ARand0mPlayer Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Hello all, Around 2 months ago, I started playing DCS. I saw some videos and forum threads about home cockpits and input panels. Although I don't have the room nor the money to build a complete home cockpit, I would like to build a small input panel. I am planning to make a wooden box with on the top 6 toggle switches. Five of them will have to be able to be in two states (left engine on/off, right engine on/off, landing gear, main electrical system, airbrakes) and one of them will have to be able to be in three states (flaps). I would like to use toggle switches for all of them. But my question is about the controller. Because I want to keep the costs as low as possible and I can program in python, I don't want a specialised controller of 30 dollars or even more. I would like to use the 5 dollar raspberry pi zero, but I don't know much about it. Can any people give me some advice whether I will be able to use it and how difficult it will be to use it. Or are there any easier to use microcontrollers for around the same price that I should use? Thanks, ARand0mPlayer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrasyuk Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 the cheapest way to accomplish what you ask for is to rip out controller board from some old joystick you have laying around (or that is laying on a shelf of nearest thrift store). otherwise 5$ for the zero is hard to beat, go with it. you will have to do all the programming however. look into DCS-BIOS sticky thread on this board, it talks mostly about arduino though, but I used it with the PI. Anton. My pit build thread . Simple and cheap UFC project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Burns Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 You will also need to read up on Helios if you don't go with the PI. My first panel was using an old keyboard interface and tracing the key tracks to make about 20 inputs. Google rip a keyboard if you have an old one. Then you will need one on-off-on 3 position toggle and the rest on/off. Helios sets the off state as a second or third input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krysnic Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Hello all, But my question is about the controller. Because I want to keep the costs as low as possible and I can program in python, I don't want a specialised controller of 30 dollars or even more. I would like to use the 5 dollar raspberry pi zero, but I don't know much about it. Can any people give me some advice whether I will be able to use it and how difficult it will be to use it. Or are there any easier to use microcontrollers for around the same price that I should use? Thanks, ARand0mPlayer Buy arduino promicro and use MMJoy2 CPU i7-4790k/ zotac GTX1080/ ОЗУ 16Gb/ Philips 40" 3840x2160/ джойстик BRD-N(v. №4) + педали BRD-F2 restyling + WW2-DVik Throttle(MMJoy2)/ TrackIR5 pro/ https://cults3d.com/ru/polzovateli/abelnaitrod/tvoreniya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARand0mPlayer Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 I have bought an arduino nano v3.0! I have already played a little bit with it and I will soon build the panel and hook everything up. Thanks for pointing me at this great device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RightStuff Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Jup... MMjoy or this one would be a good way to start: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=117011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sokol1_br Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 (edited) But my question is about the controller. Because I want to keep the costs as low as possible and I can program in python, I don't want a specialised controller of 30 dollars or even more. I would like to use the 5 dollar ... It's easy, just "rub the magic lamp": :D Get one these - attention is need be the PRO Micro with ATMEGA32u4 chipset version, not ATMEGA328. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Pro-Micro-ATmega32U4-5V-16MHz-Replace-ATmega328-Arduino-Pro-Mini-new-/261809188156?hash=item3cf50b2d3c:g:GjMAAOSwrklVHUgv http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=arduino+pro+micro&_sop=15 Write through USB cable the MMJoy2 firmware - made by flight simmer to be a "joystick" controller. This part is easy like record a DVD with Nero (or similar). http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3899105/1 Done you can control: 6 axis 10 bits (12/14 bits if use external ADC, what allow more axis input too). 32 buttons or Encoder (2 inputs per Encoder), can be more if use less axis or external ADC for axis. HAT (POV) 8 way. Edited January 1, 2016 by Sokol1_br Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mano Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 Pokeys was a good choice as well. You can configure up to 50 inputs and map them to keyboard keypresses or macros as well. You can also chain multiple controllers Inviato dal mio Huawei P8 Lite utilizzando Tapatalk [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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