richfiles

Holy cows, this build is starting to look AMAZING! (As if it wasn't already...)

Should also add, my bad for not reading through 8 pages of comments before I posted the original message... I was on a 15 minute break at work at the time, so I only saw page 1. Sorry!

Fair enough. I'll admit, I made assumptions. No, I actually did not know that... So yes, I made assumptions, I jumped to conclusions. I literally thought this was some person complaining about the English word "Curvy" (Kerbalized). It's just that no one on the staff actually explained why it got canned in the actual Devnote. I had to dig down to page three to find the answer, and it still didn't even come from staff! It seems we were simply not on the same page. Just a simple misunderstanding. As I stated above, my assumptions and your assumptions were based on very different perceptions regarding what each other's levels of information happened to be. You assumed I knew about the word having a potentially obscene or offensive meaning in another language. I did not know this, cause it took three pages of digging to find the answer, buried in the comments. I had originally assumed this was an irrational overreaction to the literal Kerbalized English word "Curvy", which is a mere adjective describing an object with sweeping, non-linear surfaces. There never would have been a complaint if the reason for the removal had been made clear. Hopefully, no harm done. My anger was because I honestly thought Squad had become victims of "quit liking what I don't like-ism". Had no idea it was a literal translation gaffe! So yeah... I made an assumption. I have to accept fault for that. Thing is, I've had to deal with some rather... irrational people before, both online and IRL... I've had to put up with people who go out of their way to make trouble over things that are not meant to offend in any way, shape, or form. I actually have to deal with a person like that daily at my job... For the past three years... That's what I assumed was happening here, and I had my assumption ALL wrong. For that I do apologize. I certainly made an assumption out of me! Now, in regards to the devnote itself... Here's to hoping for moar™ transparency. Being straightforward and honest about why the action was taken would have prevented all of this. You can't assume that everyone follows reddit or twitter or whatever social media thing is out there that people use... I use the Kerbal forums, for Kerbal news, Kerbal... Everything! That's it! If you say in a devnote that you removed something, it's gonna raise questions... That's why I beg of the staff... Please! Answer the questions before they are asked! Had staff simply stated "Removed writing from Mk3->Mk2 adapter: brought to our attention the word may be an offensive word in another language"... That would have silenced all reasonable complaints over the removal, and would have prevented all this from ever happening. Thank you.

Thanks @ZooNamedGames and @Red Iron Crown ! You guys ROCK! This came as a total surprise!

It's SPI serial communication. You control these by sending serial data, and you daisy chain them, on display after another, up to 8 displays per chain. You can set up multiple chains though. The LEDs are controlled by a chip. You don't need to worry about resistors. There's an Arduino library specifically for controlling the chip these use.

That board looks very useful! I kinda wish i had one to plop on top of my mega! Love the idea of grouping the ports. I'm not experienced with C yet, but I have read up on what you mentioned about the ports, so that makes plenty of sense. I'm sure it makes plenty of common sense too, as i can say (from experience) that when I wired up my custom mechanical keyboard to it's Teensy 2.0, that it was a nightmare keeping track of rows, columns, pin numbers, and port numbers! Ugh! Hows that navball display going? You mentioned rewriting it for the Teensy 3.6, and it's beast of a CPU.

Howdy ho!

Yeah, I used the buttons for my DSKY keypad. I have TONS of buttons left. I also salvaged some 4 digit dot matrix smart alphanumeric displays from it. The video effects board cost me a measly $10, plus shipping, and was useless anyway, as it was only the control interface to a much larger system, which wasn't present. The buttons all have an internal LED, which you can replace with any color you like. The small buttons, you insert the LED from the top of the switch and solder it below, and the large buttons actually have built in sockets to plug the LED into. All of them allow you to pop the cap off, so you can place a custom legend into the switch. Most people who build DIY T-Bar controls do so by mounting the lever to a rotary potentiometer. The problem with this is if you don't do it right, you can cause a great deal of stress, and premature failure of the pot. The traditional method used in most manufactured ones is to actually use a pot at the pivot, but there will typically be a mechanical pivot or bearing that takes the load stress off the pot. The method I show makes a much easier to construct pivot, and results in a completely stressless interface to the potentiometer.

