StormForce

StormForce is a free open source program written in Python/PyGame which connects to a Boltek LD-250 and/or a Boltek StormTracker (PCI) lightning detector and displays lightning strikes in real-time on your desktop. Developed and tested with FreeBSD and Linux but should work with other POSIX environments as well as MS Windows.

Please report any bugs using the "issues" section.

Click here to download or click here to view the current issues.

Status: Stable

Supported OS: FreeBSD, Linux, and Microsoft Windows

Supported Hardware: Boltek LD-250, Boltek StormTracker PCI (Linux-only until driver is ported to other OS'es), Boltek EFM-100, and GPS (NMEA 0183)

Need Testers for: Mac OS, Solaris, BeOS, and more!

News

23rd May 2009 - News

• Woah! It's been a while since I've posted any updates or any news. We've now had over 120 downloads of version 0.5.4 of StormForce. As for an update I haven't had any time to do any coding, busy busy busy!
• On a side note, if you are having problems compiling/running the Boltek driver for the StormTracker - hold on tight! This problem has been fixed and will be released as soon as I can. Thanks to the Boltek-Linux developer for sorting this out as quick as lightning!

1st March 2009 - General news

• Sorry for the lack of updates, been very busy. I am trying to get the Blitzortung data uploading working (just struggling for time), when I get the code done for that I'll release v0.6.0. However, it WON'T contain the SSBT code (mentioned earlier) which will be released at a later date.

3rd January 2009 - Upcoming release - v0.6.0

• The next release will also see support for sending your strike data to blitzortung.org! Many thanks to Egon for providing me with the details I need to do this.

24th December 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.6.0

• The next release will include SSBT - StormForce Strike Bi/Triangulation. This is step forward to create your own triangulated-based strikes. This version will only combine the output from a LD-250 and a StormTracker, hopefully I can improve upon this to create triangulated strikes from several StormForce clients. This is going to take some time, so bare with me!
• The next release will also see support dropped for SQLite. So you will either need to move your database to MySQL or don't upgrade. You could always connect up multiple versions of StormForce if you want to!

11th December 2008 - StormForce v0.5.4 released!

• Here the next version which has some minor tweaks including a different font for the strike totals. Nothing major has been added, just thought it was time to send out an update!

10th December 2008 - Another new project!

• I've started yet another project! This project aims to display weather data from a Oregon Scientific WMR928 Weather Station and display it on your desktop. Hope you all like it!

23rd November 2008 - StormForce now marked as STABLE

• I've now decided that StormForce is stable enough to be marked accordingly.

18th November 2008 - New project!

• I've started another project which when combined with StormForce provides excellent notification of close/severe alarms - Introducing GSMSMS, created so you can send SMS messages from your GSM modem. Hope you all like it!

16th November 2008 - News...

• Still no updates I'm afraid - however, I'm looking into using M2Crypto to provide encryption for the StormForce protocol. I'm also looking into the XMPP protocol which may lead to another supported protocol...

7th October 2008 - News...

• Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been very busy with other commitments. Don't worry I haven't forgotten StormForce!

7th September 2008 - Re-released v0.5.3!!!

• Forget to include the new font used in this version.

6th September 2008 - StormForce v0.5.3 released!

• Here it is, at last! This version now supports the Boltek StormTracker. Don't forget to read all the README files. Please note that there have been some changes to the settings XML file, some settings won't be upgraded so run StormForce once, close it, and change the relevant settings and reload StormForce - this is due to the StormTracker support since I had to create separate settings for both the LD-250 and the StormTracker.
• Also, this version includes improved installation instructions for Linux.
• You might not know this but StormForce now works with multicast, which means StormForce now supports TCP, UDP, and multicast.
• As always let me know if you have any problems with this release! (NOTE: compression on the protocol is still under development but you still can enable it if you want to test).

31st August 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.5.3

• The StormTracker PCI driver is nearing completion, bear with me! It will work either on the same machine as the StormTracker or via the network, useful if the machine is far away. StormForce will (of course) share it via it's XML protocol if configured.

10th August 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.5.3

• The next version will be backwards compatible with older versions of StormForce for its networking protocol and will be able to individually chose the devices you want. This means (for example) that you can have your LD-250 being read from a local serial port, the EFM-100 from a remote location (either by a plain text protocol or XML if from StormForce) and so on.
• Also the information panel has been changed to compensate for all the devices it now supports - LD-250, StormTracker (still finishing the driver), EFM-100, and GPS.
• TRAC will also give you a bit more information in it's own panel.

7th August 2008 - StormForce v0.5.2 re-released!!!

• Whoops! Found a small problem where the server mode image never got created (didn't move all the options from the "old style" to XML correctly). Re-released with the problem fixed.

6th August 2008 - StormForce v0.5.2 released!

• Here is the next version of StormForce that now uses XML for it's settings and network protocol. This will be the last time you'll have to use the "-h" option for the new features (you'll need to use the "-x" option along with your existing arguments to upgrade to XML). As always, let me know if you find any bugs!

