CyBerkut

Here's a post where someone is using a touchscreen MIMO with TB to make a stand-alone ABRIS display: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=643027&postcount=28 That is part of the thread about Dick Dastardly's TB profiles for DCS:BS. He did tremendous work with that!

That's probably true if one is talking about simply plugging it in and expecting it to work with a sim / game that hasn't been tweaked in some way. However, there are a lot of creative folks around. Some folks are using a touchscreen MIMO with TouchBuddy, for instance. One of the guys posting in the TB forums has a project to combine multiple MIMOs with his main computer and a touchscreen All-in-One PC to create a multi-touchscreen glass cockpit. I'd definitely recommend that anyone who is looking at hooking up more than one MIMO to a PC to check out his thread on the TB forums. I know there are people that are looking to combine a USB monitor with Thrustmaster's new Cougar MFDs to make a reasonably functional MFD that can display live images from their sim(s). [Note: the TM Cougar MFDs do not have any rotary encoder knobs... just push buttons and rocker switches]. I imagine those folks are looking at using one of the add-on programs like Falcon Glass, or whatever, to extract/export the applicable data/images for sending to the MFD displays. I just read last night where one guy (I forget who), setup an additional monitor off to one side to mirror the instrument panel, and then pointed cameras at the MFD portions of that mirrored panel to send to the MFD displays in his pit. He understandably did not consider it an optimal solution, but I have to admire his creativity. It would be nice if sim software authors included more options for splitting out various items for additional displays. (E.D.'s options for the Camera + Shkval + Abris displays was a good start, but of course we always want more...) As time goes on, we get more tools to do interesting things with. Of course, it would be nice if M$ put the horizontal and vertical spanning capabilities (that were in Win XP) in to Win 7 and future OSs. Chances seem pretty slim on that, though.

You're welcome! Good luck with the project.

Samsung makes Photo Frames that double as mini-monitors. For instance: http://www.everythingusb.com/samsung-syncmaster-u70-mini-monitor-16075.html Doing a google search yields many hits: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADBR_en&q=Samsung+Photo+frame+mini-monitor&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi= Be careful to look for ones that specifically mention "mini monitor" in the description, as Samsung makes many photo frames that will not act as a second mini monitor. If you are not limiting yourself to photo frame displays, here is a source of small (7") USB LCD displays (including a touch screen model): http://www.mimomonitors.com/

I haven't read enough about the HD5850 to comment on it yet. For what you are describing in this question, it looks like the HD5870 should be able to do that if the TH2Go is the digital version. If the TH2Go is the analog version, then you still need to find out if the DVI to VGA converters work OK with the HD5870. I would expect it to work, but I haven't seen anything authoritative about that yet. If someone can test it, I'd also like to know how it turns out. I'm not that far along yet, but the wealth of information in these forums has certainly helped me avoid some mistakes already. Hannibal, are you locked in on those 7" monitors being VGA inputs? (As in, you already have them?). If not, have you ruled out using USB monitors for the MFD displays (and if you have ruled them out, I'm curious about why)? Good luck with it... you're doing some very cool stuff! :thumbup:

Hannibal, keeping in mind that we don 't know yet what DCS:A10C will be able to output, video-wise... It has been reported that the currently available ATI HD5870 cards (which have 1 Display Port, 2 DVI ports and 1 HDMI port) can only provide output to a 3rd DVI monitor by utilizing an *active* Display Port-to-DVI converter. I do not know how reliable all of those DVI outputs are for being adapted or VGA. I would think that it would function OK, but I wouldn't make that assumption at this time. Since you mention the Matrox TH2Go... that would certainly seem to be a means to get those 7" LCDs connected, fed by the Display Port converted to DVI. However, it remains to be seen if DCS:A10C will have the capability to use them that way... Eventually, the HD5870 Eyefinity6 edition will be available (I'd guess in time for Christmas), which will have 6 mini-Display Port connectors. I have not read anything yet about whether that version will require active adapters to get converted to DVI or VGA. Since it seems unlikely that all 4 of the video signals you are looking at will be all part of a single view/desktop, a second video card may be a route worth consideration. Assuming the MFD displays would be using separate images from the camera view, they may not need to be using eyefinity. You may be able to use a lesser ATI card to feed the 7" displays. I'd say at this point that we really need more infomation to get nailed down before you can make informed plans.