I salvaged a fader control from a video effects board. If you're looking for something similar, the keyword to be looking for is "t bar fader". Found one on ebay for $36. It's also possible to make a T-Bar fader fairly simply. You just need to make a lever that you can mount and move easily, that attaches to a potentiometer. One style I've not seen recreated is a linear potentiometer based T-Bar fader. One of the issues is making the pivot able to both stand mechanical stress, but also attach to a potentiometer. Most people just mount the pivot of the meter to a potentiometer, and call it good. On option you could do is to have the pivot me more mechanically robust by bolting it between two secure structural parts (like a sandwich, with the lever in the middle). You could also have friction pads at the pivot, and adjust the tightness of the lever by tightening the bolt (use a bolt with a self locking nylon insert nut to make sure this assembly doesn't loosen or fall apart). Then, to make the business part of the assembly, you have a slot in the lever that fits the slider of a linear potentiometer through it (or you can use a connecting rod style connection, either way works) I'd recommend some felt pads inside the groove, on either end, to keep the lever from "knocking" the end of the slot at the extremes of travel. You can have a pair of bolts on the bottom part of the frame to squeeze the pivot point, to adjust the tension of the lever.

I don't know how KSP is, but Farming Simulator 2015 for Mac used to hard freeze when controllers were plugged in, unplugged, or for that matter, even switched between corded or bluetooth! I got so fed up with it, I decided to try another game I'd never played before called Kerbal Space Program!

Gonna bite my tongue, mostly cause this forum censors anyway. This is the bull we get with over sensitive pc entitlement. SJWs have now effectively banned a shape desciptor adjective... That was Kerbalized with a "K". I can't wait for the freaking asteroid... May it land right where I live.

The problem is the Arduino itself. People are accustomed to big modern computers with huge memories... We are sending a 256 byte packet (0-255), but that little tiny packet is ACTUALLY 1/4 the entire memory of an Arduino Pro Mini or 1/8 the memory of an Uno. The SRAM of most Arduinos is not that big! We're running out of room in the packet, AND you have to consider that everything in the packet needs to be divvied up and dealt with in your code, before the next packet can be dealt with. Simply doubling the packet would drop available memory significantly, and that memory also needs to be used for executing your code! More data sent means the Arduino has less time to sort out the packet. Even switching to a Mega, for example, while it solves the memory issue, doesn't change the fact that you need to now split up the packet's data into different tasks, and perform those before the next packet. The Arduino is a very simple device, after all, when compared to the computer we run KSP on. That's not even mentioning the issues we see with communications. Minimally, if you want more data sent over... You need more horses under the hood, so to speak. You'll need a more powerful microcontrolelr than just an entry level Arduino, or you'll just give yourself nightmares. Consider things like the Due... something or other... The one with the much faster CPU. You'll need to work in 3.3 volt signals, so don't you be feeding it no 5 volts! Same goes with a Teensy 3.1 or higher, a Raspberry Pi, etcetera.

I don't think we have access to command the SAS vector controls yet. It'd be very nice to have a send byte that switches them though. If you want that, I'd suggest finding the KSP Serial IO thread. Not sure how accessible those controls are to mods.

Like this? That's referred to as a Planck in keyboard circles. it's actually got 48 keys (47 keys if you use a 2u space), and is very tiny. The Preonic adds another row of keys, giving you 12x5, or 60 keys (59 with a 2u space). Actual width is from your "1" key to your "=+" key. Ortholinear Keyboards Sells the Planck and Preonic. You could get a bare Planck plate, screw it right into your panel, and fill it with some MX switches and a keycap set, and you're golden! It looks like they have plates for it for around $10, and PC boards for $40. Gateron makes a good keyswitch, and you can go with any keycap set you like. Go with MX or MX compatible switches, as it'll make matching keycap sets easier. For me, I used a $20 Teensy 2.0 as my controller. You just solder the switches in a matrix. using some diodes. in one direction, and just wires in the other. You program a firmware (there are a lot of pre-made firmwares... I'm trying to decipher how to use TMK), and it becomes a USB keyboard. The PC board is nice,a s it saves a LOT of labor, supports LEDs, and is only $20 more for the convenience of not having to manually wire it. I HIGHLY recommend the PCB route. A little keyboard like that would be perfect in the center console, off to the side. Like I said, a Preonic adds the number row back in, but is the same width. If you want even narrower style, consider getting a number pad style plate. http://www.ebay.com/itm/141643552738 is a 4x5 switch plate for a measly $12-13 for a pair. In theory, you could arrange them as a keyboard of 40 keys, but split, like the two keypads of the shuttle... They also do a 5x5 plate, if you want 50 keys instead of 40. I'd recommend with something so small, just wire it up. It's not hard. Use a Teensy 2.0 to control it. I can give pointers on that. PS... If you want an old school instrument/vintage computer look, stick with SA or DSA style key caps. SA are tall, while DSA are low profile. An SA Row 3 profile produces a flat keyboard, while using an SA key cap set with other row profiles results in a curved keyboard surface.

