Which aircraft are best suited for home cockpit builders?
All,
I have been building a generic home cockpit sporadically for a couple of years now. I am now at the point where I wish to commit to a more specific cockpit. At this point, I have reviewed many postings on many sites, and not ever found a complete list of which add-on aircraft work well with cockpits and which do not. I am also interested as to what methods are needed for each - that is to say, do I need a utility like "KeytoMouse", or can I assign keystrokes and/or buttons to various actions.
What I know so far is as follows:
1) Keyboard Encoders:
* X-Keys - USB or PS/2 Available - looks like 128 key support and macro support. Have not used it yet personally, but looks like an excellent bang for the buck @ $60 (
http://www.x-keys.com/custom/xkmatrix.php)
2) Joystick Controller:
3) Misc IO methods
That being said, which aircraft lend itself to what type of IO??
* For my generic setup and the built-in Cessna 172, I can do most everything with the FSUIPC software. Both writing my own C/C++ code to interface to rotaries, switches, and LED's to the on-screen controls and also mapping a keyboard encoder to MS FS keyboard commands.
* I have made a full Garmin 530 GPS unit that takes button inputs and maps them to keystrokes (as configured in the Reality-XP Garmin 530 .INI file)
* I have Flight One's Meridian and ATR72-500 and think I would have limited keystroke support and would have to do most operations with key2mouse (although I have not tried it myself yet).
* I have seen that LEVEL-D 767 has a full SDK and have visited Nico's website often - http://www.lekseecon.nl/ This add-on appears to be best suited for the home cockpit builder.
* I have seen Project Magenta software can help with this - but is cost prohibitive.
* I have read in numerous locations that PMDG aircraft do not lend themselves well to home cockpit builders.
What other add-ons work well with home cockpit builders (and which one's definitely do NOT) and using what technologies?? Your input is much appreciated!
Dave Snyder
Waukesha, WI