Alex_rcpilot

Thanks for the tips. Man you've got a great setup, very neat! If you are planning to work on the touch screen project, you might wanna go with softer switches, like those used in DVD-ROMs to detect disc tray position. And here's what I said on youtube: May require some extra wiring, but it may warth the try.

I am using Bluesoleil with my Nokia. Haven't got myself a WiiRemote yet. Not until the boxed Black Shark DVD is released. lol

Cool! Thanks for the information Freeman.

Hey guys, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLkfx6QxLfg Please also check my comment. I think this could add some extra convenience, and more joy to the gameplay.

Man are you logged on MSN? I'm invisible but online. I didn't mean you can use stepper motors. I said you can use the board to drive DC motors as well. You can't interface stepper motors to force feedback. Please at least send me the model number of the H-bridge modules, so that I can help you with this. I'm resending you the mail now. Take care.

Forgive me for sounding ignorant here, but does VR stand for Virtual Reality? Anyway, do you mean you want to use a large DC motor for much more powerful force feedback? What's the voltage rating you are using? Does 24V ring any bell to you? Of course yes! Those 103H5208-0841 stepper motors you are using on the DIY'ed CNC are rated 24V. Pick up a driver board that you bought for them. Look at TB1 through TB4. Those are integrated H-bridges, EACH with at least two individual H-bridges inside plus a very neat thermal pad. What's the model number of those components? I have to search for the datasheet to figure out how to insert your force feedback control. I will need the schematics of this whole board, if it's not available, I will need a clear picture of each side of this board, as well as the bill of material for it, I mean what all the components are. That way I can guide you through this. One thing I can tell you is that this stuff is capable of driving at least 6 DC motors with its X,Y and Z channels assembled. The only thing you have to make sure is DO NOT overload. *Edit: Sufficient heatsink is always recommended for power electronic components. Apply a heatsink for EACH H-bridge, DO NOT let different heatsinks to come into contact with each other, H-bridges may short out and burn.

Trigger, where would you apply the H bridge to?

Hey dude, yeah I see you're still in one piece. LMAO... I've forwarded the mail to you. There're a couple of charts illustrating the correspondance between RX output and MUX control signal to the servo. I'll be home at 18:30 Beijing time. Which is one hour from now. And we might discuss it by then. ttyl

Looking forward to your update. BTW, a couple of days from now, are we gonna see you back with bruise all over?:megalol: edit: I sent a reply to your neighbor. Wonder what he thinks about the enhancement. Let's wait till you get back.

Hi rocketeer, you have 36 buttons + 8 analog channels to go with. 4 out of the 36 work as 4 pov hat switches You need 36 diodes. look at the diagram above, a solid triangle with a bar on one end signifies one diode. The triangle is anode and bar being cathode. Each switch is accompanied with a diode as per the diagram. Get a hundred 1N4148 diodes, they are cheap and handy. Be ware to ask for through hole mount type. You'll be pissed if someone ships you 100 SMD diodes same size as sesame. lol

Facts and speculations about how keys are handled: 2 years back in college, I've personaly developed a customized gamepad compatible with SONY PlayStation interface. There's a simple protocol drawn by SONY, which incorporates several bits inside the datapack on the serial bus. And they work the same way as the "key value" described in my last reply. As for joystick buttons, I'll elaborate what I'm going to treat them when I design my own IO card, and I speculate that existing IO cards are likely to work in a same manner. When the microcontroller gets the key value, the simplest and most flexible way to treat it is sending to the PC directly. With no fancy switching structures like switch (key_value) { case 0xFFFFFFFFFE: { ..... break; } case 0xFFFFFFFFFD: { ..... break; } ..... } However, not all keys appear as buttons on the calibration window. In the USB HID class specifications for joysticks, there are variables which signify axis, hat switches or buttons. If the microcontroller puts part of the key value into variables reserved for hat switches, then these paticular buttons will be recognized as hat switches. The only advanced joystick I've ever used is X52. The SST programing software is where the "advanced" magic happens. It derives device input information from the USB driver for the X52, and uses the custom programing to map the inputs as virtual keystrokes. I think virtual keystrokes are generated by SST and recognized as physical keyboard signals with the help of Windows API. If someone want's to build a key mapping software for Windows, he needs to use API's. BTW, I'm not sure whether the button activities are "intercepted" by the SST software once custom files are loaded. e.g, if I assign Shift+W to Button3, then I load this settings, bring up the Windows gamepad calibration window for X52, and open a notepad. When I press button 3, a letter "W" will appear on the notepad, but I'm not sure if the button 3 indicator on the calibration window will also glow. I guess yes. And if it is the case, multiple events might occur if Shift+W is supposed to activate a function in the game, and button 3 has been assigned to another function in the same game. These two different functions may be initiated simultaneously. rocketeer, if you wonder how BU0836 will work on your computer, just grab a cheap universal gamepad and test the buttons on it. The're not so different to the computer after all.

