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= Introduction =
 
This article was originally created by Mark Crossley, moving what Steve Loft (the original developer) had written in posts in the Cumulus Support Forum, because when Steve Loft agreed that Ken True could take over hosting of this Wiki, it was unclear whether the forum would be shut down when Steve Loft stopped hosting it.
 
The article was then expanded adding in material from support forum posts by other people.
 
To keep this article comprehensive, but not huge, large sections of what was i this article have been moved out to separate articles that have links within this article.
 
<big>'''Cumulus MX is still being developed, new releases come too frequently for articles such as this to be maintained. This is a plea for more to contribute, ensuring this Wiki gives correct information regardless of which version any user has installed.'''</big>
 
== Especially for those used to Cumulus 1==
 
If you have been using Cumulus 1, and now wonder whether to try using MX, be aware that:
*Currently, more people are still using Cumulus 1 than are using MX; but during 2020, many have experimented with MX, then successfully moved to MX, just a few have gone back!
*Cumulus 1 is a stable release, it has functionality that is not available in MX:
**Select a graph
**View period
**provided you are happy to keep running Cumulus 1 on a Windows pc, and use a weather station that is compatible with Cumulus 1, then you don't have to change over
*Cumulus MX is still under development, a change in a particular release may introduce bugs
*MX does however have additional features not available in Cumulus 1
**it can run on Unix-derived (Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi operating systems) devices as well as Windows devices
**it can work with newer weather stations and newer sensors
**it reports feels like, Canadian Humidity Index
**it has built in updating of database tables
**it can output to more external sites
**it has MQTT, HTTP, and other extras, built in
 
Please see [[Moving from Cumulus 1 to MX]] for more information.
 
== What does Cumulus MX do? ==
 
ThatIf isyou coveredare elsewherenew to Cumulus, inthen you will be wondering what benefits Cumulus MX has over other weather recording software. In that case start by reading [[About Cumulus|the article that introduces Cumulus]].
 
You may want to read that article first, that that will explain what Cumulus software can do and perhaps help you to:
== This article ==
 
<big>'''AN APPEAL''' - please will someone take over maintenance of articles such as this one on the Wiki, ensuring it continues to be relevant regardless of whether the reader is using an old version or the latest build. There were so many releases in 2020, the first person revising this article could not keep up, and abandoned the task after 6 months of updates!</big>
This Wiki article was originally exactly what Steve Loft said in the [https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=39 MX early builds support forum] when he first started experimenting with Cumulus MX and access was restricted to those willing to experiment with his tests.
 
=== Summary of early history of this article ===
In this rewrite, I am adding more as I explore more of the functionality of MX; and as I learn more from posts in the forum.
 
As mentioned in introduction, when this Wiki article was originally created by Mark Crossley it contained exactly what Steve Loft said in the [https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=39 MX early builds support forum]. At that time Steve had only started early experimenting with Cumulus MX, and access was restricted to those willing to experiment with his tests.
If you can correct anything I write, add anything I have not yet covered, or know something that I might not know, then please remember, anyone can update this article, I don't have any special access in the Wiki and any page I edit can be edited/corrected by anyone else.
 
The article was then rewritten by somebody who used to use Cumulus 1. It was based on experience of some early experimentation with MX, while Cumulus 1 was still the main system used. This is why there are comparisons of Cumulus 1 and MX included in this article, although the detail about moving to MX from Cumulus 1 has now been moved to a separate article, with a link included later in this article. The article continued to be revised as the author abandoned Cumulus 1 and gained experience of running MX on a Windows 10 PC. Subsequently, there were further revisions as a Raspberry Pi computer took over running of MX, again experiences initially documented here have been moved to a separate article that also has a link below. Although some information from posts in the Cumulus Support Forum was added to this article (or the articles that are linked from this article), there are so many posts on the forum, this has not been maintained since Summer 2020.
During a period of my time in employment I was responsible for approving documentation on a large computerisation project, and later for supplying updated information for a public faced web site, and in both cases there were house style, and I probably continue to use that style.
 
