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Construction of the custom desk is complete! It just needs electrical work! Electrical work is done! Pictured above, the current (as of Dec 2020) mockup of my end goals for this project. I've been working on this project on and off since around June of 2015... I initially first appeared on Page 6 of the Simpit Repository where I showed off some really nice hardware I'd collected for the project. The goal is to create a controller using real instruments to provide readouts of orbital data, temperature, fuel, electricity, and other critical values. The controller will have joysticks and toggle switches and other controls to command the in game vessel. I'm using this project as an opportunity to force myself to learn C programming, and as a furthering of my electronics hobby. While this thread has a LONG way to go to catch up with my progress, I'll work on it over time. INSTRUMENT PANEL PROGRESS STATUS DESIGN HARDWARE SOFTWARE Assembly: Completion % 100% = Difficulty••• Completion % 100% = Difficulty••• Completion % 100% = Difficulty••• Analog Resource Meters 0% • Vertical Velocity Meter 90% • 0% • Radar Altimeter Tape Meter 80% • 0% • DSKY Numeric Readouts 10% • DSKY Units Readouts: ------- ------- ------- Diode ROMs ------- Address Decoders 75% • 25% • 0% •/• DSKY Annunciators 90% • 75% • 0% • DSKY Keypad 90% • 90% • 0% • Delta V Carriage Meter 25% • 0% • 0% • Navball Controller: ------- ------- ------- 400Hz Sine Gen ------- 115vac Amplifier ------- Synchro Emus 25% • 0% • 5% • AUX Data Display 25% • 0% • 0% • Velocity Readout 95% • 0% • Attitude Rate Meters 50% • 0% • 0% • Bezels 10% • 0% • ------- As of September 9, 2024, the desk is fully completed! Desk -- CONTROLLER PROGRESS STATUS Not yet officially started, but many individual components and designs have been established, including the support frame. The control panel, fortunately, is a much simpler build electronics wise. It's mostly machining panels and mounting hardware. Solder all the bits together, add some communication to the instrument panel's main controller, and that's it! Part of why this has taken so long, is it's not only a learning process, but I've split my time with other projects. My custom mechanical keyboard was built to work with this Kerbal controller build, and will actually slot into the controller! The number pad magnetically detaches, so when my keyboard tray is extended, I have full use of the extended keyboard, but with the tray pushed in, I can set the number pad aside, and use only the core keyboard! This is the button that started it all. I was inspired by how AWESOME this button looked, and how big and red and "Aborty" it could potentially be! The Instrument panel enclosure is a re-purposed Harris Stereo 5 console that was saved from the local AM radio station. You can see several instruments here. On the right is my analog vertical velocity meter, and in the middle, my FDAI. The Flight Director-Attitude Indicator, more commonly known around these parts as a navball, is a real awesome find! I'm in the process of building a controller for it, but that is a daunting task... It requires nine 28 volt amplitude modulated sinusoidal outputs that are controlled by multiplying DACs, and a 115 volt sinusoidal reference source to provide both power and synchronization for all the 9 other signals. This is the keypad I made for my "DSKY", inspired by the DSKY (DiSplay KeYboard) of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC). It normally lights green, but can flash red if there is an alarm condition... Such as the "I'm about to pop like an overheated popcorn kernel" condition. My throttle lever (as well as the keys for my DSKY keypad) were salvaged from an old video effects controller board. I have a LOT of these relegendable, backlit push buttons, in two different sizes. My analog meters are inspired by the edgewise meters used in the Apollo Command Module, Lunar Module, and Space Shuttle. I'm taking the extra effort to print proper scales that use the Futura typeface that NASA used, and follow an overall design that visually resembles the Apollo instruments. Likewise, Tape Meters were also used as instruments on Apollo, and even more so in the first revision of the Space Shuttle, before the glass cockpit upgrades. Tape meters have a long tape on spools. The numbers scroll passed a stationary pointer, the opposite of what an analog meter does, where the pointer moves over a fixed scale. This allows very large scales to be depicted, limited only by tape length. The meter I have will be reprinted with numbers corresponding to the radar altimeter. This is the complete DSKY. I'm currently working on it, and getting it to the point where I can control all the LEDs right now. Current progress has all the large numeric LEDs controlled by MAX7219 controller chips, and the small 7 segment display and one of the three alphanumeric displays is currently functional. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cwm_xQZsFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwXZKIfvEkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wlv3oyobcg Flashy, isn't it! I've been making diode ROMs to decode characters for some of the LEDs. These cost me literally nothing but time to make, and they satisfy my interest in basic digital circuits. I also rather find I enjoy three dimensional free form circuitry! So yeah... I'm enjoying this part! In all honesty, I really should have started this post back then! I was just collecting parts back in those days, and always said I'd start a dedicated thread when I began assembling things... The Simpit Repository is now up to 23 pages at the moment I'm typing this... It just grew to incredible proportions, and a few times I felt a little bad for dominating the thread with build posts (that really belonged here), but at the same time, I knew my work was showing other people how to do things, and keeping the Repository frequently in the lime light. It just grew to a size that felt too big to abandon, and too big to move the content. I'm starting this post, because I think this build HAS started moving at an accelerated pace, and It should have a dedicated place. I'll build this post up gradually, to cover not only the new content, but to consolidate the content I posted in the Simpit Repository here as well, so the entire build process is properly detailed. I had debated whether I should move content (remove from the Simpit Repository, and replace it here), but I think that'd be unfair to those who replied or were inspired by that content. I'll eventually consolidate everything here, but I'll leave my old posts at the Repository alone. as for new posts, I'll still post at the repository, but I'll no longer post massive multi-image mega build posts... I'll keep my posts there a bit more basic, and put the details all in this post. I'll still offer my knowledge to answer questions people have at the repository. That won't change. It's just silly that I've taken THIS LONG...

