tigert

>HI.>That looks very good.>I see that in the advertising they, simpit, claim PCATD / FTD>status. A couple of things come to mind:>1-What software / sim are they using? The software they have works with FS2002/FS2004.>2-How smooth / jumpy are the instrument updates, and how>accurate are they?They are pretty smooth. Definitely more smooth than the Flight Sim bitmap gauges, where especially the artificial horizon is very jumpy. The simkits artificial horizon is more smooth, pretty fine for practicing approaches IMHO. Some stuff we have jumps slightly, but I think a bit of vaseline in the gears and bushings could help that as well, we are going to do that at some point, it is not that bad though that it would require immediate attention, and most of the flying on that thing is to be on VFR anyway.Tuomas

Hi Bob!Yea, thanks for the example and quote.Hey, if you folks have done your own custom settings that work and you found useful, please can you list them here for example on this thread, so Dirk can add them, and we others can benefit from not having to re-invent the wheel :)Tuomas

It's RealAir C172, which is pretty good./t

>Hi All...I have hooked up all my switches to FSKey in FSBUS>and they are all working great. I am building a King Air and>some of the switches are for autofeather, battery on/off, prop>sync etc. >>When I try and program these with Router Ver 2.06...I can't>seem to find the FS destination. When I look in what is there>it seems to bea lot of jet stuff and PM stuff.>>ANyone have any ideas how I can add the specific turboprop>events to the FS destination area in router ?>>many thanks...JBAdd them to "myfsif.ini" (or whatever the ini file is called, I fail to remember right now, anyway my{whatever}.ini)Check the default destination stuff from the supplied .ini, copy the line to your my{whatever}.ini and change the name and FSUIPC offset and see that the datatype is same. The line columns are documented in the readme.Those can be found in the "FSUIPC for Programmers.doc" that is part of the FSUIPC SDK.If you come up with good stuff, post the added lines here, so we all benefit. I've had to add a few things myself as well.Tuomas

So we were working on the sim the whole day today at the club, and got the radios mostly working. Yay!http://tigert.gimp.org/vatsim/cockpit-stuff/mik_mittarit.jpghttp://tigert.gimp.org/vatsim/cockpit-stuff/mik_visuaali.jpghttp://tigert.gimp.org/vatsim/cockpit-stuff/mik_simu.jpgFor those who are not familiar with the project:* Instruments from simkits* Radios and many switches via FSBUS* Visual system is a collimated mirror element.The mirror thing was received as donation from a retired full-motion sim.The whole thing is being built into a C150 fuselage section.Tuomas

>Now I can try to read the pics with my pic programmer and post>hex files for you. But I must be sure it is ok for the author>first. Do you think he reads this forum? or should I contac>him by email to ask?Dirk reads this forum, but if he is busy, email might work better.Good to hear it worked!Tuomas

>Well, >>Lotsa switches, lots of rotary encoders, lotsa displays, lotsa>leds, for a big 737 cockpit complete with overhead panel.>>;-)>>It's FS-*B*U*S* A BUS. Think "IDE-BUS" and "IDE-cable". COM-1============[]=====[]=====[]=====[] KEY KEY KEY LEDCOM-2============[]=====[]=====[]=====[] ANALOG SERVO LED KEYCOM-3COM-4 Get the idea? Make flat cables that have several connectors. Those 4 connectors on the COM-card are interconnected anyway when you look at the layout.(yes, this has been discussed in the past, use the search ;))You can do one long cable with 31 connectors and hook all modules to the same connector in the COM-card if you want - that's why the PICs have the unique ID.Tuomas

>>thank you very much to everyone for your help.>>yes I get the read after write error immediately. I really>>can't figure where the problem can be. I'm using a genuine>>78l12 now, (led makes a very low light now), bus cable is>>shorter than 10cm, I've tried the "troubleshooting" test and>>voltages are rigth on all pins.>>>>:( :( :(>>>>any idea?>>>>thanks>>I have the EXACT same situation, but my LED is lit quite>bright, but still I get the read after write error the second>I press the button.....Check the jumpers. There are those on both the COM card and the module you are flashing. And *only connect one module to COM-module when you are flashing*Jumper settings are listed here:http://mikkila.wabbits.org/fsbus/doc/layout_e.phpCheck those in relation to the other components and see that both are in program-mode. Tuomas

