pywws

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Python software for USB Wireless WeatherStations

Introduction

pywws is a collection of Python scripts to read, store and process data from popular USB wireless weather stations such as Elecsa AstroTouch 6975, Watson W-8681, WH-1080PC, WH1080, WH1081, WH3080 etc. I assume any model that is supplied with the EasyWeather Windows software is compatible, but cannot guarantee this.

The software has been developed to run in a low power, low memory environment such as a router. It can be used to create graphs and web pages showing recent weather readings, typically updated every hour. It can also send data to services such as Weather Underground and post messages to Twitter.

I have written this software to meet my needs, but have tried to make it adaptable to other people’s requirements. You may want to edit some or all of the modules, or write some new ones, to get it to do exactly what you want. One of the reasons for using Python is that it makes such alterations so easy. Don’t be afraid, just jump in and have a go.

Requirements

The software you’ll need to run pywws depends on what you plan to do with it. In particular, there is a choice of USB library, to suit what’s available on different operating systems.

Getting a copy of pywws

The simplest way to obtain pywws is to download a zip or tar.gz file from the download page and then extract the files into a convenient directory on your computer. These “archive” files contain a snapshot release of the software - a new one is released every few months.

If you’d like to try the latest version of pywws, please use git to clone the repository. After doing so you’ll need to use make to compile the documentation and language localisation files.

Credits

I would not have been able to get any information from the weather station without access to the source of Michael Pendec’s “wwsr” program. I am also indebted to Dave Wells for decoding the weather station’s “fixed block” data.

Legalese

pywws - Python software for USB Wireless WeatherStations.
Copyright (C) 2008-12 Jim Easterbrook jim@jim-easterbrook.me.uk

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

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