Wow. Cool. You can always tell a true PC guy from the state of his PC case (no screws, missing cover or face plate, etc.) :-lolPeter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

Well Peter, look again. This is my old PC which is only used for web browsing and as a print server and all the other stuff that is not FS related. The flight sim machine is the tower that is only lurking behind the pedestal :-). This one is closed, but only because it has a door to open and everything can be removed in a glance.Alex

Ah, yes. I had looked at some of those keyboard emulators. I'm really working from a small budget so I'll be stripping down an AT keyboard to be my "emulator". I'm not sure yet about auto-repeat issues. I think DirectInput ignores it but, if not, a one-shot circuit between toggles switches and the keyboard matrix should do the trick.I had forgotten about the slide pots. I saw some at my local surplus shop and have a couple of short ones that I salvaged from an old cassette deck. Not sure yet if I'll go that route or try to gear up rotary pots. How does it feel to have linear throttles vs rotational ones?Like you, my primary goal is to get rid of the on-screen panel and the keyboard. I assume you used the FS panels on the aux screens. Did you use them as-is or did you create a custom FS panel layout?Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

Aha! Stealthy black tower! ;-)Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

It's much easier to set up the linear pots, both in mechnical and in matching throws, than to go the gearing route. I have friction adjustment on the the throttle and prop controls, so I get a really good feel. Otherwise, I think it would be a bit hard on the linear pots. The rotational ones give more resistance. I was originally going via reduction and rotating, but it was way easier to go linear. (If you want to go that way, I have some 7:1 brass reduction sets (a threaded shaft into the reduction unit, then a open round fitting with a set screw. They cost me about $9 each plus the cost of extra fittings, I'll let you have all for a song.)for the beech, I didn't really create panels, I just placed the much larger gauges on a black background, so there is no split to where the wood panel ends and the gauges are. Again, I have no need of a bitmap panel, since i'm tryingto create a real panel. I'll fire it up tonight and try to take a good pick of how it all looks on and from the pilots perspective...--jeff

Good points. I may just take the linear approach. Whether I use the USB converter or USB joysticks will depend on what I can find. If I can locate some surplus USB sticks for a few bucks, then that's my cue!Looking forward to the pics!Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

Nice work on the cockpit Alex.More of my thoughts on a GA cockpit project: 1. I'm assuming y'all have seen the new GoFlight floor console, but just in case you haven't: http://www.avsim.com/pages/1002/goflight/goflight.htmlThis, along with some GoFlight radios/buttons/knobs and an auxiliary 15" (or ideally, smaller - if they were available!) LCD monitor or two for "glass cockpit" primary displays, could serve as a basic "next generation" GA cockpit at a *comparatively* low price and minimal labor effort.2. This is also somewhat old news, but I'm completely stoked about this software product, scheduled to be available on the 19th:http://www.fsavionics.com/html/fsgarmin530.htmlThis is, as far as I know, a new concept in the FS2002 world - taking a manufacturer-created standalone avionics simulator program, intended for RL pilots, and building it into an FS2002-compatible module. That means almost totally accurate emulation of the real hardware - at least up to what Garmin builds into the standalone simulator. I'm pretty convinced (having used the standalone version a fair amount, and also the real unit a couple times) that it is running the same code as the Real Deal.That will definitely be in my home GA cockpit!I pinged the GoFlight folks about the possibility of them building a new GoFlight panel that could work with not only this program but also the FSFlightMax program. This panel would have the appropriate buttons and concentric rotary controls, surrounding an open area that the home cockpit builder could optionally stick a small LCD panel into (again - if one existed that is affordable! I haven't found one yet) that would represent the simulated instruments' displays. The response from GoFlight was, well, fairly non-committal, but I understand that this would probably be a somewhat expensive and limited-appeal product.3. A poster asked what our plans are for wiring up a cockpit - EPIC? I personally am more interested in flying than building/programming, so at this point I am considering using the Aerosoft.au big-iron autopilot box as a "central interface point" if/when I decide to go more Whole Hog (i.e. beyond just using PFC/GoFlight/etc. components to simulate a/c systems). In addition to its primary function as an autopilot (which I might or might not use - but note that the Eclipse 500 "personal jet" has a similar-looking autopilot - http://www.eclipseaviation.com/500jet/avio.htm), it also has an array of connectors on the back, intended for hooking up switches/encoders/indicators. I got to see this unit at the Avsim conference, and at least at first blush programming the i/o ports to do specific FS2002 things appears to be *very* easy. http://www.mcp747.com/OK, I've used up my daydreaming quotient for the day. Next?cheers,Dave BlevinsKRHV

