Author Topic: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release  (Read 32205 times)

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Offline tinplate

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #25 on: November 10, 2006, 11:52:09 PM »
Thanks for sending that. One of places where the program outputs an alert was formatting it incorrectly. I'll fix that in the next version.

Steve

Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #26 on: November 12, 2006, 10:59:28 PM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Steve - here's a suggestion for StartWatch:

Include the Leak protection setting in the Alerts log file so we can tell what the setting was that caused the alert. I am still trying to find a good Leak protection setting for VWS (see log file below) and it would be nice to have the setting value included in the log file. I'm at 75MB and still geting alerts...



Well all I can say is 'gee, I'm glad I change to Weather Display'  :)
Brendan,
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Offline W3DRM

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #27 on: November 13, 2006, 12:25:03 AM »
Quote from: "weatheroz"
Well all I can say is 'gee, I'm glad I change to Weather Display'  :)


Oz, I'm getting close to doing just that myself. Have had nothing but problems with VWS for almost a year now (I bought my station and software in December of 2005) and it does get tiring having to watch a piece of software continuously just to make sure it keeps running. Regardless of how many nice feature a package may have there comes a time when the support efforts exceed the value of the product...  :(
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline FishDude

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #28 on: November 13, 2006, 05:15:20 AM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Quote from: "weatheroz"
Well all I can say is 'gee, I'm glad I change to Weather Display'  :)


Oz, I'm getting close to doing just that myself. Have had nothing but problems with VWS for almost a year now (I bought my station and software in December of 2005) and it does get tiring having to watch a piece of software continuously just to make sure it keeps running. Regardless of how many nice feature a package may have there comes a time when the support efforts exceed the value of the product...  :(


Hey Buddy! I gave up and moved to WD! I couldn't getrid of the problems in VWS! Although it is tougher to get started with WD, I am happy I made the change!

Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #29 on: November 13, 2006, 05:57:29 AM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Quote from: "weatheroz"
Well all I can say is 'gee, I'm glad I change to Weather Display'  :)


Oz, I'm getting close to doing just that myself. Have had nothing but problems with VWS for almost a year now (I bought my station and software in December of 2005) and it does get tiring having to watch a piece of software continuously just to make sure it keeps running. Regardless of how many nice feature a package may have there comes a time when the support efforts exceed the value of the product...  :(


Well when you do, prepare for a different way of doing things, as you do things quite a bit differently to what you're used to.

But don't panic, there's plenty of helpful people in the WD support forums, including a very responsive author of WD.  :)
Brendan,
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Offline W3DRM

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #30 on: November 13, 2006, 12:00:48 PM »
Boy, you guys are pushing me closer to making the WD plunge!  :lol:  Guess I could get it and then, using VirtualVP, take my time setting it up and developing my website while VWS continues to be the primary (between crashes, that is  :() until I ready to go live with WD - correct?
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline saratogaWX

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #31 on: November 13, 2006, 12:18:47 PM »
Very right, Don!  I've been using VirtualVP with WeatherLink (my original software) and WeatherDisplay.  A nice side benefit of WD is the small frequently uploaded clientraw.txt that drives the MML and WD-Live flash controls.  Many of us have updated our websites to have near-real-time updates to the webpages using JavaScript AJAX from the clientraw.txt (thanks to Tom at Carterlake and Jozef at joske-online.be ).  I packaged an example too at http://saratoga-weather.org/scripts-WD-AJAX.php -- it's what drives my live sidebar on my site.

OZ is correct about the developer of Weather Display.. Brian Hamilton is incredibly supportive on the weather-watch.com forum (Posts:     31,556 (19.624 per day) since June, 2002).  You may need a bit of an experimental nature to use WD -- it's a product thats ALWAYS in development with new microreleases (sometimes daily) that add new features or fix new bugs.  Jim Curry and I have been working with Brian on getting the solar conditions to be set from the nearby METAR during the non-daylight hours, and Brian has kindly supplied that!  How many developers (other than Brian and Steve/tinplate) do you know that directly respond to forum requested features/bug fixes....?

C'mon.. join the multi-WeatherStation crowd .. you can pick and choose what you display from ALL your weather packages :-)

Best regards,
Ken

BTW.. I have all three Weather-Display products (Weather-Display, Weather-Display Live and WD MesoMap-Live) and am very pleased with the functionality, value and service.  I also use WeatherLink, primarily for the compact archiving and the NOAA reports.
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #32 on: November 13, 2006, 02:22:45 PM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Boy, you guys are pushing me closer to making the WD plunge!  :lol:  Guess I could get it and then, using VirtualVP, take my time setting it up and developing my website while VWS continues to be the primary (between crashes, that is  :() until I ready to go live with WD - correct?


WD is on my list of programs to add. While VWS is stable for me (I run WebDrive to upload everything), WD does some things that VWS doesn't, and that Ed can't or won't add.

