747 FMC

[Phil29]

Hi! Thanks a lot Arnout. I just bought a FMC from opencockpit. I followed your advice and used my MCDU now works well. I configured it yesterday. I believe the CLR key still doesn't work (what's the code for it ?)

The FMC COMM and ATC keys don't work either and I don't know what the codes are for these keys.

[Arnout van Maanen]

John,

Good news, I got the other keys ATC/FMC COMM working as well. Will sent you the file to your private account so you can use copy/paste it for yours. Also will post it on the forum

Arnout

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

As always I'm interested as well. If you want I can create a OpenCockpit section on the MCDU web site.

This MCDU thing will keep me busy even in PSX times: it is the most likely component to be externalised even if PSX itself can graphically be reduced to just a MCDU on the bus. In order to drive hardware, having a working local graphical MCDU is very handy.

[luxpilot]

Hi folks!

This is my first appearance on this stage. Respectful greetings go to all PS owners and especially to all the PS wizards onboard this forum... :mrgreen:  

I am asking myself how I could hook up a newly purchased 'CDU II' control unit made by VRINSIGHT (have a look at www.vrinsight.com) with PS (I still have PS1.3 and haven't tried to run it under Windows XP yet). I have used the CDU II with PMDG 747-400F in FSX until now. Simlarly I have been using a Serial FP/M-Panel also made by VRINSIGHT and I  wish to hook it up with PS as well...a nice dream or virtual reality, easy to fulfill...?  

Please help me to get out of my ignorance, anyone...Thank you!  :?

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

The specifications of this CDU look a lot like the one from Engravity: dedicated USB connection driving both display and keyboard. I had the Engravity CDU interfaced to PS1 in under 30 minutes. However I needed an actual CDU on my desk for this. Would VRinsight deliver sample CDUs for development purposes (to borrow, I don't need to stack up unused equipment in my attic)?

Jeroen

[luxpilot]

Hello Jeroen,

Nice to meet you. Thanks for your comment...I am not an advanced programmer...but if you have some idea how it could be done...tell me what has to be done and I would try to get this development done. Then anybody interested in this forum could get it from me...

Rgds,  
Steve

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

If you can find out, and then make to work:

- Your software to see all keypresses on the MCDU panel and list them on a log window somewhere

- Your software to produce 14 lines of 24 characters wide on the MCDU screen,

- Your software to switch on and off the five annunciator lights

then integrating this into the MCDU software for PS1 is about three minutes work.


Jeroen

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Jeroen and Steve!

I just checked, and it seems that the "CDU II" by VRInsight is available at my local store.  The hardware quality seems quite good (better than Engravity's), and I guess there will strictly be no "font size" problem, as their display simply uses a plain VGA or DVI input... so works as a "dumb" screen.
So: I can offer to purchase one of theese units, and send it to Hoppie or one of our "computer gurus" if it could help making it PS13 compatible... or even better, supported by PSx "out of the box"!

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Moment... if they do not drive their own display, just piggyback on any external computer, this likely also means that their USB interface is just a keyboard. This contrasts with their claim that they need a USB-to-serial driver in the PC. Can you make sure what exactly the box wants to have before you purchase it?

If it is just a USB keyboard with a monitor plug, I don't need it local.

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Hoppie!

Yep... I guess you're right: I'll probably get a "CDU II" quite soon, to see what it is really... Maybe I can see it at my local computer shop, the guy at the aviation stuff know me quite well, so I may be able to get my hands on the unit for real, or at least see how it's plugged and handled.
The best would be if it were just a dumb USB keyboard, and a dumb monitor, assembled to look like a CDU. In that case, it would also run quite fin on any computer NOT running Windows... such as an Unix / Linux box, or a Mac computer, that also runs PSx...
I guess that the best way to use such units is with a netbook, as eeePCs or tiny things like that... maybe it already runs fine with your MCDU software, only needing another "keyboard" configuration...

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

I downloaded the manual, and the CDU II indeed has both a USB connection, a power connection, and a DVI/VGA video connection. The manual explicitly talks about a second monitor appearing in your Windows config. It recommends to drive this monitor in 1280x768, which is a very nice resolution for a MCDU screen.

All screen shots in the manual are ugly, as they use some imaginary software that uses Arial fonts and not at all the 14x24 matrix. However I am sure my MCDU does a decent job correcting this.

Apparently they went to a lot of effort to also provide a MSFS panel, which interfaces the MCDU to the plane. It looks like you can position the panel on top of some other panel, but I don't know enough of MSFS to judge this. In any case their whole setup procedure is at least as complex and error-prone as PS1.3+IPC+Broker+VMD+MCDU  :mrgreen:

What still does not convince me is the looks of the unit. Hm.

[luxpilot]

Hi again...

Wow...it didn´t know things would run that fast on this forum...I just sparked a match...and now people are already interested and now we´re close to a take-off with afterburner (sorry, the 747-400 doesn´t have any).

Here a few clarifications about CDU II:

1 - this is the next generation after CDU I - the picture shown by Jeroen is CDU I and can be neglected. That piece of equipment is worthless, compared to CDU II (it only displays 2-line messages, whereas the CDU II displays a window absolutely identical to the on on a real CDU - at least under FSX -PMDG 747-400 as an undocked picture in the virtual cockpit).
2 - It should be possible to programm the same picture with the right resolution in PS1.3 or PSX to be displayed on a 2nd screen - the one of the CDU II display screen which is a high resolution colour screen as opposed to its predecessor´s. (to be selected in the display settings).

