Cumulus Support

@MW0MAU: Which version of Raspbian and which for mono did you install?

Not sure why Hans asked a question instead of pointing you at the likely problem.

If you've just installed from scratch in the last couple of weeks, then you will have the latest version of Raspbian (v10, Buster) and the latest version of mono (v6.0.0). We seem to have found a strange incompatibility between these, with symptoms varying but often similar to what you describe, especially inability to access the Settings page. See viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17564 .

Things to try would include:
a) Import an old copy of Cumulus.ini if you have one. Cumulus will then find your station and will run properly except for being unable to access or change the Settings
b) Change your Locale to en_GB (use sudo raspi-config) - can't guarantee that English is OK, but most of the problems seem to be reported by Non-English Locale users
c) downgrade the mono version to something older. v5.18 is known to be OK, as are v4.x.x . Instructions in that link.
d) Try again with an older version of Raspbian (eg v=9, Stretch)

Please post how you get on - we are still learning about this issue

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Wed 04 Sep 2019 10:57 pm Not sure why Hans asked a question instead of pointing you at the likely problem.

Because it is not at all clear from the original message what is going on. I ask for the minimum information I would need to assess the problem. And yes, @ExperiMentor, I think we both think about the same problem.

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Wed 04 Sep 2019 10:57 pm If you've just installed from scratch in the last couple of weeks, then you will have the latest version of Raspbian (v10, Buster) and the latest version of mono (v6.0.0). We seem to have found a strange incompatibility between these, with symptoms varying but often similar to what you describe, especially inability to access the Settings page. See viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17564 .

Not necessarily Buster and Mono-6, in the wild you can install anything you can find. Also, it is not necessarily an incompatibility between Buster and Mono 6, it may be - not unlikely - a bug somewhere in interaction with the locale. You might also want to read the first large thread on this issue to get an idea of what the problem is.

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Wed 04 Sep 2019 10:57 pm Things to try would include:
a) Import an old copy of Cumulus.ini if you have one. Cumulus will then find your station and will run properly except for being unable to access or change the Settings
b) Change your Locale to en_GB (use sudo raspi-config) - can't guarantee that English is OK, but most of the problems seem to be reported by Non-English Locale users
c) downgrade the mono version to something older. v5.18 is known to be OK, as are v4.x.x . Instructions in that link.
d) Try again with an older version of Raspbian (eg v=9, Stretch)

Please be aware that changing the locale and importing old datafiles, do not really go together (see the thread I pointed to above). The locale does seem to be a problem, but changing the locale changes the separators (date, field and decimal). That leaves the existing data unreadable. With all variations of locales in use within the installed base, changing the locale simply to en_GB to fix this issue is - according to me - bad advice: I would strongly advice against it if you cherish your hardly gained data over the past years. Only for new installations you may make this choice. But once you have, be aware you are stuck with it.

The downgrade is currently the safest option.

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Wed 04 Sep 2019 10:57 pm Please post how you get on - we are still learning about this issue

HansR wrote: ↑Wed 04 Sep 2019 8:50 pm Which version of Raspbian and which for mono did you install?

Indeed... info is needed. Still open and I forgot to ask for the locale you use, because that seems at the moment important info.

Hi Steve,

My dashboard looks like this for station and internet (see attachment). I can't set any station or internet parameters. My weather station is a WH-3080-solar, cumulus MX £.0.0 b3050 and mono V6. I rebuilt the whole package three times and still get the same result.
What am I doing wrong?

Regards,
Mark

Yes, sorry for this, was just missing the Raspbian version and locale.
My bad. Don't know what happened.
But what is the locale?

I think you can safely ignore all the posts except the first one. Some suggested fixes or improvements, but I edited the first post for these.

Good luck. It's actually much easier than the long instructions seem to suggest.

Got a Pi 4B starter kit ordered...
Then on to learning what to do, how to use with WiFiLogger2, https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/evalu ... teo-pi.htm and CumulusMX

Hope to enjoy,
Paul

MW0MAU wrote: ↑Thu 05 Sep 2019 8:19 am Hi Steve,

My dashboard looks like this for station and internet (see attachment). I can't set any station or internet parameters. My weather station is a WH-3080-solar, cumulus MX £.0.0 b3050 and mono V6. I rebuilt the whole package three times and still get the same result.
What am I doing wrong?

Regards,
Mark

I'm getting the same. So I copied my Cumulus.ini file over from Windows 10 laptop to Raspberry Pi zero.