My opinion, for what it is worth... - Use the 64 bit Operating System. You want the access to the RAM. - With due caution / care, do the overclocking. This sim is widely considered to be more limited by the CPU than the graphics. By using XP you are only going to get 1 core / 1 thread of CPU running the sim, so you especially want the higher clock rate. - Before deciding on the purchase of an additional graphics card, do some looking around at what other people are doing for multiple monitor setups. Since you are on XP, you retain the ability to do both horizontal and vertical spanning. That ability has been intentionally removed by M$ in Vista and Win 7. You should probably scope out the SoftTH forums. With enough video output ports, you should be able to use all three monitors. Your second card doesn't need to necessarily be an ATI 4650, with SoftTH, and you would not be running the video cards in CrossFire, as I understand it. Have fun! :joystick:

I've been following a thread about that over on the SoftTH forums. In a nutshell: - There are two versions of the ATI 5870 card. The ones you typically see available now, which have 1 Display Port, 2 DVI ports and 1 HDMI port. The other version is a 6 (mini) Display Port card. - The card being used in the spiffy demos with 6 monitors per card is (obviously) the 6 Display Port version. - The ones that you typically see now only have 2 DVI channels internally. The result of that is an attempt to use the HDMI port, or the Display Port with a passive Display Port-to-DVI converter, robs a DVI port of a channel, disabling it. Using an active Display Port-to-DVI converter (which are more expensive) can get you up to a third working DVI connection, as I understand it. ****************************************************** As one might imagine, this has led to some consternation. Right now, there are not a lot of Display Port monitors on the market, and they are pricey. Assuming it is possible / feasible, it would be nice to see ATI design a version with 6 DVI channels / connections. Perhaps there will be enough market pressure to lead them in that direction.

You folks might want to check out the discussion going on here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=758952#post758952

Indeed. Thanks, GG! With the Logitech G940 becoming available, I would expect more people to run into this in the near future.

So far, it has been a lot of purchases, a few project starts, and little completed of note. I let a lot of things related to this languish, awaiting the purchase of a new desktop PC for sim'ing and gaming. Ultimately, I still plan to buy/build a new PC in the (hopefully) not too distant future... but I can still do things using my trusty old Pentium 4 (dual threaded) @ 3 GHz. It was not really the way I wanted to go, as it was very low on hard drive space, and the old nVidia 7600 graphics card is an AGP card. I just alleviated the hard drive space problem by putting a new 500 GB IDE drive in and cloning the old 60Gb drive (that had my Win XP and Kubuntu) to it. Since it is breathing easier, and can actually be fully defragged now, I'll move forward on other fronts and wait awhile longer. That allows some time to see what comes out from ATI and nVidia's answer, along with possibly seeing 6 core / 12 thread versions of the i7 from Intel. Movement on the controllers may pick up a little steam here before much longer. I just got most of the needed drilling done on the seat rails... I just need to make a final decision on what I'm going to mount it on, and then follow through. When I get something interesting done, I'll take some pics and probably start a separate thread for it. Meanwhile, I'll keep watching for more info on the Saitek X65F. I *really* was hoping it would be a good FFB stick with that nice looking split throttle. I'm still hoping, but I'm steeling myself for the possibility of being disappointed about it.

