Quick Controller Question

[bowsewr]

So i have lurked on the DCS forums for quite some time but i guess never made a forum account. I drool in this sub-forum quite a bit and people's work is outstanding. I am a current grad student with a wife who has control on my hobby funds until i am done with school so my funding is small to say the least. O and I am here in the US.

 

So i got some money saved up and am wanting to start diving into sim pit planning. I've learned a lot in here and here are my questions if anyone would mind explaining to me:

 

1) It appears the first thing i need to get is a good USB controller. I see a lot of people using the UK seller LeoBodnar who's site looks great. Being UK though isnt as convenient for me with shipping. From what ive found and heard about this site http://derekspearedesigns.com/ is the US equivalent and where i should go for all my circuit board needs?

 

2) Assuming this is a good place to go. I have seen 2 different boards and am having a hard time understanding how to interpret the differences.

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/32-button-no-matrix-controller.html

 

3) For US stores, where do you recommend going for toggle switches, rotaries, push buttons ect?

 

4) Do you have a general electronics site or resource you recommend for understanding the SIM related electronic components/circuitry ill be working with?

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

My plan is to start with a non A10 realistic set up for various cockpit switches to get the hang of it and tinker until i have a job/income to really get into it. I would LOVE to get a CDU going but that is a ways in the future assuming it costs a good amount.

 

recommendations, thoughts, opinions??

 

Thank you, i really appreciate your time.

 

o7

[Hempstead]

For toggles, buttons, switches, and anything electronics, Mouser and Digikey have quite some comprehensive collections. But they are a bit more expensive than others. The other one is Grainger. But Grainger is more of anything hardware as opposed to Mouser & Digikey's electronics focus.

 

The other two are Sparkfun & AdaFruit. These are more geared toward the "Maker" crowd.

 

For controller... Obviously I am biased toward Hempstick.

 

So i have lurked on the DCS forums for quite some time but i guess never made a forum account. I drool in this sub-forum quite a bit and people's work is outstanding. I am a current grad student with a wife who has control on my hobby funds until i am done with school so my funding is small to say the least. O and I am here in the US.

 

So i got some money saved up and am wanting to start diving into sim pit planning. I've learned a lot in here and here are my questions if anyone would mind explaining to me:

 

1) It appears the first thing i need to get is a good USB controller. I see a lot of people using the UK seller LeoBodnar who's site looks great. Being UK though isnt as convenient for me with shipping. From what ive found and heard about this site http://derekspearedesigns.com/ is the US equivalent and where i should go for all my circuit board needs?

 

2) Assuming this is a good place to go. I have seen 2 different boards and am having a hard time understanding how to interpret the differences.

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/32-button-no-matrix-controller.html

 

3) For US stores, where do you recommend going for toggle switches, rotaries, push buttons ect?

 

4) Do you have a general electronics site or resource you recommend for understanding the SIM related electronic components/circuitry ill be working with?

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

My plan is to start with a non A10 realistic set up for various cockpit switches to get the hang of it and tinker until i have a job/income to really get into it. I would LOVE to get a CDU going but that is a ways in the future assuming it costs a good amount.

 

recommendations, thoughts, opinions??

 

Thank you, i really appreciate your time.

 

o7

[agrasyuk]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

For another simple controller look at GPWiz40:http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=234

 

The one I linked to is the cheaper eco model. If you absolutley don't want to solder things look at the ordinary board. But FYI, these cards don't have true analog axis, they are just for buttons and switches.

 

Mouser/dgkey are awfully expencive. For generic switches I look through the no name online surplus stores. And don't forget eBay, doesn't get any cheaper then buying direct from China.

[Sokol1_br]

2) Assuming this is a good place to go. I have seen 2 different boards and am having a hard time understanding how to interpret the differences.

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/

---http://derekspearedesigns.com/32-button-no-matrix-controller.html

 

DSD 32 Button Controller dont handle axis (potentiomters) but handle encoder and rotary switch and dont need diode matrix for buttons/switch.

