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auto install

From build 3044 the development baton passed to Mark Crossley. Mark has been responsible for all the Builds since. He has made the code available on GitHub. It is Mark's hope that others will join in this development, but at the very least he welcomes your ideas for future developments (see Cumulus MX Development suggestions).

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KC0WNY
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auto install

Post by KC0WNY »

Is there any chance of a automatic install .EXE file being developed. It appears I am not very computer savvy when trying to install MX. in short, I don't know how to make it work, plain and simple.
Thank You.
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sfws
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Re: auto install

Post by sfws »

KC0WNY wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 4:38 pm Is there any chance of a automatic install .EXE file being developed.
I cannot answer that question, although I suspect changing installation method is still a low priority for Mark now; just as it was when Steve Loft was first developing MX.

The current priorities, I believe, for MX development are adding missing operational functionality, fixing bugs, and keeping up with new sensors becoming available for various weather stations.
KC0WNY wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 4:38 pm in short, I don't know how to make it work, plain and simple.
For a start, I suggest you look in top right corner of every forum page where there is a link labelled Using Cumulus MX. If you start your reading there, you will find a section about installing. That is as the link title suggests a good place to get help with using MX too.

If as your profile says (and other recent posts by you suggest) you are still using a Windows pc, then there is a lot about installing on windows at https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Moving_from_Cumulus_1_to_MX. Since you previously used Cumulus 1 for many years, that is where your swap would be made easier, but it contains useful Windows tips even for those already using MX.

If your profile is wrong now and you want to use another device, then there will be posts elsewhere in this forum to help you. Use on those devices is not well documented in Wiki, an appeal for that has not yet been fulfilled.
KC0WNY
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Re: auto install

Post by KC0WNY »

Yes windows 10. I have read the FAQ's and install notes , sounds too complicated for me, I guess I will just have to keep using the old one, until it stops working. Thanks
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water01
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Re: auto install

Post by water01 »

KC0WNY wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 10:19 pm I have read the FAQ's and install notes , sounds too complicated for me,
I am sorry but I do not get this, it is simplicity itself.

Simply copy the Cumulus 1 folder to a new position. Download the Software and unzip the file and then copy the entire contents into the folder. Then using File Explorer simply right click on CumulusMX.exe and "run it as administrator".

The server will then open.

Pick your browser of choice and enter the URL http://localhost:8998 and you will access the Admin Interface. Then using the Settings menu enter your weather station type etc. as per Cumulus 1 but via the Admin interface and bingo you have a running CumulusMX.
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sfws
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Re: auto install

Post by sfws »

KC0WNY wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 10:19 pm sounds too complicated for me, I guess I will just have to keep using the old one, until it stops working. Thanks
You can continue using Cumulus 1 (it is not going to stop working, until your computer fails). That is your decision.

It is true, currently more people use Cumulus 1 than MX. But lots of people have moved to MX, either to take advantage of vast improvements made to MX in the last 6 months, or because they want to run Cumulus on a device that consumes less power than your PC. Do not be put off swapping, just because it is unfamiliar. I am sure you have coped with various versions of the Windows Operating systems, and I expect you found some upgrades were not as simple as others. I predict you will cope with installing MX if you do try it.
sfws wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 5:51 pm there is a lot about installing on windows at https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Moving_from_Cumulus_1_to_MX.
The complications mentioned in the documentation are probably irrelevant to you. If in Cumulus 1 you just use the standard features and have not done any tailoring, so in MX you just use the standard features and don't need to worry initially about the new features. The full documentation does have to cover a lot of possibilities, different operating systems, different devices, different places for installation, people who have used Cumulus 1 and people who have never used Cumulus before, people who have web sites and people who do not, people who have databases and people who do not, all the extra features in MX not in Cumulus 1, locale issues like decimal commas and decimal points, people who have customised web pages, and people making different choices over what functionality to use. That is why it will seem complicated, you need to read what I linked to again, but this time focussing on the section with steps, and as you read each step think does it apply in my case. Plenty of other people who are not computer savvy have managed to swap to MX.
water01 wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 10:37 pm I am sorry but I do not get this, it is simplicity itself.
In your Windows 10, clicking on the download zip for MX will unzip the contents, and each file will go into its correct place. That is why the installation is simple. If as water01 suggests you unzip where your Cumulus 1 exe is currently, then your data folder, your Cumulus.ini and other files will be in place and you don't need to follow the bits of the documentation about copying them elsewhere. Since a lot of the steps are about copying, this already represents considerable simplification!
water01 wrote: Wed 29 Jul 2020 10:37 pm using the Settings menu enter your weather station type etc.
Water01 has muddled his answer by suggesting you have to select weather station type. Installing MX where your Cumulus.ini file already exists, that and similar settings will be read from the configuration file.

