What! You don't want to make it yourself?
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:47 pmNo problem.
Easy as pie.
I've mentioned the Arduino boards and how they can be made to easily do a great many things. But some of us can't, or simply don't want to, go through the trouble of using something unfamiliar to us.
I'm no Sprocket, myself. What I make (usually) works, but lets face it, it's not a work of art.
And I also know that many just want the least amount of flight sim hardware, for various reasons.
But what about those who, like me, really hate the idea of hunting for keys on a keyboard to control your aircraft?
There are solutions, such as putting labels on a spare keyboard, but even the best of them don't look very good. Not to mention, you're still looking for (labeled) keys on a keyboard.
Not very pretty.
P.I. Engineering makes a variety of key/button pads and strips that look good, but are expensive even for their smallest, the XK-4 Stick, at $99.95.
Other choices? Well, you could save a lot of money and make one yourself.
Well.... Yes. There IS a very good product at a relatively low price. And I've just ordered one.
It's from Derek Speare Designs. They're primarily made for sim racing, but a few are aimed at flight sims. Others would be great at any kind of combat games such as DCS, not just flight sims.
What I've just ordered was the DSD Flight Series - FLT1 with the red buttons for $99.75.
The FLT1 will handle all the radio/navigation inputs that I want, with the five rotary encoders at the top, and a lot more.
Also, the red buttons should come close to the ones that I used on my Arduino based GPS, which is why I used them.
Also, it looks far better than what I could've built myself.
It's seen by the computer as a USB game controller, so programming it is no more complicated than programming the buttons on a joystick.
Hopefully, I'll have it by the end of November. I'll write an update then, of course.
Easy as pie.
I've mentioned the Arduino boards and how they can be made to easily do a great many things. But some of us can't, or simply don't want to, go through the trouble of using something unfamiliar to us.
I'm no Sprocket, myself. What I make (usually) works, but lets face it, it's not a work of art.
And I also know that many just want the least amount of flight sim hardware, for various reasons.
But what about those who, like me, really hate the idea of hunting for keys on a keyboard to control your aircraft?
There are solutions, such as putting labels on a spare keyboard, but even the best of them don't look very good. Not to mention, you're still looking for (labeled) keys on a keyboard.
Not very pretty.
P.I. Engineering makes a variety of key/button pads and strips that look good, but are expensive even for their smallest, the XK-4 Stick, at $99.95.
Other choices? Well, you could save a lot of money and make one yourself.
Well.... Yes. There IS a very good product at a relatively low price. And I've just ordered one.
It's from Derek Speare Designs. They're primarily made for sim racing, but a few are aimed at flight sims. Others would be great at any kind of combat games such as DCS, not just flight sims.
What I've just ordered was the DSD Flight Series - FLT1 with the red buttons for $99.75.
The FLT1 will handle all the radio/navigation inputs that I want, with the five rotary encoders at the top, and a lot more.
Also, the red buttons should come close to the ones that I used on my Arduino based GPS, which is why I used them.
Also, it looks far better than what I could've built myself.
It's seen by the computer as a USB game controller, so programming it is no more complicated than programming the buttons on a joystick.
Hopefully, I'll have it by the end of November. I'll write an update then, of course.
