Mini X - a new member in the family

[Dgates80]

Ah HA!. There are TWO license agreements to accept: meteo hub and wdlive. If BOTH are not accepted then....

Progress, it is a good thing.

-don

[Dgates80]

I installed the v3 Image on the Mini X.
Headless setup works as designed and the DHCP configuration is OK.

But I can't connect the weatherstation (Davis Envoy with serial datalogger over Prolific USB to serial adapter).
Every try to start the data logger process ends with the following entry in the meteohub.log:

"logger (13.11.2012 15:20:48): Demo license timed out. Please contact "info@meteohub.de" to get a valid license."

Although in the System Information appears "Limited Demo Version, 48 days left"


Klaus

I am now getting the same thing .. And I am not running a demo license, I activated my system last night, apparently successfully. SSH tunnel is open..... System is set up on a static IP on the WLAN......

Don Gates

[admin]

Don, please setup ssh tunnel again.

[Dgates80]

I will... As soon as can get the darn thing seeing the gateway IP again. I had to leave it offline because I had to go off to work. If I have to, I will wipe the sd card and put a fresh image on it and go through the setup process again! Hopefully not, but....

I will be working on it again about 0500z, when I get off work.

- don

[Dgates80]

Don, please setup ssh tunnel again.

Done. Heading off to bed, it's almost 0100 here in Maryland...

- don

[admin]

Just released update 4.9r should solve the "bad shutdown" and "lost license" issues. Please update.

[Dgates80]

Did a full reimage and a clean update to 4.9r and things are running well. Lost the license activation in the process though. Email sent to resolve the license activation issue. Wunderground upload working well.

Thank you for working with me to get though the initial setup phase, Boris!

Don

[Dgates80]

Continuing to work with the MiniX. I have it working, but I did end up giving up on the WiFi network connection. Maybe i was just too far from my hotspot but the connection kept dropping offline. I got a USB ethernet dongle and that helped out with system stability somewhat.

The software does still have some bugs to be worked out, and I have had to get a Sheevaplug for my production system. the MiniX would not boot "clean" and require ongoing manual intervention to get the datalogger to start up -- the real time clock does not seem to be persistant from bootup to bootup and only gets set when the NTP deamon updates the time, causing a need to manually restart the data logging on each boot.

It's going to be a great platform eventually though. Nice form factor, it would velcro nicely to the back of a Vantage Pro console.

-- Don

[csgregg]

I was wondering if you had made any progress on the MK802? I have one and was wondering if I could use it for Meteohub...

I would be willing to beta test, if that would help.

Thanks, Chris

[nordstrandqueen]

Hi,

I consider buying a Mini X too, as it seems to be the far cheapest hardware for a meteohub server.
When searching for it on ebay, I found another hardware called "MiniX NEO".
It seems to be the same thing or very similar to your Mini X hardware and it ships from Germany. Can I use it for meteohub?

There are 2 different models available:
Model G4:
http://www.ebay.at/itm/MiniX-NEO-G4-And ... 1c2d72e172
Model X5:
http://www.ebay.at/itm/MINIX-NEO-X5-Dua ... 56500e7a7d

Stef

[nordstrandqueen]

Hello again,

I've found another very similar mini-pc today:
Joy-it Mini-PC (HTPC) Cortex-A8 A10 (1GHz) Mali400 1024 MB
It has the same CPU and is available at Conrad:
http://www.conrad.at/ce/de/product/8744 ... Detail=005

And this one seems to be interesting aswell:
Point of View Mini-PC (HTPC) RK3066 Cortex-A9 Dual Core (2x 1,6 GHz) Mali400 Quad-Core 1024 MB
http://www.conrad.at/ce/de/product/8746 ... Detail=005

Stef

[Rainman32]

When looking at different platforms, any A10 box or even development card like the Cubieboard or Hackberry will work, and have different features such as onboard Ethernet or VGA or RCA video that may make it more desirable for your setup. Just ensure that whatever you get it is Cortex-A8 / Allwinner A10 CPU, others like the RK3066 Cortex-A9 Dual Core will not work.

I have been testing with a Mele A2000g available on Amazon. With both wired and wireless along with the different video options it is very flexible and so far a very stable platform. This model will even accept a 2.5" SATA drive which could possibly be used for data storage. This model and others similar can be found on Amazon, Ebay, Aliexpress and such as well.

[csgregg]

Thanks Rainman32 - I was wondering if they should work okay with the Mini X image.

I have this one - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BF ... 02_s00_i01

It does appear to be a Cortex A8 / Allwinner A10 CPU. I tried loading the Mini X image but could not get it to boot at all. Just blank screen

What do you think - should this one work ?

-- Chris

[Rainman32]

Hi, yes that does appear to be the right chip and it should work. perhaps you are not waiting long enough for it to boot. I found it took a surprisingly long time especially when not yet connected to the network (first boot).. let it sit for a good 10 minutes or so to see if the window manager finally comes up.

[csgregg]

Fantastic - I just wasn't waiting long enough!!

I have meteohub up. Now looking how to set up the WiFi...

-- Chris