rocketeer

That's what I've been doing too, using MFCD's 5" as a guide and estimating the size of the UFC, fire pull handles etc. but I've not been comfortable enough with my own estimates so far. The AHCP is new so its dimension info is even harder to gather. If it's some A model panel it'd be easier to actual parts' dimension.

For the fuel open/close lever, I just shaped it from a acrylic block, then held up with an acrylic sheet cut as a small long rectangle since I had these materials lying around. Usually I prefer doing a lot of things on wood than acrylic since it's cheaper and easier to cut. I'd be building a few other levers around the cockpit with wood.

Sorry I assumed you have the beta. I'd see if I can do a decent screen capture from the beta for you.

Hog driver, I've sent the pictures you requested to your email few days ago. For the toggles, normal sized ones if you buy bulk online it'd be $1-2. I bought some from Radio Shack here in the US, bundles of 3 for I think $4-5 so ok. Now some are 'special' eg. 3 way toggles. Those would cost slightly more. You don't have to get really expensive toggles. I've seen toggles selling for ridiculous price of $10-20 each. Don't need those. Just any with two legs SPST will do. Again the cheapest is to buy bulk online. But if you just want to start out and try one panel, go get those sold as a bundle in a retail store. Once you have the basics figured out and have confidence you can do this, then buy bulk online and save.

I would just check out what color is the light and how it looks like in the sim, and then create a small black rectangle and the words in MS Word or other application. You don't need a picture of master caution lit up as part of the UFC as you'd be creating the the master caution light separately, well at least that's how I'd do it. Or you can just do a Fraps screenshot capture in the sim. I think the one attached above by pitbldr is pretty good reference. Just a reminder that the rockers on the CDU and UFC are 3 way, and momentary on both sides, resting in the middle, ie. (on), off, (on). Normal rockers are latched to one side - on, off only.

Ok I haven't updated my progress for many months. Recently continued where I left off long ago before RL took over. This is the left console, primed and painted. Because of limited budget, I'm forgoing backlighting, CNC, table saw etc. goodies. Got some wood from OSH, screws and brackets (total < $20 and enough for both consoles). Mounted the switches directly on the wood, then printed on photo paper and sprayed it with gloss protection. My cheapo way also saves a lot of time from doing light panel, backplate for the numerous panels. It's function over fasion right now for me. I know it's going to pale in comparison to what some of you are doing with all those detailed designs and CNC cutting, but at least I'd get to fly first!

Film, please tell me: 1. When can we expect a Helios demo on the A10C beta? 2. Elaborate on how Helios work with real switches 3. I need to buy the generic Helios, and also $39 for A10C as the aircraft pack?

Thanks DM for the info. I still need to know the size of other panels like the gear/flap, weapons, and fuel quantity panels. I wonder if anyone has any info on them or so far it's just guesswork? Film, normally people who use leos' boards program the key commands in software like hotkey or svmapper, provided that ED has assigned key commands for those switches. For Helios will we also have to have the key commands assigned first? Then it should be just recording a keystroke? I know if we use SOIC even if there is no key command you can use LUA to make the switch work. My impression of Helios so far has been that it only works with touch screen monitors. Now you've shown me the possibility of it working with real switches. Please elaborate on this area. If it's going to be more like recording key command or some kind of easy assignment of switch functions than figuring out all the SOIC coding then you have a customer now!

I heard that sanding the acrylic to make it frosted helps disperse light evenly. Have you tried that?

I know the dimension of the panels for the left and right consoles. they are mostly are the same width. How are you guys determining the dimension for the front console panels for the C version? Would the front central panels (Nav mode select, TISL) be the same width as those on the left and right consoles? What about others like the UFC, gear/flap, weapons panel, fuel quantity panel etc?