I now get this:

Current culture: English (United Kingdom)
Serial: 85CFE94DA2C5D6B4B18E8F5D2839FD27
Cumulus MX v.3.0.0 build 3050
Today.ini = data/today.ini
Last update=2019-09-08T19:21:53
Looking for Fine Offset station
malloc_consolidate(): invalid chunk size

=================================================================
Native Crash Reporting
=================================================================
Got a SIGABRT while executing native code. This usually indicates
a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries
used by your application.
=================================================================
/proc/self/maps:

I've tried editing some of the stuff out of the Cumulus.ini file. I have also updated the line about the USB port mentioned in earlier posts and get the same message. I should say the weather station is a N96FY plugged in to a Raspberry Pi Zero W running Raspbian Buster, and I have just downloaded the latest version of mono.

Thanks

Steve.

Hi,

Please be aware there is a problem when using the latest version of Mono (6 and up). Reading this thread and this one will supply info. Mark Crossley is aware of the problem and investigating. Meanwhile you better downgrade to a Mono version 5.x or less until further notice.

Locale seems to be relevant, apparently yours is en_GB so version 5.x seems safe for you.

Please, do not start messing with the ini-file or whatever, the problem does not seem to be there. Trial and error may make things worse for you (as it did for me).

Best,

HansR wrote: ↑Mon 09 Sep 2019 8:56 am Hi,

Please be aware there is a problem when using the latest version of Mono (6 and up). Reading this thread and this one will supply info. Mark Crossley is aware of the problem and investigating. Meanwhile you better downgrade to a Mono version 5.x or less until further notice.

Locale seems to be relevant, apparently yours is en_GB so version 5.x seems safe for you.

Please, do not start messing with the ini-file or whatever, the problem does not seem to be there. Trial and error may make things worse for you (as it did for me).

Best,

Hi,

I have reformatted my SD card. Reinstalled Raspbian and installed mono 5.20. Reinstalled Cumulus MX on the SDcard following the instructions. IT NOW WORKS!!! YAY!!! I've added the reboot code and installed the zero with fine offset in place. Let's just see how it goes.

Thank you everybody.

Steve.

Just to report that I am seeing no problems with:

• RaspBIAN 10 (Buster)

• Mono v6.0.0.334 [the one supplied automatically]

• locale en_GB.UTF-8

Not tested if it is working OK with other Locales

OK. Point is, there was never a problem with en_GB, it is with other locales. Mine being nl_NL.UTF8 , there was also an italian. Locale reporting is not consistent. The problem must be examined with the other locales! Change locale: raspi-config - remove all locales and set the one you want to test gives a reliable, consistently repeatable way of setting the locale.

HansR wrote: ↑Wed 18 Sep 2019 3:41 am OK. Point is, there was never a problem with en_GB, it is with other locales.

Not so! I have never used any locale other than en_GB, and yet:

• When I first discovered this problem - around the same time as you, late August - I had successfully installed using Buster and mono v5.18

• Then a couple of days later I was retesting my 'Install on RPi" instructions and found I received mono v6.0.0.xxx (EDIT: it was v6.0.0.319) instead of 5.18.

• At that time I got the 500 errors on displaying the web interface and inability to edit settings.

Only after that did I see your posts indicating that locale is somehow involved.

As reported above it now seems OK with mono v6.0.0.334.
I don't know when it got fixed for locale en_GB, but as it wasn't fixed in Cumulus, it must have been fixed in a mono minor version update. Hopefully they will repair same soon for other locales.

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Wed 18 Sep 2019 8:11 pm

HansR wrote: ↑Wed 18 Sep 2019 3:41 am OK. Point is, there was never a problem with en_GB, it is with other locales.

Not so! I have never used any locale other than en_GB, and yet:

• When I first discovered this problem - around the same time as you, late August - I had successfully installed using Buster and mono v5.18

• Then a couple of days later I was retesting my 'Install on RPi" instructions and found I received mono v 6.0.0.xxx (sorry - didn't make a note of the xxx) instead of 5.18.

• At that time I got the 500 errors on displaying the web interface and inability to edit settings.

Only after that did I see your posts indicating that locale is somehow involved.

As reported above it now seems OK with mono v6.0.0.334.
I don't know when it got fixed for locale en_GB, but as it wasn't fixed in Cumulus, it must have been fixed in a mono minor version update. Hopefully they will repair same soon for other locales.

