Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Sat, 24 Apr 2004, Al West wrote: Did you get a contact at IBM? I'm sure they'd be happy to lend/donate a Workstation for development purposes. I can see it will be very likely that I didn't unfortunately - it was just a quick question from a girl in their high performance division, who was going to come back for a proper chat later, but unfortunately she missed me. -- Jon Stockill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
Lee Elliott wrote: It sounds as though things went really well - round of applause to all concerned. I wish I could have got up there, if only to visit but sadly, there wasn't any way I could make it. Ditto. I'll definitely try and be there next year. Well done guys! All the best, Matt. ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004, Al West wrote: It was highly enjoyable to be able to talk to people about something one is very interested in and I am disappointed that both days passed by so quickly. My congratulations go out to the two Jons who did a fantastic job in instructing during the show. It was great to be able to put some faces to email addresses. Yes, it was great to meet you all. I'd just like to say a big thankyou to those who were there, particularly Jonathan, who helped me set up on Monday, and joined in the hair tearing, and utterly inspired engineering (we'll be patenting some innovative uses of duck tape, and the cable tie plastic rivet). I certainly couldn't have managed the 3 days on my own. I took some photos on the second day (I'm not even a photgrapher by any means ;-) which are available at: http://uk2004expo.fotopic.net/ The images are between 300KB and 700KB (1280x1024) - sorry if you are on dialup but I've not had time to crop and compress the images. Fotopic does that for you - They're scaled to fit your screen size. You can find my pictures at http://photos.stockill.org.uk/ludex2004 The Fleet Air Arm Museum are very interested in having their own simulator but this would depend on them being able to find a sponsor - so it's still dubious as to if anything will happen in that respect. They have a Vampire cockpit which they're using as an open display cockpit at the moment, and it's possible that this is what they'll use as their simulator, although various other ideas were discussed too. They were particularly impressed with the seahawk and hunter models, so if Vivian wants to do a Seafire version of his spitfire model I'm sure they'd be happy to supply some information. However I was talking to one of the members of staff of the Aeronautical Department at Imperial College (London) and they are in the process of looking for an open-source flightsim for Linux and she was very excited to learn about FlightGear. Also we came across another group who want to use FlightGear for displaying and showing UAV data and position. In addition to this there was some interest from a company doing safety simulations for north sea oilrig helicopters, IBM wanted to know if it'd run on their powerseries kit (I don't think anyone's done it so far, but they seemed rather hopeful when I explain the architectures it already runs on), and I spoke to a guy who was interested in using it for remote flight instruction (apparently this is something that MSFS is already being used for - I'm a bit dubious, but I suppose it could be useful for a certain subset of flight training). We also spoke to a BA 777 pilot (whose son managed a much better landing than his dad), who will hopefully be signing up to the mailing list so we can quiz him about cockpit instrumentation etc. Well I'm not a journalist either - but if anyone has any questions about the show then feel free to ask. We did speak to a few journalists though, who may well be writing articles on FlightGear - when I find out where and when they'll be published I'll let you know. Overall I'd say the show was EXTREMELY successful. We've learned a few important lessons, which Jonathan is planning to write up later - just so we don't make the same mistakes next time. -- Jon Stockill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
You can find my pictures at http://photos.stockill.org.uk/ludex2004 I have to ask, what is img_0006.jpg (Captioned It's evil but it might just work.)? Richard ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
