This text will attempt to answer specific questions about WeatherTracker. The file "WeatherTracker Help" contains information of a more basic nature for those who are just getting started. Balloon Help is also available throughout.
Why can't I connect to any of the servers?
Make sure that your network connection is operating properly. Try to open a telnet connection to one of the servers, using port 3000. If that fails as well, then the problem is likely not with WeatherTracker. The weather servers also go down periodically due to excessive usage, so try connecting again in a day or so. If the problem persists, send me email, and I will try to straighten things out.
What about access from a firewall?
Due to the limited scope of the telnet proxy hack that was in previous versions, firewall support has been removed for this version. Support for SOCKS proxy will be added in the near future.
How do I change the weather server names?
Open the Preferences and go to the Network panel. The main server is displayed. If a connection cannot be made to that server, then each server listed in the popup menu will be tried. To add servers to the list, type in a new server, and click the Add button. To remove a server from the list, select it from the popup menu, and click the Remove button.
Are there other weather servers available?
WeatherTracker is currently configured to work only on rainmaker.wunderground.com. It may also work on any of the following servers:
downwind.sprl.umich.edu
madlab.sprl.umich.edu
um-weather.sprl.umich.edu
Please note that these servers are no longer suitable for non-interactive users (such as WeatherTracker users). The server administrators will be randomly changing the interface in such as way as to cause any program that attemps to connect non-interactively to fail to retrieve data. This may have the side effect of causing WeatherTracker to crash or lock up as it looks for non-existant prompts. The rainmaker server will should be the only server that you need to use. I am not aware of any other servers currently in operation that give comparable data.
How do I change cities?
Use the City List menu item in the Edit menu. Select a new city by setting the desired Country, State, and City popup menus. To add the city to the list, click the Add button. To remove a city from the list, select it from the Current Cities popup menu, and click the Remove button. Be sure to set the preferences for any cities that you add.
Why is my home town not supported?
WeatherTracker gets all of its information from the Internet weather servers. Simply adding a feature to WeatherTracker without making any change to the server would be pointless. WeatherTracker currently supports every city that the weather server supports. If you really want to see local information, talk to your local National Weather Service office about their outgoing data feeds.
Why do my cities never update?
Open the Preferences and go to the City panel for the desired city. To turn on updating for that city, click the Get Weather checkbox. It is best to have Get Weather checked for at most two cities to reduce load on the weather servers.
Why can't I select Get Marine Forecast or Get Climate Data?
Marine forecasts and climate data are only supported for cities in the United States. This is a limitation of the weather server, not WeatherTracker. There are no plans to add such features in the near future.
Why are the high/low indicators always at the current value?
For the high/low indicators to work properly, you need to keep WeatherTracker running between updates. If you only run WeatherTracker to get an update and then quit, it has no way of accessing the previous data for comparison.
How can I change the update interval?
You can't. The weather servers update information hourly, so the update interval is set internally to 60 minutes. You can still get updates manually by selecting the Force Update menu item in the Weather menu.
Is there a faster way to get to a specific Preferences panel?
Double-click on any of the instruments in the Analog window to show the associated Preferences panel for that city.
What do these status messages mean?
Could not initialize networking: An error occurred while starting up MacTCP or OpenTransport. Check your settings and try again.
Could not connect to server: Your network settings may be incorrect, or the server may be down. Check your MacTCP or OpenTransport settings and try again.
Could not locate time stamp: The time for the weather report could not be found. This happens when the report is not available, so that city is not updated.
Time is unchanged since last update: The information is the same as from the last update, so there is no reason to update that city.
Could not locate city: The weather server did not have any current information for that city, so it was not updated.
No current data available: Some cities actually say that they have no data rather than just disappearing from the list.
Skipping marine forecast: The Get Marine Forecast checkbox in the City Preferences panel is not turned on. Marine forecasts are only supported for cities in the United States.
Skipping climate data: The Get Get Climate Data checkbox in the City Preferences panel is not turned on. Climate data are only supported for cities in the United States.
Could not access logfile: An error occurred while trying to update the logfile. Check the folder setting in the City Preferences panel.
WeatherTracker is the best software I have ever seen! How do I register?
Shareware registration for WeatherTracker is now being handled through Kagi. To register, run the "Register" program included with this distribution. Fill in your home and email addresses. Type in the number of copies (US$15 each) you would like to register in the box next to "Single User". Site licenses and worldwide licenses are also available, but most users will not need those. Select your payment method and provide any additional information as requested. When you are done, print out the form and send it to:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-HX
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405
USA
FAX: +1 510 652 6589
Online registration is also available for credit card and First Virtual accounts at:
<http://kagi.direct.net/cgi-bin/register1.cgi?HX>
Acknowledgements of payment are sent from Kagi when they are processed (usually within one week of receipt). When I am notified of your payment, I will send you a registration code via email. After you enter this code, WeatherTracker will save your preferences when you quit. If you do not get an acknowledgement from Kagi, you can contact them at <shareware@kagi.com>. Should you have any other problems with the registration process, feel free to contact me at <weathertracker@kagi.com>.
Current information can be found on the WeatherTracker home page at
