I also have been having problems at times, but stick with it. Rooting is the best way to go. you get access to features that most wish they had, like "instant" on off, PC control through simple scripting, and robust rules that make sense (like using the wink app, i couldn't get my lights and PIR to stay on while i was in a room using the Wink's built in robots.. Now i have if elses and true conditionals).
Most of your problems seem to be just a small gap in wielding linux commands. That's not an insult- i have some of those problems too. However, once you get it working, you'll feel super awesome
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