3- Then, as Jeroen explained: the keyboard has to be encoded in the programming in PS1.3 /PSX and that´s it. Unlike its predecessor, CDU II has an independent power supply, a modern DVI connection (which I use on my second graphics card - I ave two with SLI), and a USB connection which is  ONLY for its keyboard.

I hope those few explanantions will provide the necessary technical details for further project development...

Have a nice weekend.  

Steve

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

We´re close to a take-off with afterburner (sorry, the 747-400 doesn´t have any).

We do JATO :mrgreen:

Here a few clarifications about CDU II:

1 - this is the next generation after CDU I - the picture shown by Jeroen is CDU I and can be neglected. That piece of equipment is worthless, compared to CDU II (it only displays 2-line messages, whereas the CDU II displays a window absolutely identical to the on on a real CDU - at least under FSX -PMDG 747-400 as an undocked picture in the virtual cockpit).

This still is not at all like the real CDU, which I copy below for comparison. Is the picture above really the CDU-II or yet another incarnation?

2 - It should be possible to programm the same picture with the right resolution in PS1.3 or PSX to be displayed on a 2nd screen - the one of the CDU II display screen which is a high resolution colour screen as opposed to its predecessor´s. (to be selected in the display settings).

In PS1.3 (i.e. my separate MCDU software) this is a piece of cake. Did it dozens of times before, as long as it is a normal Windows display driven by a normal Windows computer.

In PSX, you simply run a full copy of PSX on the MCDU computer and organise just one MCDU display to be visible, disregarding all the rest of the flight deck. Trivial.

3- Then, as Jeroen explained: the keyboard has to be encoded in the programming in PS1.3 /PSX and that´s it.

Trivial as well. Should you have this unit available, could you experiment?

What would happen if you DO NOT load any drivers in the PC, and just connect the module (keyboard only) and press all the keys one by one? Is is already working as a normal USB keyboard?

What would happen if you DO load the drivers in the PC, and then press all the keys while running some program such as Notepad? Which PC keys are linked to which MCDU keys?


Jeroen

[luxpilot]

Thank you for the good advice, Jeroen. I shall soon try those few things you said to get it to work under PS 1.3/PSX.

And, yes - you are right, the CDU II does not look at all like the real thing. But it has not originated from Ali Baba's cavern either...so don't try to rub it's magic colour screen, haha!!! (even though it only displays green text in different shades - it is able to display a zillion colours)  

But this is not what I said. I said: Unlike the CDU I, the CDU II displays a full window. Hence, this window can be programmed to look exactly like the real stuff - or as similar as it can possibly get...don't interpret this to far, this time! Here I have a picture which shows both the left and right CDUs in the virtual cockpit and another picture which shows the CDU II displaying the exact undocked window from the virtual cockpit (Captain's CDU) in PMDG 747-400 under FSX. By the way: the CDU II is rarely being operated with a blank keyboard - unless somebody not yet struck by Alzheimer's takes up the challenge of knowing the 45 keys by heart)! :shock:  :lol:




(Thank you, Jeroen, for your technical help to post these pictures:

You can use the Forum file drop to post pictures. It will return a URL to you that you can include here using the IMG tag.

http://www.hoppie.nl/forum/

- Now I can proudly pop a bottle of champagne, since this is my first time ever to post a picture on a forum...and to post a quote as well...    'Merry poppings' - I recommend: Don't drink & fly on PS.   :lol:)

Unfortunately, the outer look of the CDU II (including its keyboard) has not been made to look like the real stuff and it does not have any internal lights nor backlighting, nor does it have a 'bright' rotary knob (on the CDU II the knob placed above the 'EXEC' key is a FUNC knob to activate the CDU keyboard under FSX). But it is quite sturdy, reliable, and, compared to the one made by Engravity, it is much more accessible, as far as the price goes: ca. 350 bucks (USD).  
I hope though, cpflight will realize this and will produce a further version of it as a look-a-like to a real CDU, for something like 500 buckazoïds. Let's face it: even a nicely done mock-up overlay could serve to patch the image of the actual CDU II. That'd be really interesting...let's wait and drink tea. Lol    :roll:

Steve

[cavaricooper]

Jeroen:

I was very glad to see your suggestion of using a touch screen.  I just bought a 3M VESA mount panel, and I am waiting on the Power Supply and some cables.  I am excited about having the EXACT depicition available, as well as having the ability to populate the overhead and the center pedestal, and use touch on that as well!

I ought to be up and running in a week and will report back.  In the mean time if anyone has experience with this, I am trying to mount the panel upside down (on a VESA arm, off the desk leg by my right knee) so that all the cable runs will go back to the computer neatly, and need to know if this is possible in the hardware menus, or with the 3M software.

I am eagerly following the PSX threads and am looking forward to the release!  Please add one to the confirmed order thread .

Best- Carl

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Many computer video drivers allow to rotate the display (sideways and upside down) and there are several loose pieces of software that also enable this.

If you need a specific size of MCDU display which is not available in the distribution, just let me know the exact height and width. You will need to do a few things yourself but it is all non-programming stuff.

[John Golin]

Good to see FDS have updated their MCDU... very nice... now to win the lottery!

http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/prod_info.php?id=721

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Finally something that looks GOOD.

[farrokh747]

i've ordered 2....  

[Peter Sagar]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, however I was using it to help setup my new Opencockpits CDU, when I discovered an error in the key assignments.

Wrong line:

Code Select Expand

#67=\\3\\I\\4

Correct code should be;

Code Select Expand

#67=\\3\\N\\4

The error was causing the VNAV and PROG keys on the keypad to both select the VNAV page only.

Peter.