Hi. New development (for me). Found after my inquiries above. Despite being a rabid Linux rather than a Windows fan, I may have found a solution that makes my pursuit of Linux solutions for my weather system “things” moot.
A full up, loaded Win10 PC by Wintel with an Atom x5-Z8350 (Up To 1.92 GHz) processor. With full, current video & other IO. Just bring display and keyboard. Specs suggest it will easily host Davis WeatherLink SW, Acurite Win SW, my Ambient Weather kluge logging SW, but BEST OF ALL, all THREE AND Brian’s Windows version of “Weather Display” too. With all the necessary Internet & router connectivity. Am excited. My Raspberry Pi 3 may get to relax.
So will try this hosting of all that WIN10 weather SW in a low power, 5 inch square x 1 inch high, fanless, noiseless full Win10 Home PC. Hope it flies. (I am probably the last to catch on to this option.)
Greg
Interesting! I’ve gone in exactly the opposite direction. After running WD on Win 7 for 5 years or so, then on Win 10 for the past 4 years, I don’t believe Win 10 is fit for purpose any longer as a reliable platform running 24/7 logging weather data. I’ve had many, many WD crashes since upgrading to Win 10. If I went away for a long weekend, I could pretty much guarantee that WD would crash - often on the first day I was away.
All other programs on my PC kept functioning, Thunderbird, Firefox etc, but not WD.
I think your Atom CPU will struggle with that load, but I may be wrong. I’m running an Intel NUC with i3 processor and that is the minimum I’d recommend to successfully run WD along with the other programs you mention. The Atom is OK for tablets but it doesn’t have the grunt of the Pentium family or the later Core i-series. My i3 NUC is fanless too and a very nicely designed piece of hardware. I have it running Ubiquiti’s video surveillance software along with WD for Linux and it hasn’t missed a beat in the 2 months I’ve had it running so far.
GrantK - Well, I can’t say I haven’t had similar experiences. I have. I expect you may be spot on.
My personal observation over a mere 10 years is that Linux runs so much more cleanly, smoothly, uninterruptedly, unannoyingly and at least 4X faster than my Windows OS stuff, even when Linux is running on slower machines. Win 10 has been doggy, hesitates a lot and can do really weird things.
That said, I have recently found that on the new (as of last fall), low power mobile processors Win 10 sort of behaves and can scream. I have a new Asus with an Intel m3-7y30 15w processor and it is remarkable. Faster as my 2 year old I5’s. Of course, SSD’s help a lot. Finally, things seem to be moving faster. Admittedly, it ain’t Linux, but I felt the need to now try that new Atom. It is well received so far and I will advise. I can always make it a Linux machine later or use for home entertainment;)
For 100-bucks, it is a worthwhile experiment given everything written for weather using and for Win OS. Fingers crossed.
Have a good day.
Greg
Not sure that 2GB isn’t the limit for this CPU? My similar X5-Z8350 machine runs WD OK but it won’t accept the latest version (1709) of Windows 10 Home. . .
I receive today. Will advise better when here and exercised. I picked this one because reviews demonstrated it updating Win10 automatically, it has microSD slot, also a TF slot, 2 USB2 ports (one micro), 1 USB3, HDMI, etc. Review say “solid and capable.” Internally might take other stuff?
Since we all like pictures, one is attached.
I keep thinking this might be perfect adder/natural complement to Brian’s WD app, plus all those other Win requiring weather sensor apps that interface thereto. I have a RPi3, but… We’ll see.
Greg
Day 1 REPORT on MiniPC Win10 machine. Wintel Pro miniPC w/Atomx5-Z8350. [As alternative to my RPi3 for numerous weather items, including WD.]
Summary: Seems a good way to go. Nice, complete, tiny “Desktop” equivalent machine, 3.75 inches (95mm) square x 25 mm high. Responsive.
Full, current, Win10 Home. Lacking nothing. Responsive.
Runs WeatherLink just fine (had to force load Net Framework 3.5)
Running AcuRite PC Connect
Running Weather Display seamlessly (latest version 10.37S63) - loads in 4-5 secs. Operation responsive, normal thus far. Perfect actually.
- Private website attachment & exercising yet TBD.
Attached all to WeatherUnderground, without issue.
Auto updates to latest Win10 versions, with normal performance - started at 1703 - currently downloading 1709
Browser use - responsive, 2 sec load, 2-4 sec page loads.
Video - YouTube & Vimeo HD - smooth, clean. Very good!
Attached USB peripherals without issue. Including SSD. USB RAM, etc.
Attached/Running Bluetooth peripherals, no issue.
Internet connectivity - excellent.
Hello.
My final (for now) update on the Win10 MiniPC I bought and mention above. After a couple days.
It remains quite slick and fast for weather apps. No issues there. Operationally for Win10, a very nice device.
Useful to know that it uses about 12-15G of its 32G memory for Win10, out of box. Micro SD, SDD, other required for more storage. Am now using.
Updating WIN 10 works as advertised. But in my case cannot update to 1709; this is simply due to Update Requirement for 8G of addtl memory to perform. I currently have too much memory consumed for Apps. Workaround needed. This may have an “above commenter’s” issue too? Getting to 1703 is no problem.
My 32-64G microSD cards install and engage flawlessly. Plan to off-load apps to it and experiment with memory use.
Weather Apps so far work swell. WD, Weatherlink, Acurite, etc. Weatherlink is most efficient, if primitive. WD best overall. Other Win weather apps work fine too.
I can recommend as a nice, tiny, Win10 platform for PWS/weather centered stuff–with full Win10 capabilities. Smart memory mgmt is sensible/required tho.
This is interesting because my Surface 3 tablet using an Intel Atom CPU with 4GB of RAM is quite happily running Win 10 Home Build 1709.
It only has a 1.6GHz clock speed but for tablet use, works just fine. So glad I paid the extra at the beginning for 4GB instead of 2GB of RAM though! As part of the package I also got 128GB of flash instead of 64GB.
Different processor. There’s something funky about the X5-Z8350 memory capacity. Intel’s spec says “Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 2 GB” and that’s what most of these inexpensive X5-Z8350 boxes come with. With LPDDR3 DRAM it can handle 8GB but I’m sure that’s a more expensive memory type to support.
Thanks Niko for the explanation. 2GB of RAM is a severe limitation. For my money I’d rather buy an Intel NUC and load it up with a decent amount of RAM. I’ve got 16GB in mine and it makes a very capable platform for running various 24/7 apps whilst using a minuscule amount of power.
The 2 GB RAM isn’t the problem where upgrades are concerned, it’s the 32 GB e-MMC. These machines are really meant for media streaming - full stop. I’m only running WD and TeamViewer on mine, and with DiskClean I can scrape 7 GB free. Not enough for Windows 1709 upgrade, even with 128 GB USB 3.0 SSD attached.
Bitsostring is spot on, yes. It is the 32G of memory (it’s “disk”), not RAM size, that is the issue in upgrading Win to 1709. And yes, the machine is wow good for streaming. That said, it is running weather apps well, including WD, as hoped. As well as my big PC machines.