Besides checking out the manual, you can also go into the beta training, zoom in and click on the switches on the desired panel. I did that for every panel to confirm which toggles are two way and which ones three etc. I can't remember if this was simulated in the beta, but some switches are special eg. in the IFF panel some toggles are momentary in the UP position but latch in the DOWN position. I think similarly for the canopy switch on the right console. For inputs I've never bothered to check the electrical rating of toggles, push buttons etc. as I believe they don't consume much power ( I could be wrong). My impression is that most I/O cards would be able to handle them. If you are trying to just test out an I/O card, you get get a few switches from a retail store. But don't buy all your switches from retail as that'd be expensive. Figure out in total how many types of switches and how many you need for each type (I have a spreadsheet for all required switches for the A10C), then order from an online store. You'd save a lot. Eg. a push button from retail may be $2.99 or $3.99. From online you may find one as low as $1.30 etc. but there may be a minimum order quantity to meet which should be fine since you'd be ordering bulk. Websites that I check out often: -http://www.alliedelec.com -http://www.digikey.com -http://www.onlinecomponents.com/ -http://www.newark.com/ -http://octopart.com/ Digikey is my favorite. Octopart will compare prices from different vendors and list their list for you. Note that even for simple things like two-way toggles there can be lots of differences like big toggles, medium and small toggles. On the A10C depending on how fanatic you are in trying to look exactly like the real thing, some toggles are big round type, some are T shaped, some are coned and have to be pulled up to switch position. If you are lazy or have limited patience/time/money then just stick to two categories big and small toggles. If you are newbie to cockpit building and I/O card interfacing, I suggest you start with inputs only for now. Outputs like LED, LCD, 7 segment displays tend to be a lot more complicated as you need to extract data from the sim. Inputs usually are very simple for toggles and push button. Pots and encoders and rotary switches are a bit more work but still manageable. If you are just trying out you can use the Leo BU0836X card, provided that ED eventually adds key commands to the panel switches. Then you just need to record the key command and you are done. If you intend to build the full blown thing, ie. all panels, then don't use BU0836X as you'd need like 10-15 of them! Then use the proven Open Cockpit cards and its software SOIC. It's proven to work with FC2 and BS. And a few guys here have shown how they work. For just inputs alone Hagstrom has a good key emulation card. they also have other cards for encoders, pots etc. but no output solution by hagstrom and also their cards are more expensive then the OC cards. these are the two popular I/O solutions to consider when building your pit. Then you also want to consider how you'd be wiring your switches, use flat ribbon cables (40 wire), CAT 5e type (7 wires) or individual wires, what kind of connectors (D sub 9, 15, 25 etc.) or HE10 or LAN connectors etc? Do you want to connect from the switches to the I/O card directly or do you want to use breakout boards in between? All these affect your design and more importantly, the cost. the more elaborate your design, the longer it takes and the more it'd cost. In terms of cost, do a very conservative estimate, then times 3, that's the minimum actual cost it'd turn out to be! not to mention, once you catch this insanity to build a pit, don't expect it to be ever done! When you enjoy doing it so much (even though it takes up too much of your time which should be spent with the family and money) you'd keep looking for more things to be added or redo areas that you are not satisfied with, so be warned. Welcome to the dark side.

If you provide picture it'd be easier for others understand better how to help.

Thanks for your detailed explanation. I'd try to understand it. In BS the device.lua file has a number assigned to each device. in the A10C beta this file exists but none of the devices are assigned any value yet. Can we assign them any number we like and put the corresponding value in the inputstable parameter or do we have to wait for an update?

Hey Oakes reading your excellent 'tutorial' here I understand 10 is the var value you just decided to assign to that one and only swithc. I also understand this is a two position switch, hence the function above. But how did you get the values 60, 2, 1? I looked at this function and it can have up to five values. function TwoPositionSwitch(pValue, pDevice, pNumber, pOnValue, pInvert) I think for your example above pValue is nil, pDevice is 60 (as shown in devices.lua the device number for this switch K041 is 60), pNumber = 2, pOnValue = 1, pInvert is nil Why pValue and PInvert are nil? because by default they are so? And when they are nil you just skip them? In clickabledata.lua I found K041 in two places: devices.K041, action = {device_commands.Button_1,device_commands.Button_1}, arg = {222,222}, arg_value = {-direction*1.0,direction*1.0}, arg_lim = {{0, 1},{0, 1}}, use_OBB = true, updatable = true} and -- K041 elements["K-041-PTR"] = { class = {class_type.TUMB,class_type.TUMB}, hint = LOCALIZE("K-041 Targeting-navigation system power switch"), device = devices.K041, action = {device_commands.Button_2,device_commands.Button_2}, arg = {433,433}, arg_value = {-direction*1.0,direction*1.0}, arg_lim = {{0.0, 1.0},{0.0, 1.0}}, use_OBB = true, updatable = true} pNumber is the device_commands.Button_?? value from clickabledata.lua Why take the value 2 from button_2 and not 1? Because we are supposed to take from the 'elements' part? I'm trying to learn how to determine all these values so that I can create my own inputTable values in the soicConfig.lua file just like your example, for other swithes.

thanks phoenix for the colored pdfs. I like them and the fonts are clearer then the ones in the manual. :thumbup:

Like they said, it's so ugly it's beautiful!

