Author Topic: Looks like the end for Weather Display?  (Read 7418 times)

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Offline Bunty

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #25 on: September 20, 2017, 04:00:51 PM »
This is a very interesting thread and at first glance, seems to doom our hobby. However, don't we need to take a step back and look at what we provide to our users? If WD and the myriad of other weather-related packages disappear, what is going to happen to our users? I've been on-line with a local weather site for over 11 years now and I still get lots of emails asking for enhancements or tweeks to my website.

LOL, after 8 years I almost never get email directed to my site.  When I do, it's only from a web developer or someone wanting me to put up a link.  I think most people are happy with what the big company websites offer as weather info and forecasts.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2017, 04:02:26 PM by Bunty »

Also the 2nd home page using modified AltDashboard 6.95 at http://stillwaterweather.com/2ndhome.php

Offline Jáchym

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #26 on: September 20, 2017, 06:12:14 PM »
Depends where you live, if you are in an area where there is no professional station nearby, then personal websites are nice. And please do not mention WU... :D

Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #27 on: September 28, 2017, 10:53:45 AM »
The reality is, running a Win PC for collecting wx-data are out. The powercosts, Windows itself etc.
As said before cloud and wifi are the future but also RaspberryPi-like SBC's whats powerusage are a fraction of a PC's usage. Pi runs actually with less than 1 watt and with the European powercosts are its payback even less than a year in saved powercosts.

I runned WD for years on PC and switched to Pi + WeeWX in May. The main issue was the frequent crashes of the Win7 PC and all the hassles that caused. That PC, with 4G RAM + SSD, runned only WD and WXSIM. The Pi has now runned w/o a single crash for 4 months.

I NEVER have an issue with WD crashing. I run on an Intel NUC with 16 GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD and Win7 Professional. It pulls 6-10 watts of power. I actually have two of these and neither one EVER crashes.
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Offline azchrisf

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #28 on: September 28, 2017, 04:36:38 PM »
I like Weather Display, but the software has become long in the tooth.
The interface is very disorganized, and it does not support both high resolution and high-DPI screens. Working with it is very hard because of this - all the windows have to be resized because they are cutoff and some of the graphs don't even fit.

Being a developer myself, it would be a lot of work for this guy because the version of C he is using to program it does not support high DPI screens and came from a time long before they existed.

So it may be best the software be open sourced and layed to rest. It was a very good program though for it's time.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2017, 04:41:12 PM by azchrisf »
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Offline gwwilk

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #29 on: September 28, 2017, 06:08:11 PM »
I like Weather Display, but the software has become long in the tooth.
The interface is very disorganized, and it does not support both high resolution and high-DPI screens. Working with it is very hard because of this - all the windows have to be resized because they are cutoff and some of the graphs don't even fit.

Being a developer myself, it would be a lot of work for this guy because the version of C he is using to program it does not support high DPI screens and came from a time long before they existed.

So it may be best the software be open sourced and layed to rest. It was a very good program though for it's time.
For me it's the data, not the dated display.  I've never used WD's graphics, only its data.
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Offline mldenison

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #30 on: September 28, 2017, 06:38:33 PM »
For me it's the data, not the dated display.  I've never used WD's graphics, only its data.

Same here.  Displaying WD's data on the web makes WD's display on, say, a PC irrelevant.  Which is why I use it.
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Offline W3DRM

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #31 on: September 29, 2017, 12:48:06 AM »
Geesh folks, why are you griping about WD? If you don't like it then don't use it. For me, and I think most of us on WXFORUM and the Weather-Weather forum, we are not looking at WD for professional purposes. This is a hobby and Brian has done a marvelous job in creating a tool to "enhance" that hobby. And, above all, Brian is probably one of the few developers who supports his software in an almost real-time mode. It doesn't seem to matter what time of the day or night it is, all you have to do is ask a question and he seems to come back with an answer in a very short period time. Not many others can say that. Perhaps we have all taken Brian's work for granted and that is a shame.

I'll continue to use WD as long as I am able to do so and it is available.

So, let's all give Brian and all of the others who have developed scripts and templates that use the WD data a BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE and THANKS!  =D> =D> =D>
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Offline AWL

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #32 on: September 29, 2017, 12:59:53 AM »
Geesh folks, why are you griping about WD? If you don't like it then don't use it. For me, and I think most of us on WXFORUM and the Weather-Weather forum, we are not looking at WD for professional purposes. This is a hobby and Brian has done a marvelous job in creating a tool to "enhance" that hobby. And, above all, Brian is probably one of the few developers who supports his software in an almost real-time mode. It doesn't seem to matter what time of the day or night it is, all you have to do is ask a question and he seems to come back with an answer in a very short period time. Not many others can say that. Perhaps we have all taken Brian's work for granted and that is a shame.

I'll continue to use WD as long as I am able to do so and it is available.

So, let's all give Brian and all of the others who have developed scripts and templates that use the WD data a BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE and THANKS!  =D> =D> =D>

Couldn't agree more.

Quote
So it may be best the software be open sourced and layed to rest. It was a very good program though for it's time

Don't think it's time to bury WD just yet. The support is fantastic as stated above. A good example is the new PurpleAir sensor. Hits the market and now supported by WD. Can't believe how hard Brian works to make this a great weather program.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2017, 06:08:13 AM by AWL »

Offline Bashy

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #33 on: September 29, 2017, 01:19:42 AM »
Agreed, i will use WD as long as i have a wx station,

For me it's the data, not the dated display.  I've never used WD's graphics, only its data.

Same here.  Displaying WD's data on the web makes WD's display on, say, a PC irrelevant.  Which is why I use it.