Built this controller last year for KSP2 and was super disappointed when controller support was nerfed. However, thanks to mods (InputBinder), I can finally play around with it. It was inspired by actual spacecraft docking controls, but I wanted a small gamepad-style controller. The translation, or docking, handle on the left-hand side moves forward, backward, left, right, upwards, and downwards. It took a lot of prototyping to get to work correctly... The joystick on the right is a standard analog joystick with 3 axes: pitch, roll, and yaw. If there's enough support, I could publish the plans and bill of materials. I estimate it's about $50 to build. Construction: 3D printed housing Arduino Pro Micro Custom code library for USB devices Standard analog joystick 2 x analog sliders 3 x toggle switches 2 x square push buttons 1 x round, recessed, push button 1 x custom 3DOF docking stick 6 x microswitches 2 x springs Plunger-handle 2 x pencil springs to center Z axis Lots of painful prototyping........ This is the translation controller on the latest Boeing capsule. I believe it also rotates for attitude control making it 6DOF.

I have copied the controller from @Wurmi and would now like to upgrade it to simpit and an Arduino DUE. Unfortunately, I always get this message when I try to install it, and the message also appears in the examples. c:\arduino\libraries\KerbalSimpit\src\KerbalSimpit.cpp: In member function 'bool KerbalSimpit::init()': c:\arduino\libraries\KerbalSimpit\src\KerbalSimpit.cpp:54:54: error: 'SERIAL_RX_BUFFER_SIZE' was not declared in this scope printToKSP("Buffer receive size : " + String(SERIAL_RX_BUFFER_SIZE)); ^ Does anyone have a solution?

