Topic: Can't use Weatherlink software on Mac w/Catalina

[StevenStilts]

I bought a Davis cabled weather station and the Weather Link software. I have the station installed but I cannot get the Weather Link software to run; it asks for a JavaSE6runtime driver which I have attempted to install. It seems that the driver is no longer available and Weather Link says they do not have a work around for the software to run on Catalina. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to run the software on my Mac with Catalina?

Thanks; Steve

[johnd]

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to run the software on my Mac with Catalina?

Not that I know of, though conceivably someone has found a workaround. But it would have to involve running 32-bit software on a 64-bit platform AFAIK.

Davis ceased development of local software (ie WL for Windows and Mac) a few years back (in favour of encouraging users to migrate to the weatherlink.com cloud platform)  and no new local software versions are expected. While Windows does to a large extent seem to have a policy of maintaining compatibility for legacy programs, Apple seem to do just the opposite. So Apple have effectively obsoleted WLfMac.

The other option is to move to software that _does_ run on the latest Apple OS machines, like Weathercat, CumulusMX or WD.

[vreihen]

Parallels (pay app) or Virtualbox (free) should still allow you to run older MacOS/OS-X virtual environments on Catalina, as well as Windows virtual environments.  I use Virttualbox to run Windows 2019 virtually on my Macbook Pro for programming radios and updating firmware on various devices that only come with Windows support.  Probably not the best solution for 24/7 use, though.....

[StevenStilts]

Thanks for the info. After I posted the question, I found something called WeatherTracker by Afterten.com. It seems to be working ok; now I'm trying to get weather underground to work.

Thanks; Steve

[johnd]

If you are going to switch to a different program then I'd suggest looking at other Mac programs too, especially Weathercat (trixology.com). I suspect that WeatherTracker is lagging in the features dept. (And slightly disconcerting that the live weather on their home page seems stuck at 28th August.)

[Aardvark]

Try Weathercat as it is for Mac  and Weatherdisplay for mac.  Both work and will give you a lot more information than weatherlink.  As suggested you could invest in parallels and windows 10, then run it from that or you could use Bootcamp which comes with the mac.

[StevenStilts]

Thanks for the help! I downloaded weather cat and installed it, but it wouldn't show up on my screen. It seemed to be installed and working because I could see my data at the bottom in the tray, but I couldn't find the icon and open it up. I will try the other suggestions and I hope if you can see what my problem is, you will help.

Thanks; Steve

[mcrossley]

If you still have issues try the weathercat forum. Lots of helpful people on there.

[captgadget]

I know it's an additional expense but I use the WLL and it works well except it won't load on Safari but works fine on all the other browsers.

[johnd]

...I use the WLL and it works well except it won't load on Safari but works fine on all the other browsers.

Not quite sure what you mean. Are you saying that the weatherlink.com pages don't render correctly on (some version of MacOS or) Safari? Could you explain a bit more please? I've not come across anyone reporting incompatibilities between wl.com and Safari.

[captgadget]

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

The one with all the numbers populated is Edge, which is the same if use chrome, brave, or firefox. The one without all the numbers populated is Safari.

[johnd]

Sorry, I can't quickly spot a difference. Where should I be looking exactly?

[captgadget]

If you look closely you will immediately see there are no rainfall totals in safari. Takes a good eye I guess.

[wvdkuil]

If you look closely you will immediately see there are no rainfall totals in safari. Takes a good eye I guess.

Cam you please point me to the difference ?  Both screenshots seems to have the totals missing above the columns

I check my three stations and they all show "nearly identical" on Safari, FF  and Chrome and all browsers have the totals on top of the columns.
Nearly identical as browsers have different rendering engines, use different standard fonts a.s.o.

Your problem was already discussed and some hints were given at https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40160.msg412032#msg412032
Also did you ever try another mac with Safari.  Nobody else reported this, so it is certainly not a generic problem with Safari.

Wim

[captgadget]

Sorry I was such a bother. You guys all have fun and enjoy your day!

[PaulMy]

Hi,
And not a bother at all, just need clarification...  I also can't see any difference in the rain graphs between the two - even increasing the zoom, but I have eye surgery planned in November so can't see everything perfect.    Did you perhaps attach the wrong file for the second image? i.e. the same image twice?


Enjoy,
Paul

[mcrossley]

The same image has been posted twice - they are bit identical, and both called Safari.png

[captgadget]

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]   [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
So sorry, you are exactly right. I'll see if I can get the one from Edge posted. So now you have one of each.

[captgadget]

Here's how it typically looks:  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[waiukuweather]

that looks like a bug with safari where its not correctly using the CSS style sheets or html code to show that rain value above the rain column
is this with a recent version of OSX or?

[captgadget]

I'm using the latest version of Safari 14.0. I've contacted Davis and they have replicated the problem so they are supposed to be working on it but that was a few months backs. What amazes me is the number of people here who claim theirs function properly.

[johnd]

I'm using the latest version of Safari 14.0. I've contacted Davis and they have replicated the problem so they are supposed to be working on it but that was a few months backs. What amazes me is the number of people here who claim theirs function properly.

I suppose that what you've never had, you've never missed  (say if all you use are Macs).

So it sounds like there is one detail missing in Safari? Not suggesting it's an unimportant detail but not sure it qualifies as 'except it (the Bulletin presumably) won't load on Safari', which kind of implies that the Bulletin won't load at all for WLL users on a Mac.

[vreihen]

If they are using the same common HTML5/Javascript gauges library that WeatherFlow uses on their sites/apps, these kind of rendering anomalies are common when moving between browsers.

If you look at the left-side Y axis on the current rain bar graph, there's two "0.01 in" where one would expect a "0.02 in" on the top line.  The gauge library that WF uses does the same silly thing at times.....

[waiukuweather]

what is means is that Safari browser is at fault
if its working on the majority of other browsers
Davis should be able to put in checks for what browser to then get around the rendering bug by Safari though

[Brientim]

Parallels (pay app) or Virtualbox (free) should still allow you to run older MacOS/OS-X virtual environments on Catalina, as well as Windows virtual environments.  I use Virttualbox to run Windows 2019 virtually on my Macbook Pro for programming radios and updating firmware on various devices that only come with Windows support.  Probably not the best solution for 24/7 use, though.....

VM Fusion 12 for Mac now includes a free license for personal use

https://www.vmware.com/products/fusion.html