Author Topic: Startwatch  (Read 9841 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Davidb

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
    • Glasson Sailing Club
Startwatch
« on: February 15, 2010, 05:50:25 AM »
Hello Again,

I wonder if there is a free alternative to startwatch?
-
My Image Salsa seems to keep stopping for some reason, I added another av/ usb convertor last week and it hasn't been happy since then.
-
restarting it always cures the problem.
-
I slowed the ftp rate down last night, will slow it down further next time it crashes.
-
David
-

Offline tomcj2

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 848
    • CanbyWeather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2010, 08:30:28 AM »
Try StartWatch for the free trial period;  at the end of that time you will wonder why you had not spent the $25 to buy it years ago..  I use it to start 9 programs that I use on a daily basis.  It saves time when I must re-boot.

Davis VP2 (6163), WL 5.9.0..  VWS 14.01 p25, Panasonic HM371A camera. WU & W4U KORCANBY3, CoCoRaHS OR-CC-27

Offline Bushman

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 7549
    • Eagle Bay Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2010, 11:47:55 AM »
CRP from Troupware will work but it lacks a lot of the sensing feature that SW has.  APpMonitor from Jockersoft  is another option.  BUt neight IMHO is a full featured as SW.  If you need to monitor multiple apps with control, you need SW.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline Davidb

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
    • Glasson Sailing Club
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2010, 03:04:34 PM »
Thanks for the replies,
-
I use winpatrol for controlled starting and find it invaluable to check what is running and keep things tidy.
-
David

Offline W3DRM

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 3360
    • Emmett Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2010, 06:30:30 PM »
One thing to keep in mind is that StartWatch and most of the other SoftWx products were specifically designed for the Davis VP2 weather station interface and VWS. As such, it can do much better at controlling the intracacies of VWS. No other program, that I am aware of, will do that. Startwatch has been a life saver for me. It is the only thing that keeps my VWS based web pages running smoothly.

Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
--- Logitech HD Pro C920 webcam (off-line)
--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline Cienega32

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2635
    • East Mesa Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2010, 12:36:37 AM »
Startwatch has been a life saver for me.

+1

Pat ~ Davis VP2 6153-Weatherlink-Weather Display-StartWatch-VirtualVP-Win7 Pro-64bit
www.LasCruces-Weather.com   www.EastMesaWeather.com

Offline saratogaWX

  • Administrator
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 9257
  • Saratoga, CA, USA Weather - free PHP scripts
    • Saratoga-Weather.org
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2010, 02:39:56 PM »
Ditto Don's comments .. startwatch is well worth the purchase .. It keeps my station running (even ImageSalsa, which is subject to 'stops' now and again).  Bravo to Steve (tinplate) for both Startwatch and VirtualVP!
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
Davis VP1+ FARS, Blitzortung RED, GRLevel3, WD, WL, VWS, Cumulus, Meteobridge
Free weather PHP scripts/website templates - update notifications on Twitter saratogaWXPHP

Offline W3DRM

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 3360
    • Emmett Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2010, 04:07:31 PM »
Ditto Don's comments .. startwatch is well worth the purchase .. It keeps my station running (even ImageSalsa, which is subject to 'stops' now and again).  Bravo to Steve (tinplate) for both Startwatch and VirtualVP!

And VPLive for those of us who live at higher altitudes and desire more accurate barometer readings...

Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
--- Logitech HD Pro C920 webcam (off-line)
--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline Davidb

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
    • Glasson Sailing Club
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2010, 11:19:25 AM »
-
Well I removed one camera, fitted another PCI card and installed Startwatch a fortnight ago and as far as I know, it hasn't stopped since.

No errors on the log either, it would be good if it would send an email if there was a problem.

However, its reliable, thats the main thing.

Thanks for yr advice and a good programme,  David
-

Offline SoMDWx

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1014
    • Southern Maryland Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2010, 11:32:46 AM »
Startwatch is great for having to restart things automatically... HOWEVER, it onlys masks the problem. If you can , find out why IS is crashing.....