A 64 button version is too available (This one have a better cost/value than BU0836X case you dont need control axis).

 

If you need control axis - potentiometer, HALL sensor... - DSD 12 bit Controller handle 5 axis and 36 buttons.

 

The Load Cell Version is more interesting for racing simmers use in brake pedal.

 

DSD is oriented for racing sim and GPWIz for arcade controls, but both should work fine for flight sim use.

 

Sokol1

Edited July 12, 2014 by Sokol1_br

[bowsewr]

Thanks you all for the replies and input. I appreciate it!

[FSFIan]

If you have a small budget and are willing to learn some programming, stay away from pre-made controller boards and invest the money you save into more toggle switches instead.

You can start with an Arduino Pro Mini clone for less than $3 plus a $2 UART to USB adapter.

If you need more I/O pins, you can get a Arduino Mega 2560 clone for about $14.

 

Before I got my touch screen, I made this thing for less than $20 in materials (although the MFCDs were not worth it given that it took me 3 hours to wire up each one and you can get the Thrustmaster ones for ~$60).

 

EDIT: The CDU mostly consists of push buttons, which are very cheap (100 pcs for about $4). The expensive part is everything else: caps for the switches, enclosure, backlighting, custom circuit board to manage the wiring, etc. If you just want "functional" and do not require "fancy looks", you could probably build one the way I did my UFC.

 

Arduino Pro Mini + serial to USB adapter: $5

100 push buttons: $4

Wire Wrap 30AWG Wire: $12

Wire Wrap Tool: $20

Foamboard: about $5 - $10

+ paper, glue, paperclips, duct tape or whatever you can use to piece it all together

 

You also need a second monitor to export the CDU display to.

Edited July 22, 2014 by [FSF]Ian

[Hempstead]

Ian;2124252']If you have a small budget and are willing to learn some programming, stay away from pre-made controller boards and invest the money you save into more toggle switches instead.

You can start with an Arduino Pro Mini clone for less than $3 plus a $2 UART to USB adapter.

If you need more I/O pins, you can get a Arduino Mega 2560 clone for about $14.

 

Shameless plug from me...

 

If you are willing to learn some programming... (or not willing to learn programming for that matter), you definitely should try to learn how to use Hempstick, http://www.hempstick.org, USD $39, and you get a 120MHz 32bit ARM processor full of current generation peripherals, instead of Arduino Uno's 8bit ATMega 328 16MHz. In addition, with ATMega, you get 10bit ADCs, as opposed 12bit ADC in Hempstick (12bit, up to 16bit depending on the board you choose).

 

 

Wait for next week... I will demonstrate how easy it is to use Hempstick to control the whole Cougar, with absolutely no coding (most of the work would be to find out which wire does what in Cougar and construct two mapping tables (buttons & ADC channels) to feed the Hempstick, and the physical wiring job). ThrustMaster is gonna hate me... b/c I am giving the old Cougars a new lease of life, by updating its entire electronics.

[FSFIan]

Hempstead: Awesome project!

After my exams, I'll take a closer look. Do you think we can get that running on the $13 Texas Instruments Tiva C Launchpads?

 

Arduinos are great because they are arguably the easiest to start with for absolute beginners, are "good enough" for common applications (read a few buttons), and the chinese knock-offs are cheap enough you could stuff one into every panel if you wanted to (simplified wiring / easier to remove a single panel for maintenance).

 

But when you need that extra Oomph! or a few more pins, an ARM core is just what the doctor ordered.

Edited July 23, 2014 by [FSF]Ian

[bnepethomas]

Hi Guys

 

Couple of additional thoughts:

1. Ardunio projects work well, OverPros project is just the treat, and Hempsteafs project is worth considering BUT

2. I've also very much discovered for rotary inputs you'll probably need to also loko at using a Leo Bodnar card. It has the ability to set the pulse length for rotary encoders, which you'll probably find useful.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[FSFIan]

Hi Guys

2. I've also very much discovered for rotary inputs you'll probably need to also loko at using a Leo Bodnar card. It has the ability to set the pulse length for rotary encoders, which you'll probably find useful.

