Has anybody mentioned this?

I'm not only leaving the grid, but M$ as well <g>

Will give the transfer a shot if you're interested.

Dave

If your leaving the grid your Suntie won't be in use as it is a GridTie inverter , no grid , no power. So makes the issue of the OS a non-issue

Leaving as in 'lack of dependance'; not complete disconnection.

Keeping a good comm link is really a much bigger issue for me.

Have you tried the s/w under WINE windows emulator for linux? I too am bailing on MS products and don't have my GT system inspected yet, haven't had a chance to run any s/w testing.

This thread (and a couple of others here) show there is a small amount of interest in monitoring using a Linux host. Has anyone started work yet? Like others I have a Linux box that is on all the time that would be ideal to handle the data collection.

Installation at my house is likely to begin in a couple of weeks. I'm getting a pair of Sunpower SPR-3300x invertors (which are apparently re-badged Xantrex inverters). The limited information on the Sunpower site gives me some hope that the rs232 connections and protocols might be the same.

One question on opto-isolation & Xantrex ... the fishbowl info page still has the "absolute requirement that you purchase and install an opto-isolator", but in this thread Solar guppy said "<i>The CPU's are isolated from all the inverter electronics internally so from a protection stand point, the RS232's are effectively isolated and no I do not use another level of isolation and never had issues, even in lightning capital of the US here in Florida</i>". So did things change with newer Xantrex invertors?

FishBowl is for the Suntie , Sold from 1998-2003. Yes you have to use an opto for FishBowl, and it only runs on Windows

Your confusing this with GT-View ( and it's related resellers, IE , GE/Sunpower ect) for the Xantrex GT-3.* inverters. which also only runs on windows. the GT-View is RS-232 based and the commands are published.

Suntie needs opto , GT opto is part of the Xantrex design so an external opto is not required.

If you have questions about GT-View, please post in the GT-View forum

SG