Raspberry pi 3 and davis vp2

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi I am new here, I am trying to cut power consumption cost and have read a bit about the pi's so bought a raspberry pi 3 however I am now faced with my worst nightmare

I don't like have to do code just like to put software on machine plug station in and go so thought if I waited a bit for the pi's to become more established somebody would write

 a program that I could put on usb stick then plug into pi and run, is this even possible without the need of writing code.

Best Regards Geoff    

[Andrew Milner]

You don't have to write code to run weewx.  Download weewx and configure it for the simulator.  When you are happy all is working as it should do THEN you can switch to connecting to the vp2. 

READ THE USER GUIDE from end to end to understand weewx.

READ the customisation guide from end to end even if just to get to know what is in the documentation

READ the sections on changing drivers.

Get used to basic LINUX administration, using the command line and using a text editor to edit configuration files.

Enjoy weewx

[Rhyl Weather]

HI thanks for your reply, I will have a read though, its just a little daunting when you have been running on a pc for years

now thinking of cutting the cost so thought it was time for the change.

Regards Geoff  

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Regards Geoff Senior Weather Observer Prestatyn Weather Station

Met Office Climate site Run by Volunteers for the community. 

northwales...@btinternet.com

prestaty...@btinternet.com

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=EW4701

http://www.pwsweather.com/obs/STORM1968.html

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IRHYL2

https://twitter.com/MW6GCN

[vince]

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 12:30:06 PM UTC-7, Rhyl Weather wrote:

HI thanks for your reply, I will have a read though, its just a little daunting when you have been running on a pc for years

now thinking of cutting the cost so thought it was time for the change.

Well, it 'will' be a cost in the value of your time and blood pressure if you are a windows-only person who is not command-line capable at this time. That said, 'lots' of people have been there before.  If you can install Raspbian onto a SD card and get the pi booted, installing  weewx will just-plain-work out of the box with just a little work.  Configuring your site to upload to WU and PWS and the like is just a matter of editing one config file and restarting the weewx software, so it's not 'that' tough notionally.

Invest a little bit of your time and try the edx.org Linux class at  https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-linux-linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-0 and at least get minimally confortable with stuff before you go too far.   It's all self-paced and totally free.

Re: the pi, follow the pi foundation instructions at https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/ for how to download and install Raspbian on a SD card.  They're pretty straightforward.

[Rhyl Weather]

Thanks again for your advise, I am sort of I think anyway looking forward to the experience (I think) I have been running with cumulus now for around 5 yrs only ever turning pc off for maintenance. I also use the same software to update weather sites all over the world, so really want this to be painless as possible that said I will keep in a good supply of pain killers and blood pressure tablets.

Regards Geoff 

Senior Weather Observer Met Office Weather Station Prestatyn North Wales     

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[Rhyl Weather]

Hi I bit the bullet today and tried to install mono today all going well until the end when I got a message saying the assembly mscorlib dll was not found or could no be found, so not sure were I have gone wrong and that is me stuck at the 1st hurdle.

Geoff

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 11:26:53 PM UTC+1, Rhyl Weather wrote:

Thanks again for your advise, I am sort of I think anyway looking forward to the experience (I think) I have been running with cumulus now for around 5 yrs only ever turning pc off for maintenance. I also use the same software to update weather sites all over the world, so really want this to be painless as possible that said I will keep in a good supply of pain killers and blood pressure tablets.

Regards Geoff 

Senior Weather Observer Met Office Weather Station Prestatyn North Wales     

On 22 July 2016 at 20:53, vince <vince...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 12:30:06 PM UTC-7, Rhyl Weather wrote:

HI thanks for your reply, I will have a read though, its just a little daunting when you have been running on a pc for years

now thinking of cutting the cost so thought it was time for the change.

Well, it 'will' be a cost in the value of your time and blood pressure if you are a windows-only person who is not command-line capable at this time. That said, 'lots' of people have been there before.  If you can install Raspbian onto a SD card and get the pi booted, installing  weewx will just-plain-work out of the box with just a little work.  Configuring your site to upload to WU and PWS and the like is just a matter of editing one config file and restarting the weewx software, so it's not 'that' tough notionally.

Invest a little bit of your time and try the edx.org Linux class at  https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-linux-linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-0 and at least get minimally confortable with stuff before you go too far.   It's all self-paced and totally free.