Do you get the read-after-write error right away on the first byte? Or does it show a bit of progress and then stops?I get the latter, I usually need to flash a few times to get it fully done. With longer cable it was worse, so I flash with the 10cm flatcableIf you get it right away, check the serial cable as well. And make sure your jumpers on BOTH the COM-board AND the module you are flashing with are jumpered in "FLASH" mode.Then if you get success, you can flash all of the pics with the same module, just remember to power off while you unplug the chips from the sockets. And be careful to not break the legs and beware static etc etc you know what I mean..Tuomas

>Power supplies should be 9v, but some people use 12v, as it>tends to help with flashing unless you put a heatsink of the>voltage regulator (7805). Amperage shouldn't exceed 1000mA (ie>1A). Most 9-12v power supplies will be sufficient for this>purpose.>>The cable should be a 9pin null-modem (ie no crossed wires),>and this can either be a straight extension/adapter cable, or>if you want to chop off the plug at one end you can solder>this directly to the board. Optimum lengths have been quoted>between 10-50cm, the shorter the better.>>Hope this helps! :)Unfortunately, despite the good intentions you mixed everything up :)Power supply needs to be 9V minimum, but it needs to be a good quality. I use a PC AT power supply (12V), which works OK. But you *do* need a heatsink on the regulator, and it is a good idea anyway, since it puts out some heat even with 9V.As for cable, you want a 1:1 RS232 cable between the computer and the COM-card. As far as I remember "Null-modem" is the one *with* crossed wires, that will not do.There is no real importance about the length of the RS-232 cable between your computer and FSBUS, but it has helped some people to use a very short "flashing cable" between the COM-board and the module you are flashing (the flatcable) - I have a 10cm one which I use for flashing only.Note that once you have flashed the PIC successfully, you can use a longer cable without problem, the flashing is the part many people seem to have the troubles, and here most often it seems to be a bad solder somewhere and the person doesnt get enough voltage to the PIC in flash mode. There's the test/debug tool in the flash dialog of FSBUS for checking the voltages.Tuomas

>Because with WideView both machines have to be running FS. A>P33 laptop with 16Mb of RAM just doesn't cut it, even with no>outside views open. This way these old laptops can handle just>instrument panels, they don't even have to have FS installed>(Which would be hard anyway, they don't have a CD drive). >>I could even put three or four of them together all running>different 'parts' of a glass cockpit, and make a full airliner>cockpit all from old machines I could buy for less than $100>each on eBay if I didn't have them already - that's cheaper>than buying just flat screens to run off a multiple head video>card.>>RichardYou can also get the PCI videocards from the Pentiums and stick them to your fast main PC, enable them in Windows and move the gauge panels to those monitors. You need to run FS2004 in windowed mode though since the cards are not DirectX 9 compatible, but it still works very reasonably, you probably wont even lose FPS as long as there is only one main 3D view and the rest are just gauge windows.At least matrox cards work great in addition to a AGP 3d card.Tuomas

Pretty nice!You can also put radio frequencies there, so that if you build a panel for the thing, make it a bit wider on the left side, and put knobs there just left of the monitor screen so that the frequency "displays" have holes over the screen where the digits show up.Tuomas

>Thanks for the info. Sure works faster that way. But the>problem is why if I set up to flash id 29, it flashes 5?.That is a good question :)>However I did measure the board. No shortcircuits exist.Hm. Then I am out of ideas. Maybe someone else can shed a light on this.>No. The Knitter-type don't require a redec. The redec>actually translates the usual rotary encoder to a 'knitter>like' output!>This was ok until ver2.0.2. It's not the REDEC because it was>working fine on ver 2. The problem appeared when the rotaries>were groupped together. When the Rotary2 type existed it>worked great!Oh yea, I meant the same. I mean with redec you need to use the "Knitter" mode, not ALPS AFAIK, just like you apparently do.Sounds like a change/bug in fsbus then. Lets see what Dirk says.>>Of course you can try div: 2>Where? How? Hmmm... Did I miss that option?I think the Div stuff happens in the ini files now, you could of course copy the line from the fssomething.ini to myfssomething.ini (I forget the exact filename now) and change the div to 2 for that, if that works as a temporary solution.Tuomas