I'm using VirtualVP to run VWS and WinAPRS, and sometimes WeatherLink. With my new serial board I'm finally able to transmit my weather data on APRS again.

Offline tinplate

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #33 on: November 13, 2006, 05:18:35 PM »
I'm curious what you run WinAPRS for. Does it connect to a VP (or VirtualVP)?

I don't know a lot about the radio side of APRS. The reason I'm asking is that someone asked for, and I recently added a feature to VPLive to output a WXNOW.txt file which I guess is used as input to another program the radio guys use (uiview?).

Steve

Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #34 on: November 13, 2006, 06:26:20 PM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Boy, you guys are pushing me closer to making the WD plunge!  :lol:  Guess I could get it and then, using VirtualVP, take my time setting it up and developing my website while VWS continues to be the primary (between crashes, that is  :() until I ready to go live with WD - correct?


That's kinda how I made the transition, although at the time VirtualVP did not exist and I had to buy another package (gpsgate) which isn't anywhere near as good as VirtualVP which I later bought.

Running both side by side until you're ready to make the switch will make things a whole lot more comfortable for you, rather than having to rush up a new site whilst you're still learning WD.

Don't forget if you find a image you can't do without from vws, you can always ask Brian if he'd be interested in making a similar one in WD for you.:)
Brendan,
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Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #35 on: November 13, 2006, 06:31:27 PM »
Quote from: "kenmtrue"
Very right, Don!  I've been using VirtualVP with WeatherLink (my original software) and WeatherDisplay.  A nice side benefit of WD is the small frequently uploaded clientraw.txt that drives the MML and WD-Live flash controls.  Many of us have updated our websites to have near-real-time updates to the webpages using JavaScript AJAX from the clientraw.txt (thanks to Tom at Carterlake and Jozef at joske-online.be ).  I packaged an example too at http://saratoga-weather.org/scripts-WD-AJAX.php -- it's what drives my live sidebar on my site.


That's also what drives part of my front page, creating an effective 'live' feed of data for my visitors.

Quote
OZ is correct about the developer of Weather Display.. Brian Hamilton is incredibly supportive on the weather-watch.com forum (Posts:     31,556 (19.624 per day) since June, 2002).  You may need a bit of an experimental nature to use WD -- it's a product thats ALWAYS in development with new microreleases (sometimes daily) that add new features or fix new bugs.  Jim Curry and I have been working with Brian on getting the solar conditions to be set from the nearby METAR during the non-daylight hours, and Brian has kindly supplied that!  How many developers (other than Brian and Steve/tinplate) do you know that directly respond to forum requested features/bug fixes....?


Here's an example of what happened today, Brian replied to a post at 9:01 and had a update out for a person at 9:13 for them. They were having an issue with 1-wire humidity sensors. Now that's quick. :)
Brendan,
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Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #36 on: November 13, 2006, 06:43:41 PM »
Quote from: "SLOweather"

WD is on my list of programs to add. While VWS is stable for me (I run WebDrive to upload everything), WD does some things that VWS doesn't, and that Ed can't or won't add.

So that 2 year old FTP issue is still there, or have you decided not to take the chance, and stick with something you were forced in to paying for due to a failure of vws ?

Whilst I still had access to the ambient forum (bozo has created a block on a full Class 'C' range of IP's (255 IP's blocked) which therefore blocked others from access to that forum as well, which meant both decided not to buy vws, but get the freewx software instead), I noticed several comments for items that never had a hope of appearing based upon the absence of the author, whereas on the Weather Display side of the fence Brian listens and adds stuff in quite regulary.

I just wish I had've bitten the bullet much sooner than what I did, and moved to WD.
Brendan,
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #37 on: November 13, 2006, 10:43:36 PM »
APRS started as an amateur radio service. It stands for Automatic Position Reporting System, an extension of packet (data) radio.  Originally it was intended to use GPS data transmitted on a radio frequency to send the location of the transmitter. Think of vehicle tracking. (Both my wife's 4runner and my Avalanche have trackers in them. Kenwood makes both handheld and mobile radio models with APRS features.)

APRS is a simplex service. Data is repeated by high elevation digipeaters which store the received data and then retransmit it on the same channel. I operate the local San Luis Obispo CA digipeater on Tassajera Peak.

Last weekend, I monitored a balloon launch in SE California. The altitude and position was transmitted on APRS. You can read about it and see the pics at http://n1vg.net/balloon .

One extension of APRS is the transmission of weather data. The program I use on my weather computer is WinAPRS. It uses one serial port to talk to the TNC (terminal node controller, the radio modem) and one to talk to the weather station. It listens to the APRS data sent by other station and plots them on a map. It also transmits my weather data and station location onto the radio network.

