HiI have been looking through this forum for a few months and I decided it was time to register.You can look at the picture if you want to see my sim.Stephen http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80480.jpg

Looks great!I'm building a C172 myself and I would like to know where you found the 5 positions ignition key and how you made the flaps control. (if you have picture of the actual mechanism of the flaps, that would be great!)Continue the good work,cheers,

The key is just a 5 position switch with a lock on the front of it. Sorry I could not get a better picture.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80507.jpgHere are some pictures of the flaps mechanism.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80511.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80509.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80510.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/80512.jpgThe thing the bar goes through is a linear pot(you can see the pins, no wires yet). I drilled a hole in the plastic tab on the pot for the bar to go through. Stephen

Great idea for the key, I'll do the same!I didn't know I could use a pot for the flaps, I tought I had to use a 4 positions switch, so I have modified a old car switch, but it doesn't look as real as yours, so maybe I will do something similar to your control.Thanks a lot!

I want to set up the flaps so you can just set it in any position you like(not just 10,20,30). The long bar was so you would have a spring action for sideways push of the "stair case" in the flap control.Stephen

OK, good thinking.I'm just curious , what kind of interface do you use to the PC (FSBUS, IOCARD, ect)I just finished build the IOcards and starting to hook controls on it. I'll do some testings with a pot for flaps with the card.Cheers,

I'm using an interface that is being developed by a freind of mine, Manuel. The interface he is making is called PHCC (PIC Home Cockpit Controller). And I am not using MSFS, I'm using FlightGear (www.flightgear.org) a "FREE" flight simulator. :-)Stephen

FlightGear is truly Free, not just "Free" ;-) But I guess that's what you meant too. Nice simulator!I need to check it back again - how does one interface to it? Is there a network interface like on x-plane or something else?It's been a while since I last looked into it - I just dropped it last time since Linux 3d drivers were in a sorry state back then.. and they sort of still are thouhg.. :-///Tuomas

Hi Tuomas,>FlightGear is truly Free, not just "Free" ;-) But I guess>that's what you meant too. Nice simulator!>>I need to check it back again - how does one interface to it?>Is there a network interface like on x-plane or something>else?yes, there is a network interface.. actually there are a few interfaces.There is the telnet interface wich lets you navigate flightgear's internal property tree (where basically all internalvariables are stored) like a filesystem. You can modify values eg. by'set /control/flight/spoiler 1.0'Then there's a built-in webserver that lets you use your browser to do same as with the telnet interface. Another interface is xml-configurable 'generic' protocol where you define the format and the properties you are interested in. Notsure if input support has been added yet. There are also some application specific interfaces, like one for OpenGC, GPS nmea out, atlas (atlas.sourceforge.net), a remote (networked) joystick interface (I hacked that one together in an afternoon :), and a bunch of others. There's even one for a motion chair. Look in the src/Network directory in the sources. There's also an embedded scripting language called 'nasal' which might be usable for interfacing...As for PHCC interfacing... I plan on writing an interface for it.The PHCC and my glass cockpit software share common code of something similar to flightgears property tree.All I need to do is write the 'bridge' between flightgear's property tree and the one of PHCC.I'm thinking about a protocol that allows subscription of certain properties (like 'tell me the heading whenever it changes'), and polling/setting values (eg. when I push the real stab trim buttons, the trim value inside the will be changed accordingly).>It's been a while since I last looked into it - I just dropped>it last time since Linux 3d drivers were in a sorry state back>then.. and they sort of still are thouhg.. :-/If you test flightgear, get current CVS, is usually very stable. Well, since getting a 3D graphics card nowadays usually means either Nvidia or ATI, it should work well, if you don't mind closed source drivers... nvidia's drivers for linux AFIAK work for all their cards and they get released the same time the windows driversdo. For ATI there are both opensource and ATI's closed source drivers. Not sure about which one's are better. Regards,Manuel

>Great idea for the key, I'll do the same!>>I didn't know I could use a pot for the flaps, I tought I had>to use a 4 positions switch, so I have modified a old carIn flightgear you can use a pot for the flaps. Dunno if you can with the 'other' simulator.In flightgear, you can bind basically any control to a joystick axis.Manuel