Does Telemachus have the ability to send docking alignments? Yeah, docking is one of the last areas where KSP serial IO has not yet covered. Minimally, we need to know target closest approach, relative velocity to target, and for proper docking, we'd need target attitude. That's still a lot of values to deal with

@JeffSergeant That' is the most Kerbalishly beautiful thing I have seen all day! Even better... Have a small accelerometer on it... program it to flicker backwards at random, till you hit it. Then it's fine for a few hours! Then it'd be a feature! Now THAT would be 2Kerbal4U!

Fitting... You've made indicator lights using Kerbal eyes. Nice. Bill: "NOT MY EYES!!!"

Well, the translation joystick normally doesn't handle any rotation at all. That's what your rotational attitude joystick tends to be for. The joystick and two buttons is a reasonable compromise, but make sure it's comfortable reaching it with both hands. You'll find it gets annoying if you have to move one hand back and forth, and stressful if you're in a tight maneuvering situation.

It's the square joystick below and to the left of the leftmost display. Interestingly enough, it's not a redundant component. It's only located for the left seat position. LOL Spuntix, you beat me to it, and remembered the aft station! I don't think this project has an aft station, so I suppose I wasn't thinking about it.

I bought my navball from someone who got it after it was removed it from an Israeli F-4 Phantom flight simulator (don't know if it was retired, or refitted with a glass cockpit). Shipping it from Israel was spendy, but still worth it. I have a workable design for controlling it, and know the theory of operation. I've just been very lazy in getting all the parts together and figuring out how to actually assemble it all. Last year, I got horribly frustrated with a string of defects and problems I had with China, as well as some bad advice I got from another forum. green 7 segment LED displays with a WORSE than 50% failure rate, and people insisting a full software emulation of the 400 Hz sine waves (x10, with amplitude and phase differences) was possible with ten I2C controlled DACs (Digital to Analog Converter)... I eventually figured out that the I2C format can't even GO fast enough for the throughput I needed. I spent over $30, nearly $40 on a DAC + Amplifier board to do this task... only to realize I made a paperweight. If I can mod the amps to output DC voltages, I might use it to drive my 10 meters, just so it doesn't go to waste... Not much else I can use it for. As for the good news, I managed to find my old California Instruments Precision Sine Wave Generator. It'll fill in for a MAX038 chip. I know that chip's fab was destroyed (a flood or fire or something wrecked it years ago, and Maxim discontinued the chip. Funny how this analog digital hybrid chip is somehow STILL coming out of China with date codes... I don't trust 'em... I think i wanna get the enclosure, power supply, and the meters operating first. I KNOW I'll need help with the code to get the navball working.

