y2kiah

Ok I see your post on page 19 of Oakes build. That will do the trick, thanks.

Thanks, this is helpful. This source looks pretty incomplete at the moment, is there another source for information, or a thread, pertaining to the changes? Also, I don't see any mention of input, to get back to the OP's topic. Do these changes take effect with the installation of a DCS patch?

I read this in the DCS documentation on the feature here http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/index.php?end_pos=567&scr=default&lang=en haven't tried it myself but it sounds promising

While we're on this subject, has anyone attempted, or even given thought to using Arduino for their pit? I read about the same solutions in most cases (OpenCockpits, Leo Bodner, EPIC, ...) but have not seen Arduino come up yet. The Mega has 54 digital I/O pins and 16 analog inputs, not too bad considering you can pick it up for $59 to $65. Some other pros I can think of: * expandable with shields * rapid prototyping * C or C++ language used to program the chip, more flexible than simple language like SIOC, but still super easy * large community, lots of support, and a strong future * no license fees for commercial development Some cons: * more coding involved to get up and running, would have to code for the board and on the computer side, and create the serial communication scheme (from my perspective this is actually a pro because it gives me total control, but I could see how some would consider it a con) * fewer inputs per card than some alternatives * unproven? Can anyone else think of some other pros and cons? I'm considering trying it out, just want some perspective from others first.

Also interested in starting with panels for the A-10C to get my feet wet, then maybe moving on to a full pit. Right now I'm still building my 5'X3' cnc. The structure is built and I have all the electronics except the power supply, so once that's here I can wire it up and start learning how to use it.

I think I've found a discrepancy in some real world photos on the left console just aft of the throttle panel. See the latest DCS image posted in this thread and the real world image showing the same panel and layout... DCS: and real world: Now the following 2 real world pictures show a different layout, with a new panel in place of the one immediately aft of the throttle panel: It looks like the new panel extends aft far enough to push the UHF panel back, so its front is no longer flush with the front of the emergency panel next to it. This change in layout might also affect the panels aft of it. Does anyone know what this mystery panel is? Any comment from ED on which layout will be represented in the final product?

I think this was the final verdict, from Deadman a while back. Hope this is what you're looking for.

Hey no big deal. I didn't mean to sound confrontational. I see your point about the flexibility. I was probably quick to defend because I don't want to think about all of the work it's going to take :cry:

I didn't really make any assumptions, did I? I don't recall claiming either method would be quicker than the other. And in this situation I agree with you. Not considering the performance hit to get your second monitor in the mix (which I take for granted anyway), the incremental cost of displaying anything on it is minimal. My point was, that we should not be so quick to talk in absolutes. There are as many ways to implement a software design as there are programmers. I give ED the benefit of the doubt that they will continually improve and optimize. A-10 will be a standalone product, not necessarily subject to the same limitations as BS in the multimon arena. With the Radeon 5870 and 6 monitor outputs on the horizon, it could be a game changer for multi-mon in the pit. Again, it's all speculation at this point and I wouldn't be surprised if both methods will be possible. I'm sure your unit will be sweet when you get it working, however you choose to do it.

errrrm... ok. Your doubt is noted. :thumbup: On the other hand I'm experienced with OpenGL and Direct3D, and I'm not quite sure what magic you expect to happen with "shaders or sprites". Render to texture is commonly used to improve performance in situations where a dynamic surface needs to be mapped onto a 3d model, but the surface does not neccesarily need to be rendered every frame. A performance improvement is realized for the cost of additional GPU memory used. Shaders, sprites, and render to texture are not mutually exclusive things as your comment would suggest. "Sprites" as you refer to them (I assume you mean the individual font glyphs) would probably NOT be represented individually but rather combined into a texture atlas, or represented as a signed distance field, and would be rendered to a texture by a shader. The resulting texture would be mapped to the cockpit model and rasterized to the screen using another shader. Actually I wouldn't make that assumption. You'd probably be surprised how much quicker a modern GPU can rasterize and make available a 640x480 image compared to sending data over a much slower bus. Coupled with the fact that the image is cached and only re-rendered when it changes, thus you essentially get the image for free each frame. Your PIC or whatever you choose to run this makeshift unit would be running at what, a whopping 16hz? Do you wonder why everyone seems to complain about latency between the cockpit controls and the sim? There would be no latency with the image method.

