TigersharkBAS

So I gotta ask...what kind of switches you hoping for? A single panel? Which one? How much would you be willing to pay?

Read the thread in my signature!!!!

Hi Hempstead. It's all good. The why can simply be explained as... This as much as I am capable of right now and was more an exploration of DIY pcb design. I merely wanted to share these steps and my journey with others. This was a step in proving to myself I can make a custom pcb with arduino. First steps towards an ultimate goal of plug and play pcbs for individual panels.

Wow. Well...umm....I'm not sure how to reply to that. Perhaps because I'm not that good at this yet? I did say it was a first step in a learning journey to the ultimate goal of designing a completely integrated board. Perhaps I should have just waited until I had a final design but I personally think that sharing these steps help others who don't know how to start. A couple of thoughts though: 1. Just because in your opinion this doesn't have learning value for you doesn't preclude others from perhaps finding this very educational. The whole point of forums and sharing on the Internet is that someone, somewhere will find something useful even if others consider it trivial or easy. 2. Same goes for your comment on producing something "more useful". You might not think it useful. Someone else...a beginner...may find the process of building a bare bones Arduino extremely useful. I know I have. It isn't so much about the end product...it is the process that I learnt from. I am happy to stop posting threads like this of the majority of people tell me it isn't helpful or useful. But I sense the free and open exchanges of ideas, techniques and learning steps posted in this forum is what makes this place great. After all, isn't that what all the cockpit build threads in the forum are essentially? People all end up with various products (cockpits)...all with varying degrees of accuracy/realism...but the process they share in getting there creates new approaches to problems, inspires other techniques and approaches to design problems.

Since you are planning to use it for output I would keep things simple and stick with USB serial comms and bridge software. I don't see why your mega can't handle this. Wish I could help more :-(

Also....you can see an even smaller PCB here done for an ATTiny84 http://fritzing.org/projects/jayduinotiny84

Oh no you didn't!! You didn't just introduce Apple vs PC in my thread DevonCustard. Ninja's have been dispatched to your location.

Lots of great links on clones and simple Arduino devices you can buy on the net. (I'm a big Adafruit fan) I fear some folk might be missing the point of my original post. There are plenty of cheap Arduino devices with smaller footprints you can buy. But if you want to delve into: - PCB Design - Understanding what a simple Arduino chip can and can't do when removed from a Uno for example. - Begin experimenting with potentially designing your own fully integrated Arduino custom PCB. Then you might want to download Fritzing and take a look at my project files. You can also generate a Gerber file to manufacture your own PCB at home. I was not suggesting that I had a superior product that you could buy from me or that I could make for you or sell. Was just sharing my first steps into PCB making. First steps that I hope will lead to open source PCBs for individual panels (like the UFC or Caution Panel) that will be integrated around an Arduino chip.

Thanks man! :):) As mentioned in the original post, manufactured by Fritizing Fab. http://fab.fritzing.org/fritzing-fab

If you want to start going down your own path, it's not that hard. You can visit the wiki in my signature to gain an understanding of how to build a simple panel.

Was the original joystick a USB based stick? Have you considered flashing an Arduino as a USB device. I know this doesn't help with your wiring up issue but it might help simply things later. http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/index.html

My app is iOS only. I have neither the time or resources to learn how to make stuff for Android. CodeToad though is proposing something that is platform independent as it will be web browser based.

CodeToad...thanks for sharing Your idea is intriguing. It would better if all this content was available as a kind of service for anyone to write any kind of UI on top. I mean, separate the data from the presentation. Can a webpage read UDP from DCS and react accordingly like a an app could?

Hi agras, TBH...there is no advantage. As I mentioned...this was more about learning how to make my own PCB for a future fully self contained PCB for panels. It is more to help someone to get started with PCBs and Arduino. The eBay product is definitely more price effective but this gives you ultimate control over how you want to breakout the board. You could have these pins directly connected to micro switches....to LEDs...to anything you want really....by simply extending the PCB files I link to on the Fritzing site. It's the difference between buying a vintage car and refurbishing your own :smilewink: Refurbishing is gonna cost a lot more...but you do it for a sense of personal satisfaction and achievement that get from a hobby you enjoy. So in short, yes, you can buy cheaper self contained Arduino clones and this has no clear advantage other than ultimate customisation, but I post this to share and perhaps somebody will find it useful.

Yes to all those questions. It is essentially an Arduino Uno without the USB to Serial chip (to connect it to your computer) and without an external power jack. It relies on you providing a 5V power source to it.