>1. When trying to flash a PIC with a big ID (i.e. 29) the PIC>is flashed but not answers to that ID. I tried flashing a KEY>card with ID 29, and the PIC was actually flashed with ID 5. >This is reproducable and discovered by Eddie.This you can check easily: When doing "read pic" on the flash dialog, the first 2 characters are the module type and the next two are the ID. So if you have something like 0110 (dont remember what module type id's are, so ignore the "01" there) - the PIC CID would be 16 (0x10 in hexadecimal)>2. When any kind of input occupies BIT 3 or BIT 7 (subIDs 3, 7>) any trigger of either turns on BOTH those bits. This occurs>in every row/bank and on either input bit. I.e. if I connect>a simple push button to subID 3 and leave 7 unconnected, when>I press the>button and monitor the key press both subIDs 3 & 7 become>active. Same happens when the button is connected to subID 7>and leave subID 3 unconnected. Bot subIDs 3 & 7 become>active.This sounds very much like a short circuit on your key module, check the relevant pins and trace the circuit board around those pins, and check if you can follow the logic and maybe you find a small short circuit.Not a FSBUS bug.>3. If you set up a rotary with type Alps (via redec) to>increase/decrease a value (whichever), even if the step if set>to 1, the value changes by a factor of 2.>I.e. if step is set to 1, the value changing by 2, if value>set to 10, value changes by 20, etc. This does not occur when>using the emulated up/dn switches from within FSBUS.Isnt Redec for the knitter-type? ALPS is a bit different, try with the knitter mode. Also, if the test buttons on the fsbus toolbar work, but your reded doesnt, sounds like a problem in redec, or your encoder.Of course you can try div: 2>5. When a rotary is assigned to speed, there seems to be a>conflict between FS and the input of FSBUS. Either increasing>or decreasing IAS, although the value displayed on the FS>panel shows the change normally, the relative FSBUS display>goes crazy. Display changes rapidly beetween the previous IAS>value in FS and the new changed value from FSBUS. I can't>really describe it properly, you will have to try for yourself>to see what I mean.Are you sure this is the autopilot IAS and not the airspeed indicator value? :) That could cause a bit of a conflict if one tries to move the airspeed gauge :)Best,Tuomas

If you register on the simkits site, you can download an extra SDK PDF with all the schematics for different instruments, connector pin order etc, which really helps if you for example need to hack your own custom instruments etc. They are using "PIHER" sensors for position feedback for the modified servos.Tuomas

>The only problem I see is the pitch control. That's a bit>complicated to help since I dont not know that item.>You may probably have to change the main axis, change it for a>metallic one.>Then I am not sure that it is worth all that work. >RegardsIt might work if you just built a sliding base for the wheel that moves on some rails (kitchen drawer railing etc?) - you'd need to wire a potentiometer on it and modify electronics and have centering springs.That might be an workable way to do a driving/flying setup btw, if someone wants such a thing - one can add "lock pins" to the base for driving use though.Tuomas

>Found this while looking for something completely>unrelated... a cockpit switch cover from a cheap auto parts>site???>>http://www.cheap-auto-parts.com/restoration/60357.htmlWell, it's $30. Not that cheap. Someone had found the similar one for considerably less, search the archives a bit. Also from automotive store I think.Boats have switches too, our generic auto-marine-whatever parts wonder-warehouse has nice, sturdy metal toggle switches for 2 euros per piece. Those places are worth looking at indeed.Havent seen those guard protection things thouhg.Tuomas

Oh, a photo just for fun, the same plane in its real element instead of the cold, dark hangar the dimensions pics were taken in.This is a lot more happy photo of the plane and yours truly.http://aerodome.net/gallery-kuvat/album07/IMG_1187.sized.jpg[small]Photo by Mikko Luukkanen - http://gallery.aerodome.net/luge[/small]Tuomas