Later you will need to alter settings, not for your weather station type, but for what you want uploaded to your web site, to view or correct extreme records, to edit out rogue values from logs and similar tasks. For this, you will need to make use of a browser to view the admin interface and that will seem strange to you because you are used to the Cumulus 1 main screen and you will not see that. The web server that includes the admin interface is running all the time MX is running, to make that server work you either run MX as administrator, or you have to just once enter the command in the documentation that lets you thereafter run MX without needing administrative privileges.

Swapping to MX, you get a new set of web pages, and those are installed in a similar way to you will have installed Cumulus 1 web pages, that was not done by an installer before so you can do it. There are some differences in what is uploaded on a regular basis between the two flavours of Cumulus and as already mentioned that means some differences in settings for getting what you want in web pages.
Vegit8
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Re: auto install

Post by Vegit8 »

In your Windows 10, clicking on the download zip for MX will unzip the contents, and each file will go into its correct place. That is why the installation is simple. If as water01 suggests you unzip where your Cumulus 1 exe is currently, then your data folder, your Cumulus.ini and other files will be in place and you don't need to follow the bits of the documentation about copying them elsewhere. Since a lot of the steps are about copying, this already represents considerable simplification!
Isn't there a need to rename cumulus.ini to Cumulus.ini?
sfws
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Re: auto install

Post by sfws »

Vegit8 wrote: Thu 30 Jul 2020 8:42 am Isn't there a need to rename cumulus.ini to Cumulus.ini?
Well that depends on what the Cumulus 1 file was called, which in turn depends on which was the first version of Cumulus 1 that was used by the person moving to MX.
The configuration file by default takes the spelling of the exe, removes the exe and adds a ini. Cumulus 1 will accept Cumulus1.ini and all sorts of other variants because the exe in Cumulus 1 can be called anything (weathersoftware.exe would work). In some versions, Steve Loft's installer created a file that started with a capital letter (Cumulus.exe) and in some it was all lowercase (cumulus.exe), and in some the Cumulus part changed to include text (CumulusSpecial.exe) or a number (Cumulus1.exe). Luckily, by default the installer stored the filename in the registry and so when you updated to a new version it reused previous name, that is why I said it depends on first version installed.

But you are right in that MX can only find it if it is exactly Cumulus.ini. This point is in the documentation I linked to.

In some ways, life with MX is much simpler because it does not use an installer, so you make decision where to place the package when you unzip it, and if it does not recognise an existing name it creates a new file with the name it uses.
Last edited by sfws on Thu 30 Jul 2020 3:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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mcrossley
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Re: auto install

Post by mcrossley »

sfws wrote: Thu 30 Jul 2020 3:40 pm But you are right in that MX can only find it if it is exactly Cumulus.ini.
On Linux yes, on Windows file names are not case sensitive.
But it is best to make it that capitalisation is case you ever move to Linux in the future.
KC0WNY
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Re: auto install

Post by KC0WNY »

Thanks, I will have another go at it. One of the posts I believe cleared up some of the confusion I was having about installing it.
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KC0WNY
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Re: auto install

Post by KC0WNY »

I got it! It was indeed a piece of cake. Even a cave man could have done it. Thanks.
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KC0WNY
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Re: auto install

Post by KC0WNY »

I may want to get a raspberry PI for a dedicated weather station. I keep closing my browser window.
Amateur Radio Operators:
KC0WNY and KD0ACN Ted and Kay
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