LINK2FS _inOut.

For FSX and FS9 (Fs2004)

For the ARDUINO MEGA, DUEMILANOVE or NANO Cards.

Or any other serial card that can be programmed to read/respond the same.

Overview ,,,,,

This program is really just a combination of my FSX and FS9 extraction programs and my “Keys” program.

Further details of my “keys” program are in another page on my website. http://www.jimspage.co.nz/arduino_keys_beta.htm

Its designed for using a single card as both an “in” and an “out” for cockpit builders to use with FSX or FS9.

The card does not have to be an Arduino ,, at the bottom of this page is the data format and any card that can read or write the same could be used with this software. You don’t have to use both sections. Any one section will work by itself. (Keys or outputs.)

This will work on an Arduino Mega ,, Duemilanove ,, Uno ,,, or Nano cards. (or anything similar)

A PDE file to suit any of the above is included with the download so you can get it going real easy.

The Interface ,,,,

The first output page running in FSX mode.

The first page in FS9 mode. (You tick what you want extracted)

The second output page. (Same in both modes)

The “Keys” section ,,,, (Same in both modes)

The circuit diagram (To get started) ,,,, (Mega or Uno) ,,,,

A demo of it going reading the Airspeed, Altitude, com1 frequency and com1 standby frequency ,,,,,

Instructions ,,,

In the download package there are full instructions with all the details.

As the end-user would be an “experimenter” rather than a “plug and play” type person the instructions are rather long and can be overwhelming ,,BUT ,, they do cover every detail (hopefully) that some-one would want. That is not to mean you need to be a computer geek to get something to work ,,, you don’t ,, its easy ,, it just means you have all the instructions/options for future fiddling if you get the urge.

You can download Link2fs_inOut (Suits both FSX and FS9) ,,, here ,,,,,

www.jimspage.co.nz/link2fs_inout_v1.zip

PDE compatibility between FSX and FS9 ,,,,

For the most part the one PDE will do both so you can use your project with either FSX or FS9.

There are only a few differences ,,, the data for motion platforms is presented differently and things like “no smoking” signs are not available in FS9.

In FS9 ,, the Com radio’s have only 5 digits where FSX has 6 ,,, to overcome this I added and extra “0” in the output so it will be compatible.

All in all ,, the things I could make the same,, I did ,,, but 3 or 4 things were just not available or worth the effort as they will probably never be used.

In the “Keys” section ,, you will have to be careful as there are differences between FSX and FS9 with the default keystroke allocations. You could however change one or the other if that suits, or ,,, another way over this is to have 2 installations of Link2fs_inout ,, one for FSX, the other for FS9 and you still use the same PDE.

Future versions,,,,

This program is in it’s infancy ,,, where we go with it depends on what everyone wants.

Keep an eye on http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/forumdisplay.php/323-Arduino-Cards-amp-Link2FS

To the “newbie” there is a lot of “hi-tech” chatter in these forums but my vision hasn’t changed ,,, I want to have simple projects for beginners there too.

There is nothing worse than researching something,, just to find that right from the start,, it seems away beyond what your comfortable with.

These simple projects will be posted on my website as well for the people that don’t like forums.

Once we get “settled” there will be simple projects for a Radio head, Autopilot, etc. and further down the track are 2 projects that I want to get into for me !! ,, a motorized throttle (well a motorized trim wheel at any rate) and a simple overhead. !!!!

Of course ,,, for the more adventurous ,, right thru-out all this you can always connect switch’s, meters, LED’s etc etc to suit your own idea’s. (Very easy to do )

Data format (for use with other cards) ,,,,,

Data from card to computer,,,

A typical data burst is (say) D180

The D is the “trigger” for the software. (Compulsory)

The 18 is an identifier (Normally a pin No. in this case,, pin 18) (must be 2 characters of 0-9 )

The 0 means that pin 18 has changed from “open” to “closed”

(a 1 instead of the 0 means it has gone from “closed” to “open”)

Sooooo,, in the above example (D180) it’s telling my keys program that pin 18 has just been closed.

Data from the computer to the card ,,,,,

Link2fs_inOut sends to the card any of the ticked items immediately if that data has changed.(Just the one’s that have changed)

Link2fs_inOut also sends, as a backup, the complete list of ticked items again every “so many” seconds. (Whether they have changed or not)

This “so many” is set buy the user in the drop-down box called “Refresh Timer”

In the top picture ,, note the transponder code (1200) and also next to its tickbox there is a “m” so ,,, the transponder sent data would be “m1200”.

Also in that top picture you can see the options available to handle the data burst to the card.

In normal Arduino use, the “CR/LF at end of cycle” and “Correct the + & -“ are ticked.

This “+ & -“ thing ,,, On some readings that can go into negative, depending on how the data is read, it is sometimes necessary to put a “+” in front of the normal reading. (The data burst stays the same length) (Yes I know it can be handled other ways ,, but I’m keeping it simple.)

Hint No. 1 ,,,

Read the supplied instructions.

Dated 17 July 11

Updated 20 July 11 Bug fix (Current Mach and ball position)

Updated 24 July 11 Bug fix (Fixed speed problem for rotary encoders)

Updated 9-Sept-11 Bug & speed fix, added more extractions, added more options.

Updated 4 Dec 11 To show the FSX / FS9 version