I do not agree, turn on the monitor and there sits WD, no need to open any browsers, viewing the data in WD
is just not the same as online, its just missing something.

I have now cut my WX power consumption from £5 down to around £0.86pw running a laptop with 2nd monitor
that could be cut to about nothing if i dropped to an eco PC but i couldnt justify the £300 to £400 outlay so i opted
for a touch screen Vaio at £120 :) it can run 2 WD and WXsim with other smaller programs too, thats about it though...
Kind regards
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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #34 on: September 29, 2017, 06:04:46 AM »
That's great as long as you're sitting in front of the computer where it's running. I NEVER go to my bedroom and sit down and look at WD or anything else on that computer, I'd rather sit in my living room and view the data on my website. If I'm at work and didn't have my website, I certainly wouldn't be looking at WD, or when I'm out of town I wouldn't be looking at WD.

For me, WD is just the tool that processes the data. I then take that data and try to make it organized and attractive to view on my websites.

I have never used the graphs etc that WD creates simply because they're not that attractive.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #35 on: September 29, 2017, 07:32:12 AM »
That's great as long as you're sitting in front of the computer where it's running. I NEVER go to my bedroom and sit down and look at WD or anything else on that computer, I'd rather sit in my living room and view the data on my website. If I'm at work and didn't have my website, I certainly wouldn't be looking at WD, or when I'm out of town I wouldn't be looking at WD.

For me, WD is just the tool that processes the data. I then take that data and try to make it organized and attractive to view on my websites.

I have never used the graphs etc that WD creates simply because they're not that attractive.

Yes, so it does not suit you. Wouldnt it be boring if we were all the same? Obviously you have good reasons not to use it, which are valid for you.Others use their data and display them differently. I really see no point in this thread.

Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #36 on: September 29, 2017, 07:46:29 AM »
I use WD on all my sites and love it, I just don't sit in front of the computer that's running it to look at it. Not sure of your point but if you look at my website, I am not the same as anyone else.

Offline gwwilk

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #37 on: September 29, 2017, 08:31:29 AM »
Jachym, I believe the point of this thread has become the defense of WD as a superb collector of weather data from most PWS's.  What we do with said data is highly individualized and probably not related to the actual graphical WD displays.  I have a second VP2 console in my bedroom where I can view the current data generated by my VP2+.  If something interesting such as precipitation or a dramatic temperature change is displayed I can then go to my web site and determine when and how such events occurred.
Regards, Jerry Wilkins
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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #38 on: September 29, 2017, 09:28:35 AM »
I agree with Jerry. There is so much data produced by WD, that WD can't possibly display it all on your computer, hence the websites.

I dropped VWS to strictly go with WD and do not regret my decision at all. If development on WD stops, hopefully WD will run forever on the boxes I now have. Despite the clunky interface, WD has more options and more flexibility than any other weather software out there.


Offline Jáchym

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #39 on: September 29, 2017, 09:59:05 AM »
Yes, I agree completely with that - in the end it would be strange if I said websites are useless wouldnt it...  - but my point was that everyone uses WD the way they need it and for some it might be becoming redundant, for others it is still useful as it was at the beginning.

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #40 on: September 29, 2017, 10:48:18 AM »
I'm hoping that WD will get the occasional tweak, when Brian feels in the mood and misses the project.

But as long as there are no major instabilities, I'm keeping it as my program to gather station data and then let me display it when and where I want.

Programs such as Jachym's Meteotemplate take WD data efficiently, and add many other resources to a very configurable web site display, all done with modern or even futuristic graphic design layouts.  But without some source of local weather data, it would just be, well not quite but you get the idea, a re-packaging of other sources of data.

Also look at the Saratoga sites, and see how many say at the bottom that WD is used to gather and manage local data.

I know how it is when tools change, and the learning curve for the new one or the expense of upgrade is not worth it.  Many years ago I wrote custom data base managment programs using first dBase then FoxBase (which I loved) yet when it had to migrate to the Visual FoxBase and MicroSoft sort of abandoned it, that was the kiss of death for those projects being upgraded.

I would point out that as many years ago as that was, one of the major projects I did still is humming along at a customer's site.  They have heard me make referrals to programmers who have the tools and experience to update them, but since it works and does all they need, nothing has been re-written.  I think WD is sort of like that, but on a much grander scale.

If Brian really is signing off on WD, my hat is off to his herculean efforts and my sincere thanks for a tool that does what I need it to do.  It's not that I haven't tried some of the other stuff, but always found them lacking.  Perhaps it was familiarity that was comforting and kept me with WD, but almost always the newer programs were far less sophisticated or left a needed function by the wayside.
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #41 on: September 29, 2017, 06:51:06 PM »
I have to say I dont quite get some of the posts above. WD is not ending! Brian never said he plans to call it a day. Reading this is only likely to discourage potential future users. This thread IMHO is doing more harm than good.

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #42 on: September 29, 2017, 07:06:17 PM »
Jachym,
That is delightful news!
There was a posting of a communication from Brian to a user some time back that was shared, perhaps wrongly, that indicated nothing further would be done, or so it seemed to read.

I re-read it several times hoping I was getting it wrong.

PLEASE keep going, Brian, and keep WD alive and kicking!
Dale
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Offline saratogaWX

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Re: Looks like the end for Weather Display?
« Reply #43 on: September 29, 2017, 09:04:45 PM »
I've been in contact with Brian also and he says
Quote
no, WD's end is not near (will be one day though)
this thread should never have been started and its affecting other people who rely on WD for a source of income (e.g weather map live)

So.. Weather-Display will be around and Brian will be continuing support for his very popular program.  I'm closing this thread on that good note .. no more speculations, please.
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