ohMorrissey

Is there anyway to increase refresh rate on external devices? The data is updating real time on the host PC but on a separate Raspberry Pi the refresh rate isn't too great, (using for a sim-pit) Could I make the Data sent across smaller? (Remove the data I don't want) Thanks

I'll give both a try individually then together if it doesn't help enough, Ill let you know My more demanding functions are run once over about 60 loops, I use a global timer, Originally when I used my IC's the shift in and shift out functions caused SerialIO to drop out (They use bout 30ms worth of the delay function), so now it runs over multiple loops, eg: int GlobalTimer = 1; void loop(){ input(); if (GlobalTimer == 1) { // Pulse latch pin } if (GlobalTimer == 20) { // Read first pulse from ICs } if (GlobalTimer == 23) { // Read Second pulse from ICs, etc for all 8 pulses, 3 ms apart } if (GlobalTimer == 60){ // Run HUD functions GlobalTimer = 0; } GlobalTimer++; delay(1); }

I have my simpit finished and functional, control and all (windows 10 btw!) Is there anything that could cause intermittent connection drops? The code multi tasks to read 5 ICs and write to one screen but it doesn't stop talking to KSP while it does so, was wondering if there is anything else?

Enclosure 20180425 Busy life got in the way for a while but I am back on track for finishing the build, The enclosure was designed on Inventor like the rest of the panels, that way I can get the vector files for the laser cutter but this time I could also use the parts to make rendered assembly of both the enclosure and final product. The enclosure is made of 6mm MDF, laser cut and designed to fit together like a 3D puzzle. It worked better than I thought. As the edge left by the laser isnt perfectly straight, there are some gaps here and there, the execution wasn't perfect but still looks incredible. As I am trying to punch out the code before Uni gets really ramped up for the semester, it shouldn't be too long until this bad boy is working fully. Ill record a video of it working, I am thinking of starting a proper YouTube channel and start doing a lot more builds as we are building a big workshop on the new property. Possibly thinking an R2D2 next as it has been a dream since a kid. That might be a 2019 job as I am really knuckling down on study. Top Post

Final Laser Cut Panels 20180224 started looking at acrylics for my final panels, originally I was looking for a solid grey, but the only ones I could find were too light for my liking, I found a frosted smoke colour that I loved and went to paint the back, the hardware store I went to didnt have white acrylic spray paint but suggested a self adhesive white laminate to do the same job. The splash back effect looks way better than I had hoped, the white text on the front casts a shadow on the splash back white of the back, The first attempt didn't work properly, the laser was set to cut 3mm acrylic, but (just a theory) the laminate on the under side absorbed too much of the energy which bowwed the sheet. so after a while the laser was out of focus but made for some cool fireworks, but didn't cut all the way through on 70% of the first cuts. ( as shown in the third photo) I just used a white paint pen and coloured over the etches, gave it 5 minutes to dry, then wiped the excess paint off with a paper towel and some isopropyl alcohol spray. I will post pictures of all the panels soon, with all components installed. These photos are from the first lot, the second has a few changes that Ill note.

Printed switch guard Update 20180222 Ever since I started, i've seen other use switch guards, some use evenly spaces U bolts to give that affect but I wanted to look close to the real deal, which are sold for about $20USD a pop plus shipping from America,. so I decided to 3D print them, I designed them to slide over the switches and they have little grooves in the panel to slide into, so they can be discreetly hot glued in place from behind, The end product looked really good even for a 3D printed finish, cost me $2.50 to print all four at the Adelaide FabLab, ~20mins printing time each Top Post

Final designs Update 20180216 The designs are somewhat final and ready to get laser cut, They are all on a templated sized panel so I can interchange them as well making the build completely modular if I want to redesign the enclosure later (Hinting at a full seated simulator in the future maybe). The Red lines are going to be cut, all measured to fit all the switches and joysticks, the blue is going to be etched and coloured in with white paint. So because kerbal serialIO doesnt have the mode feature implemented yet, I thought id use a knob just above the attitude controls to swap between rotation and translation, but I also include a mode for fixed wing flight, So that while landing a lander on a planet, the joystick x axis is for yaw you can switch to fixed wing and make the x axis roll. This gets around the one problem I hated about using a joystick for in KSP Top Post

Shift registers and PCBs Update 20180215 After making a speedsheer of all my IOs on my mega, I figured out I dont have enough pins for my build. (I know, running out of pins on a mega? How? Less than 60 Digital pins on the mega, more than 60 IO pins required for switches, joysticks, LEDs and LCD screens.) Ive taught myself 99% of the build so far, shift registers couldnt be so hard? After a decoder function, its fairly easy. So easy Ive actually decided to use shift registers on the back of every panel to reduce the wiring, Ill make PCBs like the one for the screen for every panel. I used a binary counter to test my warning matrix and it worked really well. 4 pins (3 for shift, one for extra IO) to control the whole matrix of 9 LEDs? You beauty Top Post

