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About Cumulus: Difference between revisions
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= Features of Cumulus Software = | = Features of Cumulus Software = | ||
== Key Features == | == Key Features == | ||
*Free for personal and non-profit use, but a donation would be appreciated if you continue to use Cumulus after trying it | *Free for personal and non-profit use, (Steve Loft said "but a donation would be appreciated if you continue to use Cumulus after trying it", since he retired from developing Cumulus, the donation option has ended) | ||
*Cumulus 1 runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 | *Cumulus 1 runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 | ||
*Supports Davis Vantage Pro and Pro2; Oregon Scientific WM918, WMR-918, WMR-928, WMR-968 weather stations; EasyWeather stations (MyDEL, Nevada, Watson, Fine Offset, WH1080, WH1081, W8681, FWS-20 etc); La Crosse WS-2300, and other models in the WS23xx range. | *Cumulus 2 and 3 (MX) runs on the last two Windows versions plus all devices running a Unix type environment (such as Linux and Mac OS X). | ||
*Easy to use, clean display | *Cumulus 1 Supports Davis Vantage Pro and Pro2; Oregon Scientific WM918, WMR-918, WMR-928, WMR-968 weather stations; EasyWeather stations (MyDEL, Nevada, Watson, Fine Offset, WH1080, WH1081, W8681, FWS-20 etc); La Crosse WS-2300, and other models in the WS23xx range. | ||
Cumulus MX adds further modern stations to the list see [[Supported_Devices|Supported Devices page]] for up-to-date details. | |||
*Easy to use, clean display [Cumulus 1 has display/editing screens appearing directly on PC running the software, Cumulus MX generates a user interface that is viewed (on your local network) using a browser] | |||
*Choice of meteorological day - midnight to midnight or 0900 to 0900 (optionally during summertime only 1000 to 1000) | *Choice of meteorological day - midnight to midnight or 0900 to 0900 (optionally during summertime only 1000 to 1000) | ||
*Cumulus 1 offered real time web display of wind speed and direction using Silverlight software that is no longer functional | *Cumulus 1 offered real time web display of wind speed and direction using Silverlight software that is no longer functional | ||
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*Comprehensive help file included | *Comprehensive help file included | ||
*Free support available in the support forum | *Free support available in the support forum | ||
== Periodic Actions === | |||
=== Reading Weather Station === | |||
When Cumulus software (of any flavour) interrogates the weather station for more readings, (which is done very frequently) it compares the readings against those read earlier, so it can maintain a whole series of extremes (maximum and minimum in each day, each month, that month in all years, each year, and all-time). | |||
=== Real Time Interval === | |||
These actions are optional, you need to enable the various possible actions at a real time interval, as well as selecting the time interval between the end of one set of actions and the start of the next set of actions. | |||
=== Standard Upload Interval actions === | |||
At this interval, and you can change the time between these actions, Cumulus (of all flavours) will process templates that create web pages, upload other files, and (MX only) run SQL to update a database for you. | |||
=== Logging Interval === | |||
This is when Cumulus stores, the set of readings it has processed, in a detailed log created specially for each individual month. It does NOT record the maximum and minimum since the last log entry, it just a snapshot of the readings at that logging time, so it is unlikely to capture extremes. | |||
=== End of Day Actions === | |||
Cumulus software of all flavours as already mentioned can support various times when the meteorological days end. As the new day starts, Cumulus does a lot of actions, here is the list for MX: | |||
<pre>Entering Day Reset (message about current day of month) | |||
Day Reset (message about date ending, time shown as 00:00:00 because time not defined, not because it is midnight, it might be 9am or 10am) | |||
Run EOD standard or custom SQL (the SQl is updated every time readings are updated) | |||
Custom Http EOD call | |||
Create line to append to dayfile.txt (this does hold extremes for each day) | |||
Open dayfile.txt | |||
Update dayfile.txt | |||
Read Rain Counter | |||
Update today.ini with yesterday's rain | |||
Write yesterday.ini | |||
Create NOAA monthly | |||
Save NOAA monthly | |||
Create NOAA yearly | |||
Save NOAA yearly | |||
Run EOD External Program | |||
Processs any Extra Files with EOD option selected | |||
Day reset complete | |||
Read readings from weather station to assign to start of new day | |||
Create daily backup folder to hold files as at start of new day | |||
Copy all files from data folder (plus Cumulus.ini) into new daily folder | |||
Resume normal operation of reading station, processing real-time and standard time interval functions | |||
In the first Extra Files with standard interval FTP upload, add upload of NOAA files and Extra Files processed at end of day</pre> | |||
You will see that if you set your standard logging interval to 10 minutes, and this end of day action was triggered at 10am, it would not finish until after 10:10am, so it is crucial not to have a power cut or anything else affecting the running of Cumulus throughout that period. Do not stop Cumulus after it starts processing end of day. For early versions of Cumulus 1, there was extra processing in the same interval before roll-over, so you could not restart Cumulus just before rollover was due. | |||
== Special Features == | == Special Features == | ||
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#Cumulus also has the ability to launch external processes, at its "real-time" processing interval, its "normal updating" interval or as it is processing the daily "rollover" to a new meteorological day. | #Cumulus also has the ability to launch external processes, at its "real-time" processing interval, its "normal updating" interval or as it is processing the daily "rollover" to a new meteorological day. | ||
== Flavours == | == Flavours == | ||
Two flavours of Cumulus are available for download [[Software|from this page]]. | Two flavours of Cumulus are available for download [[Software|from this page]], another flavour was briefly available. | ||
=== Cumulus 1 === | === Cumulus 1 === | ||