That's the original reason I got involved with weather over APRS. I can see the weather conditions at home on the screen on the Kenwood radio in my truck, or on my handheld Kenwood radio wherever I am within a 300 mile radius or so (give or take the vagaries of the APRS network, topography, and radiio propagation).

After the Internet began to explode, amateurs started to gate APRS data onto the Internet. You can see my weather data as gated onto the net at http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?KD6DSI .

Which brings us around the corner to the state of weather and APRS and the Internet today. Weather programs like VWS now gate weather data directly on to the Internet APRS servers. It doesn't make it on to the radio network, but anyone monitoring the APRS internet stream, like amateurs, CWOP and the NWS, get to see weather data from all over the US and the world. Some is delivered initially by radio, some directly by internet.

So, to answer your question, the long way around... When I started with WinAprs and VWS several years ago, I had to find a way to split the weather data from my old WM II and then from the VP 2 Plus. Originally I used hardware B&B Data Tap and 2 serial ports on the computer. that was a kluge, and, because of how Davis stations work, wasn't all that stable. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was using a USB to 4 port serial box as well.

You have no idea how pleased I was when you brought out VirtualVP. I use it to feed VWS and WinAPRS (and soon WD) with data from the VP2+. The hardware kluge went away, and everything is more stable.

I'm not very familiar with UIVIEW, but it makes sense. It's easier to interface to outside hardware with a data file than with a COM port, kinda like Anole's weather sticker, and the Southwest Weather Network use data files to generate their graphics.  


Quote from: "tinplate"
I'm curious what you run WinAPRS for. Does it connect to a VP (or VirtualVP)?

I don't know a lot about the radio side of APRS. The reason I'm asking is that someone asked for, and I recently added a feature to VPLive to output a WXNOW.txt file which I guess is used as input to another program the radio guys use (uiview?).

Steve

Offline SLOweather

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #38 on: November 13, 2006, 11:24:28 PM »
Hey, Oz!

It seems from the Ambient forum that some people still have FTP issues. WebDrive has solved mine and VWS (whatever 12. version I'm running) is stable for me.

And while VWS may have forced me to buy something due to its shortcomings, I'm kinda glad it made me find WebDrive (after a false start with a similar program). I use it a lot now, not just for VWS. All of my various servers and websites are now drive-mapped on my computers with it and it's very cool. It makes web development really easy.

I have my own issues with Ambient, VWS, and the lack of progress on the program. The first weather software I ran back in 98 or so, WeatherMonitor (no relation to Davis), did a polar wind direction plot over time which Ed can't or won't duplicate. WD does, apparently, which is one of my drivers to start adopting it.

I suspect there are a couple of things at work with VWS. Ed's working with third-party programs like Labview for the graphics and whatever piece of doody for the FTP. He probably can't fix the problems with those himself. And, by now, VWS, like Windows, is a patched up mess that would only benefit from a ground-up rewrite.

I'll be Weather Display-ing soon enough. But I paid for VWS, and it works for me. So I don't have to rush the conversion.

Quote from: "weatheroz"

So that 2 year old FTP issue is still there, or have you decided not to take the chance, and stick with something you were forced in to paying for due to a failure of vws ?

Whilst I still had access to the ambient forum (bozo has created a block on a full Class 'C' range of IP's (255 IP's blocked) which therefore blocked others from access to that forum as well, which meant both decided not to buy vws, but get the freewx software instead), I noticed several comments for items that never had a hope of appearing based upon the absence of the author, whereas on the Weather Display side of the fence Brian listens and adds stuff in quite regulary.

I just wish I had've bitten the bullet much sooner than what I did, and moved to WD.

Offline FishDude

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #39 on: November 14, 2006, 11:15:45 AM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Boy, you guys are pushing me closer to making the WD plunge!  :lol:  Guess I could get it and then, using VirtualVP, take my time setting it up and developing my website while VWS continues to be the primary (between crashes, that is  :() until I ready to go live with WD - correct?


Don,

This is exactly what I did! I still like the VWs graphs better so I slowly created my web page using WD elements leaving my VWS site 'as is' until I was ready!

I tried EVERYTHING to fix the FTP errors with no luck. Funny thing is I am move TRUCKLOADS more data with WD and not getting even a SINGLE error!!!!!!!

Apparantly P20 was good enough as he has not come out with anything in several weeks now! Brian seems to fix everything within a day!

Offline ncpilot

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #40 on: November 14, 2006, 02:12:28 PM »
FishDude! Dude, man, like your link to your weather page when I click on the pretty picture doesn't work...

It looks like it has a trailing "l" after the last backslash...

Thought you might want to know...   :D
Marc
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Offline FishDude

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #41 on: November 14, 2006, 02:16:41 PM »
Quote from: "ncpilot"
FishDude! Dude, man, like your link to your weather page when I click on the pretty picture doesn't work...

It looks like it has a trailing "l" after the last backslash...