Re: the pi, follow the pi foundation instructions at https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/ for how to download and install Raspbian on a SD card.  They're pretty straightforward.

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Met Office Climate site Run by Volunteers for the community. 

northwalesweatherlab@btinternet.com

prestatynweather@btinternet.com

[Andrew Milner]

|Why not keep it simple at first??  You do not need mono to install or run run weewx on a RPi.  You seem to be complicating things for no reason!!

On Sunday, 24 July 2016 19:39:24 UTC+3, Rhyl Weather wrote:

Hi I bit the bullet today and tried to install mono today all going well until the end when I got a message saying the assembly mscorlib dll was not found or could no be found, so not sure were I have gone wrong and that is me stuck at the 1st hurdle.

Geoff

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 11:26:53 PM UTC+1, Rhyl Weather wrote:

Thanks again for your advise, I am sort of I think anyway looking forward to the experience (I think) I have been running with cumulus now for around 5 yrs only ever turning pc off for maintenance. I also use the same software to update weather sites all over the world, so really want this to be painless as possible that said I will keep in a good supply of pain killers and blood pressure tablets.

Regards Geoff 

Senior Weather Observer Met Office Weather Station Prestatyn North Wales     

On 22 July 2016 at 20:53, vince <vince...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 12:30:06 PM UTC-7, Rhyl Weather wrote:

HI thanks for your reply, I will have a read though, its just a little daunting when you have been running on a pc for years

now thinking of cutting the cost so thought it was time for the change.

Well, it 'will' be a cost in the value of your time and blood pressure if you are a windows-only person who is not command-line capable at this time. That said, 'lots' of people have been there before.  If you can install Raspbian onto a SD card and get the pi booted, installing  weewx will just-plain-work out of the box with just a little work.  Configuring your site to upload to WU and PWS and the like is just a matter of editing one config file and restarting the weewx software, so it's not 'that' tough notionally.

Invest a little bit of your time and try the edx.org Linux class at  https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-linux-linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-0 and at least get minimally confortable with stuff before you go too far.   It's all self-paced and totally free.

Re: the pi, follow the pi foundation instructions at https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/ for how to download and install Raspbian on a SD card.  They're pretty straightforward.

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Regards Geoff Senior Weather Observer Prestatyn Weather Station

Met Office Climate site Run by Volunteers for the community. 

northwales...@btinternet.com

prestaty...@btinternet.com

[Rhyl Weather]

Ok I missed something somewhere or more that likely got confused as been reading a lot about cumulus mx and I think that requires mono.

I will have another read on weewx 

Thanks Vince

   Regards Geoff  

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi Andrew, what would you suggest installing 1st then reading myself  I thought trying setup.py as it says it puts all files in one place unlike setup.py. as it says that split up,  If I have read it right this time.

Geoff

On 24 July 2016 at 17:45, Andrew Milner <andrew.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Andrew Milner]

Geoff

I would suggest

1.  Start your pi again from the beginning with a fresh debian install

2.  I use the setup method, many others use the .deb method - the only difference is in where things get put and what you are comfortable using

3.  Get Cumulus out of your head for now!!  Cumulus is for windows, weewx is for Linux.  Only try and run windows software on Linux when you are more familiar with Linux (and the rpi)

Above all else - do not try and run before you can walk, and read, read and re-read the documentation - or even print it out so that you have something you can just 'flick through' and mark-up with your comments and reminders.

Andrew

[gjr80]

Hi,

I find asking what installation method to use a little like asking for legal advice; ask 10 people and you will get 10 different opinions. You will find some guidance in the docs here. Whilst packages are put forward as being recommended for beginners I know some find having everything in the one place to be a bonus. When I am developing I prefer to use setup.py because of the 'all in one place' approach, makes backup and recovery much quicker. My on-line system uses deb though. The main thing is that no matter what method you use, remember what method you used and don't chop and chnage - you will trip yourself up and edit the wrong config file and always be cognisant of permissions.

Gary

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi thanks have installed python now downloaded weewx then it asked for id and password, I don't remember setting one

 

[Andrew Milner]

You will have to be more precise than that!!

What exactly asked for an id and password??  What command did you give??

