HOME PRODUCTS SUPPORT DOWNLOAD MULTIPLAYER FORUM SHOP Not logged in Quick Links Feature List Images & Movies Download Demo How to Buy FAQ Wiki Community Competition News Archive About Us Contact Site Map Links   Site search    FAQ   Search     Profile   Log in to check your private messages    Cockpit and instruments Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next          Silent Wings Forum Index -> General View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 5:36 am    Post subject: Cockpit and instruments Hello We got one old Astir CS cockpit and planning to build it to the training use. We like to have real looking instruments on panel. I think there is two way to build it. Get airspeed, variometer, altitude etc from NMEA data and somehow output voltage to the instrument (certainly instruments have to understand voltage or current input, not pressure like real life) Another way i found is TFT panel with Simmeters program http://www.simmeters.com/ . But I think SW does not have support it like Condor have. Simmeter would be much much easier and reliable than NMEA data where always is delay. SW staff, is there any possibility to have support to the Simmeter or do You have solution to the problem ? Rgrds Jari Back to top Surge Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 755 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 6:48 am    Post subject: There are other solid state alternatives as well : Simpit instruments : http://www.simkits.com/product.php?prodid=667# The base unit is generic - you can make your own face for the instruments if you like. If you want to build the entire instrument yourself or have input from the cockpit controls : http://www.phidgets.com If you could shoehorn a standard TFT monitor behind the panel then the Simmeters would probably be cheaper and quicker to rig up. The advantage of the Simpit and Phidget based instruments is that besides them looking real you can use them outdoors in full sunshine and you can fit them anywhere in a cockpit. Thomas needs to release some sort of standard API so we can access the data. Then we can write an interface to whatever system we want to use and not be limited to a single solution. Regards Paul Back to top jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:58 am    Post subject: Surge wrote: There are other solid state alternatives as well : Simpit instruments : http://www.simkits.com/product.php?prodid=667# The base unit is generic - you can make your own face for the instruments if you like. Yeah, this looks cool. Big question is, when and how we get API to SW and who/how make controll to those simkits instruments... Quote: If you want to build the entire instrument yourself or have input from the cockpit controls : http://www.phidgets.com This is another way http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836A/ what I planned to use. Quote: If you could shoehorn a standard TFT monitor behind the panel then the Simmeters would probably be cheaper and quicker to rig up. The advantage of the Simpit and Phidget based instruments is that besides them looking real you can use them outdoors in full sunshine and you can fit them anywhere in a cockpit. Yes, we had to measure what size monitor can fitted. And if SW would have support to Simmeters panel it will be my choice Quote: Thomas needs to release some sort of standard API so we can access the data. Then we can write an interface to whatever system we want to use and not be limited to a single solution. Regards Paul Thomas, any idea, when this would be possible ? Jari Some images after one day work... Almost empty cockpit now http://www.vaasanlentokerho.fi/?action[]=INavigation::showArticleViewPage(11717) Back to top thomas Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 899 Location: Norway Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:30 am    Post subject: Hey Jari, I must have missed this thread somehow. Looks like a real cool cockpit project! We have been planning for a long time to support these types of projects through an open C++ api where you can interface to various parts of the simulator. However, we still haven't had the time to do it We have also considered SimKits, but haven't done anything about it yet. Sim meters looks very interesting, but I can't find any info on developing for it? No SDK's or anything. Actually I can't figure out much about their solution from their web pages. I'll send them an email and see if we can get any more info. We have also added quite a bit of extra data to the NMEA string, which is what the flugservolator project and a few others use. More about that in the Wiki. Anyway, we'll look a bit more into it. If Sim Meters is very easy to support, we might do that before the C++ API. If not, it may take a little longer... - Thomas Back to top olath Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 112 Location: Hønefoss Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:41 pm    Post subject: We've updated the wiki with some more info on the NMEA strings. You can use the data in the !w and !s strings for instrument data. Cheers, Ola Back to top jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:21 am    Post subject: Thx for information Ola. Waiting results about simmeters support. Project continues... (yesterday result) Body Cutting body Cockpit almost ready to fly? Landing gear out Jari Back to top thomas Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 