The Data Download Tool is currently only available for Mac and Windows. However, the API can be accessed directly via any OS, provided your comfortable with a little bit of coding. There’s a full guide on the API and an article that gives examples of how to make API requests in a couple of different programming languages. I’ll link both below:
1. Do I pay for this before the period I want to download (5 weeks at 10 minute intervals) or do I pay afterwords?
You automatically receive 1 million free API points by creating an account. You can also receive additional points if you’ve purchased a sensor. You may wish to check how far those points will take you first. You’ll also want to make sure those points have been moved from your Organization to your Project. See more here: New API Dashboard
2. What does the API give me? Just the raw data which I have to analyse myself? Or has it tools to display the data in a graphical manner (ie a weekly graph showing when the restaurant is blasting PM2.5 into my flat)?
The API will return raw PurpleAir data. If you’d like to view it on a graph, I recommend using the map and changing your Average to 30-minute, which will give you 7 days of data on the graph (or 1-hour, which will give you 14 days). This is an example showing the “average” option with a public sensor in California:
3. If no graphical tools come with the API, where can I get them?
To create graphs, you could use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. If you’re comfortable programming, MatPlotLib is a great and simple choice for visualizations in Python.