I' am now thinking about build cockpit L- 39. I want use addon Combat Jet Trainer from Captain Sim. (http://www.captainsim.com/products/l039/)I start now, look for a information, I'm reading various discussion forums. Informations are a lot of, but very often are discusses about detailed problems. I have several basic questions:- Have I use FS2004, or is better FSX? What are benefits and disavantages of both programmes for cockpit construction?- For transmission of informationfrom switches in cockpit to the FS I will use some I/O card. I suppose, that it will be approximately 40 keyboard commands and perhaps 10 rotary sensors for tuning (radio, ADF, ILS,

There are many manufacturers of input and output cards as well as radio heads for your sim.Open Cockpits, Cockpit Sonic, Flight Deck Solutions, Flight Deck Technology are just a few. There are also Phidgets that are popular. Be warned however that most third-party aircraft will not communicate the required aircraft specific FSUIPC off-sets for indicators. Most will however communicate the basic common functions used in all FS aircraft such as marker becaons, wind shear alerts, etc.Aircraft specific indicators such as RWR, missile lock, etc. (considering your choice of aircraft) will not work.Radio heads can be purchased plug & play, in kit form, or component kit form. Less less work they do, the cheaper you can purchase it.Your input and output cards can be interfaced through FSUIPC or proprietary software that is included with the cards depending upon which cards you choose.In most cases Key2Mouse is not a requirement any longer. FSUIPC mouse capture as succeeded that program. Though I have heard of it not working with certain aircraft. Key2Mouse requires you to have the panel open when using any switch or function on that panel. FSUIPC does not. Key2Mouse defeats the purpose of having a hardware panel to operate functions from.

Fs9 or FSX.When talking about cockpitbuilding, it really does not matter which one you choose. All the IO cards talk/read to/from the sim via FSUIPC. Which sim you use depends more on the computerhardware you have. Many builders still use FS9.Before you start building read these 2 websites:http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/http://www.fscockpit.com/regardsNorberthttp://home.wanadoo.nl/norbert.bosch/