Sputnix

[quote name='stibbons']... almost accidentally, I had a functioning navball.[/QUOTE] I found this a few times with my build too :P Seriously -- I am in awe of your skill and what you've accomplished. That looks so awesome! :) Great work! On a practical note - do you think it will be as functional without the finer details we get on screen? [Either way, it'd be pretty neat to have a display flashing that up! :D ]

[quote name='stibbons']So here's how I planned on using multiple microcontrollers in my panel: [LIST] [*]A master manages the connection to the PC, and acts as a master on an I2C bus. [*]One or more slave microcontrollers register on the I2C bus as slave devices. [*]Whenever the master receives a VesselData packet from the PC, it sends that packet on the I2C bus, using the [URL="http://www.i2c-bus.org/addressing/general-call-address/"]general call address[/URL]. [*]I don't currently have any plans for slaves to be able to send data back, but if the need arises the master can poll them. [/LIST] I'd implemented this system using an Arduino Mega 2560 as the master, and a Pro Micro as the first slave running the seven segment displays on my current board, and everything works great. This afternoon I started trying to integrate the Teensy running my navball display, as a second slave on the I2C, but ran in to issues with it fairly quickly. Turns out the [URL="https://github.com/nox771/i2c_t3"]i2c_t3[/URL] library for Teensys does not support general call packets. Probably something I should have checked before trying it instead of blindly assuming it'd work, but still. I think hacking the library to support general call shouldn't be much more than flipping the appropriate register during initialisation, but it's still a fairly intimidating proposition for me. So I may end up just updating my master to send packets to slaves individually. That seems gross and inefficient, but I should have enough spare CPU cycles on the master to get it done without any lag.[/QUOTE] This is awesome! I've been interested in going to a similar level; but my understanding of communication via serial is still very basic. I'll be watching your progress *very closely* (or 'with great interest' as Palpatine would say :P )... I love that virtual navball. The graphic reminds me of that old F-15 Falcon game (you know, the one they had for the 286? Or maybe I'm talking to the wrong crowd :rolleyes: Keep up the amazing workd! :D

[quote name='JTpopcorn']Where did you all learn how to do this, I would really like to learn/make my own, but it is really confusing to try to figure out what to actually do. Thanks, -JT[/QUOTE] The best inspiration is to have an idea and go from there :) Most people here have some sort of background either in computers, some electronics, or even more mechanical stuff. I hope to be doing a series of videos soon going through the process of building your own simpit (doing a variation on my own build); but the best thing you can do is (money permitting, of course) is to buy an arduino kit off ebay, and start playing / learning about how it works and how to do stuff. That will give you a point of reference to build from. Otherwise, there are also small little hobby / electronics kits you can get (at least down-under, not sure where you're from, and what they have where you live) that can help step into electronics. There's three key areas with this stuff - Construction, electronics, and programming. Your only limit is your imagination, your bank account, and also how much one is willing to invest in learning and understanding. And this community (I've found) is great. If you have questions, shoot me a PM. I've already helped out a couple people on the forums as much as I can :) I'm no expert by any stretch, but I'm always happy to try and help out :D

Thanks! It's nice to be back (into the land of coding + playing!). Gosh. That's way too hardcore man :/ puts the rest of us to shame. What made you choose that LCD display?

I've got IDE 1.6.3; the path Zitronen refers to is accurate for this version. I might have missed this - what version windows do you have? Have you got hidden files / folders showing? (on the off chances it's hidden);

That's so cool! Nice find!

I'm gonna try get to this - if only to see this thing in real life, and talk to its creator!

Yeah, that's Stibbons Build: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/102513-My-KSP-control-panel He's got access to some mad fab equipment

Huzzah! We have life! Thanks Stibbons! You rock!

Funnily enough, I thought that I shouldn't because it wouldn't work I'm not using any mods either. Very Vanilla. Installed KSP Engineer Redux last night, but I'll remove for testing. And no, I've been using 115200 as my Baud rate, because it seemed to fix the issues I had with v12. So I will do some testing with that too. I forgot about that thing Thanks for the reminder I'll try to increase the arduino serial buffer today and I'll report back here with my findings [And I'll try using your plugins, Zitronen, before trying Zalta's] Thank you *** UPDATE *** That linked worked. Increasing serial size seems to have done it. I'll do some more testing, but hopefully this should be the solution! Thanks for the reminder, Zitronen! Yep. Confirmation here -- that's a go! Thanks again!