 

The Arduino (or any other controller card with firmware under your control) will talk directly to an Export.lua script that sends the correct command to DCS. No need to map the rotary to two joystick buttons which you then have to map to the correct function again all while ensuring that the controller board presses the button for just the right amount of time (and possibly having problems if you turn the encoder too fast).

[Hempstead]

Ian;2125057']Hempstead: Awesome project!

After my exams, I'll take a closer look. Do you think we can get that running on the $13 Texas Instruments Tiva C Launchpads?

 

Arduinos are great because they are arguably the easiest to start with for absolute beginners, are "good enough" for common applications (read a few buttons), and the chinese knock-offs are cheap enough you could stuff one into every panel if you wanted to (simplified wiring / easier to remove a single panel for maintenance).

 

But when you need that extra Oomph! or a few more pins, an ARM core is just what the doctor ordered.

 

Zero to no chance that I will support any non-Atmel MCUs. Because I use Atmel Software Foundation (ASF) framework to simplify the settings of the MCUs and, most importantly, to gain portability among Atmel MCUs, but unfortunately I also get locked into Atmel MCUs. There is zero to no chance ASF will support non-Atmel chips. So, I will not even try.

 

The deal I have with the devil (figuratively speaking, not that I have any deal with Atmel to promote their chips; the devil here is the ASF) is that Atmel keeps coming out with newer & better MCUs, supporting just some of those "worthy" new MCUs for Hempstick would be quite a task already (like I am currently working on SAM4E support in Hempstick to gain Ethernet so I can do DeviceNet protocol, and soon there will be Atmel W23 WiFi module, announced but not yet available; your SIM controller go WiFi, Yeehaw!!! For what? I don't know. It's cool.). ASF makes it easy to "update" Hempstick to newest Atmel MCUs, so that I don't fall into the same trap others fell into -- i.e. you spend a lot of time/effort developing a good firmware on a particular chip, then you get stuck on it because your code is not portable to newer MCUs, or you get complacent with your market dominance and are unwilling to spend the tremendous effort porting your code to newer chips with greater capability. I bought one of those... and I was like... dude, this is at least 10 years old technology with a 12 bit ADC, that's all. And I can't add anything.

 

If I am going to get locked in, I'd rather get locked into one family of chips that are continued to be updated by a company that is going to survive for the foreseeable future, other than one old old chip. Think what a growing pain Arduino went through to do Arduino Due/X! And then people are still using the old old 8bit 16MHz Uno. Their popularity has become their biggest baggage!

 

 

If you make a barebone board using ATSAM chips, like ATSAM4S/4E/3X, with just say a crystal circuit, and route out all the pins in convenient places, and sell it for $13, I will absolutely support it.

 

 

Arduino, although I give them very high regards for bringing electronics tinkering to the great unwashed. I am, however, very dubious about the level they dumb it down. I researched it. Bought a couple of boards from them, wrote some test code on them, and found out that there is no way I can do things the "right way." There are things that is absolutely a no-no except in special situation that is the main way of doing things in Arduino, for instance, the great dumb loop! Sure, there are some later libraries that allows you to do multi-thread, but they are grafted on and the majority of libraries out there don't do it.

 

With Hempstick, you create as many FreeRTOS tasks as you wish (within limit, and the easiest is a timer task), and then you do whatever you wish in those tasks, as long as you don't go mugging the data my tasks are using without proper locking. Each of these tasks is a separate thread. Sounds complicated? See the following code of how I flash an LED with an FreeRTOS task. Anybody who can handle Arduino can handle this.

