Homebuilt PSX overhead using mobiflight

[Pipsara]

Hi Folks, a little video showing the first stage of my home made Aerowinx PSX overhead. I've completed the right hand section....modified layout to accommodate the hardware available. The panels are laser cut and etched acrylic done on my cheap Chinese laser. All the switch legends are modified by laser engraving.
All connections to the Aerowinx PSX  is by means of Psxseecon. The scripts are written using sioc and all the led, switch and rotary connections all done with arduinos and mobiflight.
Kind regards Mike

https://youtu.be/R7LWwgCZJfI

[asboyd]

Hi Mike,
Do you have an example of how you got the mobiflight cards to be recognised by SIOC..?? Maybe a basic switch script...

Cheers,
ALex B

[Pipsara]

Hi Alex, it's quite simple if a bit unusual....I just have an old copy of Microsoft fsx running somewhere in the network  which means that all the Fsuipc offsets the that are not assigned to actual fsx functions are free use.
I have a paid copy of Pete Dowsons Fsuipc installed in FSX and use  widefs to connect to it. In my sioc scripts I use fsuipc offsets changes to record the switch changes and outputs, using unused fsx ranges such as the whole of the 0x5000 to 0x6000 range. In mobiflight I use the same offsets to define the appropriate switch actions and led outputs.
If fsx or p3dv4 are being used as scenery generators for PSX, you can just use that to provide access to the fsuipc offsets. Psxseecon makes it all work and connects the sioc to the psx.
If you aren't using a scenery generator, even a copy of FS9 would work. It can be run at the lowest settings. It's only needed as fsuipc offsets are only available if fsx etc. is actually running somewhere. If it's running on the same pc as aerowinx psx you don't need the paid version of fsuipc or the widefs  module. This is the same method I used to get my Saitek radios working with psx using Spad.next. If you want copies of the scripts etc. Let me know,
Kind regards Mike

[asboyd]

Thank you Mike.
Some good info.. I never thought to interface the output from FSUIPC to SIOC from P3DV4.. I might give it a go...



Cheers,
AlexB

[Pipsara]

Hi Alex, once you get into it you'll find it pretty straightforward. It's fsuipc that acts as the interface between sioc and mobiflight and of course anything else that recognises fsuipc offsets such as Spad.next. The psx overhead needs some potentiometers  for the various temperature and lamp brightness controls. I  suppose that these can be ignored as they don't actually affect the flying of the plane. If however you want to have them functional, mobiflight doesn't have any analog inputs so something else is needed. I have an unused opencockpits servo card and a relays card that has analog potentiometer connections so I will use them but could easily use a Leo Bodnar joystick card and set up the axes in fsuipc using offset changes or even use Spad.next to do the same thing.
Regards Mike

[asboyd]

Yeah I build my own OC cards, masters usb expansion and displays.... I also have servo and relay cards.
I guess if I stick to OC then all should be fine, but as you say having arduinos for the additional pots (ie 10 per ACP) would be handy

Cheers,
AlexB

[kiek]

Hi Folks, a little video showing the first stage of my home made Aerowinx PSX overhead. I've completed the right hand section....modified layout to accommodate the hardware available. The panels are laser cut and etched acrylic done on my cheap Chinese laser. All the switch legends are modified by laser engraving.
All connections to the Aerowinx PSX  is by means of Psxseecon. The scripts are written using sioc and all the led, switch and rotary connections all done with arduinos and mobiflight.
Kind regards Mike

https://youtu.be/R7LWwgCZJfI

Hi Mike,
Very nice. Good to see that there are still users that have discovered the power of my PSXseecon program.
Kind Regards,
Nico Kaan

[Pipsara]

Hi Nico, it's only one of your generous offerings that I have used over the years. Your "How to" guide to the use of Sioc  scripting was what got me started when I started my first cockpit quite a few years ago now. The PSXSEECON package is the icing on the cake!
You may have seen in one of my previous posts that I was able to modify some of your psx radio scripts to get all my Saitek radios working with psx using Spad.next as a connector.
Kind regards Mike

[kiek]

You may have seen in one of my previous posts that I was able to modify some of your psx radio scripts to get all my Saitek radios working with psx using Spad.next as a connector.
Kind regards Mike

Hi Mike,
Yes I read about your spad next solution. Using free FSUIPC offsets is a reliable way of interfacing SIOC with other tools that use FSUIPC. I already used that method for my  lekseecon program that made available the LevelD-767 SDK for cockpit  builders.

By the way, do you still  have the "How to SIOC " .pdf file available?  I have lost the archive in which  it was saved. It would  be nice to make  it available again at my web site.

Kind regards,
Nico

[Pipsara]

Hi Nico, yes I have a pdf of your tutorial.
I have sent you an email.
Kind regards Mike

[kiek]

Hi Nico, yes I have a pdf of your tutorial.
I have sent you an email.
Kind regards Mike

Great, thx, although I did not receive it so far...

