Airbus Software Idea Suggestions Please

[nexiss]

Hi All
I am in the early stages of planning my own home built sim based on the A320, I have been researching this for about six weeks now, I have cads all drawn up and due to my good computer and networking knowledge I have worked out most of my hardware issues. My problem is this, LOW BUDGET, I looked into the AST platform www.airsimtech.com that was kindly suggested by Barry Kensett who has built his own wonderful A320 Pit (you can see it here http://www.a320sim.com/), However for the time being this software is way out of my financial reach. So I have come up with an idea after reading this http://www.avsim.com/pages/0402/pss_airbuspro/pss.html So Based on the fact that Project Airbus FD’s are very good and the model looks good I merged the PSS A320 panel with it, apart from a slight EGT over heat and a bit of rewrite to the flap config it’s a good mach. As the Avsim review stated the displays can be undocked and moved to different monitors and resized, ideal for a home cockpit build. However once I shut down Flight sim 2004 and restart everything defaults back to the original setup, this is going to be a real pain in the butt in a home built cockpit having to go through the undocking and monitor setup every time I want to fly the sim.
Has anyone tried this before and does anyone have any suggestions of how I can get around this little snag. If this problem can be sorted it would in theory be possible to run a full blown home Cockpit with one Good Spec PC with 4 monitor’s and one screen projector.
The one other problem I can’t get my head around is how to make the throttles behave like Airbus throttles i.e. the throttle gates, has anyone managed to do this.
Any ideas or input would be most welcome.
Regards Karl

[pnog]

Hi Karl,

I'm also using the PSS for Airbus panels.
Take a look at my cockpit
www.pedro-nogueira.com/A340 (http://www.pedro-nogueira.com/A340)

I don't have any problems about panels positioning, you only have to save your flight on FS2004.

My problem is about fsuipc offsets, PSS panels don't use standard offsets.

If you want, contact-me pnog@netcabo.pt

Regards.
PN

[Trevor Hale]

Hi Guys.

Ok here is the Deal.

My first sim was completely run on the PSS A330 aircraft. if you look on my website, I still have 2 videos of my A330 pit.

as you said, once you undock your windows where yuo want them, you will need to save the flight, and your golden.

Place a Y cable on the pilot and First officer monitor cable and presto your configured.

Now for the fun part. PSS kindly provided a keyboard interface to be able to program your entire pit through key presses. So you guys can happily purchase any type of interface that uses Key presses. Hagstrum makes some dandy's and you program the key presses through FSUIPC.

The only place, and I mean the only place your going to have troubles is with the 7 segment displays for the autopilot Heading/altitude/speed.

If yuo were to buy an interface that does 7 segment displays you can program them to show the Altimeter setting and everything is standard Flightsim even the radios, and batt voltage. you can read the Flightsim offset numbers.

But again the FCU on the PSS does not change the standard Flightsim default Autopilot heading/altitude/and speed.

So if your happy with just not displaying that information on 7 segment displays, then you will have a perfect home built simulator.

This is the same with the PMDG 737, except PMDG made it so that their autopilot was displaying the actual heading, altitude, and speed of the flightsim default internal autopilot.

Hope that makes sense. Happy Landings,

Trev

[Trevor Hale]

Oh and one quick other thing. I saw years ago a free program, I can't think of the name, I think you can still download it at avsim that assigns gates to the different positions of your throttle.

you run the little utility and at each point in your throttle yuo make a mark and it will set those ranges so that when the throttle is within that range, it moves the throttle to the specified gate,

However with that being said, if you read the FSUIPC manual, you may be able to assign keypresses for each position of the throttle. If I remember right NUMPAD + and NUMPAD - to cycle up through the gates and back down them.

I just can;t for the life of me remember the name of that little TSR program that would run my gates for me. But someone is bound to remember the name of the program I am talking about.

Best regards,

Trev

[pnog]

Hi Trevor,

For me that is the problem, I can't make my 7 segment displays, Autopilot and Radios.
Inputs, is ok, I use the Opencockpits boards for assigning keys.
But on your nice videos you have the 7 segment displays working ??? How did you do it ?

Regards
PN

[Trevor Hale]

Well that is the rub.

Thats when I realized that I could go no further using the PSS Software. When I took those video's I was using the Project Magenta FCU Demo.
running with the PSS gauges.

Sorry to say but if you want 7 segment displays on the FCU, you won't be able to use the PSS, you will have to go to either Project Magenta, or ast, or something like that.

Sorry, but there is no other solution to that dilema, trust me, I searched for months, and ended up just saving ever extra 20 bucks I had until I could afford PM.

Trev

[pnog]

Do you know if CLS Airbus use standard offsets ?
CLS also permits to undock displays.

For PFD and ND I'm also testing the great software VasFMC, it has Airbus and Boeing and could run in a networked computer.

Regards.

http://www.pedro-nogueira.com/A340

[Trevor Hale]

Hey Pedro, I don;t know of that aircraft, but what I can tell you is this. There is a quick and easy way to tell. Install the aircraft and gauges, or talk to a friend of yours that has it and ask him to do the test for you.

Add the default Cessna autopilot gauge to your panel.cfg doesn't matter where the coordinates are, as it is only temporary.

Turn the hdg and altitude and speed knobs on the FCU, if the speed, heading, and altitude on the cessna Autopilot follows the FCU numbers, your golden.

Trev

[pnog]

That's a good suggestion.

I will try that.

Thanks for the idea.