Everything you’re asking is doable if you can edit a simple text file. Transitioning from SuSE to a debian(ish) os is very easy so don’t worry that. Weewx can be turnkey if you want it to be, and it’s can be basically infinitely flexible if you want it to be. If you’re retired IT you can definitely handle it.
[…longer answer follows…]
Requirements:
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what is in your ‘host of older wx devices’ and what data do you want to get off them ? How do they connect up to a computer or to your LAN ?
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I’m assuming you want an integrated dashboard from multiple sources of information, correct ?
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if you had to spend money, what’s your budget ?
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do you want something that works LAN-only with no connection to the WF servers at all ? That’s important to a lot of people.
Some options:
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If you wanted WF-only data and didn’t mind a persistent connection to the WF server, personally I think Peter’s wfpiconsole is the prettiest display I’ve seen. Installation of the software can be a bit slow but that’s a one-time pain. Screenshot and forums are [HERE]. Screenshot is at the top.
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If you want to integrate multiple sources of data, or run just WF LAN-only, or if you want to do your own display, then I’d say weewx with the Belchertown skin is the prettiest looking. Pat’s site is [HERE] if you want to take a look (be gentle please). Super customizable via editing the weewx config file. You can also roll your own look’n’feel from scratch if so inclined.
Re: hardware, the simplest turnkey set of hardware to buy would be a rig configured to support Peter’s wfpiconsole. That’s a pi, pi display, sd card, touchscreen, and case. Looks pretty nice on the desk too. Cool part about buying the setup for wfpiconsole is you can use the same gear for weewx if you want to switch back and forth and fiddle around with which way you want to go.
You can run weewx on anything speaking Linux of any variant of your choice, and going debian(ish) gets you the best support since that’s the reference platform…but it does work on CentOS 7+8 and similar variants like SuSE.
For starters if you have a Linux laptop you could definitely spin up a full weewx setup in just a few minutes if you keep it simple. I have some installation scripts that work on a variety of distros if you want to look for the ‘provision.sh’ scripts in my github repo [LINK] which sets up weewx using a Simulator station that autogenerates some data. It helps a lot in getting comfortable with the app.
- my provisioner scripts can be used standalone to add weewx and nginx as a webserver to a bunch of operating systems. You can also pick whether you want to use the pre-packaged versions (rpm for RedHat-ish systems) or whether you want to use the legacy python installer (what I use) that is a little more flexible and upgrades cleaner in my opinion. End result works equally well either way.
For getting @vreihen’s driver for weewx working, you need to also download+install it and edit the conf file to basically identify the sensor id for you Tempest and Hub. Otherwise it’s almost plug’n’play.
Super easy.