Not Working Under Big Sur

[wx-watch]

Just upgraded my Mac Mini to Big Sur and WeatherCat is not working.

Looking at the log..

1:07:50 AM 13-Nov-2020: Starting server...
11:07:50 AM 13-Nov-2020: Initialising custom text windows...
11:07:53 AM 13-Nov-2020: Checking for application updates...
11:07:53 AM 13-Nov-2020: No application updates found.
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Fetching data from weather station...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Temperature not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Dewpoint not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Pressure not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Precipitation rate not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Rain count not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: Wind speed not ready...
11:07:59 AM 13-Nov-2020: External rh not ready...
11:08:00 AM 13-Nov-2020: Running.

I have rebooted - I have a USB Data Logger for which I had recently downloaded the lates drivers.

I will go and see if any newer drivers have been released

[wx-watch]

Ok - so I downloaded the new? drivers from here

https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

and installed them. The went into WeatherCat "Configure Station Comms: and told it the Station I had and that it was to use the USB port and we have (not quite full) function.

Now WeatherCat run and updates my site BUT Banner generation does not see to be working (no errors in the log) and when WC is first started the Weather Stages Gauges on the Mac mini flicker on for a moment then disappears. They can be brought back by Windows-> Gauges.

Re the Banner Generator - the logs are saying it is being generated and uploaded but if I look in the WeatherCat folder the banner is never regenerated

https://www.wx-watch.co.uk

[wx-watch]

As a further update - if I go into the Banner Generator Settings the details are correct - but it never gets generated

[elagache]

Dear wx-watch and WeatherCat early adopter,

Just upgraded my Mac Mini to Big Sur and WeatherCat is not working.
. . . .

Another WeatherCat user asked Silicon Labs if they had a driver that was compatible with Big Sur and the reply is quoted in this posting:

https://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=3196.msg30806#msg30806

In short Silicon Labs doesn't have a driver that they guarantee will work with Biq Sur.  Other users are having some success even with outdated drivers, but obviously this is a risky proposition. 

Earlier in the same thread, Stu (Stuart Ball, WeatherCat developer) recommended against upgrading immediately.  You can read his comments here:

https://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=3196.msg30724#msg30724

If you can roll-back to an earlier version of macOS that might be the most prudent thing to do.

Edouard

[wx-watch]

The drivers I installed from the link above seem to work fine and all is ok.

The only problem for me now is that the Banner Generator is not working which is not a driver problem as far as I can make out.

For the moment I have removed the banner from my website and just substituted some web tags

[elderforester]

I downloaded the above linked driver, but the General tab in Security and Privacy System Preferences which unblocks the driver will not show the driver so it can be unblocked. Grrrr....

No success. Any suggestions?

[ColdnFrosty]

There is actually a whole thread on compatibility that addresses https://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=3196.0
In short, the 5.3.5 driver from SiLabs that they released in February is not compatible with Big Sur.

Hopefully they release an updated driver next week.

[elderforester]

OK, got it to work fine. The SLAB choice in the pull-down menu no longer exhibits but I simply chose the alternative and all connections and charts load successfully. Successful web updates to Wunderground as well without further action.

Big Sur is awesome

[wx-watch]

Basically the way I got it working was this -

I installed the drivers as above. During setup it moans the drivers are blocked and you have to unblock them from within System Preferences -> Security and Privacy. However I could not find any mention of them within these settings.

I rebooted and then fired up WeatherCat, went into Station Comms, chose my Station (Vantage Pro 2) and then chose the port - there were two options, bluetooth and the USB one - it seemed to default to Bluetooth but I selected the USB one and WeatherCat sprang into life.

As I said above, the only thing not working for me is the Banner Generator

https://wx-watch.co.uk

[ColdnFrosty]

Thanks for that. I'll give it a shot and perhaps Stu can troubleshoot the banner issue.

[ColdnFrosty]

Not working for me! After installing Big Sur, I load Weathercat and select Configure Station Comms. Weathercat exits. I restart Weathercat and the Station Communications window displays. There are two choices for Comms Port: /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port OR /dev/cu.URT1
No USB port choice.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a shot and perhaps Stu can troubleshoot the banner issue.

[ColdnFrosty]

Well, I found a solution to the Big Sur and SiLabs 5.3.5 driver issue from a couple of guys on the SiLabs community forum. It was really quite simple to implement their solution. Here are the steps.

Reboot into Recovery Mode (hold Command - R until the Apple logo displays).
Log in with your password.
Select Utilities>Terminal from the drop down menu.
In Terminal, enter the following command:   
 /usr/sbin/spctl kext-consent add 52444FG85C
Verify with the following commands:
/usr/sbin/spctl status                      SHOULD RETURN "Kernel Extension User Consent: ENABLED"
/usr/sbin/spctl kext-consent list       SHOULD RETURN "Allowed Team Identifiers: 52444FG85C"

Now reboot into Big Sur and install SiLabs 5.3.5. Reconfigure Station Comms in WeatherCat and you should see the SiLabs 5.35 listed.
     
My experience was that comms were restored between the Mac and the Vantage Pro 2, as well as comms to various servers like Wunderground.

As pointed out by others, Banner Generation doesn't work and Gauges displays the gauges but with a persistent flashing.

[grenow]

One more data point. I intended to follow ColdnFrosty's advice, but got waylaid. Before doing the Big Sur upgrade, I uninstalled the Silabs driver. The OS install went smoothly enough, but rebooting into Recovery mode seemed to hang part way through. Tried it twice, same each time.

Restarted into Big Sur, ran the Silabs installer, couldn't see any way to give it permission in Prefs > Security & Privacy. Thought I'd try WeatherCat anyway. Launched, reset station comms, and on restart I got the same two choices as wx-watch: a Bluetooth option and some kind of generic "USB" option (no mention of SiLabs or CP210). Selected USB, and WC launched - and connected with my Vantage Pro2. It's been running OK - sending to WU and the Met Office as normal.

The SiLabs driver is not loaded (I checked that in System Information), but WC can see the Vantage Pro. There is obviously some driver in the OS or WC that can parse the info from the link. As far as I can tell all the data is OK. The WC log looks nominal.

I do have the "flashing gauges" problem (can't comment on banners, don't use 'em), so I've turned them off.

I may have another go at Recovery mode and the SiLabs fix later - and I'll certainly install any update when it's available - but for now, all seems to be well.

[xairbusdriver]

Why "fix" what ain't broke?! It's possible that Apple has made the USB code more generic.

Would be great if you'd set up a Banner just to test its functioning. Assuming you are creating some kind of custom web files, enabling the Banner creation will at least send it to your WeartherCatCustomWeb folder. If you have a web site, you can put a link into your Forums Profile->Signature and it will appear in your posts. That's the main use many of us make for the Banner. After all, Stu went to all the work to add that function!

[ColdnFrosty]

Why "fix" what ain't broke?! It's possible that Apple has made the USB code more generic.

All I got was Bluetooth and URT choices, thus my need to install the SiLabs 5.3.5.

As far as the WeatherCatBanner goes, it does not function with WeatherCat running on Big Sur.