Dept. of Geology
BUWX data in your system tray.
BucknellBug is
a small, unobtrusive program that puts local weather information in the
Microsoft Windows system tray (the area in the bottom right of your screen,
next to the clock) or OS X Dock. Unlike other weather-update programs, it uses local
weather data and contains absolutely
NO SPYWARE and NO ADWARE.
| BucknellBug
displays the current temperature in the system tray. Left-double-clicking the icon takes you to the BUWX site. |
 |
 to show more detailed info in a popup bubble. |
 Right-click the icon for a menu with handy links to forecast and Bucknell-related sites |
|
 The Mac version resides in the Dock. |
BucknellBug gets its data from the Bucknell Weather Station (BUWX), located right on campus. There's no better source for Bucknell weather conditions.
Get BucknellBug:
Download (Windows)BucknellBug 1.0 for Windows XP/NT/2000 (297 KB)
Note: This program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework. If you do not already have it installed, you will be prompted to download it. After installing the .NET Framework, run the BucknellBug installer again.
Download (Mac)
BucknellBug 1.1 for Apple Mac OS X (1.32 MB)
What's new with BBug?
4/30/07:
The Mac OS X version has been released!
7/16/06:
Several bugs have been corrected. BucknellBug no longer
downloads a giant data file (2+ MB) to get its weather info. It now
uses an adjusted file containing just one line of text (1 KB). BBug
will also display correct data at midnight, and updates reflect
daylight saving time.
Is BBug available for Mac
or Linux?
BucknellBug is now available for Mac OS X!
Customize your Google Home Page (cross-platform): BUWX is available as a Google Gadget. 
How often does BucknellBug check for updates?
BucknellBug automatically checks for weather updates every 15 minutes.
You may update it manually whenever you like:
Right-click on the temperature icon in your system tray
Select "Refresh" from the menu
Why do the BucknellBug and the BUWX site data not match?
The images on the BUWX site are created with data that is updated every
5 minutes. BucknellBug, on the other hand, gets its information from
data that is updated hourly. As such, BucknellBug will exactly match
the BUWX site values only at the top of the hour.
When I try to run BucknellBug (Windows) I get an error. It doesn't work!
Why?
To run BucknellBug, you need to have the Microsoft
.NET Framework installed on your computer. Many programs also
require the Framework, so you may already have it on your machine. If
you did not have it, the BucknellBug installer program should have
prompted you to download it. (.NET Framework v1.1 is approximately 23
MB, so it is not bundled with BucknellBug.)
What does "Sun Index" mean? How is it calculated?
"Sun Index" is an approximate indicator of sky conditions. It
represents the amount of sunlight actually
reaching the station as a percentage of the expected amount if the sky
were perfectly clear at a given time, assuming
average optical density for the atmosphere. 100% means that
it is sunny and clear; 0% means that it is completely overcast.
How does BucknellBug work? Can I have the source code?
BucknellBug (Windows) is written in C# by Phil Marquis ('07) and it relies on Microsoft's .NET Framework.
Special thanks to Justin Lintz for providing C# code. BucknellBug (Mac) is
written by Michael Dippery ('08).
Please feel free to email Duane Griffin with any suggestions and/or bug reports.
BucknellBug is freely available to the Bucknell community. You
are free to use the program or to modify the
Windows source code (v1.0) or
Mac source code (v1.1) that are
licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution / Non-Commercial / ShareAlike 2.5 License.
How did you make that snazzy installer program?
The BucknellBug Windows installer was made with Inno Setup 5.
Restrictions:
Modified May 8, 2007