Radar Server Problems?

I ran WxRadar this more to take a looking a the weather coming to my area. Everything looked normal. This afternoon I received an email from a user saying that WxRadar was broke. I tried running WxRadar on my computer and it failed also.

It turns out that there is some problem with the radar server. It almost looks like they have discontinued the radar on that server. A quick check through the nws site found that the radar was working. After some digging I found that they were pulling radar from another location http://origin-radar.weather.gov

There is a registry key that can be created to use this server. I sent that information to the few users that asked about it this afternoon. I have sent emails to several NWS addresses to see what is happening.

WxScheduler - Script Support

I am completing the changes that will allow users use vb.net scripts in WxScheduler. The software will pass the received data to the script and you can then modify the data and pass it back to WxScheduler.

The scripts must conform to the syntax in vb.net 2005. WxScheduler compiles the scripts before running them, allowing them to be more efficient.

I am sure there will be some questions about this capability after it is released.

Windows Vista Desktop Problem

I have had a user report that their desktop was not updating properly after running for serveral days. Apparently this is a problem with Vista. The user supplied me with this link from Microsoft - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406/en-us

ProFTPD

I am working with a couple of users to resolve a problem with ProFTPD. When you use the No Overwrite option, there is a 2 minute delay in sending the file to the ftp server. I have a work around available now.

It appears that this ftp server returns a 450 status code instead of 550. I have sent an email to my ftp vendor about this problem. Hopefully I will know more next week.

Version 3.1 Beta

I have release a version 3.1 beta to correct a couple of problems identified with the 3.0 release. I am trying to update the 3.1 beta with corrections on Sundays. Check for updates on Sunday evenings.

Depending on the reports that I receive over the next couple of weeks, I may go ahead and release 3.1. There were a couple of problems that could be issues for new users.

Version 3.0 - Released

I am in the process of releasing version 3.0. Some links may not work initially. It will take me some time to get the website completely updated. As soon as I complete the website changes, I will post a series of notes about 3.0 on the yahoo group.

Version 3.0 Beta J

A group of issues were reported last week. Due to those reports, a new beta has been uploaded to the website. I hope these will be the last reports before the final release.

There is an issue with saving the map image as a TIF. I have been communicating with my map component vendor and they are working on that issue.

Final 3.0 Changes?

I am uploading an updated beta based on the feed back that I have received this week. There were a couple of things that did not work, or caused problems.

I hope this is the last upload before release.

VTEC Alarms to the Map and WxLoader

It appears that all VTEC lines are being set to WxMap and WxLoader even went you enter specific VTEC alarms. I have confirmed this issue and will get changes made for the 3.0 release.

Weather Message 3.0 Beta H Uploaded

I have uploaded Weather Message 3.0 Beta H. This should be the last beta unless a problem is reported.

I still have a good deal of work to do on the website in preparation for this update. Watch for further news later this week.

Note to Version 3.0 Test Users

If you are testing or using version 3.0 and have any pending issues, please get them to me as soon as possible. I am getting prepared to relase version 3.0.

Note to All Users: I will be releasing information on the yahoo group about version 3.0 soon.

Weather Message 3.0 Beta G Refreshed

I have refreshed Weather Message Net 3.0 Beta G with the latest tcp/ip dll's. I hope this is the final major component needed for 3.0. I will begin production testing on Wednesday and watch this for a couple of days. If all goes well, I will begin the process to release 3.0. (I was beginning to think this day would not come.)

If you are a beta tester, please give this version a try. Exercise the parts of the program that use tcp/ip; email, ftp, and client connections.

Weather Message 3.0 Update

Weather Message 3.0 should be released soon. I have been waiting on a fix for the tcp/ip control. This change arrived today. I will get the binaries updated tonight and refresh the beta on the website.

I will get this version install on my production system and allow it to run for a couple of days. If everything looks good, I will start getting everything prepared for the release.

