Settings View Source Installing Exshome on a Single Board Computer (SBC)

This guide was tested against Desktop Rasbperry PI OS on Rasbperry PI 3 A+ and should work for similar setup.

installing-system-dependencies

Installing system dependencies

Let's install system Exshome dependencies:

• MPV - Exshome uses it as a music player.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mpv

installing-elixir-and-erlang

Installing Elixir and Erlang

If your SBC has enough resources (at least 1 GB of RAM), you can try compiling Erlang from sources via asdf.

Otherwise you can install Erlang with your package manager. It may be not the latest version, but it should work.

sudo apt install erlang

We can install the latest Elixir version with asdf:

asdf plugin add elixir
asdf install elixir 1.13.4
asdf global elixir 1.13.4

installing-exshome

Installing Exshome

Install Exshome itself

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/exshome/exshome/main/bin/exshome
chmod +x exshome
./exshome

You can reach Exshome at http://raspberrypi.local:5000.

creating-autostart-scripts

Creating autostart scripts

You can start the script automatically together with the system.

Create the file /etc/systemd/system/exshome.service with these contents:

[Unit]
Description=Exshome - DIY Elixir Smart Home

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[Service]
Environment="XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000"
Environment="PULSE_RUNTIME_PATH=/run/user/1000/pulse/"
User=pi
Group=pi
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/
ExecStart=/bin/bash -lic "./exshome || exit $?"
Restart=always
RemainAfterExit=true
RestartSec=10s

You can adjust this file to match your setup.

The next commands help to start application:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start exshome.service

You can start Exshome automatically on system start:

sudo systemctl enable exshome.service

This command allows you to see the logs of a service:

journalctl -fu exshome.service

launching-browser-on-system-start

Launching browser on system start

Create a file ~/.config/autostart/exshome.desktop. For example:

mkdir ~/.config/autostart
nano ~/.config/autostart/exshome.desktop

Fill it with these contents:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Exshome
Exec=chromium-browser --start-fullscreen --kiosk --incognito --noerrdialogs --disable-translate --no-first-run --fast --fast-start --disable-infobars --disable-features=TranslateUI --disk-cache-dir=/dev/null  --password-store=basic --disable-pinch --overscroll-history-navigation=disabled --disable-features=TouchpadOverscrollHistoryNavigation http://localhost:5000
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false

You may need to refresh a page with Ctrl+R or F5, if it shows a blank page.

You can play with Exec option here and see what works for you. For example, deleting --incognito switch will allow to keep theme settings.

troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

• If you have missing emoji on Raspberry PI, you can install fonts that support it:

  sudo apt install fonts-noto-color-emoji

• If your screen becomes blank. You can disable screen blanking on Raspberry PI via raspi-config in Display Options > Screen Blanking.