The TVBox is a brand new product.  Easy to read documentation will be available soon!

Unpack your new TVBox.

Connect it to your ethernet network that has access to the Internet

Ideally connect an HDMI monitor and USB keyboard / mouse.

Power it up and wait.

When the screen shows the Allonis desktop - all is up and running!

 

Thank you for purchasing Allonis's myServer TVBox controller.

The TVBox hardware includes a licensed copy of Allonis's myServer control software.  myServer is highly configurable and expandable.  Additional software licenses are available to extend it's capability.

The base myServer TVBox is  licensed for:

  • Turn compatible IP TVs on / off (Sony / LG / Samsung and some others - licensed for up to 20)
  • IP bi-directional control of DirecTV receivers (licensed for up to 8 receivers)
  • Compatible video matrix control (Allonis's Video over IP, HDTVSupply HDBaseT and Video Over IP, AVPro MXNet, Monoprice, etc)

 All Systems:

It is very important to follow the text documentation (starting below).  There are some YouTube tutorials that should be used as an overview, but the text documentation should be followed as it has more detail, ability to "copy / paste" from, and it updated much more frequently.  Check off each step that you accomplish.

The documentation assumes you have some computer networking background.  "Ping", "DHCP", "Static addressing" "Conflicting IP Address", "WiFi Access Point", are basic networking concepts that there are tons of online documentation to learn from.  Or ask questions on Allonis's forum.

myServer controller (and all other sensitive electronics) should not be "power cycled".  This is "Russian Roulet" if you power cycle the system while it is in a "Write" cycle, it will corrupt the memory forcing a complete system reprogramming (not a good day).  Connecting the Controller to a good Uniteruptible Power Supply (UPS) helps prevent inadvertant power cycling events.  Allonis also has available UPSs that myServer can monitor for a graceful power down when battery gets near depletion.

All systems ship configured with "DHCP networking"...so the IP address will be what your DHCP server (typically the router) gives to it.  You can assign a static (never changing) address to it once you have it booted.  You can also reserve an IP address in your DHCP server.  It is important that your IP address does not change or your web client devices (like an iPad) won't be able to connect to it.

Rust software is used by Allonis to provide remote assistance.  If you would like to shut Rust connectivity off, click on Dashboard (once you get myServer up and running) and the icon to the left of the Rust icon at the top of the page.  Select Yes to shut off TV.  You can also click on the Raspberry Desktop on the Rust icon on the lower right tray if you have a monitor / mouse connected to myServer.  Follow the directions in the link provided here.  When Rust is running (the default), Allonis can easily log in and provide support.  If you want to lock this down from happening, simply shut Rust off.

 

myServer TVBox Getting Started

  1. Remove the myServer controller from it's shipping and packaging box.
  2. Inside, you will find a black box with the power supply.
  3. Connect the ethernet port to your Internet accessible ethernet switch.  The "Control Network" is the ethernet / wifi network that all of your devices are connected to.
  4. Connect the included wall mounted power supply into a properly scaled UPS that minimizes unintended power cycles.  
  5. Plug the coaxial mini jack on the end of the power supply into it's corresponding jack.
  6. You can optionally plug the Primary HDMI port into a PC monitor (recommended for ease of monitoring progress).  You can also optionally plug a wireless keyboard / mouse into the USB2.0 port (recommended for ease of initial configuration).
  7. The system should boot upon seeing power. 
  8. Once the system is booted (about 3 minutes), from any Browser device (like a PC running Chrome), go to "http://myserver/dashboard" , you can also use http://ipaddress/dashboard.  You can determine the IP address by looking in your Router's connected client list.  You can also see the current IP address on the Raspberry OS desktop if you have a monitor / mouse connected.
  9. If you have a monitor / keyboard connected, and are viewing the Raspberry OS desktop, on the bottom right tray might be a software Updater button.  If that displays, you can update the operating system by clicking it an choosing Update.    This can take a few minutes.  Reboot the system post update.  You may need to connect an HDMI monitor for the TVBox to boot post some updates.

  10. You can change the computer name to whatever you want (keep it simple with no symbols and no spaces) by clicking on the computer name field in Dashboard.  Hit the "Play" button to the field left after you edit the SetHostName command with your wanted computer name.  System will reboot post updating.  This myServer function also updates the Rust alias to the same as Computer name which helps Allonis manage Remote Assistance.

