CyBerkut

Oooohhh... Suncom! Good point about the weight of the Cougar grip. I was thinking that he was going to build a mechanism from the ground up (rather than modifying an existing commercial joystick), and that the design wouldn't be hampered by the grip weight.... but I can see that it easily could. I would say part of it comes down to whether he intends to make a Black Shark cyclic replica (ala Trigger's pit), or just live with the switches, etc. provided on the commercial stick. I have a Suncom F15E Talon stick (and SFS Throttle) that I've ben holding on to for the day when a good twin engine fighter jet sim catches my fancy (I'd have to rewire it to USB). If he was going to go with the stock switches/hats, etc. then the Suncom Talon could be a good choice. The CH Products sticks could be good also. If he is going to cut the top off and build a high fidelity / Black Sharkish cyclic, then any of those could still serve as a base, or he could do as you did with the old Thrustmaster FCS. (I still have a Thrustmaster FCS and WCS, too...) If hand size is an issue, I'll point out that the Suncom Talon would probably feel better to someone with large hands, whereas the old Thrustmaster FCS would be a good fit for smaller hands. Trigger, if your contact in Norway is handy enough, it would be cool if he made some Suncom Talon & SFS conversions to USB!

Thanks for the guide! I now have that saved to a safe place for future reference. :)

I don't own one, but as I recall, the Thrustmaster Cougar has a removable grip (I Think they had originally planned to offer alternative grips as options). I think it was Trigger that mentioned buying hat switches from Guillemot http://www.guillemot.com (the owners of Thrustmaster), ... perhaps they would sell you a grip assembly at a fair price.

I don't know how it stacks up against Realtemp and CoreTemp, but you might want to check out SpeedFan. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php "SpeedFan is a program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. info and show hard disk temperatures. SpeedFan supports SCSI disks too. SpeedFan can even change the FSB on some hardware (but this should be considered a bonus feature). SpeedFan can access digital temperature sensors and can change fan speeds accordingly, thus reducing noise. SpeedFan can find almost any hardware monitor chip connected to the 2-wire SMBus ." I have no connection to the product/author except that I use it. I do not yet perform any overclocking, but I would like to get into that when I finally build a new machine specifically aimed at running Black Shark. If you have any pointers to recommended sites / pages that make OC'ing clearer, please post 'em up. ( I imagine I'm not the only one who could benefit from it. :) )

Hmmm... Are you sure you're blaming that on the right joy stick? :smartass:

Regarding the newer SST software (that produces the .pro files), it should be kept in mind that there is a release version, and there have have been 2 subsequent beta versions. About the only shortcoming I saw in the release version, as compared to the older version that produced .dat files was the loss of the graphic representation of the controllers in the programming interface. The graphic representations made it easier to see which button, etc. you were programming in the old version. The removal of that feature was evidently much bemoaned, and the subsequent beta versions added in a different graphic that illuminated whichever button, etc. that you were editing the commands for. The betas also addressed some issues like getting (IIRC) the right control key recognized. I haven't really looked at this GlovePIE solution of yours yet. Can you briefly sum up why it is better than what we have (for non-forcefeedback sticks)? Thanks!

Authentic Wiimotes track up to 4 points. Some knock offs are known to only track 2 points. FreeTrack provides 6DOF with a 3 point model (hat or clip) or the obsolete 4 point model.

Try mounting the Wiimote (or TrackIR camera) above your head facing downward, with your 3 (or 4) point source (homemade or TrackClip Pro) pointing up, instead of toward your monitor. Swap axis in the FreeTrack / TrackIR software as needed. You should get plenty of yaw coverage with that without your head obstructing the camera's view.

SST is Saitek's software for programming their line of controllers.

Computerworld article: FAQ: How to get the Windows 7 beta Microsoft this week is putting the new OS in everyone's hands http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9125380&source=NLT_PM From the article: ----------------------------------------------------- The Windows 7 beta is actually an upgrade, not a full new install. You need to have a machine running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to install the beta. So if you're still running Windows XP -- which a lot of people are, what with Vista's problems, real or imagined -- you're up a creek sans the proverbial paddle. -----------------------------------------------------

:thumbup: Excellent news, Trigger! :D

*THAT* would rock! It might even not be that hard to program (modifying existing whiteboard or smoothboard code)....

It might be posible to use a wheel or rotary on the throttle while the glove LED is on... Or, maybe a click and hold with the LED, and dragging left or right (or up and down).

Honestly, if you are going to go with fluid, then a reservoir is probably going to be more convenient. A simple way to get an idea whether an air filled system would be solid enough would be to just cap off both of the cylinder connections, and then see if the cylinder/collective have any "give" that you can notice. If there is no noticeable give, (and if you keep your tubing volume small), then the simple, cylinder - tube - solenoid valve - adjustment valve - tube loop should be adequate, and easier.