 

int main (void)
{
xTimerHandle ledTimer = NULL;
setup_hardware();

// 200ms per call, we get 400ms duty cycle.
ledTimer = xTimerCreate((const signed char* const) "LED Timer Task", (200 / portTICK_RATE_MS), pdTRUE, NULL, ledTimerTask);
xTimerStart(ledTimer, 0);

       // start USB device
udc_start();

vTaskStartScheduler();

}


static void ledTimerTask(void *parameters) {
/* Toggle an LED to show the system is executing. Very handy when the code crashes the whole system. If the LED stops flashing, you screwed up big time. */
taskENTER_CRITICAL();
{
	gpio_toggle_pin(LED0_GPIO);
}
taskEXIT_CRITICAL();
}

 

In Hempstick, there is a button handling task, an ADC handling task, a TMSTick task , and other tasks, all triggered by hardware events so they only wake up to do things when there are things to do. For instance, if you don't press or release any button, the button task is not called at all; it would sleep there faithfully waiting for the master to call and uses absolutely no CPU cycle. You want to add something? You do the same thing, add a new task to do what you wish to do! Keep adding tasks until you run out of CPU or memory. And your tasks are just as first class citizen as mine, as long as you keep the same default thread priority.

 

What's the difference between this LED toggling thing and Arduino's great dumb loop? You don't see me having a loop in the LED task, right? Doesn't mean you cannot have a loop in there! The most important thing is that whatever you do in your task does not co-mingle with my code and interfere with each other, except in some very timing critical code like bit-banging (for that, you have to turn off interrupts temporarily and set your task's priority higher than all other tasks; but most people's tasks won't be doing such things!), or using shared data. Hey, go hog wild and have one task controlling one LED if you want so that each LED flashes in different rates. Oh... I do that already. ;-) This way, your code does not interfere with mine, and mine does not interfere with yours (well, most of the time anyway).

 

Is this FreeRTOS task thing so complicated that the great unwashed can't handle it so that Arduino had to dumb it down that much?

 

If Arduino originally put this kind of things in, I wouldn't have set out to write Hempstick!

 

If you are doing an 8bit ,16MHz chip... ya, ya, ya... a great dumb loop is acceptable. That thing doesn't have much oomph anyway so the code is bound to be very simple. But, when you start doing anything non-trivial when MCU speed/capability progresses, you are bound to run into modularity trouble when adding more "stuff." And by Moore's law... the speed and capability of these things fly!

 

For what Hempstick currently does, do I really need an RTOS? No. But, it's what I can't think of doing now what I am aiming at!

 

As a new framework, the current capabilities of the Hempstick is pretty thin... but it's currently as capable as all those commercially available ones for sims, if not more capable. Hempstick can read Warthog and Cougar sticks. Which one else can do it now? Why didn't they write it? Probably because there is no commercial value for it. And I did it with less than 300 lines of code. I want it, so I add it! The point is that we can keep on adding more of these. Not enough CPU for it? I will keep upgrading to new Atmel MCUs. For the foreseeable future, Moore's law always win. Maybe there is not much head space for Intel, there is plenty Moore's space for MCUs to go forward.

 

 

If you are really going with Arduino, then I'd suggest going with the Arduino Due/X board. At least, you get more oomph, and if you wish to change platform, you can switch to Hempstick anytime. Say, you want to upgrade your old Cougar's electronics to make it 12bit ADC?

[FSFIan]

I thought that maybe FreeRTOS along with CMSIS would be a sufficient hardware abstraction layer to make it portable between ARM boards by writing a few drivers. While I have a Stellaris Launchpad and a STM32F0 discovery board, I did not find enough time to play around with those yet so my experience on ARM is very limited.

 

If you make a barebone board using ATSAM chips, like ATSAM4S/4E/3X, with just say a crystal circuit, and route out all the pins in convenient places, and sell it for $13, I will absolutely support it.

 

As a single individual, I could not offer that (including worldwide shipping) for any reasonable price. Electronics become cheap through mass production in quantities of several 1000. That's why we need software that can make use of off-the-shelf dev boards.

