Raspberry Pi flavoured Cumulus MX - How it's gone for me.

[TonyG]

I have installed CumulusMX on a Raspberry Pi verB rev 2 256mb. The Pi is running the latest version of Raspbian as distributed with the NOOBS package. The station in use is a Fine Offset WH1081 which I have been using for quite a few years with Cumulus 1.9x. on an old XP laptop. I started with a base knowledge of zero about Linux and the Pi so Google became my new best friend. (I did start using PCs in the days of DOS though - so not too big a shock) I am lucky enough to have two weather consoles so have been able to keep on running on 1.9.4 whilst experimenting with the new setup.

I have no real knowledge of html, java and all the other stuff I see on this forum that always leaves me with a deep sense of inadequacy! Luckily I have always liked the web page layouts and don't feel the need to modify them beyond a few text changes. The instructions here are thorough - read them - I did not and asked an already answered question! I started with a totally clean install and have not yet tried to use my old data. So far I have encountered no problems and everything appears to be working as it should. I will miss the old program interface - but I'm sure the new dashboard will become just as comfortable. I just need to figure out the removal of solar gauges on the website and I'm done fiddling for a bit.

For those thinking of going down this route with no prior knowledge I will just mention two programs that make life easier. On the Pi - 'Samba' - which lets the Pi be seen on a windows network and with the right permissions lets you copy, move and edit files on and to the Pi. On the PC - 'Putty' - which sets up a terminal window so that you can run the Pi headless i.e. no screen or keyboard. Use Putty in conjunction with 'screen' on the Pi and you can then close the Putty session without also terminating CumulusMX. I'm sure there are numerous other solutions to both these aspects but these worked for me.

So to sum up. No problems at all so far. Sorry, not much of a Beta test - but thanks for a great bit of software! (happy to donate again when it comes out of Beta)

www.astroadventures.co.uk/weather2/

[Big Daddy]

Hi Tony,
I am just coming to where you have been. Got my Raspberry PI 2 at the weekend and although I have always been a "Windows" man aI m having fun learning. I too have Samba loaded on the PI and Putty on my Windows machine and have now come to look at having a go with Cumulus MX. Unfortunately I only have one weather station to play with but next step is to get MX running on the PI.

I know where to come to help now though.

Andy

http://www.midlifedad.me.uk

[TonyG]

Hi Andy,glad to help if I can. It might be a case of the blind leading the blind though!

[malkie]

You might want to add FileZilla to your list of useful tools. You may already use it to upload web pages for Cumulus 1, make sure ftp is running on the Pi (I think it runs by default as part of Arabian) and then you can connect to the Pi using FileZilla and copy, move and delete files on the Pi easily.

I have set my Pi to a fixed IP which makes life easier. Again, Google is your friend, there are plenty of instructions out there to show you how to do this.

Mark and Steve uses WinSCP which gives similar functions to Putty and FileZilla and does not need Samba running on the Pi.

[TonyG]

Thanks Malcom. I fixed the ip address on the pi a few days ago! As you say it makes life much easier. I'll give WinSCP a look and thanks for the tip about FileZilla. I never even considered using ftp to manage files on the pi.

[slashmusic]

T I'll give WinSCP a look and thanks for the tip about FileZilla. I never even considered using ftp to manage files on the pi.

BY default, there is no FTP Server installed on the Raspberry Pi and on the most Raspberry Pi OS (I assume you want to use Raspbian which is a Debian Linux)
As far as I am aware, Filezilla only offers FTP and SFTP but both are FTP Protocolls, which need an installed FTP Server on the Pi.
But winscp is using Filetransfer based on SSH and SSH is installed on every Linux System. So WINSCP should always work to transfer files from and to a Raspberry pi.
If you want to use FTP you need to install one of the available FTP Server Daemons which is not so easy. Or am I wrong?
So your first choice should be WINSCP.

[rogerthn]

I've never tried WINSCP but I do now that FileZilla is working if ssh (e.g. PuTTY) is working
Host: name/IP of the PI
Username: pi
Password: piPassword
Port: 22

[pns1953]

Yes despite the acronym, SFTP doesn't use the FTP protocol, but is a subsystem of SSH, so if 'sshd' is running (which I think it is by default on the Pi) then any SFTP client should work. It's also much better if you need secure remote access to your system since SSH / SFTP only needs a single port opened / forwarded on your firewall / router.