AIRBUS 2 SIDESTICKS

[bwilliamson]

One of the problems I have not solved yet, so perhaps someone may have some ideas as to the best way of using 2 joysticks in an A320 sim.

Not sure how to switch between 2 USB sticks on one computer though.

I was thinking of changing from the joystick I have at the moment, which is connected via the Simboards card, and using 2 usb sticks. I then have to connect one or the other with the 2 priority switches on the Airbus panel, and also get the switches to indicate which is in use with a led. Should have built a Boeing !!

Any suggestions would be great..................regards, Brian W

[Pete Dowson]

One of the problems I have not solved yet, so perhaps someone may have some ideas as to the best way of using 2 joysticks in an A320 sim.

Not sure how to switch between 2 USB sticks on one computer though.

I was thinking of changing from the joystick I have at the moment, which is connected via the Simboards card, and using 2 usb sticks. I then have to connect one or the other with the 2 priority switches on the Airbus panel, and also get the switches to indicate which is in use with a led. Should have built a Boeing !!

I'm a little confused by your question. Why would an A320 be more or less difficult for attaching 2 joysticks to FS? And what is the problem with having two joysticks connected?

Providing neither of them suffer from "jitter" (that is, changing values when not being touched), you should be able to simply have them both plugged in and assigned at the same time.

If they do jitter and so interfere with each other, you can get around this with a registered install of current versions of FSUIPC. Assign the axes in FSUIPC instead of FS, with the "direct to FSUIPC calibration" method selected, and FSUIPC will arbitrate between the two inputs for the same FS control, taking the one with the highest deflection.

Regards

Pete

[bwilliamson]

Thanks Pete but I need to switch from one to the other, which is on the A320 panel. In other words one stick has the priority.

Regards.................Brian W.

[Pete Dowson]

Thanks Pete but I need to switch from one to the other, which is on the A320 panel. In other words one stick has the priority.

But surely the "stick with priority" is the one which is actually in use? What is the other one used for when the "priority" one is being used?

With FSUIPC's arbitration (or even without if there's no jitter), the stick in use will be the stick in use and therefore the one "with priority", assuming the other is not in use for other things.

Otherwise i am sadly completely misunderstanding you still!

Regards

Pete

[bwilliamson]

If you look at the instrument panel of the Airbus you will see what we call left and right glare wings. On the left is a button which switches off the joystick to the co-pilot and visa versa on the right side.So whoever wants to fly the aircraft pushes the priority button on the panel which disengages the other control stick. Ok, we probably do not need to go to this extreme, and I guess the main reason for disabling one stick, is that you do not slow roll when the co-pilot leans his beer on the other control stick !!

Regards....................Brian W.

[Pete Dowson]

If you look at the instrument panel of the Airbus you will see what we call left and right glare wings. On the left is a button which switches off the joystick to the co-pilot and visa versa on the right side.So whoever wants to fly the aircraft pushes the priority button on the panel which disengages the other control stick.

I think you could probably implement such a scheme using a Lua plug-in for FSUIPC to process the axes and simply discard those currently switched off, but ...

.... we probably do not need to go to this extreme, and I guess the main reason for disabling one stick, is that you do not slow roll when the co-pilot leans his beer on the other control stick !!

Exactly. I think you could have a button which doesn't really do anything. Or if you were really keen you could do it in hardware, of course, routing whichever wire it is providing the main signal, or power, or more likely the common return connection, through a push-button toggle switch.

If you want any help with Lua after reading the manuals and my supplementary documentation, let me know! ;-)

Regards

Pete