If I had to guess how ED will expose the CDU screen, I would look at the Black Shark ABRIS and Shkval as examples. Those screens are rendered to a texture and then mapped onto the 3d surface of the vc mesh. View setup in Lua allows you to tell the engine to render those textures to an abritrary on-screen quad. I imagine the CDU screen will be treated the same as the MFD's (if only for performance reasons), and rendered to a texture, and should be accessible in the same way. You won't need any information about special characters or need to create fonts etc. etc., just draw the image onto an LCD. The actual text visible on the display may or may not be exposed through script. Of course this is all speculation, maybe Wags can verify one way or the other? Copy your PDF with a window capture (Alt+PrintScreen), crop in Paint to include only the document, including whitespace. Paste into Word or any other program onto an 8.5 wide page. Stretch the image to 8.26" x 11.whatever A4 paper is. This should print pretty darn close to 1:1 scale.

I've read from multiple sources that the A-10C MFD's are 5". I think the F-16's are 5.5", but I'm not certain of that, so that would suggest the thrustmaster MFD bezels are oversized by a little bit. I also wouldn't be surprised if they fit perfectly. Since it's probably impossible to find a 1:1 display at a reasonable price, the best you can do is get a 4:3, so 5.4", 6 or 6.4 would probably do fine.

I'm building a CNC now (to later be used to make an A-10C pit). $100 is a low estimate to build your own, but the cost is still not unreachable and a world away from buying a commercial machine. The driver board alone will cost you $60-80 assuming you get a 3-axis board like the ones available through HobbyCNC. The 3 stepper motors will cost you $25 to 40 each. An 8x4 sheet of MDF goes for 25 bucks at lowes. The aluminum angle is the most expensive material on my machine, about 18 to 30 bucks for each piece, and I needed 5. You'll need a bunch of skate bearings, about 20 to 30 bucks. The hardware will probably add up to another 25 to 30 bucks (1/4"-20 screws, nuts, washers, 5/16" bolts, nuts, etc.). Then you need to consider that you will NOT want to use your main computer as your CNC machine, and many of us don't have a second machine. Even if you did, many of us no longer have a motherboard with an LPT port, which you will need. You can use EMC2 and free or trial CADCAM software, but if you want to run Mach3 and solidworks, for example, there's another $150 to $300 for software alone. Long story short, unless you already have a lot of the materials, or are frugal in your purchases to the point of significantly sacrificing quality in your build, you should budget closer to $500 with the expectation that you probably won't need to use it all. But, at least you won't be shocked when you blow through that first $100 VERY quickly. Still a lot better than a $7,000 machine pre-built :-), and it will pay for itself many times over with the things you can make (and sell). Disclaimer: I'm NOT saying that a machine can't be built for $100, as I'm sure someone will say "I did it", I'm just relaying my experiences in my current build. Also, I'm a beginner to CNC, not an expert - this will be my first machine.

How to bend a piece of aluminum: Step 1) Score metal at intended crease (optional) Step 2) Lay metal on table, overhang edge at crease Step 3) Clamp metal to table Step 4) Apply force Now figure out how to bore the hole to run the led wires, or make the thing out of 2 pieces and glue together...

sweinhart3 just curious, what are you planning to purchase for your A-10C? I've not seen much available on the internet except beginning work on an ACESII seat. Landing gear lever looks easy enough to fabricate, just a bent piece of metal with a wheel. Do you know if the wheel is lit like in the F16?