Hello all; It's been a while. Zalta -- thanks for your hard work! I've been having troubles with the latest plugin since it was released. I would have intermittent connects. Like, you'd go to launch, and it could be 1 min, it could be 15 until the plugin started talking to my controller / Arduino. The previous version worked immediately, with no issues. You could jump between ships, go from VAB to ships, etc -- always seemed to work. I'm running Windows 7, 64bit I've included the video so you can see the 'normally' pre-load process, and what kind of activity should be working when the plugin is communicating with my arduino. * * I just tried Zalta's plugin. Here is what I found - Launching a vehicle that's already on the pad: connects within 15 seconds or so. Launching a vehicle from VAB - long delays; doesn't seem to connect. Reverting to launch whilst mid-flight; when you're back at the pad, it doesn't connect. I found I'd have to go to 'Space Center', unplug the USB, reconnect, then go and launch the vehicle sitting on the pad. That worked. When going to the 'Tracking Station', there was a whole host of weirdness (see video below). I would get music; but nothing on screen. Then, I would go back to space center - and I'd just get stars. I'd shut down the game, and start it up again. Then, the vehicle I had tried to 'switch-to' using the tracking station will have completely disappeared. I lost two 'deep-space probes' testing this Your plugin is eating my vessels!!! [it's ok, I don't hold you accountable ] So, it's definitely an improvement... but with it comes another series of problems. (Jump to 1:15 to see the tracking station weirdness)

Hmmz. That's some very interesting insight. I'm learning a lot through using the Arduino. I'm used to high-level language land where there are no limitations [there are, but they seem negligible in most environments I've dealt with] I'll definitely have to look at that. From memory, I was only using like 12% of the available memory. Thanks for the link RE: Serial buffer size. I'll have a go at that during the week and report my findings here. Crikey! You unsoldered the entire bundle of wires!!! o.O That's super determination right there! Looks fantastic -- but gosh, how long did THAT take you?!

That's pretty much what I've been thinking for a while. Although, I'm thinking 3D printing. Question is - can it be done relatively cheaply? A spool of about 700gram ABS is roughly AU $30 ~ $40. Such a cover would likely be about 15 ~ 25 grams (depending on fill, and how you designed it). I'll let you know how I go

There was some brief footage shot; for some promo or something. I haven't seen it surface. I was a part of a display / informational booth on 3D printing, and was using my controller as an example of 'real-world' applications. I'm wanting to do an over-view video of it and post it here to show how it works (unfortunately, I'm not cool enough to have famous e-celebrities come around ). However, the latest version of KSP_Serial_IO has communication issues. Amelia and I have informed Zitronen about it; but he hasn't been able to replicate. Which is annoying cos there's a couple of additional elements of the latest I'd like to implement. We'll get there eventually I may just revert back to the previous version for my video...

Nice colour! RE: Module. Can you swap them out? make complete 'working' sets? [assuming the LED modules aren't soldered] Or is it the complete module that's FUBAR?

Gosh, you were game letting them play with it! I had mine on display at a recent education conference, and there were some primary school kids there talking about stuff they were doing in the classroom; and while they were waiting, and I let them have some fun launching rockets into space; but I kept an eye on them. My controller isn't built like something out of Soviet Russia like yours I was a little surprised as to how much more use having such a console is to the gameplay too Makes it all the more worthwhile!

Connector 'A3' hasn't been wired up yet!

Some people get all the luck! Nice one, Stibbons! It was really awesome to see it in action; I love the switches for the 7-segment displays. Really neat idea! Do you get much lag with data being sent to the secondary arduino for the displays, or is it negligible?

Those things have definitely seen better days. I wonder how the modern versions fair (and whether they degrade as much / quickly). I read somewhere about the fact that they had a particular version of the spacesuit in storage because it was surviving better than any of the others; cant remember whose / which mission it was from. It was Apollo era, but that's all I remember. :/

... and the amount of debris present after the fact

I believe the key thing Richfiles is after is to allow for electro-luminescence in one form or another.

Is it sad that I read that as 'kerbal'? :/ HAha! Cr4SH iT! Nice! It's very bright o.O

I'm not sure if this was asked -- how come you built such a large enclosure? Do you plan on putting additional elements in the top ('unused') area? (or does it just look big because of the photo )

I know the feeling Great effort though. I remember the first demo code I wrote to ensure all lights were connected to where I thought was way off You have a controller now; you can have fun, and design a v2 if you feel so inclined! xD [i know I probably will at some point once I actually complete my v1 ] Could you please share a link to that print library? I suspect it might be useful to a few of us