899 Location: Norway Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:03 pm    Post subject: Nice pics, Jari We have been in contact with simmeters, and it seems that we can work out a very simple solution there. I won't give any time estimates, since it requires programming in both ends, both from our side and Simmeters. But I can say, that the extension itself is quite small, so it shouldn't be too much work. - Thomas Back to top laurie7j7g7 Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 62 Location: UK Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:30 pm    Post subject: this is great news, we've been wanting to put simkits instruments into the lasham sim for some time now! by the way... is that Astir unercarriage frame ok? I'm always after spares... _________________ Laurie Gregoire www.ai-uk.net Flight Training & Entertainment Simulator Specialists Southern Sailplanes - UK Schempp-Hirth Agents Membury Airfield, UK www.southernsailplanes.com Back to top thomas Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 899 Location: Norway Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:28 am    Post subject: Hi Laurie, This is for Simmeters, which use an LCD monitor to display instruments. We haven't looked at Simkits yet, but it may of course be a good idea to see if that can be done in a similar manner. We'll look into it. - Thomas Back to top Surge Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 755 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:32 am    Post subject: thomas wrote: We haven't looked at Simkits yet, but it may of course be a good idea to see if that can be done in a similar manner. All we really need is an API that exposes the raw data (velocities, g-forces, attitude, air pressure, etc.) then we can just write some middle ware to interface it to whatever we want to. Even a memory mapped area with published offsets and data sizes would work like it's done in MSFS and FSUIPC (although I think it's an ugly way to do things). That way one can keep specific implementations and user customization out of the Silent Wings code base. If a user wants to modify the way a meter behaves by changing the way in which the calculations are performed then having the code sitting inside the Silent Wings executable is going to make things hard for both the user who can't do what they want and the developers (Thomas and Ola) who will have users bugging them with feature requests. Just my opinion. Paul Back to top rafdo Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Dallas Texas USA Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:03 pm    Post subject: real simulators Hi, I'm a new forum user from Dallas Texas. I started looking for computer input device recomendations until coming across your thread. Any updates on your projects? Have you'all considered building a real glider from all the parts? Where do you look for used/crashed parts? Richard Back to top jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:38 am    Post subject: Re: real simulators rafdo wrote: Hi, I'm a new forum user from Dallas Texas. I started looking for computer input device recomendations until coming across your thread. Any updates on your projects? Have you'all considered building a real glider from all the parts? Where do you look for used/crashed parts? Richard Hi Rafdo Yes we are going to build real cockpit using its own controls. We found one crashed body where cocpit was "little bit" crashed (We have one man in our Club who like to collect all kinds of planes... ) Now we are prepairing cocpit. All flight controls were ok so we don't need to find any parts. Jari Back to top rafdo Joined: 07 Sep 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Dallas Texas USA Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:00 am    Post subject: sounds great, what r u using for computer & monitor setup & interface? Will you be submitting everything for others to repeat? Where do you find crashed aircraft, insurance companies or individuals? Back to top jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 7:18 am    Post subject: Hi Sim project continues. Now over 60 hours made work to fix cockpit... First painting is under work I hope we have ready and repaired cockpit end of this year... Waiting support from sw to simmeters (LCD meters) Jari Last edited by jarip on Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:40 am; edited 1 time in total Back to top jarip Joined: 30 Jun 2005 Posts: 459 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:22 am    Post subject: rafdo wrote: sounds great, what r u using for computer & monitor setup & interface? Will you be submitting everything for others to repeat? Where do you find crashed aircraft, insurance companies or individuals? We don't have computer or display yet. We/I find aircraft from dealer. ( Who is member of our club...) One place find bodies might be from LAK factory from hmm is it on Poland ?? They might have bodies which cannot use to fly.. Jari Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First         Silent Wings Forum Index -> General All times are GMT Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next Page 1 of 5   Jump to: Select a forum Silent Wings----------------GeneralMultiplayerSilent Wings ViewerTechnical SupportDevelopers General----------------Soaring  You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group