[Rhyl Weather]

When I went to install weewx it asks for Id and password before it completely installed I think I have sorted that now went back to pi config set password there then went back to weewx and left id as pi and put in password that I sent seem to carry on installing then once it had done just went off  

[Rhyl Weather]

just to add if I go back to downloads then click on weewx_3.5.0.1_all.deb and then I went to install thats when it asked for password

[Liz]

On Mon, 25 Jul 2016 06:01:25 +0100
Rhyl Weather <weathe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> just to add if I go back to downloads then click on
> weewx_3.5.0.1_all.deb and then I went to install thats when it asked
> for password
>

That screen needs your pi username and your password. you are giving
permission to install the program.

Liz

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi Liz worked that one out and continued install then it finished, went to add / remove software did a search for weewx and it is there and in the box below it says what it is about, not sure on next move

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[Andrew Milner]

 have not used the deb install, or the GUI I am afraid - so cannot help very much. 

Many commands require sudo to be used, and it is likely that when done via the GUI you are asked for your pi password (just guessing)

PS - how is sunny Rhyll??  Have flown along the North Wales coastline many times en route from Ince Blundell to Caernarfon - and even made a forced landing near Point of Ayr several years ago!!

[Liz]

On Mon, 25 Jul 2016 06:15:59 +0100
Rhyl Weather <weathe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Liz worked that one out and continued install then it finished,
> went to add / remove software did a search for weewx and it is there
> and in the box below it says what it is about, not sure on next move

Edit the configuration file
suggest start with simulation
start weewx

observe for results

sort out any problems

attach weather machine / sensors
change config and restart weewx

Liz

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi I think I may have missed something somewhere, I am going to hit reboot pi and shift to re do everything I have done to pi and start a fresh starting by downloading Python then follow instructions that I have printed out

Sorry not good at these things really Geoff 

Liz

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[Andrew Milner]

1.  Make sure you have ALL the dependancies - not just python

2.  Print out the quick guide and the user guide

3.  Read the guides

4.  Follow the guides

5. PAUSE

6.  Make sure you can use the command line commands to locate everything (locations are in the guides)

7.  Make sure you can use a TEXT editor such as nano to edit the conf files if needed - search the web for instructions

8. PAUSE

9. Try and get the simulator running (as Liz suggested).  If you are not going to be using the generated html pages then you will need a 'test' WU account to avoid messing up your real one - which I assume is still being updated by cumulus and the vp2.

PAUSE

10. Make sure all looks good

PAUSE

11. Find the section of the guides related to changing drivers - and change the simulator to the vp2 - as described in the user/customisation guide

ABOVE ALL - DO NOT GUESS - LOOK IN THE DOCUMENTATION and READ and READ again the documentation so that you at least are aware of the contents and what is inside the manuals. They are very very good and just about all you need to know is in one of the manuals/guides.

WALK WALK WALK WALK and take your time - especially if you are not 'comfortable' with Linux, the RPi and weewx.

[gjr80]

Sorry to intrude but what OS have you installed on the RPi? If you have limited experience I would have expected you would be using Raspbian or NOOBs. Raspbian includes python, no need to download or install it. The only python related code that needs to be downloaded/installed (otehr than weewx) are a few python libraries eg python-Cheetah, python-imaging etc. Haven't used NOOBs myself but I understand it recommends installing Raspbian. It sounds to me like there is something amiss here that is far more fundamental than installing weewx.

Gary

[Andrew Milner]

Hi Gary - got to admit that the bit about loading python had me a little baffled also!!  I also cannot actually remember if I HAD to install the extras or not when I got my RPi3 - but I don't think running the commands does any harm if the latest is already installed.  Am running raspbian wheezy on the rpi2 (moved to a external hdd) and raspbian Jessie on the rpi3 (via noobs).

[gjr80]

If by extras you mean python-imaging etc then no, it won't matter; at worst you would get messages saying they were already installed. Installing python could cause an issue eg what version is being installed/used? Really, once you get an RPi to a state where you can open a terminal and have internet it is really only about 6 commands that need to be entered and weewx is installed. Might be time for some screen captures etc to see what is going on.

Gary

[Rhyl Weather]

After spending a bit more time on this I have done something right (I think) was able to check status with sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog

and a load of writing that all looked promising

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi have not had much chance to do anything else today as yet been out all day with hospital appointments so will probably give it another go early hours as it is really the only time I get to do anything without being disturbed with weather inquiries. and other observers in an out of the office.