It is true that operation on a Raspberry Pi has been much, much, more reliable than running on Windows 10 PC, so that meant it was just left running without worrying about upgrading to new MX builds, and with no new experiences to report, the updating of the Wiki has largely ceased, hence appeal for someone else to reflect the many changes since July 2020.
You might be afraid to add your contribution because my style is not the same as your natural one. Don't worry; as long as you use short paragraphs or bullet points, with lots of headings, then your contribution can blend in.
 
==What a new contributor should consider for future maintenance==
 
It is likely that there are some errors, it is easy to type something different to what you meant; therefore please check existing article and correct any errors.
 
If a new release has changed something, please document both how it now works, whilst maintaining documentation on how it worked before. References to both version number and build number ranges that apply to any information is helpful to readers.
 
With hindsight, much of what has been documented could be made clearer. Much of this article was edited by directly quoting what was said in the forum, it was not always possible to understand it sufficiently to find an alternative clearer way of explaining the particular information. Writing for the Wiki is always tricky, some readers want everything made very simple and other readers look to the Wiki for the full technical information. One solution is to to have simple summary sections and sections that give full details.
 
Although a lot of material has been moved out of this article into separate articles linked from this article, a new contributor might wish to move more off this page to continue to simplify this article. One problem I encountered was that I tried to edit articles created by administrators, or locked after I edited them when administrators changed after the wiki was migrated to a new host. As my permissions are limited, I have in some cases had to create replacement articles, and where possible persuade administrators to remove or amend original article.
Although each contributor to the Wiki may be tempted to use a different style, this should not put you off contributing. Something I was taught, when I was responsible for computer system documentation in paid employment, was that it is best to use short sentences, lots of headings, and bullet points whether numbered or not, and multiple sub-levels. Use that advice as your starting point and your contribution will fit in.
 
This*If article was originally comparatively short, as it gets longer Iyou have moved some partsideas, out.but Youare mayunsure have suggestions for what else can be moved out of this article into separate articles? When in doubtwhether to apply changes, please use the discussion page first.
*If you have ideas, but an administrator has not seen you are requesting write access to this wiki, please write your suggestion in the support forum for wiki suggestions at https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=38. The same forum can be used for posts begging an administrator to check outstanding requests for Wiki access.
 
= Cumulus flavours =
 
== Cumulus 2 ==
 
This is intentionally a brief section, it does not cover all that was available in Cumulus 2, but just how it influenced MX.
 
*Steve Loft produced a Cumulus 2 where he tried to start again in September 2009. It was written in C# (which is the language used for MX), and it is fair to say that Steve did not find that new programming language easy, and in March 2010 he was really struggling to make Cumulus 2 work how he desired.
* Cumulus 2 did prove that a number of concepts (like separating "engine" from "admin interface") could work, and it was a useful learning curve for when Steve decided to write Cumulus 3 (see below).
*One change that had been requested by several Cumulus 1 users was for better international viewing of web pages, with less dependence on time zones. To achieve this, one suggestion was that Cumulus should work in GMT (more widely knownreplaced now asby UTC, which is not technically identical with GMT). Cumulus 2 therefore read and logged all readings by UTC. Unfortunately, converting from local time used by weather stations, and most computer devices, never worked as smoothly as Steve Loft hoped, so this is one idea that was not adopted for Cumulus 3.
* Furthermore, Cumulus 2 never succeeded in getting some of the basic functionality like driving web pages to work reliably, so it never offered much of the more useful functionality of Cumulus 1.
*But it was a good testing ground for new functionality and enhancements and regardless of whether they could be made to work fully in Cumulus 2, some were highlighting what Cumulus 1 lacked.
*In August 2010, the new features being tested in Cumulus 2 were added to Cumulus 1, and Cumulus 2 was discontinued.
== Cumulus 3 ==
 