Regards,
Nico

[asboyd]

Hi Nico,
I just sent a copy as well.
Cheers,
AlexB

[kiek]

Hi Nico,
I just sent a copy as well.
Cheers,
AlexB

Got it, thank you Alex.

[Pipsara]

Hi Nico, I'm glad you have it now, I sent you a message via this forum asking for an email address to send it to...
Kind regards Mike

[kiek]

Hi Nico, I'm glad you have it now, I sent you a message via this forum asking for an email address to send it to...
Kind regards Mike

Hi Mike,
I am not aware of a PM option in this forum. You can find my email address in my Forum Profile.  But anyway I already got it. Thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Nico

[petdocvmd]

I have a paid copy of Pete Dowsons Fsuipc installed in FSX and use  widefs to connect to it. In my sioc scripts I use fsuipc offsets changes to record the switch changes and outputs, using unused fsx ranges such as the whole of the 0x5000 to 0x6000 range. In mobiflight I use the same offsets to define the appropriate switch actions and led outputs.

If you want copies of the scripts etc. Let me know

Hi Mike,

This is exactly how I would like to interface to PSX.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details of how you are using SIOC without IOCards...could you provide one of your scripts?

Thanks!

Scott

[RogerH]

I use a program called Arduino2Sioc, which translates between an Arduino sketch and Sioc variables - then PSXeecon translates from Sioc into PSX - sounds convoluted but works flawlessly.

I find Arduinos to be a bit more versatile than Master cards etc - can use for both inputs and outputs.

[petdocvmd]

I use a program called Arduino2Sioc, which translates between an Arduino sketch and Sioc variables - then PSXeecon translates from Sioc into PSX - sounds convoluted but works flawlessly.

I find Arduinos to be a bit more versatile than Master cards etc - can use for both inputs and outputs.

So you bypass mobiflight, iocards, and the like? That sounds pretty good for tweaking customizations.  What is the event listener here i.e. what app is waiting for and acting on arduino input actions and PSX output (via PSXseecon)?

[RogerH]

Hi :-)

The setup is:

Arduino - Arduino2Sioc - SIOC - PSXeecon - PSX

It sounds a bit complicated but in practice it seems to work seamlessly. The Arduino (I have two, a Uno and  Mega - Arduino2Sioc allows up to 6 cards per instance) simply connects to the PC with a standrd USB cable.

The bit which needs some work is writing a sketch for the Arduino, but I find the sketch-writing to be fairly easy even though I' not much of a programmer.

SIOC is used mainly to just create links between the Arduino2Sioc data and PSX via PSXeecon as you describe. I do a little maths in SIOC but only because I'd already done it there with a previous sioc.ssp - I'm sure more experienced coders here would be able to say where it was optimal to do the maths conversions - in the Arduino sketch or in SIOC - but as I say it works for me.

Caveat - at the moment I have a simple 'multiradio' setup working, so it may be that if i load the applications up with multiple inputs and outputs it may expose some inadequacies of my approach - but I will be addressing this over the next few weeks so may have more info for you then.

PSXeecon is well known to us SIOC PSXers, but in fact it doesn't seem to matter how you get the data into SIOC. I was using mastercards etc. from Opencockpits (which are great, btw!), but the Arduino just seems to give more versatility - again, that remains to be seen once I begin expanding the rig.

It makes no difference to PSXeecon (as far as I can tell) how you manipulate the SIOC variables - once they are modified PSXeecon sends them to, or receives them from, PSX superbly.

I hope that gives a fuller picture - just Google 'Arduino2Sioc' and you'll get the prog - it's free and the developer is willing to offer advice if enough people use it (I get the feeling I may be in a minority of 1 at the moment, lol!). The instructions take a little bit of interpretation to understand fully but once you get the hang of it things go well.

All the best,

Roger.

P.S. I was put off Mobiflight a little because you have to flash the Arduino which effectively seems to 'slave' it to Mobifilight. I spoke to the (very supportive) developer who explained the card can be flashed back to a standard Arduino, but I am not a hugely skilled IT guy and so I found this a little daunting.

[petdocvmd]

Roger,

Thanks for the info!  So if I understand correctly, you do NOT need FSUIPC as a mediator between the Arduino and SIOC, yes?  Arduino2sioc server appears to be taking care of this by updating sioc variables (which seem akin to function pointers) and registering and listening for changes in those variables.  I like the versatility of being able to implement your own handlers in arduino vs. Mobiflight's boilerplate.  The latter would appear to force you to implement all calculations in sioc. 

What gives me pause is the limit of 6 boards.  You can connect 127 Mobiflight programmed arduinos to any PC client.  I haven't calculated I/O requirements yet, so not sure if that is a factor.

BTW, according to their faqs, Mobiflight firmware is simply a sketch itself - so you could just upload a sketch of your own anytime to overwrite it. 

Best,

Scott