On Friday 16 November 2007 11:07:16 Lee Duke wrote: > Alright, I'm ready to purchase crewstation equipment for my Linux box. > Basically, I'm trying to build the equivalent of a ground station for a > UAS into my Linux box (FC 6). The idea is that I can use FlightGear on > the Linux box to develop displays and controls and guidance algorithms > then possibly transition to a real application. My primary purpose at > this time is for development and demonstration. I got some very good > advice before, and, now, I'm ready to purchase equipment. > > Right now, based on suggestions from folks on this list, I'm thinking I > should get the *CH Products USB Combatstick 568 with 8-Way Switch & 34 > Programmable Functions*
I have this stick and I like it. However at least on Linux I have never been able to figure out how to make the 8-Way hat switch do more that four switches. The Linux HID drivers see this as two joystick axis. And I think the 34 Programmable fuctions thing requires that you be using their software which of course does not work on Linux. Just the same all of the switches work on Linux and can be programmed in FG and this results in having what is effectively 13 switches/buttons. > or a *CH Products Fighterstick USB,* a *CH > Products Pro Throttle USB with 8-Way Switch3 4-Way Switches 3-Buttons*, What throttle you get depends on the types of aircraft you will be flying. It looks like the CH Pro Throttle is well suited to single engine jet type aircraft (I think it is modeled on the throttle from the F-16) but may not work as well with turbines, piston engines and for multi engine aircraft since it only has one axis. For the most part I do not fly jets and I have a Saitek throttle that I am very happy with and it is also considerably less costly than any throttle from CH. This throttle has 3 axis and is nearly ideal for piston engine aircraft. They also have interlocking side panels that will allow them to be used in larger groups for multi-engine setups. > and some sort of pedals for nosewheel steering and crosswind landing. And to coordinate your turns and to do some areobatic manouvers such as rolls and knife edge flight. I have the CH peddals and these work well. For about the same price you can also get the Saitek pedals which appear to be more adjustable since you can adjust both the width and resistance of the pedals. One thing that is cheesy about both of these is that the toe brakes do not have a realistic feel. But having realistic feeling brakes would make these MUCH more expensive. > The price of all this looks to be about $300 which I have to admit seems > like a lot . Yes that is about what it costs to have a full complement of OK quality flight controls. You can get much higher end units for all of these from other sources but things start getting very costly when you do this. Of course you can also get less costly sticks but IMO the CH sticks are about at the sweet spot with repest to cost vs. quality. When it comes to throttles and pedals your options are more or less limited to CH and Saitek unless you want to spend significatnly more (IE. 5 to 10 times as much). > > > Does this make sense? Do these controllers seem right? > > Thanks for all the help I'm anticipating. > > Lee ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list Flightgear-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