If you don't want to re-center your pedals manually, then yes... you need FFB pedals. No, consumer market grade FFB pedals are not available. However, FFB steering wheels *are* available. I picked up a Saitek R660 FFB wheel for the purpose of linking it mechanically to my old Thrustmaster RCS pedals. I haven't done the linking yet, since I'm currently working on getting a seat mounted to a platform to act as my reference point for then mounting the controls. I believe I have a fairly simple method for connecting them when I get to that point. What I have in mind, at least for starters, will not even necessitate removing the steering wheel from its shaft. Later on, after the concept has proven out, I may elect to due surgery on the steering wheel, to get a more streamlined/compact/elegant arrangement. Knowing my lazy self though, I'm most likely to leave well enough alone (if it is actually working well enough, of course).

Congo, in the spirit of teaching a man to fish... Use the forums search function, and search upon the terms, "FOV Zoom LUA" (no quotes). I'd recommend that you select to show posts, not threads. You should get a number of hits as results for that search (put all three of those terms in a single search). Read through them, and you should see the name of any appropriate .LUA files to edit. You may also see a cautionary reminder to NOT use Windows Notepad to edit .LUA files. Instead, Notepad++ is the most commonly recommended editor to use that will not screw up your LUA files. Download links for Notepad++ can be found using your favorite web search engine, such as Google. Good luck!

Speaking for myself, it is all about the trim holding. There may be some bonus to some other effects showing up under certain circumstances, but that is not what I'm after. The trim methods implemented by E.D. for the non-FFB users are work-arounds. While those work-around control schemes make sense when selling software to a mostly non-FFB customer base, it is not the way that I want to fly the Black Shark. Obviously, many people have mastered the 're-center the stick immediately releasing the trim button' technique, but it has also been a major point of complaint for a number of users. It is not an intuitive thing to do. In the actual aircraft, the stick and pedals remain displaced after releasing the trim button. I'd like mine to do the same.

Well, we've been assuming it would be a Force Feedback stick, but that information posted by that store doesn't indicate that it is Force Feedback. As kaiserb_uk said, it can't be both (assuming the force sensing is essentially the same thing as employed by the F-16's stick). Of course, we should allow for the possibility that it is something that may be different in some key way. If it is not Force Feedback (which it probably isn't, since that wasn't mentioned in the store's promo material), I don't really think it is something that I'll be anxious to get for DCS:BS. At the moment, it is difficult to see how that setup would be particularly helpful to managing the Black Shark's trim. I wish Saitek would get out in the press with details, and that we'd start seeing some hands-on reviews (of at least prototypes / pre-sales models) for 3rd parties.

When will they *ever* learn?!?! If they don't put some reflective armor on that thing, Godzilla is still going to fry it! :smartass:

As you say, the overwhelming number of key binds make a useable map of the keyboard a significant challenge. Making subset maps may be a good approach. I see 159th Viper has posted a great link while I was writing this. I'll add the following any ways... The following thread discussed the keyboard map idea, and there was a link included to a supposed map on another site: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=680323&highlight=keyboard+command+map#post680323 More useful, perhaps, is the information about the parser. If you are so inclined, it could be a good starting point for extracting the lists of key binds, and using them for making your own keyboard map(s). If you go to the trouble of making any, I'm sure other people would appreciate being able to get a copy.

It does add up in costs, doesn't it?... You might want to wait and see how Saitek's upcoming HOTAS offering (X-65F) stacks up against the other options.

Of possible help: These threads: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=35052&page=4 http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=38463&highlight=Saitek+Evo+Force In particular, these posts: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=640986&postcount=4 http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=641323&postcount=9 http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=641939&postcount=11 http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=642209&postcount=14 Besides the settings, take note of the part about "disabling the spring". I will agree that it shouldn't be necessary, but I will also observe that it helps with the situation that we have been given. It's annoying, but I'd rank it as a pretty minor annoyance (the spring disabling, not the stick performance). You don't have to do anything radical / permanent... 2 or 3 garbage bag twist ties is good for a temporary test of the concept. If it works better, then you can either keep them on, or replace them with some cable (zip) ties, or rig up some small velcro straps (like what are used to tidy up cable clutter on a computer desk). I wish the stick held the trimmed position with more force. The hardware is clearly capable of generating it. Hopefully, Saitek will get things right with their upcoming X-65F offering. ( Hey, it doesn't appear to have the spring! ;) ) Edit: We have subsequently learned that the Saitek X-65F is Force Sensing, *NOT* FFB.