*Steve Loft wrote and developed Cumulus 1, 2, and finally MX, while he was in Scotland, he did move a few times, but most development happened on Sanday, hence '''Sandaysoft''' became his name for his creations, he did experiment with some non-weather software, but Cumulus stayed his main hobby.
*In 2015, Cumulus 3 also known as MX once it was made available to users, was experimental and it had limited functionality, much less than was available in Cumulus 1. This made MX innovative, but unfriendly.
*In 2015, Cumulus 3 (also initially known as MX, and 'MX' is what was adopted once it was made available to users), was experimental and it had limited functionality, much less than was available in Cumulus 1. This made MX innovative, but unfriendly.
*Consequently, at that time, most Cumulus users were using Cumulus 1, and just those wishing to take part in beta testing used MX.
*Consequently, at that time, most Cumulus users were using Cumulus 1, and just those eager to take part in beta testing (perhaps because they wanted to move to Linux operating system) used MX.
*Steve Loft started development of MX while he was still in full-time employment, but as retirement approached he worked fewer days per week and was faced with the question as to whether to spend more time on MX or more time with his wife, Beth, exploring places.
*Steve Loft started development of MX while he was still in full-time employment, but as retirement approached he worked fewer days per week. Consequently, he was faced with the question as to whether to spend his time on MX development, or to focus on spending time with his wife, Beth, exploring places.
*When he fully retired, a life on the road beckoned, and they started travelling. Work on MX decreased, and work on Cumulus 1 was no longer possible, as he was limited to what his laptop and internet connection at stops could cope with.
*Various people offered to help him with MX if he was willing to make his source code available. Initially, Steve didwas not want anyone elsekeen to interfere withprotect his creation,intellectual butproperty. when heHe anddid hisnot wifewant foundanyone a new home the priorities changed in favour of a focus on his new life, and he wantedelse to cease involvementinterfere with Cumulushis software, its wiki and forumcreation.
*When he and his wife found a new home in France, there was no longer any doubt, the priorities changed in favour of a focus on his new life. Having decided to make the source code for MX available (he no longer had the development environment for editing Cumulus 1, and he had aborted Cumulus 2), Steve was able to forget about further development of MX. Indeed the [[Software|source code]] he released included various feature that were developed prior to the last MX release he made available.
*Steve Loft who wrote and developed Cumulus 1 and MX while he was in Scotland, decided to cease to offer any support from his new home in France. After quite a while considering it, he decided to make the source code available.
*Steve Loft was closing down his Sandaysoft.com host, so the software source, and release code, had to find a new home, as did this Wiki. SaratogaWX (Ken True) has taken over (see [[CumulusWiki:About|Cumulus Wiki: About]], and agreed to also the host source code files as they were at time of handover.
*Some information was copied from the support forum to the new Wiki host, as at the time of Wiki transfer it was unclear whether the forum would remain available.
*Sandaysoft.com also hosted the support forum. Freddie (Niall Hosiene) took over the hosting of the forum the month after Ken True took over Wiki.
*The various people who had offered to help develop MX now were able to see the source code and decide whether they really did want to get involved.
*One programmer launched Cumulus 4, a new approach. Work continued on this for a while, but as far as I know it never made it into a working system, and I believe like Cumulus 2, it is abandoned.
It would be wrong not to repeat what Mark has said here - '''MX is still not bug free, there is a lot more to correct as well as all the enhancements to cope with new weather station hardware'''.
 
There is a page (created in October 2018) listing [[MX Issues|MX Issues to be resolved]], but I suspect it is out of date. If you look through the release announcements for 20202019-21, yes there are a lot of new features being added, but there isalmost evenevery morebuild workalso oninvolves resolving bugs.
 
== Restrictions on who can use MX ==
 
As a new Cumulus user, using MX on Windows (but with no experience of Cumulus 1), the separate article linked from the heading to this section will still interest you as it is a definitive guide to installing Cumulus MX on Windows.
 
=== Cross reference to article on [[Raspberry_Pi_Image|Setting up Raspberry Pi using a pre-built Image]] for Cumulus ===
Whether you have been using Cumulus 1, or are new to Cumulus, you may be tempted to install MX on a Raspberry Pi, operating in headless mode (instead of connecting a screen and keyboard to it, you do all access to the Pi from another computer on same network). The developer has made life easy for you by combining the '''Raspberry Pi Lite Operating System''' with a pre-installation copy of MX.
 
Find out more about using this pre-built Raspberry Pi image file to create a basic headless server in the article linked in the heading.
 
It is worth reading the article linked below as well.
 
