Linux storm chasing software

[John Erwin]

Has anyone tried running GRLevel3 or any of our beloved programs on Linux through Wine Windows Emulator? http://www.winehq.org/

Yes. I'm running it successfully on my main workstation (Kubuntu 9.10 64bit) and my laptop (Kubuntu 9.10 32 bit). About the only complaint I've noticed is that the countdown to the next update sometimes goes screwy and indicates a strange number instead of the time, but otherwise works well. I think a lot is going to depend on a persons hardware setup and distribution/configuration.

 

[swilson]

Adam,

I'm running into an issue compiling it from source it's complaining about libsoup even though i have a newer version.

What Linux distro did you compile this on?

also you got binaries? if so ill just get the static libs i need.

Thanks!

 

[David Wolfson]

WeatherTAP RadarLab HD has just added Linux support for USB and serial GPS's through gpsd. Just tested it and it seems to work just fine. The nice thing is that gpsd is intrinsically multi-threaded so there's no need for a port splitter like GPSGate.

 

[Adam Boggs]

BrainStorm on sourceforge.net

Just realized I hadn't updated this thread in a while. I've been adding some enhancements to my open source storm chase software, now called BrainStorm, and am taking it for a ride out on the plains this afternoon.

New features since the last Beta:

- source code managed on sourceforge.net now and latest updates available via svn.

- Overlay/HUD support for the default osm-gps-map UI (zoom/scroll buttons, lat/lon display, scale, etc.)

- New BrainStorm overlay which allows for custom images for the gps marker, rotated to match your current heading. (Default is my Subaru forester chase vehicle.)

- Ability to turn on/off range rings so you can see how far away that cell really is.

- Support for maps other than openstreetmap, including google maps, satellite maps, hybrid maps, contour maps, etc.

- Fixed a bunch of bugs, mostly related to excessive memory usage when zoomed in too far with multiple radars enabled.



I'm still looking for developers who would be willing to help out. Big things left TODO:

- Support ATOM feeds for watches/warnings, correlate warning box with current GPS position/set radius. Audible alert and text-to-speech would be cool here.

- Overlay module to support arcview shapefiles. This would allow warning/watch boxes to be rendered smoothly even when zoomed in, as well as the ability to load other GIS overlays.

- Better user interface support. The current UI is difficult to use when bouncing down a dirt road. A nice heads-up-display with big buttons and touchscreen support would be really nice.

Anyway, if anyone has a chance to play with this, feedback is always appreciated. I'm also willing to help get it running if you're having trouble.

-Adam

 

[swilson]

I'll get Fedora goin in a VM here and give it a whirl. Something I am very interested in helping you with, but I'm a horrible with code, but can test.

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

Seems very interesting.

 

[Adam Boggs]

Let me know if you have any difficulties getting BrainStorm to run. Being source-only and having a number of external dependencies, it's not the easiest thing for the beginner. I am using Ubuntu 10.04 and most of the libraries should be available through apt-get. It should build on other OSes too as long as the right libraries are there.

I recently added single key hot-key support. I got tired of trying to use a touchpad on bumpy dirt roads. I'll check it in once I've had a chance to test it a little more.

 

[swilson]

Will do, I'm d/l'ing Fedora 13 now and gonna setup a vm in parallels and get all things needed so it'll compile and hopefully all will go well. Unless you recommend Ubuntu?

 

[swilson]

Adam, I did get the software to compile. After not finding a suitable osmgpsmap rpm or deb package I ended up compiling the new version 0.7.1 myself. What (dev) deb packages kubuntu came with did not include the osm-gps-map-osd header file(s). Maybe I'm just crazy and over looked it.

One thing I am noting right off the bat is it seems to lock up on zoom/radar selection. Are there any debugging tools (or options) you want me to run?
This is from the SVN pull and compiling it from the trunk directory.

Also something to note is that I am running this in a Parallels VM using kubuntu 10.0.4 x86_64.

 

[jdrenken]

Any word on how this performed on the chase? Also, I was wondering if going to get the ability to select different elevations as you can watch mid-level rotation for quite sometime before it comes down to the lower levels, different radar sites for obvious reasons like hurricane chasing, and major snowstorm/ice storms. I'm going back to school for CIS and Atmospheric Sciences for this specific purpose and would love to see the potential!