Track IR supposedly doesn't work with 64 bit version right now. Uninstall and reinstall to include the 32 bit version. Even after that, you need to run the 32 bit version and the Track IR as adminstrator.

It'd be better that you start by learning how to make it work for a simple toggle or push button first. If you can make that work with lua and soic, then venture into steppers, motors, output stuff etc. But I'd always start with simple inputs first. Have you read this? http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45071&page=2 Oakes was guiding Stelios how to set up SOIC to work with DCS. It became a lot clearer to me after reading this. that is where I'd start when I get my OC cards. OC definitely works for DCS. Many great guys here have knowledge and can help, like Oakes, Stelios, Gadroc, bad CrC, Gillsdrone etc.

We can always help promote DCS series by announcing on the Facebook walls and photo albumbs. Most people just show off their kids' activities. Why not also tell all your FB friends about DCS A10-C? Announce it on your wall. Create photo albums and attach youtube links. There are millions of FB members. And we all have a few dozen FB friends. A lot of people will get to know about DCS if we start promoting it on FB. I don't care if 95% of my FB friends are not into simming. You just need one or two to catch the bug and spread it, coz DCS is so awesome.

Interesting idea doing it this way. I just wonder if the light strips are too far away? Are they wide angled or uni-directional? The distance and angle can affect how well the words get illuminated. Just my 2 cents.

Hey Jib thanks for posting this. I used VAC for Lock on years ago. Recently tried to get it working again from the old PC. It'd be cool to use this for A10C.

I read Oakes' post guiding Steilios on how to set up SOIC and LUA seems very clear and logical. I guess that is the way to go, the proven I/O solution for DCS series. Are you planning to get OC cards Kuky? You can get away without it for inputs using lots of BU0836X or Hagstrom, but you'd need OC for output stuff like LED, LCD and 7 segment displays.

Currently very few keyboard commands have been assigned to Avionics switches. A lot went to views, cockpit views, external views, hotas, communication etc. A few in Systems category like gear, flap, open canopy. no switches on panels! and we have so many panels! Hopefully the next beta update includes some keyboard commands. Swinging my head and trying hold it steady with the trackir to do mouse click on the switches is not easy.

I guess you got it from having the physical TM MFD itself? I don't have it that is probably why I didn't find this lua file in the input/joystick folder or anywhere else. Just like the BU0836, once you plug in something new it detects it esp. after you change something to it in DCS like you said. Well, I was hoping to figure out next how to take those things in clickabledata.lua like the fuel system control panel and put it into the BU0836 lua. Since you can't figure out how to do it for the UFC, I am stuck too. We'd have to wait till ED adds keyboard commands to these. If somehow they decide not to since there are hundreds of switches, then I'd go the SOIC route. I think they at least add keyboard commands to input intensive panels like the MFCD, UFC, and CDU. I think these are a must. The others are good to have.

Son of a gun, it works! My first pin on the BU0836 was acting up. When wired up, it lights up on the controllers screen, but when let go 2 lights up! Anyway I tried wiring to last pin instead and changed your code to JOY_BTN12. Testing on the controller lights up fine. Then in the DCS it shows up as JOY_BTN12 too, and also created a new category Left MFCD. Fired up the game and pressed my push button and it clicked on the OSB1. Cool! Just two more questions. 1. Why did you get the numbers UP = 982, DOWN = 642 etc? I checked several possible lua files and couldn't find them. I'm trying to learn how to add these stuff for other switches on the panels, so I need to know how you came up with the numbers. 2. Do you know how to create a matrix for the BU0836 with diodes? If so any pictures? Right now I'm limited to the 12 default pins. Thanks again!