My 767-300 Progress

[Paul G]

Hi Henry,

Interesting point about power tools. Perhaps they are just too aggressive. I'm sure I have one of those keyhole saws you're talking about, although mine is coarse tooth for making rough cuts.

Regarding the software and hardware interface, I'll probably use one of those dedicated to Level D. I'm also looking into editing the instrument display so that I don't have to use Project Magenta for instrumentation. I don't care if the 1st office side is a replica of Captain's (instead of mirror image). The person doing the flying in my sim will always sit in the Captain's chair, especially if it saves me a thousand dollars hahaha.

Paul

Hi Paul

Thanks.

The material I used is "1/8 inch standard hardboard". Costed me a buck 35 at Home Depot for a 24"x24" sheet. Also comes in larger sizes..... it's nice to work with and I wasn't too concern about having backlighting on the MIP. I also wanted something cheap as I knew I would be making mistakes and have to re-do (believe me, I went throught a lot of sheets).

To get the straight edge, I first put masking tape over the area where the cut would be made (to prevent chipping), I clamped a steel straight-edge on the cut line to use as a guide and I cut it by hand with what I think is called a "keyhole saw" with a fine blade. I then use a fine file to finish off. At first I tried the jigsaw and it was terrible.... same with using the dremel tool to sand...... I could only achieved satisfactory results with non-power tools. I'm sure someone like Gynn could have done it perfectly on the first try in his sleep with one hand tied behind his back (and probably no filing required either) .

Level D is certainly made for the cockpit builder in mind (unlike PMDG). Are you using Nico Lekseecon program and Opencockpits boards in your build?

Regards,
Henry

[Polmer]

Great progress on your 767 Henry!

I am also working on a LevelD 767 and you gave me a few ideas with your setup. you did a great job of utilizing your center MIP ( i.e using the the LCD monitor to display flaps, annunciators, etc).

I see knob on your captains side MIP on the Altimeter, it is a functional?
Is so, what is the interface; encoder & SIOC/Lekseecon?

Thanks.


Polmer

[andarlite]

Great progress on your 767 Henry!

I am also working on a LevelD 767 and you gave me a few ideas with your setup. you did a great job of utilizing your center MIP ( i.e using the the LCD monitor to display flaps, annunciators, etc).

I see knob on your captains side MIP on the Altimeter, it is a functional?
Is so, what is the interface; encoder & SIOC/Lekseecon?

Thanks.


Polmer

Hi Polmer

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, the Altimeter is functional..... there's a Goflight rotary encoder back there connected to a remote RP48.

Regards,
Henry

[David Rogers]

Love your updates Henry, a I just love your approach to your build. I follow many of the same strategies as you. (I am also using go-flight modules such as the RP-48, in combination with key commands).

I mainly use the RP-48 with the feelThere Airbus Series and it works fab as a FCU, but I did have problems with the Level D ....... the settings always seemed to "run away" with themselves. ie.... turn the RP48 knob that is linked to the ALT knob and at first it would increment very slowly...ie, 1100, 1200, 1300 ......but then after a couple more turns it would suddenly run off to 40,000 !!

Did you ever have this issue?

[andarlite]

Hi David

Great to hear from you again.....BTW, where are those pictures of your Airbus cockpit that you keep promising us?

If you are using Goflight modules with the Level D 767 then it is highly recommended that you use a free program that Bert de Keizer has written. It interfaces the Goflight modules through the Level D SDK:

http://bkbs.nl/leveldgf/leveldgf_306.zip

I don't have the problem you are having since I'm using Bert's program. Just make sure when you do the assignments, that any switches or rotaries aren't already assigned throught the Goflight configuration software.

Regards,
Henry

[blocks_off]

Hi

I have a question after looking at both this thread and westozy's website.
So here we are using LDS767 and PMDG for westozy.
How many pcs do you use? The reason for asking is that through my reading so far, I thought that sim building went better with the client/server solutions (i.e. airsimtech or majenta and recently sim-avionics). Therefore being able to split the captains and fo side, then visuals for example.

So I am really interested in how many monitors are driving the visuals if my assumption of running pmdg or lds767 and fs on one pc is correct.

Thanks

Carl

[andarlite]

Hi

I have a question after looking at both this thread and westozy's website.
So here we are using LDS767 and PMDG for westozy.
How many pcs do you use? The reason for asking is that through my reading so far, I thought that sim building went better with the client/server solutions (i.e. airsimtech or majenta and recently sim-avionics). Therefore being able to split the captains and fo side, then visuals for example.

So I am really interested in how many monitors are driving the visuals if my assumption of running pmdg or lds767 and fs on one pc is correct.

Thanks

Carl

I'm just running one PC. There's no choice with the Level D 767 software. I have 2 video cards driving a Matrox TripleHead2Go (currently to 2 (soon to be 3) 22 inch LCD for outside view) and 3 17 inch LCD for the instrument (using VGA splitter for the captain and FO monitor so they are sharing the same view). I also have a 5 inch Sony PS1 LCD for the FMS.

Obviously it would be better performance wise with multiple PC to share the load. But I don't have the space nor want the hassle so I prefer just a single PC.

When I initially had a single core CPU, the frame rate was terrible (10-15fps), but now with a dual-core (e6700), it never drops below 20 (everything maxed). I have a cheap video card (7900GS) but am planning on a 8800GT soon. So, as you can see, I get acceptable performance from this one low-end PC.

Regards,
Henry

[brynjames]

Henry,

An inspiring project!

I would like to be sure I understand your graphics set-up
Video card One drives a TH2GO with 2/3 monitors for outside view
Video card Two drives drives two cloned monitors for captain/FO instruments

How do you drive the third 17 inch monitor and the 5 inch monitor - are these driven from another head on the graphics card(s) or do you have 2 TH2GO boxes?

Also, are the graphics cards PCI-Express, AGP, or PCI?

Thanks.

Bryn

[andarlite]

Hi Bryn

I'm currently using a 7900GS (PCI-E) and an FX5200 (PCI). Each video card has 2 VGA outputs and S-video. The 7900Gs drives the TH2G (2 22" LCD) and the Capt 17" LCD with VGA splitter to FO 17" LCD. The FX5200 drives the centre 17" LCD and the s-video will drive the 5" PS1 LCD. I'm not using the 2nd VGA output on the FX 5200.

I will soon be getting a 8800GT and will retire the FX 5200 (my motherboard has 2 PCI-E ports).

Regards,
Henry

[blocks_off]

Thanks for replies
Carl