Got a small space you want to pack an Arduino into? Want to use the basic functionality of an Arduino to control lighting/sound/motors without the need to connect it to USB? I have designed my own bare bones Arduino board. It enables you to program it using a USB serial interface (using the TX and RX of the interface) and is wrapped in a small form factor. Great for if you want to build your own Arduino using off the shelf components and don't need the overhead of a whole Arduino Uno in your project. This project was the first step in learning (and for a little fun) in designing an entire custom made Arduino based PCB for a DCS UFC and Caution Panel. It was more about learning about the ins and outs of PCB design and verifying I can design something that works. PCB design done in Fritzing. www.fritzing.org Manufactured by Fritzing Fab (cost 15 euros and another 3 euros for shipping). Proceeds go to further developing the Fritizing software. I added the components over the weekend and tested it. Works perfectly. Used this to program the board by connectcting the +5V, GND, RST, TX and RX pins to the equivalent pins on my PCB. http://arduino.cc/en/Main/MiniUSB Link to project on Fritzing website: http://fritzing.org/projects/jayduino328

Prototyping board :-)

He'll be able to deploy gear like a muthaf***er! - Samuel L Jackson

I also haven't figured this out yet....without changing the original Lua file. I want to know how to do it with the new diff file std.

OK..let me start again....perhaps I am poorly explaining myself. My intention is to make a 1:1 scale caution panel. For this purpose, a 5cmx5cm neopixel shield is not going to help. If I wanted just a neopixel shield caution panel it would be fine. Using individual neopixels and chaining them together (each requires a single wire) is also a viable option. And requires nothing but connected Neopixels and few pin out put from the UNO. A was never questioning the viability of Neopixels....just saying that the shield was a great prototyping platform for me to test concepts before I moved on to a 1:1 scale perhaps built with more traditional components. For a regular non neopixel LED matrix on a UNO you would need to use some form of multiplexing that would require more pins than I am willing to sacrifice. I chose the MAX7219 to keep things simple in terms of the required outputs from the UNO. I am by no means advocating (or intend to defend) one approach over the other. I chose the MAX7219 to also learn about how it works for other projects as well. Having said that....the link you posted is very interesting.

Hi gents, Been looking for a way to make the current Groovy Game Gear (the version without screw terminals) more modular and cleaner to implement inside the box. I have 3 pole female headers attached to ON-OFF-ON and ON-ON switches so I can connect and disconnect as I please to reconfigure the GGG should I want to use for a different panel. So here it is. It is flexible in that you can use a 3 poe header for the switch vertically or 2 pole switches horizontally. GGG fixes to the board by soldering male pin headers into it and having it attach to female headers in the board. Like how an Arduino shield works. Haven't tested it yet...but when I verify it works I can post the Gerber files in case anyone wants to manufacture their own.

Oh no...it's certainly doable with Adfruit neopixels. I just meant not with the Arduino shield I was using. Advantages would be that you wouldn't need to use a chip and program everything using the Neopixel library for Arduino. Disadvantages would be cost (if you went for individual pixels that you would wire together) and working with SMD components (if you bought the neopixel LEDs in their most basic package for soldering to a PCB). The Max7219 works for me because I plan to use Through hole components and is used specifically for driving LED matrices. It has no distinct advantage over Neopixels...more of a stylistic approach I suppose.

Hey Warhog. Thanks for the compliments about the explanation. The next part will indeed be about wiring up the Max7219. Regarding your resistor question. Resistors are not necessary as it is the RSET that determines the max amount of current that allowed to flow through to the LEDs. See the "selecting a value for RSET" section of this: http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/MAX72XXHardware

Excellent post! Looking forward to seeing this. I wonder if it's worth adding as a special section to the DCS Wiki in my sig?

Here is what a potential PCB trace (traces are the connecting paths of copper between component on the PCB) might look like. Note how the Seg and Dig pins connect to the LEDs that we shifted down to make a 12x4 matrix. Yellow traces are on the top of the PCB. Orange traces are on the bottom. Typically good practice in PCB design is to keep traces flowing horizontally on one side of the PCB and vertically on the other side. To be honest (and please feel free to discuss here) I really can't see any other way than making a PCB for a caution panel. Any other way is a path to madness and rats nest of wiring. Is this how other people have implemented a caution panel? By making a PCB they screw onto the bottom of the panel? Also... very quiet in here :-)