Warning LED Matrix Completed 20180212 Update Just finished the final touches on a warning light matrix, I had the back section 3D printed and while I was looking at acrylic options for my final panels the guy at the store recommended this frosted clear acrylic to go over the top as a defuser. Regular LEDs weren't bright enough I bought super bright LEDs from little bird electronics because they were a little cheaper than Jaycar and they squeeze perfectly into the holes, with a little bit of super glue to keep them in place. I had paper for the labels originally but it was too grainy and while not even looking for another option my plastic store recommending the frosted acrylic and getting the labels printed on transparent sheets at office works. The plastic still didn't defuse enough and gave a centred focus light, so 1/8 of a cotten bud in each of the boxes absorbed enough of the light to make each section light up completely evenly. It's unfortunate that I didn't notice till after glueing and soldering everything together that one or two of the lights are darker with a green tint but it's not too big of a deal. Using white means at this point I won't gave coloured warning lights but I actually love the final look. Top post

Warning LED Matrix 20180211 Update Working on a matrix of warning lights to incorporate into the build. At this point im planing on having it 3D printed in the fablab reasonably cheap, I only have to pay for the filament I use. I want to spray paint the inside of the boxes white so the light reflects off all sides. This is the warning labels I will print off and have over the front, most likely laminated if it works well. I'm thinking about making them flash for the first 2-3 seconds when they turn on to catch your attention better than just lighting up. Top Post

Autopilot controls, control via KerbalIO, 20180210 Update So I've fiddled around with the output function in KerbalIO and it's working well with my Windows 10 and I've just figured out how to use it well with my build. At this point I want to scrap the keyboard emulator portion of my build which will mean only one arduino. I don't know how Kerbal serialIO will run with two arduino's plugged in so I may run some tests later but at this stage i'm axing that part so I will lose the game controls like the map function and camera control but I may bring that back if I ever make a full enclosure with no keyboard space. Using KerbalIO for the controls gives me access to using the autopilot modes at the touch of a button. Prograde, retrograde, maneuver node and target etc SAS modes. It can also allow for some more creative coding which gives me more functionality options than I had before when using Keyboard.h emulation for the controls. At this rate im sticking with the microswitch joysticks instead of pots even though Kerbal IO allows for custom analog axis. I still like the feel of the arcade style more than the realism feel. This may change if I get to building a full cockpit in enclosure 2.0 but I dont know until its all working Top Post

Dual Screens and First Circuit Board 20180208 Update So obviously this project had been left alone for a while, I got a HTC Vive for my 21st and had been between using that and concentrating on uni, moved jobs a couple of times and left this on the back burner. After a very insightful meeting with someone in the Project Management industry he encouraged me to pick this back up again. I have been working on it for the last couple of months and by the time of posting this, I've actually almost finished, but i'm going to post updates sporadically to keep things spaced out. I have soldered up my first circuit board to save a ridiculous amount of wiring, it is wired to run to LCD screens independently but shared all but one of the wires (latch pin I believe). Using these Protoboards from Jaycar I can wire the several LCD pins straight to 5v and GND respectively, without having to have the long mess of wires going straight to the PCB at the arduino end. At the moment the wires are plugged in to mirror the screens but they are able to be controlled separately. So far my plan is to have four buttons controlling the info selection mentioned in the previous post, and control the screens together instead of independently while still displaying different info. The Connections just use basic headers and female to female jumper wires that I didn't pull apart after buying. You can see the resistors for the LCD backlight and the 7 input headers in the middle. The group of four control serial communication and the other three are the two seperate latch pins as well as the clock pin. The final two headers at the back are just the 5v and GND connections. I still have to had pull down resistors and headers for the buttons to select what data the screens will show. Top Post

I got the modes working when I coded it so that the SAS is always on when the code is running, and the button changed direction (Pro/Retro) when (HIGH/LOW) and worked, the example code only activated SAS when the button was (HIGH), might be a Win10 bug? still working towards doing exactly what you are trying to do but i'm gonna construct my panels first. PS: The example worked but mine didn't, found it only worked when I copied all my added code back into a fresh set of demo16 files. Couldn't find any difference between my old code and the copy back into the fresh files but it worked after none the less.

Hi, Im playing around with controlling SAS modes, and I can't get them to work, Just wanting to clarify that void controls(){ if (connected){ if (ButtonState){ setSASMode(2); } KSPBoardSendData(details(CPacket)); } } should engage prograde SAS? if not what am I doing wrong Edit: KSP version and Pluggin are up to date, Windows 10 Im using a mega