FDS, Engravity or Opencockpits CDU for PSX?

[Christian Adrigan]

Hello,

I got no home cockpit, but I would like to link my PSX Notebook to one of those CDUs.

Has somebody advice for me as to which one to purchase? Any major advantages or drawbacks?

The opencockpits one costs only half of the others' prices.

TY,
Chris

[GodAtum]

ATM FDS is compatible with PSX. The Opencockpit one with SIOC might be soon?

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Consider an alternative approach for a minute (just because it exists): get a small PC with a touch screen (newer models small notebooks are fine), run PSX on that as a client, and display just and only one MCDU. The touch screen will allow you to have a very good approximation of the real hardware, at probably a lot less cost.

The OpenCockpits MCDU looks like it is just a USB keyboard and a TV/VGA monitor, packaged in a nice milled bezel. This means that you must have a separate PC with TV/VGA output to drive it. In the end, you will have exactly the same setup as with the PSX running on a touch screen, except that you zoom in to display just the MCDU display area, and feed the button presses into the PC via USB. You should not need any special software at all.

I believe that the MCDU's monitor will behave like a second monitor on a PC that can drive two, but the USB keyboard likely will misbehave with native PSX as it probably won't send the right keys for a PSX MCDU. However the SIOC software seems capable of fixing this up.

Most info hijacked from http://mutleyshangar.com/reviews/jack/fmc/fmc.htm

And no, THIS IS NOT A FMC     :twisted:


Hoppie

[Christian Adrigan]

@GodAtum: Thank you.

@Hoppie:

Thank you, too. Although interesting & cheap, I didn't consider getting a second "mini" notebook - yet. Will check asap.

Last question about the FDS CDU (talking 999 USD now), which is optically impressive: is this one "fire & forget" with PSX, ie power it up, link it via USB, install a driver to my notebook and go!?

Thanks again,
Chris

[GerdD]

@Hoppie:

what´s about the Engravity? Still have one from PS1.3.

Thanks
Gerd

[kiek]

However the SIOC software seems capable of fixing this up.

Almost, you also need programs like my psxseecon to let SIOC interoperate with PSX.

Nico

[jb747]

Regarding the FDS CDU you do some basic assignment, (give it the IP address of the PSX server and assign it to Captain, FO or Observer positions)  then it is plug and play.

http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/assets/pdf/FDS-PRO-MX-CDU-MAN-1.7.pdf

Cheers,

Jon

[Christian Adrigan]

Thank You Jon, I contacted Peter Cos from FDS for shipment info. Very promising.

[John Golin]

@Hoppie:

what´s about the Engravity? Still have one from PS1.3.

Thanks
Gerd

An interface to Engravity is almost finished as part of AdaptPSX... I should have it out shortly...

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

However the SIOC software seems capable of fixing this up.

Almost, you also need programs like my psxseecon to let SIOC interoperate with PSX.

If you want to go straight to the network, yes, you do. However in some situations you may have SIOC just insert keyboard strokes, I think? If you happen to dedicate a PC to the MCDU, this may be a shortcut.


Hoppie

[kiek]

However the SIOC software seems capable of fixing this up.

Almost, you also need programs like my psxseecon to let SIOC interoperate with PSX.

If you want to go straight to the network, yes, you do. However in some situations you may have SIOC just insert keyboard strokes, I think? If you happen to dedicate a PC to the MCDU, this may be a shortcut.

That's also possible indeed, but I would not call  keyboard strokes a reliable way of interfacing ("en zo vorige eeuws ... ")
You'll also miss the EXEC and MSG lights ...

Nico

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Going network definitely is the way to go; keystroke insertion is a gross hack. But hey, sometimes gross hacks work pretty well for years   :-)

The good thing is that a basic network connector for PSX is pretty easy to write and already exists in several programming languages. It is simple TCP socket stuff, with examples available all over the internet in large quantities. Once you have a single switch on/off working, the rest is just more of the same.


Hoppie