crash test pilot

The rs485 network is just a way to connect multiple arduinos over said rs485 network... One mega connecting as master to pc over usb and several arduinos (nano/uno/mega) as slaves connecting to the master.

An easy possibility for expanding your ports for dcs-bios would be a rs-485 network. Have a look here:

Have a look at the flightpanels fork by blacklibrary: https://github.com/DCSFlightpanels/dcs-bios

I cannot answer all your questions, but a few: You can use a mega as a slave, although people seem to have problems with certain brands. Sadly i dont know which. My chinese megas work fine. For DCS-BIOS over rs485 you need a mega for the master because it has 4 UARTS (one for the usb connection and one up to three for the rs485 busses), whereas the nanos and unos only have 1. You can use more buttons on a nano if you use a button matrix. This works best with momentary pushbuttons. I think there is a way to use latched switches in a matrix but i did not figure out how. As a dedicated tinkerer i like the low-cost of arduino clones and prefer pro-micros with mmjoy2 and shift registers over expensive boards for generic input devices. I just build a huey collective with this. My a-10 cockpit contains 25 nanos and 6 megas as slaves and one mega as master with three rs-485 busses, one for the left console, one for the right console and one for the front panel.

Try it like this, your matrix shares both pins of the on-off-on switches on the same column. This can not work.

For DCS-BIOS the way of connecting all is RS485. Watch here: You need a master (must be a mega) to which the slaves (nanos, unos or megas) connect over Maxim max487 chips. A warning : do not buy the cheap chinese max487 from ebay; i bought a pack of 50 for 9$ and only one survived my testing phase. I bought the next batch from Reichelt for 2€ a piece, and none have failed me since then.

You can use 8 axis in mmjoy, in the assignment column you can choose from X, Y, Z, rX, rY, rZ, slider and dial. I dont think they have different behavior, its just names. Try it!

Mea culpa... Thanks to both of you for outstanding work!

Now i feel really stupid, because i wrote so and deleted it because the thread about mmjoy here and in simhq was started by sokol... me<---double idiot

Have fun!

https://sites.google.com/site/mmjoyproject/fajly-dla-skacivania Edit: me<---idiot

Oh I see you are using version 20151118, maybe you could upgrade to 20160818 (recommended by sokol, who wrote this program). You would need to upload new firmware to your board. Or you just test the "switch" setting?

For a quick test I have hooked one momentary push-button and a toggle (on-on) to my test-device. I set them all as button(norm) and they show up in windows joystick control fine.

I think you have not assigned any of your buttons in the right side of your first screenshot. If the button-press shows up in the left side, hardware is ok, but you need to assign each h/w button to a button-number in the right side of your mmjoy-window. Dont forget to save set to device afterwards.

You need special transfer sheet - there are different types for inkjet and for laser (if you have a thermotranfer printer this would be the right one) and both come in clear or white background (the usual printer cannot print white!). After printing you need to seal the print with special formula like micro liquid decal film. Maybe you know someone who is into scale moddeling and ask that someone for help?

I think it is ms33558 - if you cant find arial rounded mt bold maybe a surrogate. Do not forget to protect the decal with clear varnish after application and better paint the spot where you apply them in white or the black background will let your lettering appear very dark.

You have to use the virpil software once to initialize the base and tell it what stick you use. After that you can set everything in dcs. I have a warbrd base - no adjustable tension as in the cm2 base and i love it. It is super-smooth and feels much better than the warthog base and it is clearly more sturdy and durable due to the metal gimbal as opposed to the plastic gimbal of the warthog base.

The f-16 stick as sold from tm is exactly the same as their warthog stick. You need to buy an extra adapter for the angle.

Its a mini-din 5-pole connector (if you are asking for the connector on the stick). Maybe you could use the connector from the butchered warbrd base?

I wanted a landing gear lever and then i stumbled over romeokilos pit and now i have a (nearly) complete cockpit... Its addictive!

I am very interested in your results because i want to use a similar OLED (128*32) for the fuel quantity counter and i cannot get dcs-bios to write anything to this display...

At Virpil you can preorder now, just takes time to deliver. I use a Warbrd base which is much cheaper than the T50 base and its far superior over the Thrustmaster base.

Maybe you have a look at mmjoy? You can use shift registers without much coding. It also makes your button box more generic/versatile.

Yes, m4, 110x68 mm.

My ebay switch from china arrived within a week...