Node-red on ubuntu - dumb question

General
21

Two different scenarios

  1. Installing / Upgrading - you can run the bash command from wherever you like as long as you run it just as is - no sudo in front of it. So yes running it from your home ~ directory is just fine.

  2. Adding EXTRA nodes manually (rather than using the manage palette option in the editor) - you MUST run npm i some-new-node-name from within the ~/.node-red directory as (like you say) it is installing the extra node into the Node-RED application space.

If the .node-red directory isn't there (as it may not be if you have never yet run Node-RED - then just run node-red command manually - once it has fully started (says running), then close it down again and the directory will now be there, and you can now add extra nodes manually. (The script creates it automatically so no need if you ran the script... eg from ~ as per 1 above).

22

I think you are blaming the node-red guys when you have jumped in at the deep end here without a real understanding of what is going on behind the scenes.

You are Cherry picking selective bits of knowledge and trying to do a fairly complex procedure that is out the realm of a newbie. I have told you both online and offline prior to this that the easiest way to get an environment running was to use the Peter Scargill script (based on your express wish to use a lot of his technology that he talks about in his blog) - i do not understand why you have stubbornly refused to do so and have then tried to do this from scratch - an operation that is plainly out of your comfort zone.

Yes learning is a good thing but not like this when you are coming across as though everyone else is at fault. Just because NR is a graphical environment does not mean it is point and click (although it can be if you install and configure on the recommended platform). You have however rushed into configuring a new system under some type of time constraint and with only bits and pieces of background knowledge - this is not going to be a well setup system and will probably have lots of ongoing issues.

Craig

23

If you read/edit the script that the curl command downloads then a lot more is made clear at to what it is doing and where it expects things to be placed.

Craig

24

Craig,

Pete's script is a superset of our script and installs a load of extra stuff that may or may not be needed/helpful. (sometimes it is/ sometimes not :-). Our script was developed for the Pi user to help get them going and try to set things it the correct places to just work... As it happens Raspbian is based off Debian is Ubuntu - so in fact the script does work on Ubuntu as well - but things like the default user won't be the same and so things do need to be tweaked slightly. We do point out in the docs that debian/ubuntu users can use the script - but there are plenty of other Linux distros out there where it wouldn't work (or certainly may not / aren't tested) - so the default linux instructions are indeed more manual.

In this instance from a clean ubuntu install - running the bash script as-is should be the best way to start.

25

Yep sorry - i have previously had off line conversations with the OP and he has tried to make some of Peters more esoteric stuff work - i therefore initially suggested he setup a Ubuntu VM and run it all through there (as Peter has a walk through on his site abot how to do it all).

Realise your script was the starting point - i just knew that he was going to want some of the more esoteric nodes Peter uses, plus i know it is bulletproof and just works so would have resolved a lot of the issues here

Craig

26

I am sort of doing what you said in a previous post.

Be it I am exploring un-charted areas or not, these "Cherry picking" things happen.
They don't help.
Be it I should or not actually be doing it, other people may also do it. Just they clam up and don't say anything.

I have (still) not got the time to get the VM installed with ubuntu and Peter's stuff. I do have other things happening, and my time allocations to such "luxuries" is somewhat limited.

I am NOT blaming people. Or I really hope I am not. I am SURE I keep saying I am not blaming people, but calling it as I am seeing it.

I have learnt that pointing a finger at someone: there are 4 pointing back at you.

90% of my life is OUTSIDE my comfort zone. Surely I am allowed to (now and then) take the time out to be INSIDE it.
If what you say was a 20 minute task, then sure, I would do it.
Installing Ubuntu is about 20 minutes. Updating it from 17, to 18 is another time span and then installing what Peter has is: more time.

I did NOT rush into installing it blindly. I have built about 10 other RPIs And this NUC with NR. As far as I know they work. Though of course that could be contested with all the "problems" I seem to be having. Which I guess does arch back to you saying:

But: Such is life.

I have to deal with what I have at that point in time. There is no MAGIC way of just getting it done.
I do not really like shirking things to others to get done. They learn. I don't. And there is no one I know good enough to give these tasks to. So I have to deal with them the best way I know.

On the last post.... Maybe.
But I seem to remember that once I wasn't in the .node-red directory and ran it.
Things went pear shaped quickly.
So I made the directory, changed into it and ran the script.
All good.
So I can only act on what I have seen and done.

I shall (now) try the update command from home (with no sudo, etc) and see what happens.
But that will be when I NEXT get a machine to do that one.
I am not going to scrap a machine and do it for the sake of "Let's see what happens".
It is queued.

Again I say I keep clarifying that I am not blaming people.
HOW I "come across" is probably due to how I was treated most of my life.
I know that is not really a good reason and seems more like an excuse, but again: I can only be myself and act on what I know.

I am trying to change, but as yet haven't found any good role models.
(And the change won't happen over night.)

27

Just to put all the cards on the table:

Just found this post/thread:
This looks familiar

As it was two days ago, I can't be 100% certain but.....

That looks very much like what was happening to me.
But weirdly their problem WAS on a RPI. Mine isn't/wasn't.

28

What user are you trying to do all of this as ?

What users have you created on the system and what permissions have you given them on the filesystem.

The three hours you spent installing/updating etc would have been better spent in working out why the NUC will not boot from a USB image on a stick, that way you could just install a clean Ubuntu 18.04 and run one set of updates on it.

You might also want to Install Webmin so you can see what updates are available and other general system management tasks.

The post you have linked to is about node-red not installing - your problem that you posted was that you could not work out how to get it to autostart at boot time

Craig

29

I got NR "installed" but I saw those errors, or errors so close it doesn't really matter.
So in the attempts to get it installed AND autobooting, I saw those errors which prompted me to start again.

It wasn't mentioned as it was in the "past" and I had got it working since then.

But this "proves" (re-enforces?) the fact that I wasn't just "seeing things" and I am glad (but not in a malicious way) that I am not the only one who saw those errors and they weren't figments of my imagination.

30

Actually it does matter. If they were exactly the same then it would have been useful to know, as we were struggling to narrow it down at the time. However that seems to be a fairly specific problem - but only for upgrades from one version of node.js/npm to another, and not for clean installs, so I don't think it is the same. As you never reported the actual error log messages we will never know.

Anyway - no matter - water under the bridge and all that. Hopefully Ubuntu is now up and running.

1 Like
31

Ok,

I agree. That was probably poorly worded by me.

At the time, I got errors on the "initial" install and from what I am seeing the errors I was seeing/getting are pretty well those.

At the time it wasn't deemed important enough to be "logged" and details taken, so I didn't.

Again: "My bad."

  • Initial.
    As in when I was trying to get NR installed from scratch on the new machine.
    Though you say those errors are only for NEW installs and not upgrades, maybe I ran the wrong script which caused the error and explains why NR didn't/wasn't working.
    But seeing the (oops, that info isn't available on scroll back) the error mentioning the wire node (etc) I do remember seeing that.
    Because I was wondering why/how the WIRE function could be missing, as it is such a crucial part of NR.