A CMX features summary page for CMX

[prodata]

This is a very simple suggestion (from a very simple person ), which is for a page somewhere very prominently on the CMX wiki that just summarises the main features of CMX. Unless I've missed it, I can't currently spot a page that serves this purpose.

It could be as long or as short as you like, but there are clearly multiple features to list and to expand on where necessary, so it might perhaps tend to be longer. If so then maybe a shorter summary section at the top could be included.

The reason for the suggestion? There are many people out there who don't currently use CMX/Cumulus but who might well be interested in giving it a try. I'm often asked for an opinion on which Davis-compatible software to use, but there's no webpage that I'm aware of that - in a short eg 5-minute read - gives an overview of what CMX can do, along perhaps with some pictures and maybe a link to a live CMX website.

[ConligWX]

Yep would tend to agree, there needs to be an "About" or Summary page on or near https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Main_Page.

[water01]

Doesn't this do it https://cumuluswiki.org/a/About_Cumulus ?

[HansR]

Reading that wiki page I would say that the windows versions MX runs on require review.
At least XP falls out but I think even W7 has has a problem by now because of FTP. And I would skip W8 completely.
So that would leave W10.

[prodata]

Doesn't this do it https://cumuluswiki.org/a/About_Cumulus ?

Well, now you've drawn my attention to it, then yes that's a good start. But a couple of comments:

If I go to the obvious landing page for CMX information which would be https://cumuluswiki.org (or what then appears as: https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Main_Page) then maybe I've overlooked it but I can't spot any obvious link to that About page. It could perhaps be linked in a separate yellow box right at the top of the wiki landing page.

Second, that About page could perhaps be edited a bit to focus on aspects that a completely new potential CMX user might want to read about and understand. For instance, the history of Cumulus (and eg the mention of Cumulus 2) is interesting but probably not of prime concern to a new user. Is it time to downplay Cumulus 1 also? Aren't new users encouraged to use CMX - it's debatable perhaps whether Cumulus 1 should be mentioned at all, except maybe as a limited Windows-only option?

Also, this is written rather as a text wiki (no surprise there!), but what's in my mind is something more like a brochure page that might capture the interest of a potential user rather than force them to read through a wall of text. I'm not suggesting a change from the wiki format, but presumably it might be possible to include some images higher up on the page and just bringing the page more up to date, eg one sentence there says: 'A variety of example screen shots are available for Cumulus 1, and those for MX will be added in the future.' Surely the screenshots for CMX should be there by now? For Davis stations, you need to go to the linked CMX page to find a first mention of the Weatherlink Live (WLL) logger/upload device, when it's actually the most popular 'logger' specified for new Davis stations nowadays. And no obvious mention of the benefits of using WLL and CMX together. And what about Airlink?

Absolutely no criticism intended here - I'm well aware of the time and effort it takes to maintain these pages by volunteers. But it seems a slight shame that CMX is not selling itself to the world quite as well as it could be. I know people are doubtless hard at work on adding detail to the wiki. But guess I'm just making a plea to think about newcomers too and create an overview page that would sell CMX to them as effectively as possible.