More Configuration Files Move to XML

Some of the Weather Message programs already use xml configuration files. Two weeks ago, WxLoader moved to xml. This weekend WxScheduler was changed to xml.

While I am waiting on some tcp/ip changes, I am trying to get as many, if not all of the configuration files in this format. Using xml allows me to easily add new features without having to worry about writing conversion programs between releases.

This however does create a problem for beta testers. They have had to reenter some of their information during the beta period. The full install will convert exising 2.x versions to the new 3.0 formats.

I can convert beta tester's files should that be needed.

Memory Upgrade

If you want to breath some new life into your computer, consider a memory upgrade. I purchased a new development computer, for Weather Message, two years ago. I ordered it with 1gb of memory. Moving from a computer with 512mb to 1gb made a big difference.

At any given time, I have a number of programs running, including Weather Message. A couple of copies of the development environment, Word, and Weather Message consume more memory than you think. I recently added an additional 1gb of memory for 2 gb total. Although the computer does not seem like it is alot faster, the hard drive activity has dropped considerably. This is a result of the operating system not having to swap programs out to the hard drive's paging file.

As you are working, bring up the task manager and click on performance. Watch the PF Usage. This shows how much of the hard drive's paging file that is being used. Hard drive paging file access is slow.

Systems that are running low on memory have a high paging file usage. This results in alot of hard drive access when programs start. If there is not enough memory, inactive programs are moved from physical ram to the paging file on the hard drive to make room for active programs.

The next time you think your system is running slow, take a look at the Task Manager and see if you need a memory upgrade.

Web Server Upgrade

The Weather Message web server has had a number of upgrades in the past six months. The first upgrade moved the computer from a 2.8 Pentium 4 to a 3.4 ghz Pentium D. This past week, the original hard drive started to fail. The ide drive was replaced with two SATA2 drives in a RAID 1 configuration.

There have been several outages as this latest upgrade was implemented. There will be a couple of outages next week when the other drives are upgraded. This web server is running Windows 2003 Server Standard and hosts the Weather Message website along with my Weather Message production software. It has a full T1 connection to the internet.

The company that I work for allows me to host the Weather Message website on this server. It services their website along with the website for my volunteer fire department. This is a great benefit from my "day job".

In addition to developing Weather Message, I have to keep up the Weather Message website in my spare time. When I started this endeavor, I never thought that there was so much work involved. Sometimes it seems like I spend more time doing administrative jobs than working on the software.

WxLoader

While I have been waiting for the TCP/IP fix from my vendor I have been busy with changes to WxLoader. WxLoader has been completely reworked. This application now connects to the Weather Message Server using tcp/ip and no longer needs a processing directory. This eliminates the need for setting up alarms to archive products to a WxLoader directory.

It connects as a map client and can process any message sent to the map. There are a number of changes to this application. I hope to release a beta version by the weekend. It does require you to change the "files name" to "awips" identifers. This is caused by the fact that it no longer processes files.

Purging

A problem was identified with the new purging capability. If you used the number of products option, the program would not purge December products when January products arrived. I uploaded the fix to the website.

Emwin Software Defined Receiver

Changes have been made to WxByte to allow it to connect to the Emwin Software Defined Receiver's demodulator TCP/IP output data stream. This eliminates the need to use two serial ports.

Status - Update

I still have two pending issues that need to be resolved before version 3.0 can be released. I have a strange tcp/ip problem in Weather Message Server and Byte Blaster Server. The problem occurs with the internal tcp/ip buffer fills. This causes the applications to hang until the offending client disconnects.

The tcp/ip vendor sent me a correction, however, it appears to still have this problem under different circumstances. I have sent another email to them regarding this problem.

A couple of users have reported a strange GDI+ error with WxIngest. I have temporarily removed the sliding data window to see if this resolves the issue.

As soon as these two issues are addressed, I'll go ahead and release 3.0.

I am going to try and release 2.10 as the public release for Weather Message Classic. There have been several changes over the year and it needs to be version that new users are downloading.