Rpi 3B+ vs Rpi 4B - same SD card, different WeeWX behaviour

[Armando Esteves]

Upon going to upgrade WeeWX, took the leap to upgrade all: ie, 1-WeeWX, 2-Bskin and 3-hardware (Rpi). Sure indeed, opened 3 Pandora boxes... but before mixing too much, lets start with the "simple" and awkward behaviour (in recent post, I mentioned upgrading WeeWX to 4 and Bskin to 1.1b8, which lead to other troubles, but lets disregard this for now, as it is another SD card).

Original setting:

1. WeeWX 3.9.2
2. Bskin 1.1b7 (with MQTT)
3. Rpi 3B+

The awkward thing (and purpose note of this post) is that there is a hardware related Rpi conflict issue. That is:

A) SD card with original setting above on Rpi 3B+ works well and as expected

B) SAME SD card with original setting above on Rpi 4B is NOT updating data (charts) 

That is, if plug SD card into Rpi 3B+ works; if plug SD card into Rpi 4B it doesn't (while MQTT connected and ticking all time).

My WX website (temp Domain): 

http://www.appnea.net

Per this posting time, SD into Rpi  4B. You may notice no update since Dec5 11:55pm (can switch back to Rpi 3B+ per request).

Not sure if WeeWX or Bskin issue.

Note: PWS is WeatherFlow.

X 

[gjr80]

Don't see this as a WeeWX or a skin issue, rather one of hardware/OS compatibility. I am not surprised that a SD card with Linux setup for a RPi 3B+ does not work without change on a RPi 4. That's a bit like taking the hard disk out of my PC and plugging it into a different PC and expecting everything to work. Different hardware/drivers/libraries/config etc. Unfortunately I think you will need to install Linux on another card, install WeeWX, copy your WeeWX config/skins etc and any other supporting packages/conf (eg MQTT).

Gary

[Armando Esteves]

Oh no, it seems you right (no free lunch... and more hours).

Excerpt from a posting:

- How can i upgrade a pi3 SD card to pi4?

Short answer, you can't.
The Pi4 uses a new version of Raspbian (Buster) and upgrading from one version to the next (Stretch to Buster) is not recommended.
Longer answer, you shouldn't.
If you look online you'll find ways to upgrade an older version to a newer one, but that's not recommended because it's not likely to work as expected. You may corrupt your card and end up with a non-bootable OS. Or it may boot up fine, giving you hope, only to find loads of stuff broken.

The bottom line is, it's almost certainly easier to start over from a fresh install, using your old card as a reference, then it will be to try and upgrade and then troubleshoot all of the problems you'll run into. 

 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=243520

Now, re-thinking my strategies. 

[Vince Skahan]

On Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 11:06:56 PM UTC-8, gjr80 wrote:

 I am not surprised that a SD card with Linux setup for a RPi 3B+ does not work without change on a RPi 4.

disagree - I do this all the time between models.

Basically the SD will fine if you have the minimum version of Raspbian that the pi4 needs.  That is likely the issue.  He has an old version on the pi3b+.

Without more details in the original post such as the usual syslog with debug=1, we can't help much in exactly 'what' is not working, but it might be as simple as the usb subsystem not working.

Regardless, for moving to a pi4 it's definitely preferred to spin up a new SD card with a clean current Raspbian on it, then reinstall weewx and anything else you might have added to your old pi (if you have an old Raspbian on your original card).

[Xant]

After a brief hiatus and LOTS of work to build from scratch, I may say that Gary might be correct. That is, swapping SD card from RPi3 to RPi4 may not work.

Then went backwards and built RPi4 from scratch, installed all the latest regarding Raspian, WeeWX release (4.0.0b14) and Belchertown (1.1b9). Sure, went through usual difficulties in the way, but now ALL working accordingly.

To note, my weewx site also have some extras and mods, but all working fine.

In summary:

• RPi4
• Raspian vs-10 (buster)
• WeeWX 4.0.0b14
• WeatherFlow
• Python 3.7.3
• PyEphem 3.7.7.1
• Belchertown skin 1.1b9
• MQTT
• InfluxDB
• Grafana

http://appnea.net/

Best, Xant

[Xant]

Vince

It might be that 3B/4B SD card switch may work (with proper settings and some luck).

So, as a summary note for those out there, to try the switch (with low expectations to work), while Preferred method still to be a brand new SD and reload. Might take extra time, but might be worth it.

Meanwhile, a note that WeeWX 4.0.0b16 and Belchertown 1.1b9 still performing at no glitches.

X