I tried to install pimatic some time ago on a Raspberry Pi Model B (256 MB RAM) with Debian. Running the npm install took about half an hour. After that I did a first start, which took over one hour until I cancelled it because I didn’t want to wait longer.
Is it normal that installation and first start takes that long? And is my Rasperry Pi model suitable for running pimatic, when it takes so long?
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Time for installation and first start
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@clel said in Time for installation and first start:
I tried to install pimatic some time ago on a Raspberry Pi Model B (256 MB RAM) with Debian. Running the npm install took about half an hour. After that I did a first start, which took over one hour until I cancelled it because I didn’t want to wait longer.
Is it normal that installation and first start takes that long? And is my Rasperry Pi model suitable for running pimatic, when it takes so long?Only half an hour? Yeah it takes a while to boot for the first time. Normally i spend half a day to get the basics up and running, but then again i am using a raspberry b.
At least start from scratch because you aborted the install to prevent issues later on.
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Thanks for your answer. Probably it took longer than half an hour to install, I don’t remember it that well. I am surprised that this time seems to be normal (also the first start which takes half a day for you).
Why does it take so long? I thought this is a rather simple application. In comparison, yesterday I installed openHAB and it took less than a minute to install and less than 15 minutes to start.
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@clel said in Time for installation and first start:
Thanks for your answer. Probably it took longer than half an hour to install, I don’t remember it that well. I am surprised that this time seems to be normal (also the first start which takes half a day for you).
Why does it take so long? I thought this is a rather simple application. In comparison, yesterday I installed openHAB and it took less than a minute to install and less than 15 minutes to start.
Im not sure but i think it is both the raspberry and npm/node. Maybe @mwittig can answer it for you.
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@clel said in Time for installation and first start:
Why does it take so long? I thought this is a rather simple application.
Define simple application
It takes so long as some packages need to be compiled during the setup - at least, this is the case for the database package and its constituents which is installed during the first startup. This needs definitely to be improved. “npm install” should be faster as we provide pre-compliled packages as part if the pimatic package, however, maybe the list of pre-compiled packages is incomplete. I’ll check.
Generally, I think the limiting factor in the first place is memory - 256MB is a tight budget if you also run other applications in the background. You’ll be better off with a Raspi B+ which has 512MB.
"It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.", Hofstadter's Law
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Thanks for the explanation. I now found a way to run pimatic with docker (https://www.hendriks.software/pimatic-using-docker-on-a-raspberry-pi/) which makes setting up faster, but I don’t know whether this is suitable for normal use.
I will think about purchasing better hardware for this.
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First Start on a Pi B takes ages because of the check of dependencies and installation of the missing packages (specially SQLLITE package. Download/compilation/installation >40min). I did a fresh installation on my Pi B (for garden irrigation) some weeks ago and it took at least 2-3h until everything was running (first start of pimatic is at least 40-50min)
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consider to go for a pi2 or pi3 regarding the ram if 1GB. Having an orange pi2 for tr
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