Greetings, all!
Other than posting several questions, I haven't introduced myself yet. I am a Falcon addict, former co-Falconeer with HatTrick, who really gets the credit for starting me down this path, and I've also started up the learning curve in DCS:BS. I'm in the process of building a custom 'pit.
I started by looking at the physical 'pits over at
Viper Pits, but the realistic part of me thinks I lack the hardware/electronics skills necessary to build a physical 'pit.
I was at the I/ITSEC government contractors trade show and noticed how most of the real-world milspec simulators are now "all glass 'pits". These full-sized physical layouts of tankers, fighters, and helos mostly utilize very-large-format touchscreens with animated switchology (some of these 'pits have 8 to 10 what-look-like 3 foot x 18" gorgeous touchscreens laid out side-by-side along the side panels and for the instrument panel! Awesome, beautiful, and functional.
I asked one of the smaller vendors, who had a 6-screen helo sim running "how much" and he said "one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollars"!). But I digress. What I saw made me wonder if I could build an all-glass 'pit using touchscreens.
That, and HatTrick's work in his profile, led me here.
I recently purchased an
MSI all-in-one PC with an 18.5" touchscreen in 1366x768 running Vista, and
seven Mimo 7" USB touchscreen monitors in 800x480. I already had a
37" Visio widescreen TV running as my desktop system monitor.
My goal is to have the server system (a WinXP system which runs Falcon) with the 3D-view (or HUD view) on the 37" Visio, which is currently on a pedastel above my desktop; the front instrument panel on the 18.5" MSI client standing on my desktop below the Visio, and the auxiliary and side instrument panels on the Mimos, stacked one on either side of the MIS, and 2 on each side to the left and right of the cockpit seat.
I have a progress report: I have successfully run TouchBuddy and Falcon Guages on this setup (client sytem, MSI touchscreen plus 3 Mimos, laptop plus 2 Mimos), with the guages animating and TouchBuddy sending key commands to Falcon. Three of the Mimos are currently plugged into the MSI; two Mimos are currently plugged into an HP Pavilion laptop running WinXP.
Three of the Mimos profiles are TouchBuddy only; 2 of the Mimos, plus the MSI touchscreen have transparent masks in their TouchBuddy profiles with Falcon Gauges animating beneath.
2 of the Mimos are unconnected as of yet, as I am out of USB slots and the Mimos aren't recognized when plugged into the powered USB hub I purchased.
I'm not out of the woods yet. I posted a question in the "How To" thread pertaining to finishing the 1366x768 profile for the MSI touchscreen. And I might have a few more questions. I'll post up my successes and failures as they happen. If the Mimos don't work out I'll probably switch to non-USB connected touchscreens. When the whole thing is running smoothly, and winter sets in, I will hit the workshop to build an appropriate framework for the 'pit.
Wish me luck; I'm a sick b*stard