Thought you might want to know...   :D


Thanks, left that in there when I edited it recently! Give it a click now and see the Carterlake WD Template on steroids.  :mrgreen:

Offline FishDude

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #42 on: November 14, 2006, 06:54:23 PM »
Quote from: "W3DRM"
Boy, you guys are pushing me closer to making the WD plunge!  :lol:  Guess I could get it and then, using VirtualVP, take my time setting it up and developing my website while VWS continues to be the primary (between crashes, that is  :() until I ready to go live with WD - correct?


I now have WD "feeding" WXFlash via FTP. I am hoping Santa brings me a copy of WD Live, but until then this will have to do. FYI, before I did this I attempted to have VWS send up the files, it IMMEDIATLY started puking with FTP errors. I then confgiured VWS to create a local file, and then have WD send it up with FTP......working fine. I "slowed" things down a little, I am updating every 15 seconds, I am going to try and get it faster!

Offline weatheroz

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #43 on: November 14, 2006, 07:37:20 PM »
Quote from: "SLOweather"
Hey, Oz!

It seems from the Ambient forum that some people still have FTP issues. WebDrive has solved mine and VWS (whatever 12. version I'm running) is stable for me.

And while VWS may have forced me to buy something due to its shortcomings, I'm kinda glad it made me find WebDrive (after a false start with a similar program). I use it a lot now, not just for VWS. All of my various servers and websites are now drive-mapped on my computers with it and it's very cool. It makes web development really easy.


I think that was the only good thing that has come out the vws buggy ftp issue, as I too bought webdrive, and by crikey it is getting so much use these days here.

WD here is still using its ftp, but since that ftp works fine I haven't been all that bothered to disable it and use webdrive.


Quote
I have my own issues with Ambient, VWS, and the lack of progress on the program. The first weather software I ran back in 98 or so, WeatherMonitor (no relation to Davis), did a polar wind direction plot over time which Ed can't or won't duplicate. WD does, apparently, which is one of my drivers to start adopting it.

I suspect there are a couple of things at work with VWS. Ed's working with third-party programs like Labview for the graphics and whatever piece of doody for the FTP. He probably can't fix the problems with those himself. And, by now, VWS, like Windows, is a patched up mess that would only benefit from a ground-up rewrite.


I can only agree with you on that, a total rewrite from the ground-up could be the only thing that really saves vws, although the other thing that keeps it going is its prettier website template out of the box with pleasing images, is what make vws look 'better' than Weather Display. The default page with WD looks so 'icky' by comparison. :)


Quote
I'll be Weather Display-ing soon enough. But I paid for VWS, and it works for me. So I don't have to rush the conversion.


Yep, no rush is the ideal way to move across. You need to get your head around the way WD does stuff differently to what you are used to.

The support forum is great, plenty of people to help you out, and it's made my life a whole lot easier on two plains, 1/. it's helped me get going and 2/. I don't have to spend all  my time in the forum helping out others as I used to do in the vws forum.

Oh, and to make it easier for your move to WD, take a look at the carterlake templates. :)
Brendan,
vk4blp
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Offline Ravenstar

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #44 on: November 18, 2006, 04:53:41 AM »
Steve, I have a delema. I get the following dreaded MS error window now everytime I try to start SW:



Windows did an auotmatic Java update before this started happening but I can't see where that would have any effect. I did a re-install to no avail. Any suggestions?


Vantage pro 2 (wireless)

Offline Dragonfly

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #45 on: November 18, 2006, 09:12:07 AM »
Same here only I have a DEBUG Button (XP Home). Clicked on that and let it run for a few minutes then rebooted and the error cleared up  and I had an additional update.

-Ingo

Offline Ravenstar

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #46 on: November 18, 2006, 10:20:25 AM »
Nevermind Steve, it was the alerts.txt file again that caused the alerts window not to be displayed before, deleted it and alls well. I know, fix in next release :)


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Offline tinplate

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #47 on: November 18, 2006, 10:46:16 AM »
Very strange, especially considering StartWatch doesn't use Java. Are any of the programs you have StartWatch configured to start Java applications?

Ok, just saw your later message. So, probably coincidence, and the real culprit is the alerts bug we've already identified?

Steve

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #48 on: November 18, 2006, 10:53:21 AM »
Yep I'd say that's it Steve, formatting for one of the alerts in the alerts.txt file that you've already identified. Wheew thought there for a while I wasn't going to be able to use SW!


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Offline capeweather

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Re: StartWatch 0.7.0 Release
« Reply #49 on: November 20, 2006, 11:14:39 AM »
How well does startwatch work with VWS? Does it restart the app. if it locks up? Just wondering if any of you had experience with that. I can almost guarantee a lockup after about 3-4 weeks and sometimes I don't catch it. This would be really nice to have so I don't have to check to make sure it's running all the time.  :D

Chris
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