SR-22 X-plane / FlyThisSim Simulator...Avidyne PFD Knobs

Guest Discussion
1

Hi,

I am running the above Sim and it works darn well on an iMac for IFR training purposes (“best Windows machine is a Mac”!).

However the knob ‘twisting’ function on the PFD is a bit of a pain…I can easily gain or looser 300’ while trying to ‘twist’ this thingy.

Does anyone know:

  1. If its possible in FTS (Avidyne) to substitute a hardware knob for this mouse function?

  2. If anyone sells a suitable box with knobs on it that have both the twist function and the push function?

Many thanks,

Dion

2

Dion

I dont know anyone who makes suitable knobs. However there are 2 possibilities.

  1. We modded the knob software about 6 months ago. But those changes never made it to SimAVIO. You would have to upgrade to SimAVIO Pro, which will cost you $800.

  2. Turn on the soft keypad function, cntrl P for the preferences page. A soft keypad will appear when you ‘twist’. ICAO entry will be much easier.

BTW. If anyone reading has the capabilities to make a USB device that looks identical to the Garmin GCU please contact me.

Regards,

Carl

3

Carl, I am having trouble with the “knobs” on the 430’s. Finger doesn’t work at all. Fingernail is ok, but it seems to take almost a complete revolution to advance one letter or number. I’m finding this latest upgrade difficult to work with.

I love the Sim, but I’d like it better if I could get those “knobs” working. BTW, one of your guys linked in and reset the touch screen. That made it a bit better, but still quite tough. Tell me more about the soft keypad, please.

jp

4

Hi Carl,

Many thanks for the response…

If I use a panel with normal knobs (no press switch) and separate switches for each knob…is there a way to tell SimAvio to use these instead of the on-screen twist knobs?

Thanks again!

Dion

5

I don’t know of an off the shelf solution. But if you’re willing to get your feet wet in the world of DIY open source electronics, it would probably be a straightforward project to make your own.

For hardware you would need a push button rotary encoder-

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9117

-and something like an Arduino Leonardo to interpret the knob and act as a human interface device.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11286

You would need to write your own code for the Arduino to make it and the knob act as a USB-HID, but there are many great examples of how to do this online. You will also need to wade into XPlane, to find how to configure an HID to interact with the simulator in the ways that you want- again not hard, as there is a huge community of sim enthusiasts who do exactly this sort of thing.

I have not done this in XPlane, and have not used FTS much. But years ago I did it using MS FSX, and by reputation XPlane is every bit as user accessible. It takes a bit of research and effort (and threatens to become a hobby into itself), but if you have the inclination it very likely can be done.