I WISH so much, that I hadn't disassembled my Fairchild Channel F as a kid... And even this, I wish I'd taken better care of the controllers I kept for YEARS... cause they were so unique... It was a 3 axis controller. No joke... You held the base as a pistol grip, and the control was a triangular knob, like a shifter. You could push it forward and back, left and right, ROTATE it left and right, AND lift it up and down... It is by far, THE most ideal candidate for a translation controller I have ever witnessed... and I used to have two... Mounted endwise, into a panel, the up down function could serve as an in out for forward/reverse translation, and the up/down and left right would serve the same functions. Tying the rotation of the knob to your kerbal's pitch would be awesome, but I honestly don't know if that's a value KRPC has access to? I think it's possible by click dragging your EVAed Kerbal, but you couldn't guarantee that behavior with a "dumb" HID device just pretending to be a mouse. I think you'd need to actually be able to command EVA pitch specifically. It's shockingly similar to the actual NASA translation control! Otherwise though, the joysticks I bought are 3 axis, with a button. They move forward and back, left and right, and they can also twist left or right. eBay Joystick Even cheaper, but no button Don't worry, there's plenty by just searching "3 axis joystick" or "4 axis joystick". Nice thing about the ones I use, are they are analog. Less important for RCS, but VERY useful for the rotational stick! Also, this was just too funny to not share, cause I have that exact style chair, in that color, minus the fun goodies. There's your retro style translation control! Just add moar boosters! Hmm... The more I think about it, the more I wonder, could I make a traditional translation control fit my particular controller arrangement...

How is this gonna be oriented? Trying to figure out the controls above readouts.

I belive @DrunkenKerbalnaut is referring to making the markings of the physical meter generic (Resource % or Fuel %). You would then have a switch or button selector that displays the fuel of choice, and an LED maybe that lights up to indicate what type of fuel is currently displayed. With 2 or more meters, you could still do this, but have a selection of resources to display. Since most rockets use Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer as a pair, there's little reason to show both, but you could show, say Liquid Fuel and Solid Fuel on two meters, then in orbit, maybe you switch to using an Ion drive, so then you select the first meter to show Xenon and the second to show Electric Charge. It'd also give you some meter versatility if you have a toggle switch to select stage vs total (and have the software apply the correct value, where applicable, to the meter).

I was using that tool ALL wrong... I actually gave up, not realizing that it doesn't fill in the empty RC value... I see now that you have to play with it. So plugging in 66k and 10µf results in a rise time that doesn't level off till nearly 3 seconds in... That's an impressive delay. a 2.2µf cap will do full rise time in 0.6 seconds, with minimal ripple. 4.7µf will take 1.5 seconds to rise most of the way, and fully settle a bit before 2 seconds. Trying it with a 1µf cap gives a <0.2 second rise time, with just a tiny trace of ripple, that isn't really gonna show up at all. I'd say, if you wanna experiment, and you either don't have a parts shop near by or you don't wanna wait for parts online, go and find yourself any random old bit of electronics, even a thrift shop gadget, and rip out a 1µf to 4.7µf capacitor. 4.7µf is probably at the absolute top end of what you could use. It's slower, but not ridiculous. 1µf to 2.2µf is probably ideal, and many, many small gadgets ought to have something you can scavenge. If you find ceramic caps, then 105 and 225 are the number codes that refer to 1µf and 2.1µf. Those numbers will be printed don once side of the capacitor. A ceramic capacitor can be installed in any polarity. There is no negative or positive. The following are all ceramic capacitors. You'll most likely run into 1-2 and 4-8 (left to right) in old electronics (1980s/90s vintage). Polyester caps (they look like bigger versions of 2, 4, and 11) are also without polarity, and will work just fine. They may use the number code like ceramics, or have printed values. Probably the number code though. That's all, if you feel like scavenging from old junk. I rather enjoy tearing things apart, but then, maybe that's just me.

Too big of a capacitor, and the needle will become sluggish. Basically, too big a cap and it'll slowly move to 100% when you send a signal for 100%, and it'll drop slowly when reducing the PWM signal, which if you're burning fuel faster than the drop rate, would give you a false reading. the 10µf is probably okay to try. It's already probably at the very top end of sizes that'll be suitable. Now, if it's the type with a polarity marking, make sure that you match it up with he polarity going into the meter. 10µf is probably pretty big to be anything other than an electrolytic capacitor. They usually have a stripe or (-) marking that denotes the negative polarity lead. Here is a pic of what you most likely have on hand: And just because the somebeaches have GOT to mess with ya... Here's the markings for SOLID electrolyte caps (just incase this is what you have instead), cause the manufacturers just GOTTA be contrary! Ornery backwards confusing manufacturers... Pick a standard!