Planning for new panels

First snow arrived last Saturday and that definitely means that this summer is gone and cold winter is arriving. And when this happen I start planning the new improvements for the home cockpit.

I am planning three panels right now but I have not yet decided their layout. One panel will go on top of the second monitor: there will be all the annunciators from the header panel and from the glare shield. They will be realized with OpenCockpi because it is very easy and fast. I have also noticed that the new version of LekSeeCon has improved a lot during the summer. In particular the part regarding the proximity warnings of the glare shield. The library now connects to FSUIPC too and there are new status bits that, according to Niko, make the behavior of annunciators more similar to the real 767. Current version is 9.2 and there are a lot of improvements and changes comparing to the 8.2 I have installed at home. So I have to upgrade as soon as possible.


Last winter I prepared the wooden frame to put the landing gear and other instruments but at the end I bought and installed the FMC from OpenCockpits and I am really satisfied of this device.
In the frame, I will install the landing gear and something else as I have free room there. The problem is that this panel goes just in front of the joy so it is not very easy to reach. Should I put there some gauge instead?

The third panel will go in the far left side aside of the main monitor. I want to put there some of the controls. For example flaps and brakes but maybe also the switches to communicate with the flight attendants and that to ask for the pushback. The layout is not decided yet, of course.

At this point I have to plan carefully what to put and where because my available space is finishing: I have to concentrate on the most important (i.e. most) used switches, leds and gauges. And for the same reason I have to plan all the panels at the same time even if I have to admit that the panel with the annuciators is almost stand alone and I can start working on that.

I have no room for installing more monitors but I could greatly improve the realism by installing gauges. I have found those produced by flightillusion quite interesting even if very expansive. There is a card to be connected to the PC with a US, the GA-55. It is possible to connect gauges to this card like for example the altimeter (GSA16) and the attitude indicator (GSA34),  and the Radio Magnetic Indicator (GSA-RMI-DME). Quite expansive I know but they seems really good and easy to interface with the simulator. To make the system good enough I would need also a vertical speed indicator.
Considering that I already bought the OpenCockpit gauges for the flaps and the digits and knobs for the ILS tuning, with this gauges and the panels I wish to build I could probably fly without keyboard and without the glareshield in the main monitor.

I started a survey with the hardware producers and I found a very interesting post in MyCockpit.org with a  List Of Third-Party Rudder Pedals, Yokes, TQs, etc... I put the link here as I think is a great reference for everybody.

OpenCockpits FMC

Few days ago I received the FMC from OpenCokpits and I am going to write down here my first impression.

The box was very well sealed and the FMC was packed with soft paper to protect from damages. 

When I saw the new toy I was surprised to find it much bigger then expected. The upper panel is 100% plastic and the keys move slightly in their holes. To be honest the first impression was not good. It really looks like a cheap toy for kids.

The sides of the FMC are not covered and show the electronics that drive the FMC. The bottom side, showed in the next picture has a connector for the power supply, in yellow, and for the USB (in white). Note that the connector of the power supply offers a socket in the rear side (in black at the right of the yellow inlet) that can be used to back light the device. The black cable is for the TV out.

The lateral view: the display is on the right side; the rear side of the FMC is on the left of the picture.

The keyboard is fixed to the electronic by means of screws so it is quite easy to remove the upper side and check how the keyboard is done internally.

The keys are simply put on top of micro switches and three brown plastics frames, one on top of the other, hold them in position. That's the reason why they moves slightly. However pressing the keys is smooth and they emit a nice sound of click.

There are 4 LEDS, 2 on the left side (on top in the picture) and 2 white at the right side (better visible in the next picture). They correspond to the 4 alerts that the FCM can show during a fly. I am particularly interested in the led on the right upper side of the device that lights when the FMC shows a message.

The EXEC button instead has no light and that's really a pity because we need that otherwise we have to remember when the FMC expects us to press EXEC. There is also no available place to fix a LED in the EXEC button. What I plan to do is to remove the BRT black plastic of the mask and put a LED there. Note that the BRT does not work in this version and the black plastic item is simple a place holder. I took this idea looking at Nico's pedestal.

The following picture shows the keyboard of the FMC with 2 of the three frames in position on top of the keys. You can hardly see a hole in the plexiglass on the right side of the EXEC key. It corresponds to the BRT black plastic pin. It really seems to have been planned for housing the LED for the EXEC after removing the BRT pin.

Before closing the the device I removed the BRT pin. Now I need to find the best way to fit a LED there and also the way to light the for LEDS in the green board.

After looking at the inside of the device I changed my opinion. I think it is well done and ready for being back lighted. There is the place for the LED of the EXEC and four LEDS ready for being lighted.

What I completely miss is the documentation on how to turn on/off the LEDS. Are they available already or do I have to connect them by myself to the master card?

