donbinator

Lol, I'm actually an embedded developer with about 18 yrs experience and the product I've been working on for the last 3 years is an industrial Ethernet router. I should really know the answers the my questions above but there's always something new when it comes to the internet and how stuff works (wait, CAN I have two listeners on a UDP socket?? :book:). In terms of languages if you want the most bang for your buck I'd look at script languages such as Python. If you want to do Windows application dev then C# is a good way to go, but boy as a C/C++ guy I hear you about C# being frustrating. It's like "hey, go learn C++, then go learn how these 9000 API's all work and then relearn it about every 3 years.". I spend 15 minutes per line of code on google, but the upside is that every line of .net code is like the kitchen sink. "giveMeAConnectionToMyProgramSendThisObjectNoMatterWhatItIsAndFigureOutHowToFormatItYourDamnSelf(IPAddress, myObjectOfAnyType); :huh: Scripting languages like Python allow you to do a lot of cool stuff like connect to stuff, send and receive stuff, and it's "typing" is very lax (you very rarely need to know how many bits there are in an "int"). I haven't really done a lot of Python stuff but every time I look at it I say to myself "damn that was easy, I really have to learn more about this!". My C# program for my cockpit is actually my first C# program ever so I'm on a steep learning curve. Lua is a very cool scripting language! I used that a lot when I worked for Microsoft. We used it for testing the Zune device. It's a bit more obscure though and in the industry I think is used more for gaming for some reason. If you don't like C you should probably shy away from Lua since its modules are written in C (although it's what DCS uses!!! You should learn it just for that! :thumbup:). Anyways, in the end it depends on what you want to program. For application on Windows it's normally C# (the hardcore still use C++), for embedded systems it's either C/C++, Python, I think Android is Java as is Arduino (although I've never played with an Arduino). OK I'm going to stop typing now...

Answering my own question here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.sdk/zb3OIUpVntk Problem still remains as to what happens when both listeners send data back. I'm guessing that would cause weirdness and that I should just have two separate socket connections. Really though since I'm not using Helios for any feedback to DCS there shouldn't be any communications there. I'd have to put a debug in the export script to see I guess. If not then I should be good to provide values back to DCS with my program while Helios monitors what it needs to....

Peter, sorry I didn't quite understand. Are you saying I can have two separate listeners waiting for a connection on port 9089 and they will both accept the same connection and receive the same data? So Helios will get the node updates as will my C# program? Then what happens when both programs send updates back through to the initiator (DCS)?

Hey I have a sockets DCS export.lua question. I'm using Helios for my instrumentation panel, but I am writing my own C# program to handle my switches using PoKeys controllers. The export.lua script for Helios does a UDP broadcast to connect to whoever accepts the connection first, but I need Helios to talk to the script as well as my program. Do I have the export.lua script connect to two different ports? Otherwise whoever accepts the connection first gets to use that connection to send back switch data etc. right? that is, I can't have two listeners on the same socket so I have to have two different sockets right? Isn't that going to slow things down a bit? Someone must have a thread on this, if someone could point me to it that would be great.

Thanks jander if you find some I'd love to go in on it with you, as long as it's legally obtained :smilewink:. The old lady at the local Jo-Anns said something about stuff stitched or something like that where you stuff two layers with padding, then stitch in a diamond pattern. Doesn't sound TOO hard but it would be pretty cool to have the real (or close to the real) stuff! It will make a huge difference in how my cockpit looks right now since you can see a lot of the wood at the moment.

I used Parkland Plastics Plas-Tex Waterproof Wall Panels from Loews (hardware store). It's great stuff, paints easily with latex paints, you can drill and nail it without splitting etc. the only hard part (but I'm sure this is true of any non-stretchy material) is that it buckles over non-uniform curves. In one spot I tried eye-balling cutting a very thin V shape and pulled it together, but you have to have a way to re-attach it to itself, or at the edges which is what I did. Not sure if that made sense...:huh:. Overall I'm happy with the material though. Now I'm trying to find that diamond pattern stuffed burlap or whatever it is for the inside linings.

Deadman's Decals Side pick with Deadman's decals. Decals look great!

DM your decals arrived and are mounted. I'll post a photo on my thread when I get home today. It looks really nice and adds a lot of cool/geek to my cockpit :). The first photo I used for placement didn't have the vertical stripes so I mounted the emergency canopy sticker too high (couldn't put two vertical bars above it) but I *really* don't think it matters, it looks really nice. My 11 yr old son said "COOOOOOL!!!". My wife said "neat." :)

I'm in for one set of these outside decals. Let me know... - Donbinator

yeah I'm not really that worried about it, generally the gauge frames are bigger than the holes and even tapered, so they won't likely be obstructing, I just though the fiber optic image plates would be a neat way to get different depths making it look more realistic. I'm continuing forward without implementing this particular idea...for now :)

Hmmm, yeah at $1000 every 5mm I'm thinking it's not such an awesome idea anymore :doh:. There *has* to be cheaper stuff though because it seemed like when I played with this stuff it was just a novelty and didn't *seem* expensive...

