Hello !I am looking for building my own cockpit using a FSBus system but I have some questions :The "standard" FSCOM III card has only 4 places to plug controllers into it. Is it the maximum or can I use more controller cards with only one FSCOM ? How many controllers ?In fact, I need a lot of switches and Displays, so, I would like to know if I will need many FSCOM or only one.Please help me.Thanks !DavidNewbie to cockpit building ;-)

G'day David, this question has been raised many times, please use the search on the forum, just search on FSBUS you will find many posts relating to this hardware as more & more people are starting to play with it.To answer your question though, the system is a BUS just like a SCSI BUS in a PC, each controller has a specific ID, you can have up to 32 ID's on the BUS, the controllers can be mixed to suit your needs, for example you might want 10 FS-Key controllers giving you a total of 640 buttons or switches.....God help you if you do !! You might want 2 FS-DO controllers plus 10 FS-Key plus 4 FS-LED controllers, this still leaves you with 16 ID's left to add some more stuff, So then maybe an FS-Display module however keep in mind this controller takes up 6 ID's if fully populated still leaving 10 more ID's for further expansion if needed.You simply run a ribbon cable, placing connectors along it where you need to connect to controller boards, from one of the 4 connectors on the FScom board which by the way are just all connected in parallel, the four connectors are there simply for convenience so you can do four seperate BUS runs in different directions, lets say one to feed the right side of your pit, one to feed the left side, one to feed the front & the other somewhere else.... you can put as many or as little number of controllers on each run as you wish, not exceeding the 32 limit of coarse, making it a very versatile system.It has been said that you could possibly get more controllers on the system by doubling up the ID's between input & output controllers, for example the FS-LED is an output controller whereas an FS-Key is an input controller they could possibly co-exist as ID 1 because data is routed to them in different directions, I do not know if this is true & have yet to see anybody verify it, at this point in time I have only built output controllers (FS-Display & FS-LED) so I cannot test it here.I have recently received my order of knitter switches & will be building an input controller (FS-Key) board soon, once I have done that I will test & see what happens & report to the forum. Hope that makes sense.......Glenn.

Thank you very much for your answer, it's exactly what I wanted to know !I am sorry for the search engine, I didn't think about it. Next time I will use it.I will probably begin my cockpit next week since 32 controllers are enough for all I want to do (but 4 would have been too few).Thanks again !ByeDavid

>I will probably begin my cockpit next week since 32>controllers are enough for all I want to do (but 4 would have>been too few).Actual number is 31. CID numger bor boards are from 1 to 31. Number 0 is reserved for computer key and mouse mappings.- J

Thanks Guys, your a ripper!I've been waiting on my password to post messages for a couple days and I've been racking my brain wondering the same question!I was almost going to go with something else thinking that it was limited to four controllers.Hopefully in the near future I'll be starting on my 737 TNG cockpit and I'll be most certainly be using FSBUS for my design.Take Care,Brad Heller.

I was doing some tests the other night & thought I might try using FSBUS Router over WideFS, this also free's up your Main flightsim PC's processor to process the simulation software & doesn't have to share time with FSBus Router, not that it takes up many resources anyway, it works perfectly! , this brings me to the conclusion that you could actually setup as many FSBusComIII systems as you like each with a dedicated PC on WideFS, lets say for example 3 Machines with 3 seperate ComIII cards therefore the total number of controllers would be 96, now this would probably be enough to build a Space Shuttle pit!!This makes the system virtually unlimited.Comments anyone ?Maybe Dirk could give us some thoughts on this, I haven't got two ComIII cards to try it out.Cheers Glenn.

How does it work?I want to build one Computer with FSBUS and Easyfly on it and have the FlightSimulator on a stronger one. Which Programs do you need on whitch Computer and what do you need con configure for this?Cheers Sebastian

I don't think Easyfly supports FSUIPC but there would not be any problems running FSBus on the same PC as easyfly at seperate times.If you want to Run FSbus with your MS-Flightsim on a differnet PC, you need some addon Modules for Flighsimulator called FSUIPC & WideFS, both of these modules are now payware, but not expensive.FSUIPC gives you read/write access to Flightsim data & WideFS gives you the ability to run programs on a PC that does not have flightsim on it that interface to the FSUIPC module over a network connection.Both of these programs are available from here:http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.htmlTwo PC's with network cards & a cat5 crossover cable will get you going, more than two PC's & you will need a HUB.Glenn.

Hello all!Is this real! On the main computer works FS2004 or FS2002 and FSUIPC and WideFS.dlland on the client compouter WideFS-Client and on an RS232 the FSBus with his programms?If this is correct it will be the best idea!many thanks for all!regard peter

YES !!Glenn.

Yes,i have in the 2nd PC the Fsbus running and via widefs sends fsuipc commands in Fs2002.I don't know if there is a lag with this solution, than to be in the main Fs pc, maybe Dirk can tell us the best solution for no delay.But i'm working in this way and i'm satisfy for doing my tests having in the second pc the fsbus. Eddie ArmaosAthens-Greece

Cool!That's exactly what I wanted. I have the fsuipc already instaled (for IVAO-Network). Was there a freeware-version of widefs for FS2002?I am not sure about it.......One more question (to proove that I have understood it):On the FS-Computer you run FS, fsuipc and widefs, on the second one widefs and fsbus.btw: www.easyfly.it is shutting down and you cand download the program for free there. I will use it for the PFD....and/or Engine-Panel (with second Video-Card) on the second computer together with fsbus.Thank you all for the fast replies.....@Glenn: I've been to Sidney in '88 for the scout jamboree in Cataract. I've been living in an host family in Woodford. The "grandfather" was the owner of Katoomba Airfield, so I had pretty good Fly-outs....Sebastian

Eddie, There shouldn't be much lag at all, in fact Dirk Has redisgned FSBus2 & virtually preconfigured it for us, you can have a look at it to see how it works without having all the controllers & FSCommIII running.Have a play around with say the com1 radio as an example.The rotary for adjusting the standby freq is now simulated with the router software, you will notice that the destinations for this rotary are for the "FS.Standard.Radio.Com1Standby" this updates flightsims radio display as you rotate the knob, there is a lag here because of sampling times, this is not important because you will not be using flightsims radio stack, well thats the plan anyway,however you will also notice there is a second destination called "FSB.COM1.Standby" this is the 7Seg digital readout of FSbus allocated for the com1 standby display, this gets updated virtually as the knob is rotated, with no delay.Anyhow I think the sample rates are adjustable if need be but from the tests I did the other night it looks fine to me.Glenn.

Sebastian, Yes you have understood correctly, thats all there is to it.If you are willing to stick with FS2002 for the moment you can get it all happening without having to pay for FSUIPC & WideFS, I will email you the last freeware versions, however Pete is not supporting these versions any longer but that doesn't mean they don't work, most people have been running these versions for some time & you will probably get some help here on this forum, most brick walls have already been hit.Glenn.

Hi Glenn!Did you know when dirk get out the new version from his software?Did you mean (Com1) the radio-panel for the airbus!(you have only one knob to select the radios and anything else)peter