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Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3) beta test

Discussion and questions about Cumulus weather station software version 1. This section is the main place to get help with Cumulus 1 software developed by Steve Loft that ceased development in November 2014.
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Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3) beta test

Post by steve »

Yesterday, I "finished" the new version of Cumulus that I have been working on for some time now, which I am calling "Cumulus MX". By "finished", I mean that I have now implemented sufficient functionality for it to be made available for release for testing. It has about 90-95% of the functionality of the current version of Cumulus. I need to do some more testing on my Raspberry Pi and Macbook before I make the first beta available, but I hope to do that in the next few days, if I don't hit any major problems.

I thought that I would post a few notes, so that you know what to expect, and can ask any questions in advance.

It runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It does this by virtue of being a .NET console application (targeting .NET 4.5) and can thus run on Linux and OS X using Mono. Note that Mono is not a 'hack', it is a legitimate way of running .NET applications on platforms other than Windows (or even on Windows itself), and was written using the same international standards as .NET (large parts of which are now open source). Note that the .NET 4.5 cannot be installed on obsolete Windows XP, hence Cumulus MX does not run on XP.

Cumulus MX is a console application, i.e. it runs from the command line. It provides a GUI which runs in a browser by acting as a webserver. The GUI consists of a number of HTML pages backed by JavaScript, and it supplies JSON encoded data to the browser, via a WebSocket interface for frequently changing current data, and by HTTP 'Get' requests for other data (so it can be retrieved by Ajax calls, for example). It thus requires a relatively 'modern' browser, i.e. one capable of handling HTML5 and web sockets. The major browsers have had the required support for some years now. Because of this architecture, the UI does not have to run on the same PC as the 'engine'.

For the most part, the supplied interface is 'responsive', i.e. it will adapt to different screen sizes and will hopefully work reasonably well on mobile devices.

Cumulus MX is intended to be as close to a 'drop in' replacement to the current Cumulus as possible. I could have taken the opportunity to write a completely new redesigned application from scratch, but the thought of how much work that would involve was just too depressing, so I have basically 'translated' as much of the existing code as possible. If you are looking for something that doesn't have the 'quirks' of the the current Cumulus, you should look elsewhere.

It currently produces no image files in the way that Cumulus 1 does. The graphs are generated from JSON data using JavaScript, both in the user interface, and on the default supplied web site. The gauges, again both in the UI and the web site, are a modified version of Mark's 'SteelSeries' gauges. If you haven't seen the new standard web site already, you can see it here - http://sanday.org.uk/weather/. Most of the pages are the same as the existing ones.

Cumulus MX has the same web tag processing that Cumulus 1 has; a few of the web tags are not yet supported. There is an unfortunate issue with the 'format' parameter on those web tags which provide one. The .NET date and time format characters are not exactly the same as the Delphi ones which Cumulus 1 uses. So if you have used those anywhere, you will need to change them to work with Cumulus MX. It is possible that a converter will be produced at some point.

My intention is that Cumulus MX will replace Cumulus 1 as the current, supported, version of Cumulus. Once it is out of beta, I will start adding new features to it. It is likely that some users of Cumulus 1 will not like the new version. They can of course continue to use Cumulus 1, but I will be offering less and less support in the forum for that version as time goes on.

There are probably lots of other things that I intended to say now, but I've forgotten what they were. When I think of them, I'll post them. If you have any questions at all, please do ask them - by replying in this thread. Please don't send me a private message or email, unless your question really is something that needs to be asked or answered in private.

I'm intending that it will be a 'closed' beta. I will start a new section of the forum to which beta testers will be given access, along with the download link. If you would like to be a beta tester, please reply to this thread saying so, and please give the type of weather station that you intend to test with, and the platform (i.e Operating System) you will be running it on. Be aware that testing is not going to be easy, it may not work at all for some people; diagnosis of problems may be difficult, and I will be relying on you to provide useful information to help me. It would be of great help if you are expert in either Linux or OS X, because I know next to nothing about those.

The Cumulus MX section of the forum is now open to all. You will need to be a registered user to download the file.