Yes that is exactly what I'm talking about. Your Google Foo is stronger than mine. Thanks!

Agreed in some cases (such as ADI) but in some cases I think it looks weird. I'd have to be sitting in front of it to see which ones look weird which I'm not. Also, some of the gauge groups are further forward (the entire center section of the front panel) in the real thing, it would be cool to bring it all forward.

Bringing gauges out from the monitor Hey I had an idea. Does anyone remember those glass pucks that you put down on a newspaper and it looks like the newspaper is written on the top? I think it's a chunk of fiber optic material or something. I'm having a heck of time finding it on google but I've seen this several times in my life. it would be really cool to cut pieces of this stuff to bring the gauges from the monitor out so that it looked like they were at a different depth. That way it would look more like the real thing. Does anyone know what the material is that I'm talking about or what is called? Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? :( Right now the monitor is displaying the gauges behind my front panel, and I'm about to add the gauge frames with knobs and such in addition so the gauge display itself is going to be pretty recessed and hard to see if you aren't looking straight at it.

Donbinator made some progress I'm terrible at updating (read: expert lurker). Here's a pic.

agrasyuk, where did you get the dimensions for the panel frames? I looked at your thread and that's exactly what I would like to do as well. Did you just use the Helios panel and measure it with a ruler? That or sizing the actual view of the front panel in the game to match the sizes of the cutouts and then tracing the panel frames from the game are all I can think of...

Hey jander, looks nice! I wonder how many more of us there are here in WA? It might be cool to have quarterly A-10C cockpit geek fest or something and share ideas etc.

Ah there we go. I knew I had been down this thought path before :). That simplifies things because i was desperately searching through all of the LUA files trying to figure out where to get the names of the gauge-viewports :cry:. Thanks. Back to reconfiguring my Helios profile :book:.

Hey I just thought of something. I'm sitting here trying to figure out my front panel, and I realized, why am I using Helios? It's a really cool program but I'm not sure I need it. I don't have any touch panels. Can all of the front panel gauges be exported to where I want them from the lua scripts? If so I don't think I need Helios...(although I've already donated $ because it's a freakin' cool program :)).

Ha!!! Thanks I've seen people mention editing quotes but totally forgot to look for that feature. Technology is such a huge part of my life/career but one never ceases to be a n00b :). A clear indicator I haven't contributed back enough to the forum community ;). So your idea is exactly what I was thinking. First cut a transparent 1/4" acrylic piece to flatten the monitor (I was actually thinking of cutting out the gauges so they are flat against the monitor), then glue stuff onto it. I'm very much taking an iterative approach in that I would like to play the game as I go. Doing this would allow me to start playing as soon as I get the monitor in place with the MFD's installed. Here's my question: How do you know what the dimensions of the cutouts are going to be? I see you have an awesome set of overlays, but how did you go about designing them when they aren't necessarily to scale (due to Helios scaling to fit the monitor)? Did you just measure off your monitor? That's what I plan on doing all else failing... Thanks again for your help!

To be clearer, the monitor is for the instruments behind whatever I end up coming up with for the front panel....

Hey I'm having a rough time figuring out how I want to implement the front panel. I plan on using a 28" Hanns G monitor I scored off of ebay, but I'm not sure how to implement the front panel. I was planning on using Helios, and have everything all mapped out in a profile, but I don't need to use any of the input capabilities of Helios. Do I really need Helios? It won't let me move the MFD's off far enough to the sides so that the buttons are off screen (maximiming the monitor space, since I'm using the TM MFD's). Also, how do I get the dimensions for the cutouts of the front panel? I figure it's OK to build up with 3/4" MDF for bevels with switches in front of whatever I end up using as the front panel. What are you all out there in A-10C land doing for yours? Ideas?

LOL!!!! Perfect description. Smells like it too.

Mine is all cast. Didn't know there was a difference until the guy at the plastic shop talked to me about it. He also said that cast cuts a lot nicer with laser cutters. Almost all colored acrylic is cast, at least at my provider. Mine is covered on both sides though with paper. I tried a cut without paper on either side. it worked fine but left a liquid (which never hardened) laying around. I'm afraid to ask what it is...

Gremlin77, I figured out that the paper on the back of the plastic which I was leaving on was absorbing the smell. As soon as I took it off and wiped off the plastic the smell was almost immediately gone, whereas before that I couldn't keep the piece in the house. Do you cut the plastic with the paper on it? I have been leaving the paper on except for the engraving.