[Hempstead]

Ian;2125740']I thought that maybe FreeRTOS along with CMSIS would be a sufficient hardware abstraction layer to make it portable between ARM boards by writing a few drivers. While I have a Stellaris Launchpad and a STM32F0 discovery board, I did not find enough time to play around with those yet so my experience on ARM is very limited.

 

 

 

As a single individual, I could not offer that (including worldwide shipping) for any reasonable price. Electronics become cheap through mass production in quantities of several 1000. That's why we need software that can make use of off-the-shelf dev boards.

 

That is precisely why I don't make the boards but relying on Atmel's off the shelf evaluation boards, and Arduino Due/X. I can't beat their prices. For a USD $39 board that comes with an on board debugger/programmer, it's extremely difficult for anybody to match that price against the manufacturer of the chips.

 

SAM4E boards would be $99 and up.... There might be possible. But probably still not worth the effort.

 

CMSIS & FreeRTOS do help some in porting. But what about all the peripherals used? You'd have to find equivalent ones on the target chip, then port all the ASF calls into raw registers/memory accesses and make sure they still work for all supported boards. You'd need in depth knowledge of all the supported chips and their peripherals. All of that heroic efforts for saving a couple of bucks? If I were selling this stuff in the millions, ya maybe that adds up. But I am not selling any and I do wanna get back to playing my sim sometime, right?

[Deadman]

Hempstead I appreciate your clear review of the different types of boards Have you looked at the PS cockpit system any thoughts on it?

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php?topic=7237.0

[Hempstead]

Hempstead I appreciate your clear review of the different types of boards Have you looked at the PS cockpit system any thoughts on it?

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php?topic=7237.0

 

Yes, I did look at it. It's a PIC with a 10 bit ADC. 10 bit ADCs was the thing of the Cougar era. Wait a minute! It was developed in 2011!!!??? Huh??? Didn't PICs have more modern ones with 12bit ADCs? Bodnar has it.

 

I ain't gonna get baited into criticizing fellow simmer's pride & joy much further than that! Suffice it to say that I rejected it because I want the controller I use also be able to do stick readings. 10bit? No deal!

 

Maybe Shepard changed it to a newer MCU later, maybe not. That was a mistake in 2011 to come out w/ an 10bit ADC, nevertheless. Where is the source code? If no source code, how do I add more features? No, I am not talking about the GUI configuration that I don't care a bit about (zero value to me). I am talking about how I can add TMStick reading, DeviceNet protocol, electrically programmable spring feedback, MLX90363, air core gauges... And other things that I can't think of now. You can do all these with Arduino though.

 

 

Even if I can add more features, what happens when I run out of CPU? Is there an upgrade path?

 

Most embedded controllers have a short life span (except the ones in your cars and appliances alike durable goods) , a couple of years best. It's outdated, you ditch it and buy another newer & better one. So, why bother writing robust and extendable firmware on it? Well, are you ditching your pit in 5 years? Ha! 5 years later, you probably aren't even half done with your pit!!!

 

Some might argue that pit building is an on going process, always work in progress, so some parts of working old systems can stay as-is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But switching to a new board on newer parts of construction means you need to invest on learning the new board and still maintain the old.... Or are you gonna stick with the older outdated board? Grr.... Some of you half way into your pit building are probably asking yourself this very question now there is indeed a much more powerful one in OpenSource.

 

Both the Arduino Due/X and the XPLAINED pro boards have fixed headers, and Hempstick will let you internally remap buttons/axes pins. So, if there are new boards, it might be possible for you to produce "pin compatible" boards to replace your older Hempstick boards.

[Deadman]

Hempstead Hum I never threw out any bait ,wanted or asked you to criticize Sheps work. I did ask for your honest opinion of the cards he is selling witch you have given. I don't think he has posted his source code but has posted a software he has for the boards.

I have no back ground as most here in chips or the programing of. All I want is a board system that will work with all switches including magnetically held.

I prefer the one expansible system to deal with every thing.

( I don't want to learn several and deal with any conflicts between them)

So from your review I understand it was made with older chips when a new more powerful was available.