Hey rocketeer, let me borrow the diagram from the BU0836 site. The matrix is scanned by the microcontroller. Colum lines are INPUTs, and Row lines are OUTPUTS. Given the fact that there are 36 keys in all, at least 36 bits(5 bytes) are required as a key value, which reflects the status of the keyboard. Initially, all OUTPUT pins are driven HIGH, and all INPUT pins are internally(inside microcontroller) pulled HIGH too. When the chip scans the matrix, it will drive ONE OUTPUT pin LOW at a time. And for this matrix, it has to reapeat a colum value reading procedure 6 times for each output pin. Let's start with Row 1. Row 1 is now driven LOW. If any key in the first row is pressed, it will connect the adjacent column line to the diode on this row, which forces the voltage on the column line to drop. And when the chip reads the column value in parallel, it gets 1/0 bits, 0 means pressed key in this row. If we organize bits in a pattern as S1:S2:S3:S4:S5:S6, and keys S3 and S5 are pressed, we will get 110101, or 0x35 in HEX format, and this is the key value for Row 1. *Note 1: Even if there are other keys held down in other rows, they wouldn't interfere since the cathodes of all other diodes are driven HIGH. *Note 2: Diodes are good here because if multiple keys in the same column were pressed - and it happens - say S3 and S9 are both pressed, they would short Rows 1 and 2 together through Column 3. Since Row 1 is driven LOW and Row 2 HIGH, it would be like a short circuit between power supply and ground. The output pins on the chip would risk damage. With the diodes connected to S9, this short circuit would be prevented. And then Row 1 is restored to HIGH output, and Row 2 is driven LOW. The chip reads another 6-bit key value (S7:S8....S12) for Row 2. This action is repeated till the last row is done, and the whole procedure is called scanning. The microcontroller then combines all the key values together as S1:S2:S3......S34:S35:S36. Sometimes in two "long" type variables, or three "unsigned integer" type variables. If this key value is all 1's, then it means no key has been pressed. And if it's not, then the microcontroller will determine which key has been pressed by looking into the "0" bits inside the key value. Normally it takes more than 10 milliseconds to confirm a keypress because of vibration due to microscopic characteristics of the contact surface inside a button. And this confirmation is also done by the microcontroller. As for key assignement, since I don't have experience with any of the products available, I'm not qualified to answer your question. Hope this may help.

Hey rocketeer, thanks for the reminder, but actually I didn't miss the part, and I was referring to the encoder board. Judging by the location of the ceramic resonator, and the reset circuit, it's reasonable to believe the board is using an ATMEL 8051-compatible microcontroller chip. Program wouldn't be sophisticated because only levels and edges are processed. If it was to be sold here at this price, few people would go with it. There are logic components that can accomplish this task which require only some solder work. But anyway, it's fine as long as the majority can accept it. Here's the thread that I started about where to find these encoders in C.A. This should keep you guys updated with the replies. The interesting part is what Leftyretro said, I live in China looking for encoders for ppl in C.A, and he's a guy from C.A who bought encoders from China. LMAO....:megalol:

cute avatar, CAT:megalol:

Well that's weird, CAT. Such kind of rotaries are supposed to have unlimited rotation ability just like the mouse wheel. Only potentiometers need rotation limits. By the way did I read that price tag wrong? 49.95USD? It's like highway robbery. Yea it can't be better if ED could make adjustment to suit that function to axis inputs. But if you guys still need the hardware solution, I'd be glad to draw some simple schematics. As for the components, you just need to look at the right place. America is a place where all things are possible. Not to mention that you've got Silicon valley in C.A. I'm putting up a thread in an electronic forum for some useful info. Will let you know soon as I it.

SlyBelle would you check the local price tag of X52 if you're interested? Regards.

Hey rocketeer and Slayer, I think there's a good way to resolve this problem and all similar probs. It's called a rotary encoder which works the same way as a mouse wheel. Such off-the-shelf components are REAL cheap. In this picture, I'd recommend using the one at the bottom left corner for more convenience. There are 3 pins on most of such things, and some have 2 more for a switch (you can press the shaft). The principle is simple: out of the 3 basic pins, one of them needs to be grounded, and the other 2 pulled up to Vcc with 10K resistors. As the shaft rotates, the 2 pins produce output signal as shown below, depending on the direction of rotation: A cheap 74HC logic chip is required to convert this signal into two separate keystroke signals. And when you feed that into the IO card, they act like two individual buttons, just assign zoom + and - commands to them.

I think I may be of some help with the electronic part - not including USB yet but I will work hard on it. If you guys would like to count me in, please PM me with your MSN info. Thanks.

and he may go with the triggerhappy69 solution as well. lol.

I say I'd like to wait and get 2 physical copies of the English version when it comes out. Two problems lie ahead: A - My hardware's over two years old and I don't have enough cash for a new set. & B - I've been burning at both ends for a month and will stay this way till next Feb when my project is due to complete. It sucks a little bit, but it ain't gonna hold me back from this great sim.

Hey trigger, I wasn't satisfied with my salary in the company. So I took a private project from a customer in southern China, and I've been designing a thermalstat. It's a very intense task and almost consumed all my spare time. The rocket heli, HOhoo....it was HILARIOUS! Like I said I had my friend dr. Kenney fire the shots. Dr. Kenney is the kind of doctor who doesn't heal people, lol. It turned out well though. If you got any question regarding the multi-channel fire controller, I think it's better for us to discuss in that crazy neighbor thread.

Hey trigger, haven't talked to you for a while. Glad to see your job so neatly done!

I took this pic in sept.2005 with my cheap digital cam installed on a Thundertiger Raptor 30v2. This campus yard is located in the north-eastern city of China - Harbin. Later after graduation, I put rockets on that raptor. and I built this device for fire control: Never had the chance to try this out for myself, but a friend of mine from H.I.T did it with his modified Raptor 30v1: Don't worry, he was shotting the stuff in the middle of nowhere, wouldn't hurt anyone or anything with it.:D

oops! That was laughable. Get used to them, they are the Communist Party, never judge them by what they said. Just pay attention to what they do.;)

Great work Trigger!