No longer maintained: I don't maintain this mod any more. @Simpit Team have taken over supporting and working on the mod, please see their new release thread. What does it do? This plugin maintains serial connections to one or more hardware devices. Each device can register to receive information that it explicitly wants to receive (for sending to a display, setting off an alarm, triggering a PC shutdown when your vessel runs out of power, etc). A device can also send commands back to the game (stage your rockets with a big red button, build a custom HOTAS to pilot planes, control your EVAing Kerbals with your treadmill, etc). The plugin comes with a companion Arduino library, to make it easy to get started building interactive Kerbal hardware. No really, what does it do? It lets you build things like this: What does it run on? I officially support and test this plugin with 32- and 64- bit KSP on Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. Previous versions of Windows... probably work, but you're on your own. Most microcontrollers should be supported, but only a few have been thoroughly tested so far. Refer to the Supported Devices page of the documentation wiki for more details. If you're using something different, I'd genuinely love to hear about it. What sort of information can I send and receive? The plugin currently sends: Altitude data (sea level and surface. Velocity data (orbital, surface and vertical). Apsides data (apoapsis and periapsis). Time to next pair of apsides. Resource levels (stock fuels, ore, ablator, etc). Action group status. Target information (distance, and relative velocity). Current SoI. The plugin is able to receive commands to control: Custom action group commands, with full support for Action Groups Extended actions. Regular action groups (staging, abort, RCS etc). Main throttle. Vessel rotation and translation. Wheel steer and throttle. Eventually the plugin will be capable of sending most of the telemetry you'd expect from stock KSP and mods such as KER. It will allow full control of vessels and Kerbals, and some limited interface control. Where can I get it? Search for "Kerbal Simpit" on CKAN. I only support installation of this plugin through CKAN or similar mod managers. The only other automated module manager I'm aware of KSP Mod Admin, but I've been struggling for weeks to get it to run on any of my test systems. If there are others around, I'd love to add support for them. Note for the few folk who tried out prerelease builds: You should probably remove the custom CKAN repo from Settings -> CKAN Settings. I'm not uploading releases there any more, and it will eventually go away. The source code is available from https://bitbucket.org/pjhardy/kerbalsimpit/overview . Binary releases sit in https://bitbucket.org/pjhardy/kerbalsimpit/downloads/ . What else do I need? This mod uses Alternate Resource Panel for all of its resource information. Without it, none of the resource providers will send data. This mod will make use of Action Groups Extended if it's installed. With it, all 250 action groups can be accessed. Without it, only the stock 10 action groups will work. Where can I get the Arduino library? Search for "Kerbal Sim Pit" in the Arduino Library Manager. Its source repository is at https://bitbucket.org/pjhardy/kerbalsimpit-arduino/overview . How can I use it? For full documentation, refer to https://kerbalsimpit-arduino.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html Quickstart guide: Install the plugin. Configure the plugin. An example config is in `GameData/KerbalSimpit/PluginData/Settings.cfg.sample`. Either copy that file to Settings.cfg or just launch the game once and let the plugin generate a default config. Refer to the Plugin Configuration page on the wiki for details on how to set up ports. Install the Arduino IDE and install the library. In the IDE, browse to File -> Examples -> Kerbal Simpit. Select the KerbalSimpitHelloWorld sketch and flash it to your board. Run the game again. The plugin will log successful device handshakes to KSP.log. Changelog: Full changelog is available from https://bitbucket.org/pjhardy/kerbalsimpit/src/master/CHANGELOG.md?fileviewer=file-view-default License: This project is licensed under the Simplified BSD License.

I've developed a simple tool for testing/debugging custom display/controllers which use the KSPSerialIO mod by @zitronen This allows you to monitor controls from the Arduino, as well as send control values to the Arduino. Reloading KSP multiple times, and the lack of real time onscreen data make this tool a bit more efficient in finding what isn't working. It also allows you to test/play with your display or controller without loading KSP. The project is open source and can be found on my github at https://github.com/bolwire/KSPSerialIODebugTool Thoughts ? Ideas ? Found a bug ? Please reply to this thread. Once things smooth out I will add a link in the application to the Report Issue feature on github, as well as this thread. Currently this only runs on windows, and you must build it from the source.

It might have been a year ago that I first saw someones custom controller for KSP on the internet. I thought: "man, I would really like to be able to build one of those, but I am lacking some serious skills". After tinkering with Arduino's for a few months and learning how to solder from YouTube videos, I thought: "hey, maybe I can create a Kerbal Controller!" Now that it is almost completed, I would like to share my build process with you all, including parts used, design drawings and Arduino code. I hope it will make it easier for some other KSP fans to get into building one. [UPDATE]: Instructable here: https://www.instructables.com/id/KerbalController-a-Custom-Control-Panel-for-Rocket [UPDATE]: I have uploaded all files to my github page here: https://github.com/hugopeeters [UPDATE]: It is done! This is the finished product: But first, back to how it all started. My first test was to use a slide potentiometer to control the throttle. I did this using an Arduino UNO with UnoJoy. It took some trial and error to get it to run on my mac. I ended up not using UnoJoy in my final build. I'll explain later. Step two was to think about the number and type of buttons and switches I would like to use. I created a prototype layout in Sketchup. I ordered a bunch of parts. And a soldering iron. Trying the layout in real life. First buttons installed. Testing out the LCD display. With the LCD display, I started using KSPSerialIO (props to @zitronen and @stibbons and any other people that worked on this plugin!). The hardest part of getting this to work, is variable type conversions. The plugin defines that the apoapsis in this example is a float. SO you have to do this trick to convert the value to a string or array of chars that can be sent to the display. This is the code I used for the test. //Apoapsis char bufferAP[17]; String strApo = "AP: "; if (VData.AP < 10000 && VData.AP > -10000) { strApo += String(VData.AP,0); strApo += "m "; } else if ((VData.AP >= 10000 && VData.AP < 10000000) || (VData.AP <= -10000 && VData.AP > -10000000)) { strApo += String((VData.AP / 1000),0); strApo += "km "; } else if ((VData.AP >= 10000000 && VData.AP < 10000000000) || (VData.AP <= -10000000 && VData.AP > -10000000000)) { strApo += String((VData.AP / 1000000),0); strApo += "Mm "; } else { strApo += String((VData.AP / 1000000000),0); strApo += "Gm "; } strApo.toCharArray(bufferAP,17); writeLCD(bufferAP); This is the shoebox prototype with all the parts I tested with installed. And here is the mess of wires inside. I didn't want to have to desolder everything when moving to the final faceplate, so I used a breadboard for temporary connections. Enough info for today. In the next part, I'll show how I moved from the shoebox to a lasercut MDF faceplate and changed out those big arcade buttons for something way nicer! Stay tuned.

