PSX WINCTRL PFPx

[PanosI]

Can you try again please? Just re-download. Zip should be around 22mb.

It's working now. Thanks again !

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Ok ok, here we go.

[Jamie]

Good luck The PY should work on Linux, don't forget to pip install hidapi and cryptography.

Edit: i'm still in the process of cleaning the code, some Mobiflight leftovers still exist. They do nothing, only taking up space.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

I will certainly look at that, though my first priority is to stick this front end panel on a stack of software that simulates a real ARINC 739A MCDU. I have that since 2010 but always use my own front panel (https://www.hoppie.nl/mcdu/, need to update that, I have improved it) and I want something more benchy. Finally these WinCtrl panels hit the correct price point for this kind of fun, and that they are 100% USB is great for simplicity on the bench. Compared to the massive steel PFC MCDU I had in 2000 (with real CRT in it, and a complete mini-PC that overheated and blew the power supply IC every few weeks) it's really a different world.

[Jamie]

You are definately much better at programming :-) I got my sources from the Mobiflight Git. Other than that there is zero info on the net. I used some Hid scanning as well: just a loop to check which addresses control the few Leds and the Brightness control. Maybe there is more info directly from Winctrl, but their support is mediocre at best.
You have to load a font first, I used the code from mobiflight. It's an encrypted 'boeing' font. They have more fonts for the MCDU (airbus) and some other I forgot. I did not decrypt the font file, just copied and pasted (Base64) the original one in my PY file with the keys. Was too lazy to decrypt it.

You can abuse my PY file of course.

Edit: o and to update the firmware and change the USB-Hid addresses (capt/co/obs) with the SimAppPro.exe. After that you can basically uninstall it :-) The software is of no use. Only to bridge between MSFS+Addons.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

This was too easy.

Just your Python, plus the two libraries (and one I already had) plus figuring out that they ship the PFP4 as PFP3 (duh). The hardest part was upgrading the firmware as they request you unplug everything except mouse, keyboard and MCDU. Ah well. It worked.

This is just my Python ACARS started and it appears on all MCDUs and then yours picks it up from MCDU-L as asked. Very nice!




Hoppie

[Jamie]

Glad you like it! 21c in LPPT, Haarlem had more than 30c today, heat wave/warnings. Should stay inside tomorrow

I see you changed the backplates as well. I don't like that design. A friend of mine modified his so that it stands more upright, using heavy stainless-steel plates.

PFP4 as PFP3

-> really? Maybe there is something wrong in my table. I don't have other CDUs, only the PFP7.

[voipmeister]

This is very interesting, I might go for a unit as well. One question though, does the PFP4 unit also have the ability to mimic the later non-green CDUs?

[Jamie]

This is very interesting, I might go for a unit as well. One question though, does the PFP4 unit also have the ability to mimic the later non-green CDUs?

to my knowledge yes, the screens are all full color.

[voipmeister]

Thanks Jamie, I've been looking confirmation in videos or images, but wasn't able to find it.

@Hoppie, could you confirm that the screen on your unit is full colour? Also very interested in the make and model of your keyboard, it reminds me of my first PC's keyboard (sans blue LEDs )!

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

100% full RGB Colour.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/NEW_M

[Hardy Heinlin]

I can't confirm it, but this WinCtrl hardware model is actually a model of Honeywell's LCD CDU, i.e. the multicolor type. The LCD type has pushbuttons for the brightness control and 12 white lines by the LSK keys. The monochrome CRT type has a pot for the brightness control and no lines by the LSKs.

[voipmeister]

Thank you all, I'll be ordering one to play with.

Thanks Hoppie, looking into the keyboard as well

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

When I installed this 3 kg machine gun at work the young crowd with their LED heavy Cherry game keyboards admitted defeat. :-)

[voipmeister]

When I installed this 3 kg machine gun at work the young crowd with their LED heavy Cherry game keyboards admitted defeat. :-)

I bet      

I noticed they don't offer an option for different switches, so I assume it's very clicky? I bought an original Model M keyboard a while ago, quite the heavy machinery I remembered 

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

It's more clicky than anything Cherry, I guarantee you. Those buckle spring keys are unbeatable.


Hoppie

[andrej]

When I installed this 3 kg machine gun at work the young crowd with their LED heavy Cherry game keyboards admitted defeat. :-)

That is some typewriter competition there. 3 kgs for a keyboard! :-D

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Thanks to "tools" I double reversed engineered all code posted here so far and came up with a complete breakdown of how this thing works, exactly. I also threw out the encrypted Boeing fonts and used the original Martin/Hardy "Aerowinx MCDU Large and Small" TTF fonts to live-create a bitmap font for on the unit. Calibrated all colours, calibrated the light sensors, cleaned up, and made documentation. All in about 6 hours I guess.

These "tools" are great for people that know what they are doing and will be an absolute disaster for people that don't know what they are doing and have a bad idea of what they want. But... cannot be stopped. So learn to live with them.

I will come up with something distributable "soon". Maybe not today -- I have another life, too.


Hoppie

[Jamie]

Interested in the fonts though. To be used with my Python version 

Or.. wait I can do it myself I guess.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

And ...



This is a real avionics SATCOM unit (ok, my own design I admit) mounted on the roof of our office in Miami, linked via Ethernet (like on the airplane) to a remote data concentrator on my desk in Miami, then via a bundle of ARINC 429 wires to another RDC in Miami, and from there via Ethernet to my PC in Lisbon. The WinCtrl MCDU is plugged into that PC using one USB-C cable, and a Python script converts the 429 words to what WinCtrl wants.

This is not a simple thing, with probably 12 software layers, but hey.

Without the assistance of AI to do the reverse and then forward engineering of low-level USB HID and bitmap fonts and what not, this would not have been possible IN TWO DAYS.

Would somebody without software engineering and deep ARINC/MCDU knowledge have been able to ask for this? Probably not. So I don't need to fear for my job just yet. But I do think I can now burn a whole lot more test equipment credits than ever before.


Hoppie