=== Cross reference to article on [[Setting up Raspberry Pi]] for Cumulus ===
=== Cross reference to article on [[Updating MX to new version]] ===
 
Whether you have not updated for a long time, or simply wonder whether you are updating the easiest way, follow the link in the heading for this section, to an article that focusses on all to do with updating from one MX version to another. This includes the recommended approach (letting zip overwrite previous installation), and other approaches. It also expands on issues relating to web templates, database tables, and other optional features in MX.
 
Critically, this linked article contains advice '''both''' for those updating each time there is a new release available '''and''' forhow thoseto usingupgrade from an old version (perhapsin whena MXseries wasof stillsteps, skipping some in-between beta)versions. wishing toSo updateread tothe aarticle newlinked versionin skippingthe somesection in-betweenheading versionswhether andyou needare advicestill onusing whetherSteve toLoft's dobeta itversion inof multipleMX stepsor an old Mark Crossley release.
 
=== Cross reference to [[Cumulus MX FAQ]] ===
 
The text that was here has been moved to a separate article, that makes it more accessible, please see [[What to do when I have a problem with MX|What to do when I have a problem with MX article]]
 
Although you may end up asking for advice on the Cumulus Support Forum, read the article linked in the heading first, as it will help you to provide the information that is needed for others to quickly help you.
 
=== Cross reference to [[MX Administrative Interface|Administrative Interface]] ===
This requires a whole topic to itself, and indeed it has an article to itself, reached from link in heading for this section.
 
=== Cross reference to the application programming interface (api) used by MX ===
 
The MX application programming local interface has been fully documented by the developer in [[Cumulus_MX_Local_API|this article]].
 
There is also some older information [[MX_Administrative_Interface#The_API_interface|here]] which explains how the api is used in the administrative interface.
 
=== Message from Steve Loft about documentation ===
In writing this update, I have drawn on my own experience of moving from Cumulus 1 to MX, and thus my knowledge of Cumulus is from over a decade of experience with this software and what it can do.
 
Before I swapped, I made a detailed study to check MX could do all I used to do with Cumulus 1 and much more. Before I add items to this article I play around with MX experimenting with what works and what does not work, but I have saved you the pain of where I went wrong, just telling you what is correct. I do need to add, that I don't have a separate testing environment, and therefore I am not willing to attempt anything that might muck up my collecting of weather information, plus currentlymy Iknowledge onlyof have a second-hand (ex-NHS) PC and a simple smart phone, so mymodern technology, asis wellpoor as my ineptness because I belong to that generation who did not have desktop computers, nor mobile devices, until some time into my working life. This all places restrictions on what I can test out, and therefore on the coverage of these notes.
 
'''If anyone else, can improve these notes, wants to split off more parts, or in any other way make the documentation better, then please do. IThis havearticle already madecontains improvementimprovements that were suggested by others.'''
 
 
 
#First '''start the engine''' in one of the 3 ways from last sub-section
# Next '''start the admin interface''', it does not need to run all the time, but only when you need it (when you first use MX you will need it to access the settings where you tell MX what type of station you have and what units you want to use, and set various timing options), it normally runs on port 8998 (to vary that there is a '''-port''' parameter that is followed by required port and that port parameter has to be entered every time you start MX if you are not using the default port). More information on admin interface [[MX Administrative Interface|in separate article]].
 
Try '''start /min C:\Cumulus\CumulusMX.exe''' to run MX as a minimised package (although in Windows you can change the properties of the shortcut you use to start minimised).
* For OS X, you can download this here - http://www.mono-project.com/download/.
* How you install on Linux depends on the flavour of Linux you are running. There are download links for Linux at the same URL, but it is often easier to use a package manager, which will download and install it automatically.
**For example, in 'Raspbian' on the Raspberry Pi, you can install mono with the following commands, but '''first you need to have set up various pre-requisites''' (see the cross-referenced[[Setting_up_Raspberry_Pi]] article near top of page for details):
 
<pre>sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
There are some optional parameters you might need to use, as they also apply to windows they are covered later.
 
Next start the administrative interface, basically same as described for Windows above. More information on admin interface later[[MX Administrative Interface|in separate article]].
 