Arduinos are amazing; there is so much you can do with them! Evidently, one of the things you can do is make a customized control panel for your favorite pseudo-realistic space simulation game! And now begins the process of making an idea into reality; my very own space age control panel which will make using my keyboard utterly pointless! This project, and also the control panel itself, will be called the Kerbal cONtrol PANel, or KONPAN, for short. Until it is finished, or I tire of trying to, I will be posting pictures of my progress on this epic project of epic proportions! To start it off, here is a picture of the "pre-pre-alpha prototype" I built just yesterday: image here UPDATE 1: new image of the pre-alpha prototype; now labeled! UPDATE 2: Finally out of pre-alpha and now into the alpha development stage!

Hello I'm Crawcik. This mod is did not come out. Come back later But I show you the prototype for testing mod:

Hey everyone. I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, but here it is. I am - like many others - making a physical KSP controller. In my case, with my uncle on the "physical" part (soldering, connecting, wires, etc.). I'm doing all the "digital" parts. I'm using kRPC with python, connected to an Arduino mega, all using lawnmowerlatte's python to Arduino framwork, using a serial connection. Our first prototype is working wonderfully, and we're planning out the full thing (it's going to be big). The aim is to be able to fly a mission with one person being mission control - having the map view. And the other being the pilot - only having an IVA view of a window. Our current prototype: Prototype (how do you embed pictures?) This post serves not only to show you people what we've been working on (as we think it's very cool), but also as a few questions: 1. We'd love to upgrade with another Arduino at one point, running a little screen with a rendering of a navball, similar to this. How should we go about this? Are there any resources available? 2. We're worried that our endless Python loop will be running so many button checks and kRPC calls, that the delay on things like single button presses and 7-segment screen updates will be too much. Will this be a problem and/or how would one work around it? Thank you for reading -FP

I have been working for the past couple of years on a project to create analog gauges that could display some of the game information. Finally, I also developed a program to display the ground tracks and flight profile. Both rely on the mod telemachus and its http server to get the necessary data. Here is the final result. I didn't spend much time on the board itself, as I wanted it to work properly first. The gauges display most ressources of the game (liquid fuel, oxidizer, monopropellant, etc...) and three other parameters: Gs, vertical speed and atmospheric density. I also used two 8 digits 7-segments display for altitude and speed since both these values can vary a lot in the game, it didn't seem appropiate to use the analogue gauges. I recuperated the screen from an old laptop to diplay ground tracks or flight profile. 1) Gauges The core of the gauges is a micro stepper motor X27-168. They are sold as automotive spare parts, mostly for US brands, and quite easy to find. There are quite a lot information about them, especially on Guy Carpenter blog http://guy.carpenter.id.au/gaugette/ The plastic support is 3D printed In order to control the motor, I am using an arduino Uno and the motor driver vid6606. Through my various trials these came to be the best solution. It gives smooth needle movement and is a very flexible solution to add/remove gauges. Each one of those can control 4 motors. The arduino itself is connected by USB to a raspberry pi that sends the http request and calculate the required position for each motor. I had initially tried to control all motors directly via the raspberry pi, but the result wasn't as good: when all values were updated simultaneously, some lag and stutter could appear on the gauges. 2) Ground tracks and flight profile I thought it could be cool to have be able to visualize the ground tracks of a vessel in orbit. Again this is using data pulled from telemachus. Some settings available: However, this is only good in orbit, so I was also inspired by the mod Houston and made a mode to display the flight profile when not in orbit: I initially wanted this to be also diplayed by the rapberry pi, but it wasn't as smooth as when using my laptop, so I finally gave up on that. It was the first time for me to code and I'm sure it could be made much lighter to work well with the rapberry pi though. I had a great time creating all this (more maybe than using it...), I hope you like it too. Let me know what you think!