Alternatively, if you are confident that you can make the connections leak-free, you could go with fill and vent valves (or cap-able "tees" and have a closed loop system:

Somebody asked for pointers, etc. http://wiibrew.org/w/index.php?title=Wiimote#IR_Camera Which includes this tidbit: "With the IR-pass filter intact, 940nm sources are detected with approximately twice the intensity of equivalent 850nm sources, but are not resolved as well at close distances." By the way, the most commonly recommended LEDS are: SFH485P (FreeTrack recommended) VISHAY TSAL6400 (Johnny Lee's choice) The High Output: 5mm IR LED that I found at Radio Shack: Part # 276-0143 Radiant power output (100mA): 16mW min. Forward voltage: 1.2V Forward current: 100mA Viewing angle to 1/2 intensity: 45 degrees Wavelength: 940nm The following topic on the FreeTrack site has good info on LEDS: http://forum.free-track.net/index.php?showtopic=413 Their website also has a handy LED assembly calculator (choose the single point model for a finger tracking glove build): http://www.free-track.net/english/hardware/calcled/ Here's a link with tons of useful info: http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html It includes info on using USB to power the Wiimote, and also an AC adapter pointer: http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html#h7.2.2 http://www.amazon.com/Power-Adapter-Battery-Eliminator-Camcorder/dp/B000XQTH28 A google search on using a Wiimote with a PC will turn up plenty of other sites to check out also. Hope that helps someone!

The more the air is compressed by external means (your cycle pump), the more difficult it will be for your collective stick to compress it (by attempting to move the collective with the brake engaged). But it will still be a compressable gas, so it will be a matter of degree. Plus, that puts you back to more complexity/noise/maintenance/power consumption. I would say so. In fact, I opined as much earlier. ;) Just make sure you don't have air leaks before filling with a liquid. Make a solution with dishwashing soap in water... With power off, squirt it slowly upon your various tubing/fitting joints (while moving the collective up and down to create pressure in the system.... If you don't see bubbles, you aren't seeing an air leak. Or, just save yourself the bother and skip that if it looks/sounds like too much of a hassle. If you decide to add liquid, make sure it is compatible with your piston ring(s) material. A dielectric fluid (ie. mineral oil) would probably be a wise choice in light of all the electrical items in your pit.

I was thinking much the same. However, it appeared to me that he wanted to go with air, since his previous configuration (modified door dampeners) had fluid leakage problems. The air-based system may give him a solid enough feel (after all, he probably isn't planning on yanking on the collective with the brake engaged, so as long as it holds position under its own weight, he may be happy). If not, I don't see why he couldn't fill it with an appropriate fluid, as long as he has no system leaks. :)

Trigger, your work is stunning, and so is the rate of progress you have maintained! A suggestion on the collective / collective brake. Since it appears that you are using a single cylinder (which makes sense) you can keep this even simpler than you described. Leave out the air compressor. Connect the ports as follows: Top cylinder port - tube - solenoid valve -flow adjustment valve - tube - bottom cylinder port Your solenoid valve will be stop flow in the loop, preventing movement. The flow adjustment valve will allow you to tweak the rate that air can pass through the tubing, which will regulate the felt resistance to where you want it. The flow adjustment valve should be one that you can lock down somehow once you have it set where you want it (even if it is just a matter of tightening the packing...). You shouldn't need a compressor as it should work with the air pressure at atmospheric pressure. If you eventually get a small leak, whatever leaks out while you are moving the collective will probably leak back in when you aren't moving it (or when you move in the opposite direction). If you get a BIG leak, well, you need to fix that anyways. ;) No noisy compressor to break down and consume electricity. :)

Based upon what I've read in various threads in these forums, for the time being you would get more 'bang for the buck' by going with a faster clock rate on a C2D, IF you are running Vista, and using some sort of Affinity setting method to make use of both cores. From what I've read on here, BS will not utilize more than 2 cores in its current incarnation. On top of that, another thread provided information that indicated that CPU performance appears to have a lot more effect on how the sim runs than the GPU performance does (within reason, meaning the use of fairly contemporary processors in both categories... if you start looking at upgrading from something ancient, that is a potentially different kettle of fish). Of course, who can say what will happen when patches, revisions, or the next DCS aircraft module comes out? At some point, one would expect that multicore support would be fully incorporated into the DCS code.

They have all 3 videos at http://billetjohn.free.fr/index_en.html :D

The following should not be taken as a complaint. I like the thorough information that we have been provided, and the simulation is obviously VERY well done. I can say that I would find training on "How to..." helpful. I'm even talking about at such a level as the instructor's voice telling you "Now push the such and such button" and then it waits for you to do it before proceeding. (Hey, what can I say... The last combat flight sim that I was able to put a lot of hours into was back in Falcon 3.0 [Yes, that was a 3...]) I had / have The original Falcon 4.0 w/ Binder, but was never able to put much time into it. :( I realize I'm not the typical inhabitant of these forums, but with this being such a realistic combat heli sim, I imagine there are plenty of other people who could benefit from the 'Back Shark For Dummies' approach. :)

Current release version: http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php Beta version (caution): http://www.saitekforum.com/showthread.php?t=16232 Spend some time reading up on what is what. Due diligence is usually rewarded. :)

I like it. Put a "mute" button for the spousal unit on there, and they will sell like hotcakes!!! :joystick:

I don't know if this can get you where you want to go, but start here: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=567&scr=default&lang=en Possibly more directly addressing your concerns (eventually): http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=31052 Good luck, and keep us posted!