==== Other issues ====
 
'''APPEAL''' - Please could any readers who have experience of running MX in a Linux or Mac environment please consider writing advice into this article. I want it to be a comprehensive accurate article.
 
==== Notes by ExperiMentor (in Switzerland) ====
 
These comprehensive notes describe how to install Cumulus MX on a Pi Zero, using a PC to do some of the work:
 
'''Buy equipment'''
* Raspberry Pi Zero W
** A faster Pi is NOT needed for running Cumulus. Pi Zero W has WiFi and one USB port which is all that is needed for headless running.
** Using a faster Pi might speed parts of the installation process, but are overkill for actual ‘production’ running. A faster Pi will work fine though if you have one going spare and don't mind the extra power use.
** Case if desired
* Micro SD card eg 16 GB, decent quality. Adapter if needed to put Micro SD card in PC
* OTG cable (micro USB plug to standard USB socket) to connect a USB weather station to Raspberry Pi [you may have got one free with a mobile phone or tablet] if it's a USB weather station. Not needed if you have a WiFi or ethernet weather station. An Ethernet weather station will need connected to your router, not the Pi.
* Suitable Micro USB power supply (it does not need to be a high power 2.5A version for Pi Zero W with only the weather station attached; it will be powered on 24/7, so a low power consumption ‘switched mode’ type is preferred – ie one that does not become warm when plugged in with nothing attached. You may have a suitable one from a mobile phone.
'''
Download useful PC software and install on your PC'''
These instructions are for a Windows PC. Steps would be similar on a Mac, but programs and details would differ. Should also be possible with an Android tablet.
* SD Formatter (the Windows Format facility will NOT do)
** https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/index.html
* balenaEtcher (for unzipping and burning images to SD cards) [Previously named 'Etcher'] <tt>https://etcher.io/</tt>
* Win32DiskImager (for backup & restore of SD card images) <tt>https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/</tt>
* PuTTY (an SSH client for Windows) <tt>https://www.putty.org/</tt>
* FileZilla (an FTP file transfer program for Windows) <tt>https://filezilla-project.org/download.php</tt>
 
'''Download Raspbian Pi Operating System'''
* Save it on your PC, from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
* "RaspBIAN Buster Lite" is probably OK, but other than small file size it offers no advantage over installing the full version of RaspBIAN Buster. These instructions are being tested using "Raspbian Buster with desktop and recommended software", the largest of all, which could allow you to do other things more easily.
* Just click on “Download Zip” (torrent might be faster if you have the ability, but not worth installing just for this)
* Do not unzip it
* These instructions have been tested with kernel version 4.14, released 18 April 2018 and with kernel version 4.14, released 13 November 2018 [March 2019] and kernel version 4.19 released 10 July 2019
 
'''Install Pi Operating System onto Micro SD card'''
 
''Format the SD card''
* Put Micro SD card in PC (use adapter if needed)
** If re-using a previous Pi SD card, click ‘Cancel’ on the warning about needing to format the card
* Run SD Card Formatter (click Yes to ‘Allow to make changes to your device’).
** Need to use this program rather than the Format tool in File Explorer, because Pi SD cards end up with a very small ‘Windows accessible’ partition and a large partition containing Linux. SD Card Formatter allows reclaim of the large partition.
* Your SD card should automatically populate in the ‘Drive’ box. In case you have another SD card in your PC, ensure the correct card is selected!
* Click ‘Format’ and check and accept the Warning messages
 
