KNXLive! is not maintained anymore; the ISO CD image is no longer available for download.

Most of the software that was part of KNXLive! is still available here.

History

KNXLive! was a Live Linux based on Knoppix 5.0.1, introduced in 2005 and developed until the end of 2007. No further software configuration or installation was necessary to use the software to connect to an EIB/KNX installation. The KNXLive! CD contained

• Two BCU1/PEI16 device drivers
• An EIBnet/IP Tunnelling server ("Tweety"), which uses a BCU 1 with serial interface for EIB access
• A Java Library ("Calimero") for accessing EIBnet/IP Tunnelling servers, handling group data exchange using popular data point types and maintaining a simple point database
• A graphical demonstration client for Calimero
• A tool set for writing and downloading BCU applications, RAD-style ("BCU SDK")
• The powerful EIB access daemon ("eibd") of the BCU SDK
• BASys 2003, a novel approach towards planning and configuring installation bus systems
• The design of a versatile microcontroller based KNX TP1 and KNXnet/IP device ("KNXcalibur")

Outdated information

[ The current KNXLive! version is 0.3 (2007-11-13). ]
 

KNXLive! is based on Knoppix 5.0.1 (a number of software packages were removed to reduce the image size). True to the Live Linux spirit, there is no further software configuration or installation necessary to use the software on this CD to connect to an EIB/KNX installation.

The KNXLive! CD contains, pre-installed and ready to run:

• Two BCU1/PEI16 device drivers
• An EIBnet/IP Tunnelling server ("Tweety"), which uses a BCU 1 with serial interface for EIB access
  
• A Java Library ("Calimero") for accessing EIBnet/IP Tunnelling servers, handling group data exchange using popular data point types and maintaining a simple point database
  
• A graphical demonstration client for Calimero
• A tool set for writing and downloading BCU applications, RAD-style ("BCU SDK")
  
• The powerful EIB access daemon ("eibd") of the BCU SDK
• BASys 2003, a novel approach towards planning and configuring installation bus systems
• The design of a versatile microcontroller based KNX TP1 and KNXnet/IP device ("KNXcalibur")

The KNXLive concept, Tweety, Calimero and eibd as well as the BCU SDK are introduced in two presentations which were given at the 2005 KNX Scientific Conference.

All this software was developed at the Automation Systems Group at the Institute of Automation, TU Wien. It comes with the complete source code; most of it is under the GNU General Public License.

Some of the updates in KNXLive! 0.3:

• Experimental native Java, PHP and C# versions of the eibd client library
• Support for group message caching and keep-alive for management connections in eibd
• Example programs for the eibd Java and PHP client libraries (web-based visualization)
• The BCU SDK now supports UINT32/64 types for group objects and PEI handlers
• A preview of the upcoming major Calimero release offering EIBnet/IP Routing and Device Management support (including NAT), a flexible buffer facility for KNX network messages, device and network management services, logging, a highly modular new architecture, J2ME compatibility, and more.

Download

KNXLive 0.3 (07-11-13) (ISO CD image, 687 MB)

To start...

• Click the desktop icon "EIBnet/IP (KNXnet/IP) Server Setup Wizard " to turn your PC into an EIBnet/IP (KNXnet/IP) server with only a couple of mouse clicks. You will need a RS-232 (serial) or USB EIB/KNX interface for this.
• Click the desktop icon "Calimero Demo" to access your EIB installation via EIBnet/IP Tunnelling. You could also try this on another computer (of course, it should be on the same network as the one that is running the server). Moreover, you may of course also use any other EIBnet/IP Tunnelling server (e.g., the Siemens N146 IP Router or the N148/21 IP Interface). Select an EIBnet/IP server via "File » Connect", "Search" and "Connect". You should then already be able to watch EIB traffic. Record information about group addresses (including their associated data type) via "List » Adm. Point List". Note how this information is reflected in the traffic log. Then use "Read/Write » Read" and "Read/Write » Write" to query or update the state of the points (groups) in your list.
• If there is no DHCP server in your network, you will need to set up the configuration manually (Knoppix » Network/Internet » Network card configuration) . If your PC does not have any network adapter at all, you may want to try the following (you can choose any IP address and netmask):

  sudo modprobe dummy
  sudo ifconfig dummy0 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Links

• Martin Rau has written a Beginner's Guide to KNXLive which, in addition to a short introduction to what the software on KNXLive is all about, contains a lot of helpful information for people new to Linux/Knoppix.
• ETS from Version 3.0c on supports EIBnet/IP for bus access
• The Tweety Documentation also contains some background information about EIBnet/IP; no need to download the entire CD if you should only be interested in the Tweety 1.1.1 sources (version 1.1.1 fixes a memory allocation error in version 1.1)
• KNXLive! technical details
• The BCU SDK homepage
• The Calimero project homepage on SourceForge

Known bugs

• At least on our test system, the group monitor feature of ETS 3.0c/3.0d behaves erratically when using EIBnet/IP for bus access. Frequently, the traffic log window remains empty although Write_Group requests transmitted via the "Send" button properly appear on the bus. Since this happens as well with the Siemens N146 as EIBnet/IP server, the problem does not appear to lie with Tweety/eibd.
• Calimero has to present the EIBnet/IP server with the IP address of its host for connection establishment. This information is gathered through InetAddress.getLocalHost() and the NetworkInterface class. Because of the missing routing information, this method will only work properly if the host has a single Ethernet interface with a single IP address, otherwise it always takes the first IP address. This may lead to the EIBnet/IP server appearing to be unreachable. This is not relevant for connections to a locally running EIBnet/IP server..

The EIBnet/IP (KNXnet/IP) Server Setup Wizard

With KNXLive!, you do not need to install software on your system to connect to a KNX/EIB installation. True to this spirit, we wanted to make the startup as easy as possible, too!

The KNXnet/IP (EIBnet/IP) protocol allows to access a KNX/EIB installation via an IP network. ETS (since version 3.0, patch C), Calimero, and BASys 2003 are examples of applications that can use this protocol. KNXnet/IP server and client application can also run on the same PC.

Turn your PC into a KNXnet/IP server

A KNXnet/IP server can be a piece of hardware, for example the Siemens N146 IP Router or the N148/21 IP Interface. However, KNXLive! can also turn your PC into a KNXnet/IP server by following a simple on-screen dialogue. All you need is a serial (RS-232) or USB interface. Both BCU 1 and BCU 2 are supported.

Click the desktop icon "EIBnet/IP (KNXnet/IP) Server Setup Wizard" to start. Based on your selection, the setup wizard will automatically load the required drivers and start the appropriate server. If you have a BCU 1 with serial (RS-232) data interface (e.g., Siemens UP 110 + UP 146 or Siemens N148; BJE 6123, 6133, 6186/20), you will have the choice between two drivers and two servers. Choose the combination that works best for you, and please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. which one this is!

Resetting the address table length

The wizard has to modify the address table length of the interface BCU to work properly (the ETS does the same). It is suggested that you shut down the KNXnet/IP server (via the KNXLive! menu) before halting the system or before executing the wizard again to try another connection so that the previous value is safely restored. However, both of these cases should usually be handled automatically.

In case the previous address table length is not automatically restored to the BCU, use the "Address table length changer" from the KNXLive! menu to repair it. You do not need to care about the address table length of a BCU at all if you are using it BCU as a PC interface only.

Please feel free to contact us with questions or suggestions!