Joystick I've made for flight sims. Works in KSP also. -Rotary encoder on thumb, for prop pitch, reset by pushing Switch for brakes -Trim sliders for pitch/yaw -Trim potentiometer for roll -Rotary encoder for radiator (outputs an axis reading, resets by pushing) -Rotary encoder for time acceleration Controller is Arduino pro micro. Hot glue is used to fix the part to the throttle. Saviour-tape to dim the Arduino lights. Nothing too special, but looks kinda kerbal.

So I'm working on a project to create a custom home made controller for KSP using an arduino mega but I am very new to using an arduino and with talking to the game so I was wondering if anyone could help me with getting a single switch when flipped to progress to the next stage of a rocket (in my eyes this is on the easier end of controls to figure out but I'm a moron and even from my research I have been getting confused. I think I need to use zitronen's KSPSerialIO mod but I'm not sure this is what I need again I'm just looking for help with one switch to change one thing on the game (the switch is a off - momentary on type of switch so a "push button") Please and thank you.

Hi there! Some mates and I participated in this year's SpaceApps contest by NASA on the Jet Set Mars challenge. We focused on developing a complete solution for a Mars-suitable jetpack which included an exoskeleton and a custom HUD. It seems NASA liked it, because we are currently Top-5 on Best use of Hardware category. Aaaaaand, of course, we used KSP to simulate it! Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtIp6Wt2hk The official NASA project page: https://2016.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/tech/jet-set-mars/projects/mars-upv Our website: http://www.marsupv.com/ In our prototype, the helmet included a IMU to sense the orientation of the wearer's head. This information was then sent to KSP via a custom HID USB device the game interpreted as a joystick input. Besides the helmet movement, our prototype had two joysticks which enabled full use of KSP's EVA functionallity (and the prop-pack reacted moving the nozzles and illuminating) Hope you like it! Germán PS: if you want to see more, our github repo is on NASA's website. We are part of http://www.makersupv.com/, a student community on the Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.

Current Progress Shot List of posted updates and developments - Mid-May (2015) update - Annunciator Panel mount, Shift-register board, and dual-coloured LED panel mounting - Mid-June (2015) update - Completed 3D printing upper panels with black spool - Late June / Early July (2015) update - completed testing of LCD + 7 Segment displays, finished wiring, began writing the code / testing [lots of internals stuff, SPI issues] - Mid July (2015) update - Labeling the panel + Annunciator - Mid July (2015) update #2 - Master Alarm system Arduino Code / sketch samples Here you will find some sample code that will hopefully help others out with problems they're having, or implementing certain features without getting to the point of wanting to put your head through a wall Previous Development Photos Credit I have to give much credit to zitronen- For the work he's put into creating the plugin that many of us are using to create these controllers, and the support given not just to the plugin, but also with general arduino problems / queries! Thank you! T.A.P.O.R, who personally helped me to get my head around the 7-segment LED screens, along with some additional insights shared. Thanks heaps! Freshmeat, & stibbons, who often (and regularly) have something incredibly useful to add - or assist when the going gets tough, and nothing on google makes sense -- Thank you! Also, credit to AmeliaEatyaHeart for creating the LedControlFunctions 'function', and for various insights shared in a variety of threads; thank you. Mulbin & Marzubus - whose own hardware projects inspired me to start my own. Outside of these two, every other hardware project has provided guidance / inspiration / ideas of some kind. So thank you to everyone in this community sharing their own ideas, interpretations, and struggles. We all benefit from them! Specific Feature Credit Whilst reading different forum threads, various members have commented or made suggestions of elements / features that they want to include in their own projects; some of these I quite like, and wish to incorporate too. I shall provide credit here - with a link to the post - in acknowledgement. Mulbin - dual-coloured LEDs to display more information about the state of the craft. AmeliaEatyaHeart - Flickering panel lights when low power ************************************************************* Background & Long-term project I would love to eventually create a fully immersive simulator, which would have two components: A mission Control, with projector and a few consoles, and a 'shuttle' / cockpit. The two would be separated by a wall, of some kind - and then there would be communication with headsets, which would increase delay to simulate real-life distance delay. No idea if I'll ever get there, but a guy can dream So in the mean time, I will work on a smaller-scale personal physical console for use whilst playing KSP. I'm still debating creating joysticks - as my Logitech proves to be ridiculously useful for that stuff; so why re-invent the wheel? Build, Parts, Plans & Ideas eBay Parts list