Newbi help?!

hey guys, just wrote an essay and then pressed some key on my wifes notebook and its all deleted, fkin tiny keyboard but i was saying how impressed i am spending the evening looking at your posts. Talented you are certainly!

Can I ask a few questions.

Ive ripped a keyboard, is this going to be rubbish to create a cockpit, all the keys then multipliers plus the key, do i need to use some of the things you have mentioned (USB controllers??) if so, despite looking at the french website and your posts, can you explain how these work in relation to a switch? I have two wires coming off a switch that goto a USB controller...what happens next?

What switches should i use, i have some pushbuttin but what about lever type switches with the 6 points on the bottom and 3 positions. Position 1 is off, 2 is on what is 3 and in position 2 is it just going to carry on hitting 's' for example.

Anyone in Aus...Rexel, Middies and so on seem a bit expensive and Bunnings has fk all electrical!

Thanks you guys, im planning a generic aircraft cockpit with 2 head down displays, 1 showing the gauges and the second a selectable head down display, fuel, weapons loadout or ir/laser.tv for guided weapons and a plasma for the cockpit screen. What do you think?

Car seat from the scrap yard for the Martin Baker Ejection seat

research - research - research....Thats the key. The first thing everyone thinks is "buttons buttons buttons" But idealy the first thing to be planned is the pit itself. What material will you be using?

Do you have a plan?

What will the panels them selves look like?

Once you have that - then you need to be looking at the electronic side of things.

First some real advice - If your loking at buttons and toggles for god sake stay away from chain stores, I get everything (that includes 40 buttons this week) from china (hong kong) - Ebay is your friend and is very cheap.

If your pit building on a budget - i would recomend Leos stuff. He makes cheap joystick interface cards that can be wired to switches and buttons. he can be found at www.leobodnar.com

There are several pit builders here who use the boards and one or two (me and Bad CRC) who use these exclusivly.

As for the toggle switches - the contoller that you buy will account for that and there are plenty of people who can help with that when the time comes.

In the mean time - welcome to the Pitty section of the forum - and dont be a stranger!

I agree Got to have a plan or at least a idea of what you are going to be using as materal to mount things. I was thinking of trying one of his boards.

Your right about the switches, I was like a kid in a sweetshop and I havnt got a design! I will work on that and leave the elctronics for now. I did have a look at leo's site and his controllers and ebay at switches just because!

Im thinking a compromise pit might not work on DCS cos unless I map all the switches Im still gonna need a keyboard for the other controls. I might just do a desktop panel for starters whilst i learn my limits.

Ive got a triple screen setup at the moment running on softth so I could start small, invest in a 7" LCD and build a panel for the weapons control? I'll give it some thought today.

Have a good NYE all!

Check out http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/ for some good keyboard encoders and http://www.allelectronics.com for some switches. Basically, these encoders look at the position of the switch (On or Off) and send keystrokes the to computer when a switch position is changed. So all you have to do is wire the ground wire to a switch, and then from the switch back to one of the terminals on the board. It's rather simple once you figure it out.

But I must agree. Design your pit first. And of course, enjoy it! Building a pit is lots of fun, especially once it's all finished and you're flying in it (and showing it off to all your friends!)

Aero

I'll be watching this thread, great tips.