Topic: Getting data from the logger to the web (latest PC died)

[WxFox]

After many years and a few worn out computers, my little Acer Veriton N282G nettop running Windows 7 has died. I run Cumulus 1.9.4 on it and I have a personal weather website (Weather by You! template, see link) that works with that version of Cumulus. I'd like to keep the website, but all I really need is to get my data to Weather Underground so I can see it on my phone. I'm either looking for a better way (sans PC) to upload to Weather Underground or where/what to buy for a cheap, small PC. I run the PC headless, accessing it from my main PC via Remote Desktop. My now outdated website is at
http://home.myfairpoint.net/~jody2011/index.php for you to see the template (which only works with Cumulus 1.9.4 but I can do without it.

Any suggestions? Tired of replacing PCs... But I will if I can get a new nettop one for cheap.

[PaulMy]

Hi,

but all I really need is to get my data to Weather Underground so I can see it on my phone.

Weatherlink Live will upload to Weatherlink.com and from there you can upload to WU, CWOP, and WOW, all without a computer.



WiFiLogger will also do that as well as several more weather sites - including AWEKAS and Windy.


And with a RPi and WiFiLogger or Weatherlink Live you can also run CumulusMX and all its features and uploads. 


I believe you could also do uploads with CumulusMX on an RPi to your WeatherBlues website.  You would need to add the old style Cumulus1 template files and WeatherBlues files to Extra web files settings.


To continue with Cumulus1 you would need a Windows computer.


Enjoy,
Paul

[davidmc36]

This site here:

http://www.morewoodweather.ca/CumulusMX/gauges.htm

...is being fed by a MeteoPi and Raspberry Pi ZeroW

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/shop-by-category/data-loggers/meteo-pi/

Even after a power outage it fires back up independently.

CumulusMX can do your WU Upload also.

[MR-Weather]

After many years and a few worn out computers, my little Acer Veriton N282G nettop running Windows 7 has died. I run Cumulus 1.9.4 on it and I have a personal weather website (Weather by You! template, see link) that works with that version of Cumulus. I'd like to keep the website, but all I really need is to get my data to Weather Underground so I can see it on my phone. I'm either looking for a better way (sans PC) to upload to Weather Underground or where/what to buy for a cheap, small PC. I run the PC headless, accessing it from my main PC via Remote Desktop. My now outdated website is at
http://home.myfairpoint.net/~jody2011/index.php for you to see the template (which only works with Cumulus 1.9.4 but I can do without it.

Any suggestions? Tired of replacing PCs... But I will if I can get a new nettop one for cheap.

You can try installing a NAS (network attached storage) to your home network and run a web server there.  This way you have full control of it. 
I have a couple Synology NAS on my home network running 24/7 for different purposes and they have been working very well over the many years I've been using them.

Here's an article about what I described.
https://kb.synology.com/en-global/DSM/tutorial/How_to_host_a_website_on_Synology_NAS

What I like about the NAS is that they are designed to run 24/7 without the headaches that keeping a Windows PC does.   So, this is just a suggestion, since a good NAS + a few Terabytes in HDD storage can easily get to the $500s.

[johnd]

What I like about the NAS is that they are designed to run 24/7 without the headaches that keeping a Windows PC does.

I'm sure that using a NAS was an interesting project, but isn't the key difference between using a Windows PC and a typical NAS that the latter runs Linux. And there are much cheaper ways of running a small Linux computer than repurposing a NAS, most obviously using a Raspberry Pi (as mentioned upthread) in some shape or form, or some similar single board computer.

[MR-Weather]

What I like about the NAS is that they are designed to run 24/7 without the headaches that keeping a Windows PC does.

I'm sure that using a NAS was an interesting project, but isn't the key difference between using a Windows PC and a typical NAS that the latter runs Linux. And there are much cheaper ways of running a small Linux computer than repurposing a NAS, most obviously using a Raspberry Pi (as mentioned upthread) in some shape or form, or some similar single board computer.

An RPI can indeed be cheaper.  However, depending on the RPI's configuration (power source, case, memory, fan?, etc.) and how OP plans to use the website, resources allocated, maintenance, security, etc. things can add up quickly.

A Synology DS223 diskless + two 500GB HDDs are approx. $350 and it can be setup using the company's SHR, which automatically mirrors the content of one disk into the other, thus providing a fail-safe solution in case of disk failure.

Anyway, I just mentioned that as an option to OP, since I don['t know what kind of reliability he wants and his budget.   

[vinceskahan]

I'm either looking for a better way (sans PC) to upload to Weather Underground or where/what to buy for a cheap, small PC.

You can get a raspberry pi for under $50 if so inclined and use weewx (free) to upload to WU and many other sites especially if you have the Davis datalogger already.  Super reliable once you set it up and pi last for 'many' years but Linux admin 'is' a little bit of a learning curve.

Or pick up a new windows box for well under $200 with Windows Pro so you can remote into it if needed.  Or even a used PC for less than that.  Amazon has too many vendors to mention, but Beelink seems to be spoken of relatively well if you want something very small that sips power.

[WxFox]

Thanks everyone. I purchased another Windows PC and have it going again. I have a NAS but it wouldn't run a php website. I also run Linux on my main PC, so I'm familiar with all of that. I'm really satisfied with my site as it is, so I have to stay with Cumulus 1.9.4 plus I really like that version. Off and running again until it wears out another machine.