Dave,There are some not-too-expensive LCD displays out there but they'd require some work (hardware and software) to integrate.http://www.eio.com/lq10d321.gifhttp://www.eio.com/32240.gifhttp://www.eio.com/h6482l-ff.gifhttp://www.eio.com/g321dbklt.gifSeiko 320x240 monochrome backlit for US$50See these and more at http://www.eio.com/lcdprodt.htm#graphicPeter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator[table border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1][tr][td][table border=0 cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0][tr][td bgcolor=#540000]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75t.gif[/td][td align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFF6]Bush Flying Unlimited"At home in the wild"Looking for adventure? Come join us! * [link:bfu.avsim.net|Web Site] * [link:www.cafepress.com/bfu,bfu2,bfu3,bfu4|BFU Store] * [link:bfu.avsim.net/join.htm]Join!][/td][/tr][/table][/td][/tr][/table

Tomorrow I will go to HongKong and Taiwan for a week on a business trip. I guess in HongKong I will use more time looking for an inexpensive 12-14" LCD than I will be at the show I am supposed to visit fr my company :-). Fr all guys from my company: Just kidding of course, shopping only after the show.And Peter, I am very tempted to disassemble one or two of the Go Flight units to control FSFlightmax. It can be done. There is a key mapper available for the GF units and there is a little proggie called mouse to keys that enables to map mouse clicks at certain screen locations to keys. Let's see, that comes very late on my list.Alex

Thanks for the pointers - I have a couple links on vendors that offer similar products - but the problem is that they're not VGA (let alone super VGA) compatible, and apparently this is a non-trivial thing to design and build an interface for. I'm an electrical engineer, but I don't really have the time or inclination any more to do this sort of work.Originally I was thinking of getting one of the TV-capable NVidia cards and driving a converted Playstation small display, but I've decided that I don't want my EFIS's to be composite resolution/refresh.Probably what I'll end up doing is what everyone else is talking about - masking off a 15" or larger LCD with a bezel with cutouts for the various instruments. But - that more or less precludes building a GNS530 emulator with the knobs and such located locally to the screen where they belong.---BTW on another note - immediately after my post today I saw that TRC has decided not to sell individual instruments - ~!@#$!!! That is a real shame. IMO their marketing strategy and/or desire to sell product is seriously flawed. I would've eventually probably spent almost $1K US on their stuff.Dave BlevinsKRHV

Here's the pic I promised. I have no real room behing the pilots chair, so I can't do a really good wide angle shot. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cbr1000fl/cockpit.jpg--jeff

I like it. Thanks Jeff.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

Another possibility is to get some small VGA CRTs like those used in telco servers and some point-of-sale machines. I've seen some that fit in the 5-1/4" bays of a tower case. You could definitely fit those little guys near physical controls.---Regarding TRC, I saw that too in a thread in the Hangar forum. Apparently, TRC didn't like other companies buying their individual instruments, putting them into custom panels and selling those panels for significantly more money than TRC was charging. So, now they only want to sell full solutions.*Bzzzzt* Wrong answer.Anyway, as I posted in that thread, TRC could've become a major supplier to companies as well as hard-core simmers. Hopefully, since they've now left a gaping hole in the market, someone else will fill it.What's really a bummer for me is that you didn't get the instruments sooner. Then I could've popped over and checked 'em out since we're in the same city! :-lolPeter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator

I have read all entries in this thread with great interest and have gleaned some valuable information from them. I currently run 5 Monitors [1x21" 2x15" and 2x10" ] and am hoping to use the forthcoming Meridian from FSD as the basis for my GA cockpit. The 21 is used only for the outside view and normally does not display any instrumentation - this is done on the remaining monitors all four of which run off Jeronimo 16Mb PCI cards with dual output on M'soft XP Pro. I have all the screens in an arc on my desktop and am starting to construct below this an instrument/switch panel probably utilising goflight hardware. My current problem [no doubt the first of many]is that I want to make masks to cover the instrument screens to increase the realism and take away from their "Monitor screen appearance" and to frame individual guages in a complete acrylic mask with cut outs for the individual instruments. To do this on a permanent basis it means that when undocked the screens must appear in the same screen as set up in and at the same size as initially cut for. Is this a pipe dream or is it possible?.I read the Glass guages entries and must say that the direction certainly in FSD currently is for as many different undockable instrument mini panels and this makes it easy to use a multi monitor set up. I'd be grateful if anyone can help on the undocking problem and will follow this forum with great interestMany Thanks Capjack

Sounds great, capjack. I haven't explored the panel issue yet. That's probably next on my list. I really don't want to have to resize the undocked windows every time I start FS either. You should be able to specify the window size, state, and position but I'm not sure about when they're undocked.If I find out before you do, I'll post a follow up. Or if someone is already familiar with panels, do shed some light on this.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator