Continuing the discussion from Kodi fails to start when Pi2 and TV and ethernet powered on together:
The RV use case is narrow but a “How To” might be helpful.
The differences from the “normal case” include:
-AC power cuts happen each move to a different campground, or when using a generator
-internet connections are WIFI or tethered cellular and change with each move
-some locations limit to one MAC address or charge more
-many locations have open wifi and require a webpage id/password for internet access
-users will usually have a home entertainment setup including wifi, osmc stuff, a media store…
-RV setup should sync with this (especially media store) not duplicate it
I have a 2 Pi2 RV setup that I am gradually improving.
Solved problems (with help from others here) so far are
- Before cutting AC I put the 2Pi2s in power-off (pseudo) with the TV remote
(if I forget, there is a slim chance of SD card corruption, I have a backup SD for each) - I used the tvservice utility to store edid info in /boot so pi boots with or without tv on.
(had trouble with the on-screen myOSMC equivalent) - Used rootdelay=10 (main pi with usb hd), =30 (front pi) in /boot/cmdline.txt
This insures usb hd drive is up before os boot starts on rear pi, and the font pi waits
longer so the required nfs file and mysql db access is up. - Used powerline eth modems to connect front and rear Pi2s. I wanted a non-shared
high capacity link for video. The rear Pi2 tethers wifi—>eth and this link stays up
even when there is no external wifi connection. Works well, and inexpensive.
I am working on internet connection issues with some progress, but suggestions/help
is welcome.
-I would like a high-gain antenna for poor/distant wifi in some campgrounds and sites.
-I need my own Access Point in case external wifi is MAC limited or unavailable. This AP
also allows me to provide a webpage based id/password to the external witi provider
using a cell-phone, tablet, or PC. An OSMC based browser is not here yet.
I tried getting connman to allow or provide both AP and STA on one wifi interface. In the end
I added a second interface (a $10 Edimax dongle) blacklisted it in /etc/connman.conf and
used hostapd and dnsmasq. This works intesting and perhaps is a better solution because it
provided for two different antennas. I have not yet packaged this so it survives updates etc.
Syncing the RV system with my home system is not started yet I’m tending to basing ir on
rsync but suggestions welcome.