Please note: The purpose of the beta test is for you to TEST THE SOFTWARE for me! You will need to be familiar with how the current version of Cumulus works, and have some expertise in operating the platform that you intend to run MX on.
Steve
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by mcrossley »

Great news Steve, one quick question, as it runs under Mono does that mean it does not need recompiling for each Linux platform? If it does which platforms would you compile it for? I'm thinking of buying something with a bit more grunt than the RPi.
Last edited by mcrossley on Fri 26 Dec 2014 7:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by steve »

mcrossley wrote: as it runs under Mono does that it does not need recompiling for each Linux platform?
The same executable runs on any platform for which a version of Mono exists, and this includes things like the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PS3. The USB support in Cumulus MX will only work on Windows, Linux and OS X, however, and it's possible that some of the other components are also limited to those operating systems. The flavour of Linux doesn't matter, as long as it has support for hidraw (for USB stations), and I imagine that all of them do.
Steve
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by PaulMy »

If you would like to be a beta tester, please reply to this thread saying so, and please give the type of weather station that you intend to test with, and the platform (i.e Operating System) you will be running it on.
Hopefully not out of my ability but I am willing to try.
Davis VP2 USB
Windows 8

Paul
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C1 www.komokaweather.com/komokaweather-ca
MX www.komokaweather.com/cumulusmx/index.htm /index.html /index.php
MX www.komokaweather.com/cumulusmxwll/index.htm /index.html /index.php
MX www. komokaweather.com/cumulusmx4/index.htm

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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by prodata »

Yes please. Might be useful if it's possible to give any indication of the minimum spec of Linux box that this would run under - appreciate that this could be difficult without detailed testing, but even rough ideas would be handy. Think MeteoBridge as a comparison. I might have other questions but perhaps better pursued privately.
John Dann
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by steve »

prodata wrote:Might be useful if it's possible to give any indication of the minimum spec of Linux box that this would run under
I have no way of knowing. It seems to be working OK so far on a Raspberry Pi model B, and using very little CPU percent most of the time.
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by uncle_bob »

Hi Steve,
This is great news! I appreciate the work and man hours this has taken.
I'm be keen to test this out.
Currently my station runs on Server 2008 64 Bit but I can run a VM of any Windows operating system you'd like.
I'm using the Werk's Weather Pro 2 station with emulates the Davis Pro2/Vue protocol.

Cheers UB
Interested in building your own Weather Station? Maybe check out the WeatherDuino Pro Project Here
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by beteljuice »

"Cumulus MX" - Peace On Earth and Goodwill to All Beta Teaters ......
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by captzero »

"Cumulus MX".... I like it.

Happy to help out.

Vantage Pro 2 / Windows 8.1

Cheers
Dan

http://www.brisbaneliveweather.com




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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by MackerelSky »

Prolly a stupid question Steve, but can MX and the current Cumulus run on the same computer at the same time or will I have to suspend the current version to test the new?

I'm currently using a laptop running windows 7, keeping the machine on 24hrs a day hooked up to my Davis VP2.

If I can help I will...

Brad

Great news on dropping the 'donation' classification. You've more than earned it and people will still use your product...
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by steve »

MackerelSky wrote:Prolly a stupid question Steve, but can MX and the current Cumulus run on the same computer at the same time or will I have to suspend the current version to test the new?
You can't run both at the same time unless you use Virtual VP, but you may or may not have problems using that depending on (I think) the firmware version in your console and perhaps other factors. People already using Virtual VP can probably offer more advice here. I'll give it a try myself when I get chance.
Steve
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by Werk_AG »

Hi Steve,

I would like to test it, I have an Raspberry PI model B waiting for it since some time... :)
I do not know if I will have the knowledge to put it into operation, although I use Linux with some frequency.
My weather station is a homemade one (WeatherDuino Pro2), that emulates a Davis VP2.

Thank you for your hard work.

Werk_AG
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by water01 »

Hello Steve. I would like to apply. I would run it on it on Windows 7 and Rasperian using a Fine Offset 1081 and in the New Year a WeatherDino Pro2.
David
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by uncle_bob »

MackerelSky wrote:Prolly a stupid question Steve, but can MX and the current Cumulus run on the same computer at the same time or will I have to suspend the current version to test the new?
You can do this with the Weatherduino Pro 2 system, though you do need two receiver units to do so.
Apologies for being off topic. Feel free to delete this post if necessary.
Interested in building your own Weather Station? Maybe check out the WeatherDuino Pro Project Here
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Re: Cumulus MX (Cumulus 3)

Post by WestOz »

Count me in please.

Fine Offset WH2081 on Win 7 (64bit) plus testing Windows Technical Preview (Win v10) on my Laptop.

Ian
Website : http://www.collegegrove.info
on the Indian Ocean coast of Western Australia (down the bottom left-hand corner of Oz)
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