This is no longer developed and runs only on a device using the Windows operating system. There are large numbers of web sites (both private and public) using Cumulus 1 and it is probably the simplest version to install. However, there is no source available, and no author knowledge available (other than what appears at [[FAQ|FAQ for Cumulus 1]] and other pages in this Wiki. | This is no longer developed and runs only on a device using the Windows operating system. There are large numbers of web sites (both private and public) using Cumulus 1 and it is probably the simplest version to install. However, there is no source available, and no author knowledge available (other than what appears at [[FAQ|FAQ for Cumulus 1]] and other pages in this Wiki. | ||
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== Outputs to external web sites == | == Outputs to external web sites == | ||
Cumulus will store full weather records, along with daily and all-time records, and graphical data. Cumulus can upload its data to a web server and comes packaged with template web pages for this purpose. Cumulus also supports automatic uploads to Weather Underground, PWS weather, Weatherbug, WOW | Cumulus will store full weather records, along with daily and all-time records, and graphical data. Cumulus can upload its data to a web server and comes packaged with template web pages for this purpose. Cumulus also supports automatic uploads to Weather Underground, PWS weather, Weatherbug, WOW, CWOP/APRS, Windy.COM, Awekas and Weathercloud. | ||
Releases after 3072 include an interface to MQTT which allows users to feed data to their home automation systems (e.g. you can feed internal temperatures from your weather station to your home automation system to control your central heating). | |||
A variety of example [[Cumulus Screenshots|screen shots]] are available for Cumulus 1, and those for MX will be added in the future. | A variety of example [[Cumulus Screenshots|screen shots]] are available for Cumulus 1, and those for MX will be added in the future. | ||
==Supported Devices== | ==Supported Devices== | ||
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==Web pages== | ==Web pages== | ||
Steve Loft once described the web pages he | Steve Loft once described the web pages his wife designed and he provided with Cumulus with these words: "They exist because they're our web pages, and they're really only included with Cumulus as examples of how the web tags work. It never occurred to me that most people would simply use the supplied examples instead of creating their own pages!" | ||
'''Web pages included''': | '''Web pages included''': | ||
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*Monthly Records: Maxima and Minima | *Monthly Records: Maxima and Minima | ||
*All Time Records: Maxima and Minima | *All Time Records: Maxima and Minima | ||
*Trend Graphs | *Trend Graphs (in Cumulus 1 the graphs shown are generated by the software as images; in MX the software generates the figures for plotting in Json files, the graphs are then drawn from those figures) | ||
The standard menu navigation allows for inclusion of both a support forum link and a link to a webcam. Custom web pages can be achieved through the use of web tags added to any HTML/CSS layout. | The standard menu navigation allows for inclusion of both a support forum link and a link to a webcam. Custom web pages can be achieved through the use of web tags added to any HTML/CSS layout. | ||
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Cumulus 1 includes a comprehensive Help File, this can be downloaded from [[Software|here]] if you are using MX, but it is designed to be used on windows operating system. | Cumulus 1 includes a comprehensive Help File, this can be downloaded from [[Software|here]] if you are using MX, but it is designed to be used on windows operating system. | ||
To read more about this Wiki see [[CumulusWiki:About|About Cumulus Wiki]]. | |||
There are pages within this [[Main_Page|Wiki contents page]] that discuss: | There are pages within this [[Main_Page|Wiki contents page]] that discuss: | ||
*Frequently Asked Questions [[FAQ|for Cumulus 1]] (although it has some applicability to MX and does discuss weather station positioning; and a new one [[Cumulus MX#FAQ|for Cumulus MX]] (only rough outline at present) | *Frequently Asked Questions [[FAQ|for Cumulus 1]] (although it has some applicability to MX and does discuss weather station positioning; and a new one [[Cumulus MX#FAQ|for Cumulus MX]] (only rough outline at present) | ||
* each of the configuration and log files, | * each of the [[:Category:Configuration Files|configuration]] and [[:Category:Log Files|log files]], | ||
* list the [[Webtags|web tags]] available, and how to use input and output parameters with them | * list the [[Webtags|web tags]] available, and how to use input and output parameters with them | ||
* give guidance for setting up a [[Website setup|web site]] whether using the provided template pages, or ones you have edited/created, plus other "web tips" | * give guidance for setting up a [[Website setup|web site]] whether using the provided template pages, or ones you have edited/created, plus other "web tips" | ||
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* weather terminology, explaining the various terms that Cumulus uses, the way that derivatives are calculated, and the ways that your weather station can measure what it reports to Cumulus | * weather terminology, explaining the various terms that Cumulus uses, the way that derivatives are calculated, and the ways that your weather station can measure what it reports to Cumulus | ||
Further help, support, and discussion is available on our Forum. | Further help, support, and discussion is available on our Forum. Anyone can read the forum. You will need to register to be able to see attachments or post to the forum. Please submit bug reports and requests for enhancements there. You will find a guide to how to capture a [[Screen capture|what is on your screen]] in this wiki, as that can be useful when requesting support. You may also be asked to supply various files to help diagnose your problem. Do that by using Zip to compress all the requested files, then below the window where you post your response click on the tab labelled attachments for further instructions. | ||
==Donations & Sandaysoft== | ==Donations & Sandaysoft== | ||
'''Since Steve Loft stopped developing Cumulus, there has been no mechanism for donating.''' | |||
''a note from the original developer...'' | ''a note from the original developer...'' | ||
