Install the Controller
After creating your online Designer account, you need to install a controller. You can install a controller on your existing computer hardware. We currently test OpenRemote distributions with Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Debian-based Linux distributions. Instructions for a wide range of systems can be found below.
Steps for installation on different systems
For the OpenRemote Designer, you need the OpenRemote Controller. First login into your OpenRemote Designer Account, you have already created. Select the ‘Download Resources’ button at the upper right corner of the user interface, and a GitHub window with the latest binary and source code files for OpenRemote Controller will open. In the section of the most recent release you go to Downloads and select the file OpenRemote_Controller.zip.
Next, uncompress the file and copy its directory tree to a folder (e.g. shProject) in your home directory. Under Windows, as well as under OS X, the home directory is the one you are in when opening a terminal window. The top level OpenRemote directory, which is called something like OpenRemote-Controller-2.6.0, you should best rename to a simpler name ORC260. With that, you have the start script for the OpenRemote controller below:
Mac OS X
ls -l | Display listing with the option – l (l for long), displays the content of the current directory, including hidden files and permissions |
ls -a | Display listing with the option -a also shows hidden files (e.g. all files starting with a period such as .bash profile are hidden) |
pwd | Print working directory – displays the path of the current directory |
cd .. | Change directory followed by a space and two dots – gets us one directory hierarchy up |
cd | Just typing cd gets us back to our home directory |
cd /target | Changes to the specified directory |
mkdir name | Create (make) directory |
man mdc | Show the manual entry for a command |
./ | The leading dot in a directory specification means “relative to the current directory” |
Java: Verification and Installation
First you need to verify if you have Java installed. To do this use the command:
When you now open System Preferences on your Mac, you will see a Java icon, the Java Control Panel. If you select General and About the Java version you have installed is being displayed.
If you are using Safari as your browser, make sure to also enable Java by selecting Preferences and Security. Then open Plug-in Settings… and add Java to the list of approved Plug-ins. You will now be able to verify your installed Java version with Safari using the link https://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp.
Setting the $JAVA_HOME variable
There is one more thing you need to do before you can start the OpenRemote controller, which is setting the $JAVA_HOME variable. $JAVA_HOME is used by Java programs to find the path of the Java files and needs to contain the full path to our Java installation. Under OS X and Linux, the list of locations or paths, which a program uses to search for executables is stored in the $PATH variable. There is a system wide and a user specific $PATH definition. We will just use the user specific $PATH variable at this point. The user specific $PATH definitions under OS X are contained in the file .bash_profile file in the user home directory. The (hidden) file .bash_profile might not exist yet in your home directory, which is why you probably will need to create it. (Type: ls -a in your home directory to list the hidden files.) We enter the following two commands in the terminal window:
java_home, which automatically returns a path suitable for the $JAVA_HOME environment variable. The command can be found in the directory /usr/libexec/. If you open a Terminal window, move to /usr/libexec/ and enter the command ./java_home, you will get something like:
Starting OpenRemote Controller for the First Time
The start script for the OpenRemote controller is openremote.sh in /shProject/ORC260/bin. When you do a long listing (ls -l) of the files in the ORC260/bin directory you can see that you do not yet have the execution right for the startup file yet. In case you are new to file permissions: File permissions in OS X and Linux are set in three groups (owner, group, everyone) with three symbols for each group receiving permissions. The symbols can contain:

Windows XP/7/8/10
You will now see a lot of text running by, which eventually will stop displaying something like:

Raspberry Pi
For instructions please see: Raspberry Pi
Synology NAS
For instructions please see: Synology NAS
Netgear ReadyNAS
QNAP NAS
OpenElec on CuBox
Ubuntu
For x86 CPU Architecture: Linux install instructions For ARM CPU Architecture follow instructions: Raspberry Pi
Fedora
For x86 CPU Architecture: Linux install instructions For ARM CPU Architecture follow instructions: Raspberry Pi
Debian
For x86 CPU Architecture: Linux install instructions For ARM CPU Architecture follow instructions: Raspberry Pi
For additional instructions for other operating system variants, please use the OpenRemote Community Website for documentation and support.
Moving on to the next step
Now that you have completed the Controller installation, it is time to head to Step 3: Download the Apps
Different Needs, Tailored Solutions
From a straightforward single account setup to your personal fully branded solution, including back-end services, OpenRemote provides you with the perfect solution.
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