Regards and thanks Geoff   

[Marty Thompson]

How did you go
I have just install 10 weewx and vp2 for a community project
All went fine
If you need some notes

The only problem I had was weather underground will not let me add locations on there map. ( invaid location). Yea a town off 6000 people
Any way found a way to bypass map and add by GPS data only. If stuck I'll post the link
Good luck

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi Marty, not really looked at it since early hours, will be having another look at it tomorrow when I think I will start over from the beginning and give it another go, however I know it all sounds easy, It always is if you know what you are looking at the reason I am doing this is a cost saving excise, however in saying that it would be a good learning curve.

Regards Geoff    

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[Rhyl Weather]

I upload to Met office / cwop / pws / wu / twitter so there are a few things I need to get right first time around thing is I really have not got a clue what I am doing jumped in way over my head, the more I read the more I get confused.

Regards Geoff

On 25 July 2016 at 21:09, Marty Thompson <ma...@martymandy.com> wrote:

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[vince]

Geoff - you are really over-complicating things.

http://www.weewx.com/docs/setup.htm has the instructions for how to install things

• make sure you're on the Debian tab (that's what Raspbian for the Pi is based on)
• cut+paste the commands in the 'install prerequisites' tab from the page linked above
• add 'apache2' to the list of packages to install (Raspbian excludes a webserver by default, as there are many to pick from)

At this point your system is ready for weewx installation....

• either use the setup.py instructions there
• or alternately install the .deb package following http://www.weewx.com/docs/debian.htm
• or most-simply, follow Matthew's instructions at http://weewx.com/apt/ - there's a discussion at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/weewx-user/-w-h-Q6r640/9KXkIth_BgAJ 

If you have zero commandline experience, the last one using 'apt' is by far the simplest.

The package will prompt you for system name, lat/lon/altitude, and driver to use (pick Simulator when learning).

[Marty Thompson]

If you start out just install Jessie lite and go from there. If ya want I can help via google hangouts chat. Its not very many steps. Just follow the getting started.
Deb install.
Anyway offers there. Should be logging data within 30mins. Cheers

[Rhyl Weather]

Hi Marty, as you may have guessed I am out of comfort zone here I know it sounds o so very simple It always  is if you know anything about python and code but I don't so many here have tried to help but i am still get lost not sure if I need to put all of the software on sd card or pc then onto sd card however I really do wan't to win this as it will give me a little confidence to do other thing with the pi 3, so if you could walk me through it would be great

Geoff 

[Andrew Milner]

You really do not need to know python or code, but you do need to be able to use a text editor such as nano, and you need to understand the different options which weewx makes available to you and how the different parameters may work - it is all done by editing the .conf parameter files - not by writing code.

[vince]

On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 8:26:55 AM UTC-7, Andrew Milner wrote:

You really do not need to know python or code, but you do need to be able to use a text editor such as nano, and you need to understand the different options which weewx makes available to you and how the different parameters may work - it is all done by editing the .conf parameter files - not by writing code.

Yikes - I agreed with Andrew three times this week :-)

• For CWOP, WU, PWS this is done in the weewx.conf file- look at the skeleton file at https://github.com/weewx/weewx/blob/master/weewx.conf around line 60, it should be self-evident.  If not, ask.
• being in the US, I do not personally know how you set up weewx to post to the Met office, but I know others here do.
• I do not personally know how you'd add stuff to weewx to tweet, but (a) I'd like to know and (b) I'm certain others here do know how

You will need to know how to edit simple text files.  You will need to occasionally start/stop weewx from the command line.  You almost certainly 'should' be able to find and examine your os system logs.   Very simple stuff.

Again, run - do not walk - and 'do' that free edx.org Linux Fundamentals self-paced class I keep mentioning.   Your stress level should go down as a result.

[Andrew Milner]

Wow - in harmony with Vince is indeed unusual  :) :) :) but in the hope of making sure the point sticks I'll echo Vince again - and say on this occasion run, don't walk, to the edx class.  Your time will be very well spent and as Vince says your stress levels should go down significantly, and your confidence go up.

The RPi forums also have a wealth of information you may find useful.

Again, you do not need to know python or be into programming - just editing of text files and use of the command line for command input rather than using a Windows style Graphical User Interface

[Geoff Weather]

Thanks Andrew I am about to give it ago again now all I have on pi is raspbian so firstly will install python and then up to weewx 

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[Andrew Milner]

python should aslready be installed. 

on the command line give the command

python -V                      (capital V)

and it whould tell you the version installed

#