ozbeowulf

I've always used two momentary switches to operate F6 & F7 (without checking, I think they're the default keys). I use a large double throw momentary switch with a lever attached. Tap it down and the flaps move down to the next position listed in the aircraft.cfg file. Likewise for up. If you want have the lever to move to, and stay, in different positions, you could rig it to trip a "down" microswitch going one way and an "up" switch for the opposite. Might have to have several switches, all in parellel, between lever indents, but it would work. Frankly, setting an axis and assigning positions based on pot position sounds like the long way around to me. Good luck, Glenn

It's been an interesting morning.... A few years ago, I tested this idea with just a 330 ufd cap on the leg to be delayed and it worked. If it hadn't, I certainly wouldn't have gone to the trouble of building console loaded with DPDT switches. This morning, I sorted out the problem, I think. I dug out a small keyboard emulator I built some time ago to use with the electronic charting system I have on board. I hacked a USB keyboard pcb for that emulator and I finally remembered why. I had found that the old DIN and current PS2 keyboards would only accept one cursor key at time, but I could move a map cursor diagonally using two cursor keys on the USB keyboard I used everyday. So I picked up an el cheapo USB keyboard back then and used it. And not only does it accept dual cursor inputs and respond with a diagonal movement, it also will take CTRL (or SHIFT) + L (for example) and produce a capital L. Don't know exactly why, but it acts like there is a logic circuit that differentiates between two simultaneous keypresses and sequences any CTRLs or SHIFTs first. I haven't tried TAB as a combo key yet, but I suspect it won't work. We'll see. Anyway, I just picked up three more of those cheap Chinese keyboards (US$7.50 from a local discounter) and I'll use one of them. I can't imagine why I started this upgrade with the old keyboard pcb instead of newer gear. Brain fart, I guess. I'll probably put a lone cap into the circuit just for overkill, but so far I haven't been able to induce a failure, even without the cap. Many thanks for your advice. This seems like a minor FS watershed to me. Who needs an EPIC card or FSBUS if we can get 240-odd single-switch keypresses from a down-market keyboard pcb and use that to take advantage of the wide variety of FSUIPC commands. Gotta go fully map this pcb and get to work. Cheers, Glenn

Whoops! When I posted the previous message, the different margins on the board messed up my admittedly primitive text-based circuit diagram. In plain language, the flow is from an input on the short side of the keyboard matrix through a 1 K ohm resistor to a 1000 ufd capacitor which is paralleled by a 1 K ohm resistor to an input on the long side of the keyboard matrix. Glenn

You got in one, Bob! Specifically, I'm trying to get one operation by a DPDT switch (momentary, center-off) to perform a combination keystroke. CTRL + E is simply an example. A reliable method to do that would triple (approximately) the available commands accessible with single switch operations. So far, after bread-boarding various combinations, the best results come with this R/C circuit on the side of the DPDT switch to be delayed. (short side of keybord matrix)------vvvvv---|--| |---|--(long side of matrix) |-vvvv-| The resistors are both 1 K ohm and the cap is a 1000 ufd electrolytic. It delays the "e" signal to produce a CTRL + E on 80-90% of switch ops, but the remaining 10-20% of the time it either blanks (i.e. only the CTRL gets through) or only the E gets through. So... not good enough yet. I've varied both the R and C elements of this simple circuit somewhat and results drop off, but I will experiment with the major decrease in R and increase in C you suggested. Btw, I know a proper time delay circuit would involve using this sort of R/C circuit to switch a transistor or 555 IC on and off, but I need many circuits and would have to introduce a separate power supply to my small sim console. I live on a boat, so space is at a premium. I'd like to keep it small and simple, i.e. one console structure with no power needed beyond what the computer supplies via the hacked keyboard pcb. Thanks for the reply and for grasping my earlier posts. I was barking up the wrong tree, I guess, but I thought I'd explore a software solution. There doesn't seem to be one, so I'm back to re-jigging the hardware. Cheers, Glenn

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. The R/C circuits I mentioned were Resistance/Capacitance circuits. I want to introduce a small time delay for one pole of a double-pole/double-throw switch to emulate the sequence, for example, CTRL, then E. Since I have not yet been successful, I wondered if the proper sequencing could be introduced using FSUIPC. Apparently, only through Button Programming, which doesn't help me. Too few buttons are available. I'll try a different approach. Thanks for your time. Glenn

I'm working on a new sim console and trying to use DPDT switches for combination keys such as CTRL + E or SHIFT + F7. The obvious problem is that simultaneous presses of CTRL and E keys will not reliably produce CTRL + E. So far, experimention with R/C circuits to induce the needed 10 or 20 millisecond delay between the CTRL & the E (for example) has not been fruitful. FSUIPC button programming allows such combinations for a single button press by staggering the combination keys, but I cannot find a way to do the same thing with a key press (as opposed to a button press). Am I missing something in the User's Guide and Advance Guide? Many thanks for any help you can offer. Btw, many thanks also for FSUIPC. I used earlier versions and purchased Ver3 in a heartbeat when it came out. Glenn Duncan Townsville, Qld Australia