  11.  Download and install latest myServer from the myServer Software Updater (right side of Dashboard).  Once done, you can update the Operating system by clicking on Dashboard's Utilities Tab / Linux OS updates.  If there are updates, the tab will illuminate that there are updates available for the OS.    Click on Check for Updates. You can update them by clicking Apply Updates.  You should then click on Utilities / Reboot Host for all updates to be applied.

  12. All is now updated and ready for your implementation!

 

All systems

  1. Click on Dashboard / Configuration / Owner Information and complete all fields.
  2. Click on the Dashboard / Configuration / Licensing and click the Activate button at the bottom to activate your license to your Raspberry Pi hardware.  Licenseing is a manual Allonis process and typically takes a day.  After your next myServer restart, the license should be made permanent for the number of licenses purchased (typically 175 units).  The system will be in a 30 day trial mode (300 units typically) until it is permanently licensed.
  3. Now that you have myServer up and running, you can add device drivers and templates to configure your system using the Software Updater in Dashboard.  Follow the "Configure myServer" link below in sequence.  
  4. Tip: to clear the Cache in your browser.  Easiest way is to right click on the webpage (like Dashboard).  Then click Inspect.  A window will pop open.  At the original Dashboard webpage, click and HOLD the browser refresh button.  Slide down and click the Clear Cache and Reload button.
    You should then see the latest and greatest.  Latest Allonis templates auto update browser cache on their own so this tip is for FYI purposes only.

    As the software gets updates, many times the Javascript also gets updated.  Clearing Cache forces the browser to grab the latest (and not use the old stuff that is in the browser's cache).  Using cache is really helpful to speed up page loads so all that "stuff" doesn't have to be network dragged in with each page load.  So pages load much faster.
  5. Support:

Use the Allonis.com Forum for your questions and answers.  Phone and remote connection assistance is also available as a premium option.  You can purchase support hours in Allonis.com's online Shop.  Look up the Rust ID on the http://ipaddress/dashboard top middle section.  Provide this to Allonis for remote assistance.

Next step - Configure myServer!

 

TVBox Tidbits

 If this is the first Linux computer you have interacted with:

XFCE is the name of the desktop.  So your settings (like color, icon sizes, menu options etc) are configured in XFCE settings.

You can access network settings by: 

Opening Terminal Editor and typing:  sudo apt install network-manager-gnome and hit ENTER

After it installs, click on Applications (top left) and then Settings and then Advanced Network Configuration.

You can then enter your Ethernet network settings

If you want to enable Wifi, then, click the + sign and click the connection type dropdown, select Wifi and click Create. 

You can then enter your Wifi SSID network settings:

 

Optional: Enabling Wifi network

Recommended nm-connection-editor Wi-Fi Settings:
  • General Tab:
    • Automatically connect to this network when it is available: Checked.
    • All users may connect to this network: Checked (optional, but prevents delays waiting for user login for security apps).
    • Priority: Set higher numbers (e.g., 100) for preferred networks (5GHz) and lower for slower ones (2.4GHz).
  • Wi-Fi Tab:
    • Mode: Infrastructure.
    • Band: Prefer 5 GHz to reduce interference.
    • Cloned MAC Address: Keep empty or set to "stable" to enhance privacy.
  • Wi-Fi Security:
    • Security: WPA2 or WPA3 Personal.
  • IPv4 Settings Tab:
    • Method: Automatic (DHCP).
    • Route Metric: Lower numbers mean higher priority (e.g., set to 100).

 

 

myServer does not need IPV6 networking.  Some users have had issues of intermittant network disconnects.  We disabled IPV6 networking from the myServer controller PI and this likely resolved the issue.  IPV6 can be disabled from the Linux Desktop by clicking on the bottom right networking icon and go into Settings and Disable IPV6 (not exact procedure but should get you close).

Optional: To disable IPv6 on a Linux device, you can perform the following steps:

1) Log in with root privileges

2) Open the /etc/sysctl.conf file with the following command:

$ sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

3) Add the following lines to it:

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.tun0.disable_ipv6 = 1

4) Save the file and reboot your device with the following command:

$ sudo reboot

5) Verify that IPv6 is disabled by running the following command:

$ ip a | grep inet6