Did FreeTrack with a Wiimote here. Finally went to TrackIR 5. I don't know what you have tried with correcting the Track IR problem, but I'd encourage you to give it another try if you still have it. Natural Point tech support, or somebody in the forums, ought to be able to steer you in the right direction. I know what you mean about the bluetooth being a pain. That is what primarily drove me away from using the Wiimote / FT solution. Personally, I wouldn't want to use FT with a significantly lower FPS solution, like a typical webcam... but that is just me. Plenty of people seem to be happy with theirs. I remember questions in the FreeTrack forums about the Playstation 3 Eye. I don't know if anyone ever posted about getting it working, but it is probably worth your time to go see what they have in the forums now. Good luck with it, however you end up going!

Whoops! :doh: I apologize. The first link that you have there, is what I actually have. I didn't look closely enough, and jumped on the nano receiver when I saw it. Ugh. I had forgotten that it has a slot inside the battery compartment for the nano receiver. It's a good mouse. Just be aware it's not a 'full size' desktop mouse. You might like it, but there is no way to know until you lay hands upon it.

I can't say with any certainty. However, since the V320 has a somewhat larger USB transmitter, and it fits into the mouse, I'd *guess* that it is somewhat larger. Maybe not much though. A mouse really is one of those kinds of things where you ought to lay hands on one before deciding to buy. Good luck!

Bluetooth wouldn't be as good of a choice for a wireless mouse. The potential for "bluetooth stack" issues, and the limitation of binding to one bluetooth device at a time, could make for unnecessary headaches.

"Someone" ? Who? It certainly wasn't anyone from E.D. !!! Can you point to the message / quote? It's not "just improved". You are talking a completely different flight model, different weapons, different avionics, etc. A little perspective is in order here. Those of us on the outside don't see the day-to-day nuts and bolts work that is going on to accomplish this job. Is it taking a lot of time? Sure. Is it an unreasonable amount of time? I don't think so, and clearly many others on here do not think so either. Why? Well, a lot of us have purchased many software products over the years, and we've suffered through using software that was not really ready for prime time. The 'kick it out the door, and then we'll patch the problems that the users b!tch about" approach has been particularly rampant in some sectors of gaming software. Some publishers may be able to get away with that, especially in twitchy games primarily for kids... but consumers in the study sim genre tend to be of a more mature mindset. For the most part, they earned the dollars spent on the software with their own hard work... it didn't come to them as an allowance or gift. Two things naturally flow out of that: 1. They understand and appreciate that a lot of work goes into creating something worthwhile. 2. They expect good value for their money. Review after review demonstrated one remarkable thing about DCS:BS, either by the authors direct statement, or by their lack of complaint... DCS:BS was a very polished product at its initial release. There were very few "bugs", especially in light of what a complex program it is. That doesn't happen by mere chance, and it doesn't fall down out of the heavens on a golden platter carried by angels. It is the result of hard work, attention to detail, and responsiveness to testers. There is an old saying, "It's better to have it right, than to have it quickly." It's not true for everything, but most of us would agree that it's true for study sim software. I, for one, am very glad that E.D. appears to embrace it.

I'm using the VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3271&cl=us,en It has an extremely small USB antenna (That you can safely leave in the USB port when transporting / casing the laptop). They don't get any smaller than this, and it is very convenient. It is a smaller than 'desktop sized' mouse however, so I would suggest looking at one in a store if at all feasible. I've seen smaller 'laptop mice', so this one may still be larger than what you have been using. The battery run time has been measured in months, as in *many* months. I would classify my hand size as medium, and it has been comfortable for me. Precision has been good.