5th August 2008

• There now appears to be Linux driver for the Boltek StormTracker (PCI). I've currently obtained one of these and am working to see if I get it working with StormForce! Watch this space! (Hmmm... Looks like I've got to brush up on my C programming, it's been a while...)
• The upcoming release is also nearing completion with the XML changes. Again, watch this space!

31st July 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.5.2

• Just a heads-up for you all. The upcoming release will also be using XML for it's settings and also for it's networking protocol. Don't worry, you'll be able to upgrade your settings to XML using this release. However, older clients will not be able to connect until you update them too. This will make it easier for third party applications to use the data sent from a StormForce server. This might take a while so bare with me!

23rd July 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.5.2

• Had another think about the uploading... It didn't work well it we wanted to upload the TRAC report as well. So the next release will include support for uploading the TRAC report as well as the lightning image. Watch this space!
• I've also been thinking about adding a GUI to StormForce using wxPython. This will certainly improve user experience and will allow more options than the command line can take! Implementing this will take time and will slowly improve until we reach v1.0.0. We'll get there eventually!

12th July 2008 - StormForce v0.5.1 released!

• Here is the next release which includes support for uploading the lightning image to your website! As always read the README for details. The README file also contains improved installation instructions for FreeBSD and Microsoft Windows. This release also contains a few bug fixes and tweaks that affect strike plotting. Another feature in this release is that external programs can now be fired when the LD-250 alarms are set off. Don't forget to use the "-h" flag for the new options!
• Microsoft Windows users will need to download WinRAR to extract StormForce and will have to use WordPad (or NotePad++ if you have it) to read the README file.

8th July 2008 - Microsoft Windows SUPPORTED!

• It appears StormForce works 100% under MS Windows! The packages I installed were "python-2.5.2.msi", "pygame-1.8.0.win32-py2.5.msi", "Numeric-24.2.win32-py2.5.exe", "pywin32-211.win32-py2.5.exe", "pyserial-2.4.win32.exe", and "MySQL-python-1.2.2.win32-py2.5.exe". Full instructions will be in the next release for those who want to wait. If you don't want to wait, download the packages (from the appropriate website) and install, then add "C:\Python25" into your environment PATH and run StormForce via the command prompt. Every feature appears to work correctly. I'll try to get some screenshots up for you all!

2nd July 2008 - General Update

• I haven't had much time for any development for StormForce recently. However, I have implemented image uploading so you can put the lightning image onto your website! This feature will require the binary of CURL when released.
• If there are any Microsoft Windows users out there who can test StormForce on Windows for me, I would be grateful if you let me know how well it works. Please raise any problems using the "Issues" link at the top (as far as I know all the packages (modules) I use should work in Windows, see the README file for the packages). Thanks!

6th June 2008 - StormForce v0.5.0 released!

• Finally, it's now ready for release. As always, use "-h" option to set the new options/changes mentioned earlier. Don't forget to read the README file as well.

2nd June 2008 - Another (!) update on upcoming release: v0.5.0

• I think I've now done everything I wanted for this version, just needs some more testing! Expect a general release sometime this week (likely to be the weekend)!

26th May 2008 - Another update on upcoming release: v0.5.0

• The next version is nearing completion! This version also includes support for a GPS device (RS-232 of course) and can also read the Boltek EFM-100 so you can monitor the electric field level. Just need to complete a few things with TRAC first then I can release it. Bare with me!

10th May 2008 - Update on upcoming release: v0.5.0

• Managed to fix the locking problems with SQLite by implementing a locking system. This does mean there is a decrease in performance but shouldn't be noticeable during normal plotting (but it is noticeable when using the "circle" feature in demo mode). When this version is released you MUST provide the "-a" option to define the database engine you want to use (as always, check the arguments by passing "-h" to find out what is needed for your setup). For the CSV users, there is now an option to import your CSV data into the SQL database.
• For those of you who don't know what to do with the tarball on the download page, try this by opening up a console: "bzip2 -d stormforce-X.X.X.tar.bz2 && tar xf stormforce-X.X.X.tar" (change the X's with the version you downloaded) or if you're in KDE, Gnome, etc just try opening the file and extracting the "stormforce" folder to somewhere useful using the default extracter (usually Ark in KDE).

4th May 2008 - Upcoming release: v0.5.0

• v0.5.0 will be released soon with improved TRAC (~250% faster) and MySQL/SQLite database support. Please note that CSV support has been dropped. I recommend to use MySQL v5.X since SQL views are needed and offers multiple database engines. I'm currently having a few locking problems with SQLite which I hope to get fixed soon. Watch this space!

19th April 2008 - StormForce v0.4.4 released!

• v0.4.4 has improved TRAC and debugging. Check the README for more information.

14th April 2008 - StormForce v0.4.3 released!

• v0.4.3 is my first release of StormForce onto the internet.