'''Copy the Pi Raspbian Operating System onto the card'''
* Run '''balenaEtcher''' on your PC
* Click ‘Select Image’ and choose the ‘Raspbian Buster’ operating system zip file that was downloaded earlier
* SD card should be automatically populated. In case you have another SD card in your PC, ensure the correct card is selected!
* Click ‘Flash!’. The operating system will be copied to the card. This takes about 10 minutes, followed by another 8 minutes to ‘Verify’
* Cancel any messages about needing to Format the card - they are just indicating that Etcher has installed the partition that cannot be read by Windows
* On completion, the card is ‘ejected’ from the PC. Physically remove it and then straight away reinsert it so that the content can be viewed in File Explorer
* TWO drives will now be visible for the SD card. You will likely see a warning that one of the drives needs to be formatted before it can be used. ‘Cancel’ that warning and ignore that drive.
* View the other drive, which is named ‘boot’ in File Explorer
* On the View tab, ensure the ‘File Name extensions’ is ticked
* Right click and select ‘New’, ‘Text document’. Change its name to SSH (deleting the .txt extension; you need to make an empty file called SSH not SSH.txt). Click ‘Yes’ to ‘Are you sure you want to change the extension?’
* Right click and select ‘New’, ‘Text document’. Change its name to wpa_supplicant.conf (deleting the .txt extension; you need to make a file called wpa_supplicant.conf not wpa_supplicant.conf.txt). Click ‘Yes’ to ‘Are you sure you want to change the extension?’
* Right click on this new file and select ‘Open with Notepad’ or ‘Open with …’ then select Notepad. Enter the following content exactly as below (copy and paste) then edit your country code (if needed), WiFi network’s SSID and password: NOTE: Change GB as needed to be the code for your country. The quote marks should appear in the file, that is ssid="YourNetwork" not ssid=YourNetwork . Same for psk.
<pre>ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=GB
 
network={
ssid="YourNetwork"
psk="YourNetworkPassword"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}</pre>
 
* Not essential, but I like to keep copies of both those files for future use. They can be on the SD card with different names eg ‘SSH - Copy’ and ‘wpa_supplicant.conf - Copy’ as well as on your PC
* The function of these 2 files is to connect your Raspberry Pi to your network as soon as it boots, and allows you to connect to and control it from your PC by SSH using PuTTY. This avoids needing to connect a keyboard, mouse and monitor to the Raspberry Pi. It is particularly useful for Pi Zero W (or Pi Zero) which hasn’t got enough USB connections and no Ethernet (wired network) connection. This is called ‘Headless operation’.
* Right click on the ‘boot’ SD card in left pane of File Explorer and ‘Eject’ it safely.
 
'''Setting up the Raspberry Pi'''
* With nothing plugged into the Raspberry Pi, take the Micro SD card from your PC and put it in the Pi.
* In a later step, you will need to find out the Raspberry Pi’s IP address by looking at your network router’s web interface. I can’t help you with doing that. If you don’t know how to, an alternative is to connect a keyboard, mouse and monitor to the Raspberry Pi at this stage
* Plug the power supply into the Raspberry Pi. It will boot up (note flashing red and/or green LEDs depending on model).
* On your PC, log into your network router’s web interface and identify the Pi’s IP address, which will be in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, for example 192.168.1.123
** NOTE: If you will be switching from a faster “build” Raspberry Pi to a “production” Raspberry Pi Zero W, the IP address will change, so you’ll need to repeat this step later
** While in your network router for the ‘production’ Pi you will be using, set up some port forwarding that will be needed later.
** Forward port 8998 to your Pi’s IP address for TCP protocol if you want to be able to access the Cumulus web interface from the external internet (this brings potential security risk though). [Forwarding port 8002 as well was previously needed].
* Start PuTTY on your PC. In the box for ‘Host Name or IP address’, enter the Pi’s IP address from above. In the adjacent ‘Port’ box, enter 22. Connection type should be SSH. Click ‘Open’.
* A window opens. The first time you do this you will probably see a long message asking to confirm it is OK to connect to a not-previously-known device. Click ‘Yes’.
* Login to the Pi. Username is pi [lower case] and password is raspberry [lower case]
* You will see a warning that SSH is enabled but the password has not been changed, which is a security risk. We will change the password in a moment
* Type
<pre>sudo raspi-config</pre>
 