As for the power supply, I run mine on 12V from a PC AT power supply. You just need a heatsink for the voltage regulator (the heavy-duty three-legged component with a hole on its metal head)Tuomas

Howdy. A friend needed these for his sim project, so I thought I'd post them here too.http://tigert.gimp.org/vatsim/gallery/c172dimIt's our aviation club's C172 which is for sale currently by the way, so if you want a nice workhorse of a plane, privmsg me and I can tell you more ;)Have fun :)Oh, and those are centimeters for the SI-unit impaired, 1 inch = 2.54 cm. You can click on the mid-size pic once to get a full sized one. The quality is bad, but the text should be readable which is the whole point of the photos./Tuomas

>FS PANELSTUDIO>by Ed STruzinskiYea. Thats the best one there is. There's also the "CFGEdit" which is basically the older version and doesnt support FS2002/FS2004 *features* in the panels but can edit panels for FS2004 anyway, you just need to use "placeholder" gauges and later replace them with the possible XML ones etc by editing the panel.cfg with Notepad or such.But FSPanel Studio is the easiest thing to use. Payware, but could be worth the price if you do this stuff a lot.www.fspanelstudio.comTuomas

For those who care about the flying part instead of the "dude it looks just like the one in the [insert airline] [insert aircraft model] I visited last summer!", the throttle will probably work just great for 777 or 737, it has the right number of engines and reverse handles and all the switches are pretty much the same for all twin jets..Who cares if it is a 757 throttle if it works on your 737 setup??Folks, dont take this stuff too seriously. If you build something for a type rating course at an airline, that is the different thing, but for yourself, remember the flying is the reason you build your cockpit, right? Dont get lost in the details.That's why Precision Flight Controls and many other companies make "generic" throttles - ones imagination fills in the looks. If those guys were going to cater for everyone, the number of each unit sold would be divided by the number of models, and that would just mean one thing: more development costs, higher price. This is the first "cockpit" related item for a looong time that has a reasonable price :) Lets not get too grumpy. If it was GoFlight, nobody would complain it looks "wrong" for your setup. I fly my Piper home cockpit with cessna throttles at the moment, does the job just fine. Heck, a crappy joystick used to do great for you a few years ago.. ;)Cheers,Tuomas

>Happy New Year!!>>About the intercom problem, i want to add one more question in>this thread.>>That i was looking for, is to have my Headsets devices (for>Captain and F/O) connected to my soundcards (in two different>PCs) for the ATC communication (with RogerWilco or AVC).>>In the same time i need to have intercom between Captain and>F/O so they can communicate via Headsets. >>Any ideas?Why two different PC's? Oh wait.. yes. You can tune different stuff on captains setup and first officers headset on airliners.. rright.I wonder if you can have double login with AVC though? It checks if you are logged in vatsim, and if you are, then it lets you join a voice channel. But does it let you do the same twice? Or then you need to have two guys logged into vatsim at once, and one needs to leave his plane sitting on the airport idle (which is against the VATSIM regulations..) while the other login handles the actual flight. Dunno if this would work.Or does anyone have an idea how to solve this? Most GA planes just have one intercom system where both mics go to the same place, so this is not a problem.Might be worth asking in the AVC/squawkbox forum?Tuomas

Wow, thanks for this!Someone was selling this kind of "black box" for something like $49 or so, and I somehow knew it had to be a "lets separate the uneducated and his money" -project. Really simple, and doable. Nice!Tuomas

>Would anybody have an idea if anyone has built their own>intercom system that you could plug a ordinary pair of twin>plug aviation headsets into. I know theres kits you can buy>but has anyone designed their own?>>>Regards,>I'm about to, but no plans yet. I just know that you can get the plugs from www.aircraftspruce.com, but not much else. Shouldnt be that hard though. The headphone plug is regular mono wiring anyway, so you can just get a 6mm -> 3.5mm plug adapter to hear sounds, but the mic has more stuff into it, but I guess it isnt anything too weird. Mike? Ideas? Tuomas