 

Your points on the GUI are a bit confusing to me it appears you can add and control everything your talking about with his software control,

 

the system running out of CPUs like :huh: I have no fricken idea lol

 

Pit building is a process ( 10 years of collecting parts) the beast is all most complete and like most others here I am tired of guys saying they are developing a better board system and nothing.

 

The Ps cockpit system is a working system if it has enough input and out put and will control every thing to light the candles and it appears that i don't have to learn how to program a chip set .

 

All I am looking for is an affordable control system that will not give me fits that Gus and others have gone through. Thanks

[Hempstead]

I don't think you were baiting me whatsoever... ;-) Just that I have learned from past bitter experience that you never know what part of people's work they hold dear.

 

 

There are two aspects of the Hempstick.

1. If you just want it for inputs of buttons and 0-3.3V analog voltage signals (plain old POTS are fine), and even reading TMSticks. Hempstick is no vaporware. It's here. It works. You can use it to control the whole Cougar and more, period.

2. If you want something outside of that. It's here for you to extend.

 

#1 aspect is to provide the basic framework and prove that this thing works and is extendable, the TMStick task proves that. Consider TMStick task as "contributed" task #1. This is for those who just want to use it for what it does and don't want to fuzz with coding what has not been done before. That alone is quite useful! And Yes, I drive the Cougar and Warthog sticks with 3.3V, works just fine.

 

The more people contribute (that includes me), the more #1 aspect grows.

 

 

Make no mistake. #2 is BLEEDING EDGE! It has tremendous potential. But potential is potential, it's not today. You and I have to extend it. If you are into building something that the current ones don't do. There is no point of going Arduino, other than its vast library that somebody else already wrote, if all you need to do is already written. But then, that's not going where no man has gone before, is it? If you are writing new things.... Hempstick is, IMHO, the way to go (of course, I am biased, take it with a grain of salt! ;-).

 

 

Now, back to PS Cockpit. Does it work? Sure it does. Will it work for you? Depends on what you want it to do. If you just want what it does, easily hook up and control some PWM LEDs, read some knobs, buttons/switches, or even control some RC servos for your gauges, 10bit ADC is plenty. Go with the proven platform. Sheps and others have already build several pits to prove it. If that satisfies all your needs, there is no point of using Hempstick, or Arduino. My only beef with it is why oh why did Sheps used an outdated MCU. A current version wouldn't have cost much more. But if you want a packaged deal, this is it!

 

But, if you want to do things that they don't do or don't do it the way you like it, like air core analog gauges, control several NeoPixels like TigerShark does, Ethernet DeviceNet, or programmable electric spring, gradual dimming, flashing your LEDs in different rates, reading accelerometers, MLX90363, etc. etc. etc. You have no choice but to use an extendable one. And obviously, I consider Arduino inadequate for that. But none of these is here with Hempstick.... Well, except reading TMStick. BTW, I know somebody writing a firmware currently capable of reading MLX90363 on a PIC... My MLX90363 is only half way working.

 

I DO NOT intend to provide all these... hell, I will try most of them and most likely succeed with only a few of them. I provide the basic framework, you extend it to write it your way. I will only write the ones that I desperately want and am interested in, for instance, the TMStick. Take the TMStick task as an example on how to write a complex contributed task (Complex? It's just 300 lines of code! But it uses a hardware SSC and DMA to read the stick! Those are a bit tricky to get right. I had to hook up a Logic Analyzer to see what the hell it's doing. Overkill overkil! Yes, it is... just the way I like it!)! That is the kinds of things you will be writing. You don't have to write complex ones! You can start with simple ones like flashing your LEDs and dimming it. If you are going to learn programming, learn to do it the right way. Don't go with the great dumb loop! if you are going to bleed, bleed for something you enjoy doing.

 

If you don't enjoy doing this kind of things, stick with aspect #1 of Hempstick, or other controllers.