Offline W3DRM

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 3360
    • Emmett Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2010, 08:01:28 PM »
Startwatch is great for having to restart things automatically... HOWEVER, it onlys masks the problem. If you can , find out why IS is crashing.....

That my friend, is the $64,000 question! If you can figure out why VWS simply hangs up or gobbles up hundreds of megabytes of memory then I will be the first one in line to congratulate you for solving a problem that has been around for as long as VWS has existed. Some folks have problems and others have none. So far, no one, including the developer himself, has been able to resolve those issues for everyone.

Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
--- Logitech HD Pro C920 webcam (off-line)
--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline SoMDWx

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1014
    • Southern Maryland Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2010, 10:10:36 PM »
It's not VWS that's crashing he said.  It's ImageSalsa (IS).... Usually it's a driver issue with IS.......

Offline W3DRM

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 3360
    • Emmett Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2010, 12:11:23 AM »
It's not VWS that's crashing he said.  It's ImageSalsa (IS).... Usually it's a driver issue with IS.......

Jim,

I understand that, I was only trying to point out that often, there is no way to determine what the failure is or what caused the program to crash. VWS and both of the Salsa packages (Image and Movie) intermittently stop for unknown reasons as do many others. StartWatch senses that and restarts the process. Yes, you are masking the problem but considering that these are isolated failures that many folks get with various weather software packages, any attempt to isolate and identify the problem may be literally impossible.

Today's computers are loaded with so many different software routines running simultaneously, there could be an infinite number of situations that would cause a program to stop running due to interference by another program. Finding that "needle in a haystack" would be very difficult at best. Thus, taking the time to find that needle may not be worth the effort when a program like StartWatch can easily detect a problem has occurred and force a restart with little or no impact on the overall running of the program.

Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
--- Logitech HD Pro C920 webcam (off-line)
--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline Bushman

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 7549
    • Eagle Bay Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2010, 12:30:58 AM »
Sorry - I do not buy that.  There are so many good tools for good programmers to use nowadays that there is no excuse for shoddily written software.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline Davidb

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
    • Glasson Sailing Club
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2010, 01:13:32 AM »
Hello again,


I don't think that there was was a problem to mask after I removed one of the cameras - I think they were conflicting with each other,

David


here is the log for last week, the stoppage was an automatic windows update this morning, I think:


28/02/2010 15:02:00:850 Info         - Program:I Salsa Confirming No Response (Program not processing messages)
28/02/2010 15:02:02:397 Info         - Program:I Salsa Running
01/03/2010 07:48:32:485 Info         - Program:I Salsa Confirming No Response (Program not processing messages)
01/03/2010 07:48:34:016 Info         - Program:I Salsa Running
01/03/2010 08:00:30:063 Info         - Program:I Salsa Confirming No Response (Program not processing messages)
01/03/2010 08:00:33:563 Info         - Program:I Salsa Running
05/03/2010 03:16:17:339 Info         - Alert: Shutdown, Windows is logging off or shutting down.
05/03/2010 03:16:17:355 Info         - Turning off monitoring of all programs
05/03/2010 03:16:17:355 Info         - Program:I Salsa Not Monitoring (Turned off monitoring)
05/03/2010 03:16:17:543 Error        - Cannot remove shell notification icon
05/03/2010 03:17:46:031 Info         -
05/03/2010 03:17:46:062 Info         - *** Program starting up: StartWatch 1.1.1.144 ***
05/03/2010 03:17:46:062 Info         - Windows version = Windows XP (v. 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3)
05/03/2010 03:17:46:078 Info         - Program:I Salsa Waiting for StartWatch start
05/03/2010 03:17:46:078 Info         - Beginning start sequence
05/03/2010 03:17:46:078 Info         - Program:I Salsa Starting
05/03/2010 03:17:47:078 Info         - Program:I Salsa Running

Offline SoMDWx

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1014
    • Southern Maryland Weather
Re: Startwatch
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2010, 07:35:48 AM »
I have never had IS lock up on me. True, VWS seems to be in the lead way ahead of everything else when it comes to having to restart it....
99% of the time it's been VWS that has been restarted by Startwatch....