* Note, to copy from here (usually need to do 1 line at a time), select it then CTRL-C. To paste into the PuTTY window, right click.
* As needed, adjust the following settings:
** Change the password to something you will remember. Leaving it at raspberry is a serious security risk – exposes your whole network to hackers
** In Network Options,
**#change the name of your pi to ‘Cumulus’ or something you prefer
**# WiFi network and password have already been set by the wpa-supplicant.conf file added earlier
** In Boot Options, Desktop / CLI, select ‘Console Autologin’
** In Localisation Options,
**# change ‘Locale’ if you need something different to en_GB.UTF-8. [Changing this takes quite a while on a slow Pi]. [As of Sep/Oct 2019, there is some kind of incompatibility between RaspBIAN Buster, mono v6.0.0.314 and locales other that en_GB - so unless you NEED another locale, it would be better to leave it as en_GB. The alternative is to force load an older version of Mono, for example v5.18]
**# Change Timezone.
**# Change Keyboard Layout if needed
**# WiFi country has already been set by the wpa-supplicant.conf file added earlier
** In Interfacing options, SSH server has already been set to be enabled by the empty SSH file added earlier
** Select ‘Finish’. There is no need to reboot at this stage. But until you do, you will see messages "sudo: unable to resolve host raspberrypi", but these can be safely ignored (it's just because you renamed the Pi - will disappear after next reboot)
 
In the steps below, you will need to press '''y''' to agree to proceed at various times
 
If you have been building the Micro SD card on a fast Pi, now is the time to switch to the 'production' Pi, for which a slower Pi Zero W is more than adequate.
Shut down the Raspberry Pi safely.
<pre>sudo halt</pre>
 
'''Move the micro SD card to the Pi Zero W'''.
Power on the Pi Zero W. Your SSH (PuTTY) session will close out and you'll need to reconnect after the Pi has rebooted. Use username pi and the new password you chose earlier.
 
'''Add the ‘Mono’ package'''
* Simplification: Mono is a package which allows programs to be written cross-platform so that they will run on Linux (including Raspberry Pi), Windows and Mac OS, similar to the Windows ‘.NET Framework’.
* The previous anomaly with the USB library not working with later versions of mono, affecting Fine Offset stations and the later Oregon Scientific stations (WMR88/100/200 etc) has been fixed (''in CumulusMX build 3044 onwards'') and these and other stations should now be fine with later/current versions of mono. I am currently using a Fine Offset with mono v5.18
* Process is to install a security certificate, add the mono server to the list of software sources [sources.list] that the Pi searches, then install the mono-complete package:
<pre>sudo apt install apt-transport-https dirmngr gnupg ca-certificates
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF
echo "deb https://download.mono-project.com/repo/debian stable-raspbianbuster main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install -y mono-complete
sudo apt autoremove</pre>
 
At the time of writing (''18 Sep 2019''), this gets Mono v6.0.0.334, which works with Buster (RaspBIAN 10). However, there have been reports of incompatabilities which require use of an older version of Mono. These may have now been fixed, or alternatively may be related to use of locales other than en_GB.UTF-8 . Please see other threads in Support Forum for discussions.
NOTE: ''29 Feb 2020'': added '''-y''' into the line '''sudo apt-get install -y mono-complete''' . This makes the install bypass the usual 'Continue Y/n?' prompt¨which was causing strange problems for some, e.g. worked if just pressed 'Enter' to accept default 'Y', but aborted installation if pressed 'Y Enter'. Bizarre.
'''
Reboot your Raspberry Pi'''
This would be a reasonable time to reboot your Pi:
<pre>sudo reboot</pre>
 
Your SSH (PuTTY) session will close out and you'll need to reconnect after the Pi has rebooted. Use username pi and the new password you chose earlier.
'''
Install Cumulus MX on the Raspberry Pi'''
Download it [[Software|from here]] to your PC, unzip on your PC which makes a directory named CumulusMX. Remember where that directory is located then on PC run FileZilla
# In the ‘Host’ box, enter the Raspberry Pi’s IP address eg 192.168.1.123
# In Username, enter pi
# In Password enter your pi’s password
# In Port, enter 22
# Click ‘Quickconnect’. Raspberry Pi’s directory structure appears on the right and your PC’s directory structure is on the left.
# In the LEFT window, navigate to where you unzipped the download of Cumulus MX earlier. Ensure can see the folder name ‘CumulusMX’ in the lower left window
# In the RIGHT window, ensure that the folder /home/pi is shown (see top right window; contents in bottom right window include .cache, .config etc)
# Drag the folder ‘CumulusMX’ to an empty area in the lower right window (not onto one of the existing directories). Watch progress as this copies the whole CumulusMX folder and contents to directory ~/CumulusMX on the Pi
# Close FileZilla
 