 

Trust me.... you use Hempstick to do it the #2 way... you will bleed, you will sweat, and you will curse me for why in the hell did you ever buy into Hemp's BS and used Hempstick. But, if you succeed, even with the smallest thing like flashing the LEDs in just the way you like it, it's all worth it.

 

Hey, if you do things the way I like it, I will pull from your repository! If I do it the way you like it, pull from my repository... If nobody likes my shit, nobody will pull from mine. It's all very democratic... you vote with your pulls. ("pull" is a Git repository terminology. Pulling from my repository means you get my code change into yours, sort of).

 

 

Let me be very frank with you... go with Sheps' PS Cockpit as your main board, as I am not interested in building a complete pit. I only want some parts of it that matter to me. But somebody in the FUTURE MIGHT build it. For a few things that PS Cockpit can't do, that's where you turn to Hempstick to tinker the way you like it. If it doesn't work.... it's only 39 bucks plus s/h and some of your tinkering time. What? You have a problem with your tinkering projects don't work out? Dude, check how many PhDs I have (Projects Half Done). But keep an eye on what others are doing with Hempstick.

 

If you are an F16 crowd, like Sheps is... take Hempstick and update your old Cougar.

 

That is, use whatever fits the job best.

 

 

 

 

Hempstead Hum I never threw out any bait ,wanted or asked you to criticize Sheps work. I did ask for your honest opinion of the cards he is selling witch you have given. I don't think he has posted his source code but has posted a software he has for the boards.

I have no back ground as most here in chips or the programing of. All I want is a board system that will work with all switches including magnetically held.

I prefer the one expansible system to deal with every thing.

( I don't want to learn several and deal with any conflicts between them)

So from your review I understand it was made with older chips when a new more powerful was available.

 

Your points on the GUI are a bit confusing to me it appears you can add and control everything your talking about with his software control,

 

the system running out of CPUs like :huh: I have no fricken idea lol

 

Pit building is a process ( 10 years of collecting parts) the beast is all most complete and like most others here I am tired of guys saying they are developing a better board system and nothing.

 

The Ps cockpit system is a working system if it has enough input and out put and will control every thing to light the candles and it appears that i don't have to learn how to program a chip set .

 

All I am looking for is an affordable control system that will not give me fits that Gus and others have gone through. Thanks

[Deadman]

thanks for keepingng that short and simple:doh:

[Hempstead]

FYI.

 

Currently, Hempstick uses this much program and data memory space. There is plenty of headroom to code a lot of stuff you want.

 

Program Memory Usage : 41232 bytes 2.0 % Full

Data Memory Usage : 58784 bytes 35.9 % Full

 

 

Note that, the SAM4SD32C chip SAM4S XPro board runs up to 120MHz, has 2048KB of flash program memory, and 160KB of SRAM.

 

In contrary, the PIC18F2458 chip used by one of the most popular sim controller board runs at 12MHz, has 24KB program flash, and 2KB data memory.

 

I am already using about 40KB program space, which you could never squeeze into that PIG, and I still have 98% head room to grow. Do you see why I say that PIC chip is outdated? It's got nowhere to go except upgrading to a bigger and better MCU. But why bother upgrade if you dominate the market and every other competitor uses the same outdated chips as you do?.... until somebody releases an OpenSource one that is bigger and better and gives you a clear upgrade path.

 

Will I ever use up the other 98% program memory? Most likely not! But I do not have to worry about running out of program space and twist the design/code to accommodate the small space and make the code a spaghetti, difficult to code, maintain, extend, and upgrade.

[Sokol1_br]

F16 crowd, ... take Hempstick and update your old Cougar.

 

If I understood correctly Hempstick is compatible "PNP" with Cougar wiring?

e.g. I remove TQS original board and plug the original connector in Hempstick board? An is compatible with Cougar programming soft (the new one)?

 

Sokol1

[FSFIan]

Does PSCockpits support exporting information from DCS: World? All I could find was information about Falcon BMS support. I could not find any technical documentation anywhere :(

 

Personally, whenever it is an option, I would stay away from closed-source systems that depend on a single person to keep them alive in the long term. Such projects have a Bus Factor of one -- meaning the number of people who have to be hit by a bus (or pulled away from their flight sim hobby by other means) to doom the project is one.

 

If you have access to the source code (as you have with Hempstick or if you program a microcontroller yourself), you can fix any compatibility problems that may come up in a few years. Even if you can't do it yourself, other people can.

[Hempstead]

If I understood correctly Hempstick is compatible "PNP" with Cougar wiring?

e.g. I remove TQS original board and plug the original connector in Hempstick board? An is compatible with Cougar programming soft (the new one)?

 

Sokol1

 

No Cougar programming with Foxy!!! Nor will there be composite USB mouse/keyboard that Cougar does. It just shows up as a Cougar w/ a Joystick device, like Warthog.

 

What good is that for? Well, you can program it in Target just like a Warthog. I am writing the document on how to do this and add the Hat Switch and correct a small problem of mapping the stick buttons at the wrong location. This doc. includes wiring up both the throttle and stick to the Hempstick board. The stick is wired up with the existing 5 pin PS2 connector. I basically dump both the main board and the matrix board in the throttle and connect to the PS2 connector, the pots, and the header 261 in the throttle handle with a tangle of wire to a breadboard. You will have to decide how you want to neatly wire it up with a more permanent solution, like using a ribbon cable and where you are going to put the Hempstick board; I don't show you that.

 

For the F16 crowd, you can wire up just the throttle and make it show up as a Cougar, and use it in conjunction with a Warthog stick under Target and suffer no more Cougar's crummy gimbal. And your pots are now all 14bit, instead of 10 and 8bit. You can do this w/ a Bodnar board, but you can't program it in Target.

 

I keep saying this. I cannot show you how to make it show up in Target, in fear of DMCA. But it's so trivial that you will figure it out if you read the document. Sokol, you probably remember I said that three years ago on SimHQ. I am still saying that today., as the darn DMCA law is still there. But with the release of Hempstick source code, it become trivial for you to figure it out yourself. I only figured it out three years ago because I had the prototype code of Hempstick on an AVR32 board so I could try out different ideas.

 

The Cougar demo project should be done in a few days.

[Hempstead]

Having said that you can program Hempstick to work in Target. I must give you a big fat warning, even though I am not a lawyer.

 

It might not be illegal to program Hempstick, or any USB devices to work in Target. It might be illegal to use Target in this manner. You can say it can be done, but never tell people how to do it. The dissemination of that information might be in violation of DMCA. If they sue you, even if you win the case, you still lose on the lawyer's fee.

 

I personally do not use TARGET with Hempstick, except in educational demonstration and research reasons, which are permitted by DMCA. Why would I use Target for Hempstick while I can use it as a straight USB joystick controller, or use vJoy to do similar things (As a C programmer, I have no love for the bastardized C-like Target's scripting language).

 

Getting Target to work with Hempstick is not the purpose of Hempstick.... it's merely a by-product of any USB firmware. You just can't avoid it if you write any USB firmware. If ThrustMaser decides to update Target and their firmware to authenticate between Target and TM controllers, I have no desire to circumvent that with Hempstick.

 

It works with Target if you know how now, and it works as-is. Use it this way at your own risks.

[Hempstead]

Ian;2132384']

Such projects have a Bus Factor of one -- meaning the number of people who have to be hit by a bus (or pulled away from their flight sim hobby by other means) to doom the project is one.

 

Ha ha... I can't believe you pulled out the bus factor joke. I have always loved that one. ;-)

[Sokol1_br]

No Cougar programming with Foxy!!!

Well, you can program it in Target just like a Warthog.

 

Thank you.

Is what I think when I say "Cougar programming soft (the new one)". :thumbup:

 

Yes I remember something relative in SimHQ a few years... People trying use this new programm with G-940 throttle, I think.

 

Sokol1

Edited July 31, 2014 by Sokol1_br