Lekseecon provides variable to light the MSG and the EXEC. And I will ask Nico how he configured his device.

The connection to the PC has been easier then I thought. To avoid problems I bought from opencockpits the VGA to video converter. I guess it was overpriced but at least it worked immediately.

I needed to add a new screen to my PC and I could use the onboard video device of my ASUS P67 pro. I set the screen resolution to 800x600 and started the 767LD.

It took me quite some time to position the window inside the new screen. I had to hack the panel.cfg to find the right parameters. The trick has been that to set the size of the widget as fixed and then the classical trial and error procedure. It took me quite some time but finally I had the green written in the display in the right position.

To test the device I had initially to move my SIOC from one single file to multiple files configuration. I splitted my config file in 2 files, one for the light panel and one for the master switch. It worked immediately.

Finally I added the FMC config file provided by lekseecon after setting the opencockit device in the SIOC config file.

Unbelievable it worked immediately with no intervention from my side. I really did not touch Nico's config file and everything worked in the first shot.

It is really great to interact with this device. It is smooth and I like the click when I press a button.

I will add more picture the next time I connect the device to the 767LD.

Now I need to connect and light the 2 LEDS I mentioned before and build a wooden frame to suite the device. I will hold it in the wall at the left side of my home cockpit. As I said I have no room to replicate a real 767 cockpit so for the time being I have to arrange the devices where I can.

Designing new panels

Finally I setup FSX and connected all the hardware and could fly online at IVAO.
The good news is that FSX never blocked and it is running at an average speed od 25fps, good enough for flying smoothly.
I have an error from time to time in the 3D view that make all the instruments unreadable but does not compromise the fly.

Unfortunately I have lost all the setup of the hardware and a lot of things changed in the last 2 years. SIOC is at version 4 with support for multiple files and lekseecon has also been largely improved. The good news is that it was so easy to use Niko's library and I wrote again the SIOC script in less then one hour.
The following is the script to control the lights in my panel:


/////////
/// Master Switch (MS)
/////////


// HW variables definition


// Master switch push button
Var 266 Static Link IOCARD_SW Input 41 Type P


// Lekseecon var to check the state of the lights of
// the Master switch button
Var 739 Static 
{
&O_MSWarning = TESTBIT v739 0
&O_MSCaution = TESTBIT v739 1
}


// SIOC - MS Red led - Warning
Var 9001 name O_MSWarning Link IOCARD_OUT Output 11


// SIOC -MS Yellow led - Caution
Var 9002 name O_MSCaution Link IOCARD_OUT Output 12


/////////
/// Panel flood lights
/////////


// Panel & MCP Flood
Var 246 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 29 Type I


// SIOC - Overhead light led out
var 9008 name O_OvdLT Link IOCARD_OUT Output 49




// Overhead lighting -- NOT SIMULATED!!!
Var 247 name PanelFlood Static Link IOCARD_SW input 27 Type P


// Glare shields 


/////////
/// Taxiing lights
/////////


// Taxi
Var 260 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 28 Type I


// Left runway turnoff
Var 261 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 34 Type I


// Right runway turnoff
Var 262 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 26 Type I


/////////
/// Landing lights
/////////


// Left wing landing
Var 263 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 25 Type I


// Right wing landing
Var 264 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 21 Type I


// Mose landing
Var 265 Static Link IOCARD_SW input 23 Type I




/////////
/// Extern lights
/////////


// Pos. Lights
Var 255 name PosLight Static Link IOCARD_SW input 22 Type P


// SIOC - POS led out
Var 9003 name O_Pos Link IOCARD_OUT Output 51




// Anti collision RED
Var 256 name Red Static Link IOCARD_SW input 24 Type P


// SIOC - Anti collision red led out
Var 9004 name O_Red Link IOCARD_OUT Output 50


// Anti collision White
Var 257 name White Static Link IOCARD_SW input 20 Type P


// SIOC - Anti collision white led out
Var 9005 name O_White Link IOCARD_OUT Output 54


// Wing lights
Var 258 name Wing Static Link IOCARD_SW input 18 Type P


// SIOC - Wing led out
Var 9006 name O_Wing Link IOCARD_OUT Output 53


// Logo lights
Var 259 name Logo Static Link IOCARD_SW input 19 Type P


// SIOC - Log led out
Var 9007 name O_Logo Link IOCARD_OUT Output 52


// Lekseecon var to check the state of the lights of
// the lights panel
Var 737 Static 
{
&O_OvdLT = TESTBIT v737 0
&O_Pos = TESTBIT v737 1
&O_Red = TESTBIT v737 2
&O_White = TESTBIT v737 3
&O_Wing = TESTBIT v737 4
&O_Logo = TESTBIT v737 5
}

One of the botton in the light panel is not implemented in 767LD/FSX so I could in principle reuse it for something else. It is a ON/OFF switch. Times ago I used it for the parking brakes.

