA R7 Genius(R7).

For me its important to get as much data as possible, to optimize energy consumption in our house, so despite that the the R7 have a nice app we also added a SEM interface to get the data, via MODBUS, that is available.

Bredbandskollen, Internet speed, CLI

Im using NodeRed together with Speedtest by Ookla but just the other day it wasn't showing the right data so it was time for "Bredbandskollen", the command line version.

Bredbandskollen has always been a reliable source when testing internet speed. I'm using their WEB-site and the iPhone app and it have always worked very well.

This post will show how to plot data in a graph according to the picture.

IVT, Bosch heat pump easy integration, NodeRed

If you are running the IVT Anywhere or the Bosch Easy remote app you probably also can retrieve its data with for example NodeRed. 

With the nice application Bosch XMPP you can set up an integration with the cloud service supplied by your vendor.

OpenPlotter V3, install guide

Updated 2024-03-01 !

OpenPlotter(OP), a Boat Navigation application, is really a nice and simple installation of

• OpenPlotter(OP)
• OpenCPN(OC)
• SignalK(SK) 

and other supporting applications for Your boat.

An overall information about the OP package is found here.

Install guide for the new stable OP, version 4, is found here.

Signal K quick install

Updated 2023-12-01 !

I have got some questions installing, just, Signal K(SK) so will do a summary, on a Raspberry Pi, with links.

Signal K is the hub to receive data, from different devices in different data formats, and send it on to different equipment, or databases, in different formats. Most common for standard marine equipment are the old NMEA 0183 and the newer NMEA 2000 protocol which is also handled. 

Besides the SK "hub" function developers have created plugins for different purposes. This is due to that SK is open-source ! Sharing is caring !

In this post you can check the devices I'm using connected to the SK server and also my setup.

SignalK, measuring temperature

Updated 2023-11-05 !

An introduction to the SignalK, Marine application, is given here.

A very easy way to measure temperature with Raspberry Pi, RPi, is to connect one wire (1W) DS18B20 (DS)temperature sensors direkt to the RPi GPIO.

Here You find a post where the temperatures are transfered via WiFi

RuuviTag and Node-Red

 Updated 2023-10-30 ! OK with Bookworm ! New simple install ! 

For a new project I needed a small wireless temperature sensor, there You don't have to change battery so often, and this gave the RuuviTag.

Having used Node-Red(NR) on Raspberry Pi before, the first application was this dashboard. Tested and works with with Node.js V18 !

Optimizing your energy, electricity, bill. NodeRed !

In this post I will give some thoughts, high level, and methods for matching the hourly prices from your energy supplier.

I will also list some gadgets and by using NodeRed, get the data, visualize it and control the consumption.

So in that perspective there are some needed prerequisites.....

Bluetooth and Node-Red

Updated 2023-07-12 !

There are some Node-Red nodes, (NRN), that are dependent on the old Noble package which don't work on Node > v8. 

One nice and simple NRN is the node-red-contrib-noble which have the same problem. I picked up the freshest source, dependent on @abandonware/noble, forked it and added install instructions. It works with Node <= v18. 

Node-Red on MCU:s, Raspberry Pi Pico W

Since I'm not a programmer, and probably never will be 😉, I really like Node-Red(NR). NR is also a nice way trying to learn some JavaScript via the function nodes.

I also appreciate hardware, MCUs, like ESP32 and Raspberry Pi Pico but find it a little hard to code in MicroPython or C++.

Somewhere ?? on the WEB i found some applications that can export NR json code to C++ and run it on several MCUs.

As you understand I had to check it out... 

Upgrade from Buster to Bullseye, Raspberry

Uppdated 2023-10-28 !

I have been running a Raspberry Pi 2(RPi) for several years with Buster and the applications;

• Homebridge(HB)
• Razberry, Z-way interface
• CUPS, printer software
• Node-RED(NR)

When I started with the RPi it was Jessie, then Stretch and Buster. Every time I upgraded the SD card to the latest OS and it just worked. It should been said that I always waited a year or so and I'm using the RPi headless without any GUI.

Now it was time to go from Buster to Bullseye !