HogKeys A utility for using Pokeys with DCS A-10

Current Features in Hogkeys 1.2.0

• Support for Pokeys 56U
  
• Digital Inputs
  
• Analog Inputs
  
• Digital Outputs
  

Planned Features for 2.0 (release early-mid Q2 2013)

• New UI. The UI needed to be completely re-written to decouple it from the hardware. Im open to suggestions if anybody has any opinions on layout. Right now its based on what my needs are. This is taking the most time as all the "backend" functionality is basically unchanged (I built it right from the start). UI is not my forte.
  
• support for Arduino based hardware (currently the poc is working and fully integrated)
  
• implementing framework to support a plugin based driver/hardware model. This will make adding new hardware very easy.
  
• implementing framework to support different simulators. Just like the hardware plugin model this will allow HogKeys to work with different simulators. e.g FSX,X-plane,etc
  
• Servo support is coming (it may not make it into 2.0 but will definitely be in 2.1. Once 2.0 is done it will be trivial to add servo support.
  

More info on HogKeys 2.0

Version 1.2.0 is out and adds support for analog inputs

In the long quest for my A-10 cockpit I have evaluated a bunch of different options all the way from openCockpits cards to rolling my own with ATMega chips and came across Pokeys a while back. I was very impressed with the cost (about 50 euro 60 USD), flexability (analogue in/out encoder support,pwm etc), and how developer friendly they are.

The biggest drawback is the crappy macro support (doesnt know about Left vs right Shift,CTL etc. So i struck out to build my own integration software.

I created a simple utility that currently allows you to map simple switches to DCS commands and send them via udp.

In the near future i will expand this to support lights/servos via pwm,encoders as well as analog input/outputs.

I am working on this utility for mainly my own purposes but figured i would share it with anyone who is interested.

There is a wiki going over all the details but it still is being updated

It is located at https://code.google.com/p/hogkeys/

subscribed to your thread

Lemme know what you think if you give it a try. I'm working on getting basic output functionality (annunciation lights) working and hope to have that ready by the end of the weekend

Ordered 2 boards (will use one for CNC project ) and for now I'm educating myself on capabilities of the device. Quite a documentation they have...

Regardless, thanks a lot for your effort. That is quite a service you providing with this.

Thanks. I'll be putting out a new version shortly that will support indicator light outputs

Great work.

I will be watching closely.

Always blows my mind how innovative, creative an downright geek cool people here are :)

You should once fully developed release it as a micro-payware or just let people donate money to pay for your time and effort in this.

We all pay TM, Saitek whatever a fortune and I don't see why we don't do so for developers like you.

Free Apps have made us all a little tight methinks :)

I just ordered one of each of the USB and Ethernet one.

Will be fun to try them out and try a bit of C++ out too.

Hopefully they will arrive by time I get back from holiday :) Just need to read their extensive schematics now.

J.

HogKeys V1.1.0 is available

This new version supports discrete outputs e.g Annunciator Lamps.

get it at... http://code.google.com/p/hogkeys/

hi Whartsell

anything interesting going on with this?

I have analog inputs working but have not posted the release yet. Ill get it posted this weekend. after that im gearing up to start with stepper motors and servo motors

one more thing. I have also tested configs with and without helios exporting enabled. Ill get that cleaned up and posted with the next release as well. I havent made too much progess lately due to the holidays. Now that my cockpit is up and working (minimally) i have also been knocking the dust off the manuals and flying every chance i get to try to get back into the groove.

Sorry I haven't posted anything new here in a bit. I have been too busy flying on my

vacation :). I'll get the latest build up tonight or tomorrow morning

Really interesting. Thanks will give it a go

Are the digital outputs for leds? Do you have a link to any sort of wiring diagrams?

robump, pokey56 manual contains everything that you asking for, including the diagram. it will be little bit more elaborate however as digital outputs for LEDs are serialized so 3 pins control 80 outputs

robump, pokey56 manual contains everything that you asking for, including the diagram. it will be little bit more elaborate however as digital outputs for LEDs are serialized so 3 pins control 80 outputs

Thanks....ill have a good read of it.

I am back from vacation as of yesterday and will be updating the code an wiki this week. Currently analog inputs are experimental ( need to tighten up error handling)

Sounds great. cant wait to try it, it seems that the version available for download is one from November

just wondering, when are you planning to introduce Servos ?

Hogkeys V1.2.0 is out

includes support for up to 7 analog inputs. I plan on adding some extra hardware to allow up to 56 analog inputs in the near future.

At this point im going to focus on bug fixes ,tidying up code, and documentation.

then will most likely come enhanced analog input support and rotary encoders. That would cover all the basic features

Then on to servos, multiple pokeys cards,and maybe arduino based hardware support

I am currently working on HogKeys 2.0. This is a major update and will allow for some really cool things like using arduino based hardware along with the current pokeys support. 2.0 may or may not include support for servos. If i don't get it ready in time 2.1 will include servo support.

Planned Features:

* New UI. The UI needed to be completely re-written to decouple it from the hardware. Im open to suggestions if anybody has any opinions on layout. Right now its based on what my needs are. This is taking the most time as all the "backend" functionality is basically unchanged (I built it right from the start). UI is not my forte.

* support for Arduino based hardware (currently the poc is working and fully integrated)

* implementing framework to support a plugin based driver/hardware model. This will make adding new hardware very easy.

* implementing framework to support different simulators. Just like the hardware plugin model this will allow HogKeys to work with different simulators. e.g FSX,X-plane,etc

* Servo support is coming (it may not make it into 2.0 but will definitely be in 2.1. Once 2.0 is done it will be trivial to add servo support.

When a new input/output feature is added it will be hardware agnostic. This means that as long as the driver supports the feature it will be available. Currently pokeys supports everything you could think of. My Supplied arduino firmware will also be enhanced with the new featureset.

The provided arduino firmware is meant to be a Reference Implementation meaning that it will work with the supplied reference circuits. You will be able to customize the arduino firmware (assuming you follow my api) to make it as specific to your application as you need it to be. The reference implementations will be based on what i'm using in my cockpit.

I'm hoping to have 2.0 ready in about 2 weeks but that is subject to change.

Sounds awesome!! Any plans to make it compatible with BMS 4.32?

Really interested to see how you have integrated Arduino.

Thanks for all your hard work!

No near term plans for falcon BMS. The reason why I diddnt list it as its the one I have the least experience integrating with. It also appears a lot more complicated with its use of key callbacks instead of a single point of entry and offsets/index that the others use. I haven't looked at its shared memory documentation much but it looks promising. Either way its possible but will most likely be down the road a bit.

Sounds good, i am flying both at the minute but love the fast jet role of the F-16... is there anything i can do to contribute to build on a function for BMS?

I have found a programe where someone has made a start.... http://www.checksix-forums.com/showthread.php?t=172785

There is a download(in french) of a program called F4topokeys, would i be able to use the code out of that?

Thanks

Nothing you can do at the moment. Im in the midst of getting 2.0 ready which will allow all those things in the future. Still got a few weeks of work left to get it all ready to go. The largest effort has been laying in the groundwork for a plugin based solution. I needed to do this to allow different hardware to work but the same principle will carry over to the simulator adapter and even input/output types. Once that gets done and stable then we can talk about getting other sims supported. Also once 2.0 gets some mileage on it I *may* provide a SDK to allow 3rd parties to add support for different hardware/simulators themselves.