I am already designing my next panel but I have not yet decided what to put there. For sure the gear lever but together with other controls.

I have to decide if I still want to copy the glare shield or if it is time to put there the most used commands for enjoying the flight.The problem is that now with the situation of flight simulation I do not yet know what to do. I can stil fly with FSX and the 767LD of course but there is also a chance to switch to Flight or XPlane with a 737 and in that case all the panels for the 767 will be mostly unusable.

I have already built the woodden frame and start thinking on the electronic componets. I will add more comments as soon as I take the final decision.

I will also build a the annunciators for the overhead panel and those in the glare shield. The former will be with a white led because I don't want to have them signaling errors. I double checked that those are implemented in lekseecon.

The annunciators in the glare shield will have a orange high performant LED. These are not implemented in lekseecon and the logic has to be retrieved from FSUIPC.

i am also planning to put something close to the master switch button. Probably other annunciators not prenset in any oter place like for example a stall warning. There could also be one or two buttons. i am still in the design phase...

I have been elected as a Flight beta tester from Microsoft. For being correct, I will never write any comments on the flight simulators until my role terminates.

Done!

I did the first flight with the panel over the table and all the cables around me. The panel worked as expected and the simulator behaved very well without slowing down the simulator. Reaction tme was very good also under stress. This is didn´t surprise me because the hardware is connected to the laptop and the software runs there too.

I have discovered that one of the button of the panel is not implemented by 767LD SDK and so now the second button at le left side (the aisle flood) is free. I am thinking to remap this button to something else.. I don´t know yet. It might be the parking brake until I implement another panel. Or the external power supply... Well I don´t know yet...

The pictures below show the panel with the front cover and the second plexy screwed over it. I like it... I have put all these screws thinking that the final looking was better but I am not fully convinced... However it is how it is and I am not going to change it!


Sorry for the red pen... it is there to keep the panel straight in front of the camera. And sorry again for the miserable quality of the pictures...

I don´t need to paint the wodden because it would be invisible in the place where I have decided to install the panel.
And I have decided that this panel will have no backlight because the final result would be very bad in any case.

Panel connected to the simulator

Today I connected the hardware with FSX.

First of all I would thank Niko Kaan once more: it has been very vey easy.

SIOC runs in the laptop where I connected the OpenCockpits hardware through the USB. leksseecon instead runs in the same PC where the flight simulator runs.
I have a lan where each PC has a fixed IP number so I had to change the lekseecon config file giving the IP address of the laptop.
On the SIOC side instead I had a little problem because I forgot to configure sioc.ini telling which MasterCard is in the system and how it is connected. This problem was not easy to find because everything seemed to work well but it was not possible to read/change hardware values. At the end I found an hidden written in the main SIOC panel saying Stopped and after a short search in the forum I got the solution. What about writing iStopped in red?!?

Programming SIOC was much easier then I though but I have to say that the SIOC editor panel is slow and boring even for a short program like mine is. Next step is to program by writing a text file.

Before finishing and go to have dinner, I have to spend a couple of words on lekseecon. I think it is really wanderful and almost transparent. It connects to the remote SIOC with no need to buy WideClient from Peter Dowson.
Beside that, synchronization with the hardware happens by magic and in this way the SIOC program is shorter, faster to write and to debug. Thank you again Nico.

As I said everything worked Immediatly and I did what I want in just an afternoon playng with the software. I had to say that I am an expert programmer and sytem manager so I would not be surprised if those steps are less easy for someone else. But believe me, it is easy ;-)

Next step is to make the first fly with the panel. It is months that I am waiting this moment...

Successfully tested

A few minutes ago I succesfully tested all the connections (led sand buttons) with the OpenCockpits Controlador.
Initially nothing worked. I guess the problem was that I connected the MasterCard to the 4th socket of the expansion card instead of the first one.

The picture upon shows the test session where a couple of buttons are in the ON position and a couple of leds in the botton are lighted.

As I said in one of my previous post I decided to put the first masterCard together with the power supply. If you follow the cables of the picture upon you can that thea are connected to the upper right side of the box. The following picture shows the internal of the box.

The muster card is in the upper side. The first ouput socket is connected to a 40 pin flat cable. Tha cable is divided in 2 DB25 sockets. The output is taken from the DB9.

Having all in this box is a great because I can move the master card and the usb and the power supply eveywherewithout caring, for example, if it is upside down.

Sorry for the very poor quality of the attached pictures: my canon PowerShot S60 is almost dead!

Next step is to finish the panel by attaching the printed picture and the protective plexi over it. For the time being I am not going to add the backlight but in principle I have all I need in place (one free output line and 5V line).

It is also time to start connecting the panel to the 767LD. I will use lekseecon from Niko Kan together with SIOC. While testing I took the indexes of buttons and leds.