Yes so! Problem here is that reporting back apparently happens in more threads and maybe there is some 'loss in translation' as I am not a native English speaker.
But I reported already here that the problems are only partly solved. The 500 errors were gone. The filenaming problem which I reported at the same time as the 500 errors - came into existence at the same time, so it is likely related - is not solved. And it is the file naming problem which never occurred with en_GB locale, and it is that problem to which I refer. Thought you had read the other thread, thought even I was in that thread when I wrote my previous remark.

My point is that it is still dangerous to upgrade, as we saw problems reported for other locales. Your message, as I read it, seems to state it is safe to install without mentioning even the locale problem. I think reporting that, in this main installation thread is wrong because it is not safe.

Let's decide in which thread we discuss this issue further.

Hans,

I don't want to argue with you, not least because you re clearly very knowledgeable on software and troubleshooting, and I really don't think your non-native-English is holding you back!

As for location for this discussion, this is "MY" thread if such a thing exists. It concerns first installations of CumulusMX on an RPi. As presently amended, it says that Debian Buster, Mono v6.0.0.334 and Locale en_GB seem to be working, but there are possibly/probably continuing problems for those using other Locales. I think we agree that that is correct?

So for a new user (my audience) they will be OK if they use locale en_GB (which is the RPi default). For other locales, you are reporting that they should use mono v5.18. It would be helpful if you could post a simple instruction stating how to force installation of that version - I have tried a few things which should work but did not - so help on this would be appreciated. I would happily include that (temporarily, until this is fixed to your satisfaction) in the main instructions on page 1.

Underlying is maybe a disagreement about what is the main problem.

• The '500 errors' were inconvenient but fixed by reloading the page (and now fixed in all locales?)

• Inability to make 'Settings' in the web interface made for a complete 'mission critical' fail for everyone trying to do a first install. This is now fixed in locale en_GB - not sure about other locales - maybe you could tell us?

• Locales incorrectly applying to filenames appears to have been a nuisance for those in a few countries - NL, IT, ES and Australia, but I've not seen complaints from any other countries, which sort of suggests many are not affected? Workaround is to use Mono v5.18, or locale en_GB. The latter is easier for new users, though the former is probably a better approach?

ExperiMentor wrote: ↑Sun 22 Sep 2019 5:47 pm As presently amended, it says that Debian Buster, Mono v6.0.0.334 and Locale en_GB seem to be working, but there are possibly/probably continuing problems for those using other Locales. I think we agree that that is correct?

No, I do not see that as correct. I think possibly/probably is very much understating the issue. There IS a problem. As it is I can not upgrade. The system (CumulusMX, Mono, Linux - I do not know where the problem is) generates filename(s?) which blocks access to old data. I made the error of changing my locale. That made it only much worse because that changes the separators. Once started with a locale you have to stick with it. And that makes the problem bigger than you seem to be willing to handle it.

With respect to help, I do not have the time at the moment to look into that mono installation, but I saw some remarks passing, in threads related to this issue, on how to install and above all fixate the installation of mono. Recovering those remarks might help.

Locales incorrectly applying to filenames appears to have been a nuisance for those in a few countries - NL, IT, ES and Australia, but I've not seen complaints from any other countries, which sort of suggests many are not affected? Workaround is to use Mono v5.18, or locale en_GB. The latter is easier for new users, though the former is probably a better approach?

What you are saying is: [$%^&*] Europe and the rest of the world, just use en_GB. That is slightly irritating.

It is not locales applying to filenames, we do not know what is happening. The only thing I know is, if the locale is NL, IT, ES, AUS (at least) the running logfile (eg sep19log.txt) becomes sep.19log.txt. So, filenames were not ok. If you install your system with the locale of your country, a logical thing to do, you can not simply set it to en_GB for Cumulus. That is not offering a workaround.

Remarkable btw. I just made a search on "sep.19log.txt" and found this thread: Doubts with the file "may.19log.txt. The author of that message has cumulus on Windows and the problem occurred already in May. This may lead to the conclusion that the problem may be very different and has nothing to do with mono.

If you estimate this as minor issue because new users simply can start en_GB locale. OK. Agree to disagree.

I don't want to argue with you, not least because you re clearly very knowledgeable on software and troubleshooting, and I really don't think your non-native-English is holding you back!

Whether you want to argue or not: it is an argument because we think different on this issue. And me being non-English has little to do with that. Misunderstandings may occur, but those can be worked out.