---
title: 'Weewx on the Raspberry PI'
date: 2017-11-04
categories:
- projects
tags:
- weather
---
I've always loved gadgets. When the first Raspberry Pis came out a few years ago, I was pretty confident that eventually, I'd get one. About three years ago I decided I wanted to build a media server and the RPI seemed the perfect tool for the job. While it works, it didn't do all that I had hoped. It wasn't the device's fault; the software just didn't quite match up with my particular use case. So, the device sat idle for a while. 5}
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Eventually, though, another use came along in the form of a VPN server for my internal network. For this I used the excellent [SoftEther VPN](
http://softether.org) software. If you have need for a VPN server to access your internal network, I strongly recommend this software.
Along the way, though, other uses for the little device began to emerge. One
such use is to provide some of the weather data that I couldn't provide via my
[Meteobridge](
http://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Home) device as I
outlined in [this post](../changes-in-my-weather-station).
While the Meteobridge device could provide almost all of the data I needed to serve the weather website, it cannot generate NOAA-type files in order to feed some of the scripts I run on my website. So, I started looking for alternatives. In keeping with my motivation for moving to the Meteobridge, I didn't want to have to run a Windows machine. Rather, I wanted another small, low-power device. the RPI came to mind. After doing some digging around I discovered [weewx](
http://weewx.com), an opensource software that did exactly what I wanted.
In truth, the RPI running weewx can do everything that the Meteobridge can do
and a whole lot more. Had I started a bit earlier, I might have chosen to use
only weewx rather than Meteobridge. I believe that the Meoteobridge license
comes up for renewall in a year or so. I may chose to drop it in favor of
Weewx.
The one thing holdimg me back, though, will be the really nice imaging that
Meteobridge provides for webcams. I do have a webcam that I include on my
website. Having that really nice, clean banner across the bottom of the image
makes for a very nice looking presentation.
I guess I'll have to ponder that one a while!