'''On Raspberry Pi PuTTY window:'''
<pre>sudo halt</pre>
 
Plug your USB weather station into the Raspberry Pi – USB cable into the OTG connector (probably via an adaptor lead) if using Raspberry Pi Zero W.
If you have an ethernet or WiFi linked weather station then you won't need to do this - I don't have one so I don't know exact details. Steve below says you need to enter the IP address during Cumulus setup, but then also adjust a disconnect period if you are also using Weatherlink software.
 
'''Running Cumulus'''
On PC, run PuTTY again and log in to the Pi as before (note you can save the IP address between sessions)
<pre>cd ~/CumulusMX
sudo mono CumulusMX.exe</pre>
 
The next thing you will want to do is access Cumulus via its '''user interface''' from your PC, so that you can update the '''settings'''. Using the IP address for your Pi, in your internet browser, enter: 192.168.y.z:8998 (where y and z are numbers you will need to find from seeing how your router connects to your Pi. You’ll first see a dashboard page, then can access the Settings menu.
 
To make Cumulus run each time the Pi is rebooted (and force reboot in the early hours each day)
On the Pi, type:
<pre>sudo crontab -e</pre>
 
On first run select the text editor you prefer (defaults to #1, nano, the easiest)
Then add the following lines at the end of the file:
<pre># Start Cumulus as background task 30s after reboot (delay to allow WiFi to startup)
@reboot (sleep 30;cd /home/pi/CumulusMX;sudo mono CumulusMX.exe) &
 
# Reboot each day at 0253
53 02 * * * sudo reboot</pre>
 
'''To stop the Pi and restart it without CumulusMX running'''
(eg you need to do that if upgrading the CumulusMX version) type the following
<pre>sudo crontab -e</pre>
 
'''edit to put a # at the start of the line''' "@reboot..."
Ctrl-X to save the change to crontab and reboot using
<pre>sudo reboot</pre>
 
When your pi restarts, CumulusMX will no longer be running. You can then do your version upgrade or other task.
 
To revert to normal auto-running of CumulusMX, go through the same again, but this time edit crontab to remove the # from the start of the line "@reboot...". Save changes and reboot - CumulusMX will be running.
 
Updating a version of CumulusMX is easily done as follows using this:
1. Stop CumulusMX running (it locks files while it is running)
2. Install the updated CumulusMX version into a new directory - I call mine CumulusMX3xyz (where xyz are the last 3 digits of the build number) so that I can easily see which build it is
3. copy the following from the old CumulusMX directory to the new CumulusMX3xyz directory:
 
- your CumulusMX/Cumulus.ini file
 
- your CumulusMX/data directory
 
- your CumulusMX/twitter.txt file (if you have personalised it)
 
- your CumulusMX/web directory (if you have personalised any web files)
 
4. Change your startup instruction to use the version in the new directory eg cd /home/pi/CumulusMX3050;sudo mono CumulusMX.exe
 
With that method you can easily revert back to the old version if something has gone wrong. If all is well, you can delete the old directory after a few days/weeks/months/if you need the space.
 
'''Updating mono version'''
*First, stop CumulusMX as above by editing crontab.
*Then remove the present version of mono:
<pre>sudo apt-get purge libmono* cli-common mono-runtime
sudo apt-get autoremove</pre>
 
*Then install the new version
<pre>sudo apt-get install mono-complete</pre>
 
*Finally re-enable auto running by editing crontab to remove the # and finally
<pre>sudo reboot</pre>
 
Above Instructions: Last edited by ExperiMentor on Sun 01 Mar 2020 8:17 am,
 
=== Notes by Steve Loft ===
==Library Software for the MX engine==
 
The distribution zip contains various '''.dll''' files and these are the libraries used by MX itself. The exact mix of libraries included has varied at various times, the list below is a snapshot of those included at the version that was investigated when this article was extended to include this section, and may not be right for the current MX version.
 
===Devart===
Sfws
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