So I heard about this hh pro thing floating around and decided to give it a spin yesterday. Wanted something simple for my home server setup, and folks kept saying it’s dead easy. Spoiler: it mostly is, but man I tripped over some dumb stuff along the way.
Step 1: Grabbing the files
First thing – downloaded the package straight from their page. Dunno why they hid the zip file behind three clicks though. Unzipped it into my Projects folder like always. Saw this weird _dependencies folder inside and almost deleted it – glad I didn’t, ’cause it actually mattered later.
Step 2: The install mess
Opened terminal and ran their script like the docs said. Bam! Errors about missing permissions. Forgot I was logged in as user, not root. Swore at the screen, ran sudo !! and it chugged along. Then it asked for config options – just hammered enter on everything ’cause default settings usually work fine. Mistake.
Step 3: Fixing my lazy config
Tried starting the service with hh start and got connection refused. Realized I skipped setting the network port. Dug into /etc/hh/* and changed port from 8080 to 9000 ’cause my old project still hogged 8080. Restarted – still broken. Panic-sweated for 20 mins before noticing a typo: wrote “prot=9000” instead of “port=9000“. Facepalmed hard.
Step 4: Testing the magic
After fixing the typo, ran hh status and finally saw “ACTIVE”. Opened browser to localhost:9000 and got their ugly blue landing page. Worked! Tested file transfers between my laptop and Pi – dragged a 100MB video file, took like 3 seconds. Shockingly smooth. But then tried on my phone and… nothing. Forgot to open firewall ports on my router. Logged in, forwarded UDP 9001 (weird they use separate ports) and bam – phone synced.
What actually helps
Three things I wish I knew upfront:
- CHECK PORTS FIRST: Run netstat -tuln before installing. Would’ve saved me an hour.
- Copy config templates: The sample files in examples/ are clearer than the docs. Just rename and edit.
- Firewall always wins: Either disable it for testing or set rules BEFORE starting.
Total setup time? About 3 hours including my dumb mistakes. Runs solid now though – even left it transferring overnight while binge-watching Star Trek. Thing didn’t crash once. Would I recommend? Yeah, if you skip the stupid stuff I did.