Jon Stockill wrote The Fleet Air Arm Museum are very interested in having their own simulator but this would depend on them being able to find a sponsor - so it's still dubious as to if anything will happen in that respect. They have a Vampire cockpit which they're using as an open display cockpit at the moment, and it's possible that this is what they'll use as their simulator, although various other ideas were discussed too. Flew one of those once ... Many years ago. They were particularly impressed with the Seahawk and hunter models, so if Vivian wants to do a Seafire version of his spitfire model I'm sure they'd be happy to supply some information. The thought had crossed my mind :-) and the transformation into a Seafire MkIB or MkIIC would be trivial. Got to get the Spitfire IIa working properly first, though. I wish now that I had made some time to join you down there. I was busy, but I don't live too far away, and time can always be found ... I'm kicking myself. Well done Regards Vivian ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Friday 23 Apr 2004 1:22 pm, Richard Bytheway wrote: You can find my pictures at http://photos.stockill.org.uk/ludex2004 I have to ask, what is img_0006.jpg (Captioned It's evil but it might just work.)? Richard It's the arrangement of two potentiometers at right angles that we then fastened at one end to the helicopter deck (bottom pot, using about half a metre of duct tape) and at the other to a rod leading from the rotor shaft (twisted wire at the location marked with green and white tape around the aluminium L-section). The idea was to be able to get resistances/voltages/joystick values for the X and Y motions of the real helicopter cyclic control. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the USB on the PCs that we were lent, and although the construction was somewhat evil, it did not, in the end, work. Regards Jonathan PS I am of the opinion that this was, in retrospect, not a Bad Thing (R). The real cyclic control was very heavy, because the rotor had the blades mounted, but of course no servos. Many of our users would have struggled badly. Disappointing for Jon, though, who had put heroic efforts into the interface electronics. J. ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Friday 23 Apr 2004 4:11 pm, Vivian Meazza wrote: Jon Stockill wrote snip They were particularly impressed with the Seahawk and hunter models, so if Vivian wants to do a Seafire version of his spitfire model I'm sure they'd be happy to supply some information. The thought had crossed my mind :-) and the transformation into a Seafire MkIB or MkIIC would be trivial. Got to get the Spitfire IIa working properly first, though. Vivian I work for the MoD, and if you think we could get anything useful I'm prepared to write to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight [1] and ask them for information. P7350 is a MkIIa: the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the world and the only survivor of the Battle of Britain still flying [2]. When I was reading the thread about the boost control valve, I couldn't help thinking that we could contact an engineer who would have a definitive answer. Any good? Regards Jonathan [1] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/bbmfhome.html [2] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/fighters.html ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
Jonathan Richards On Friday 23 Apr 2004 4:11 pm, Vivian Meazza wrote: Jon Stockill wrote snip They were particularly impressed with the Seahawk and hunter models, so if Vivian wants to do a Seafire version of his spitfire model I'm sure they'd be happy to supply some information. The thought had crossed my mind :-) and the transformation into a Seafire MkIB or MkIIC would be trivial. Got to get the Spitfire IIa working properly first, though. Vivian I work for the MoD, and if you think we could get anything useful I'm prepared to write to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight [1] and ask them for information. P7350 is a MkIIa: the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the world and the only survivor of the Battle of Britain still flying [2]. When I was reading the thread about the boost control valve, I couldn't help thinking that we could contact an engineer who would have a definitive answer. Any good? I think that would be a very good idea. I think I have evolved a pretty good idea of what it did from various documents on the web and elsewhere (good enough for our simulation anyway), but I would be absolutely fascinated to learn how it actually worked. Quite a bit seems to get left out. I assume that it was common knowledge at the time, and they didn't expect guys like us to be worrying at it over half a century later. Regards Vivian ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Friday 23 Apr 2004 5:24 pm, Vivian Meazza wrote: Jonathan Richards snip I'm prepared to write to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight [1] and ask them for information. snip I think that would be a very good idea. I think I have evolved a pretty good idea of what it did from various documents on the web and elsewhere (good enough for our simulation anyway), but I would be absolutely fascinated to learn how it actually worked. Quite a bit seems to get left out. I assume that it was common knowledge at the time, and they didn't expect guys like us to be worrying at it over half a century later. I'm baffled, now. I have just been poking around the website I referenced earlier, and there are two pictures of the MkIIa, clearly taken some time apart, because the squadron markings and paint scheme are different. That's OK, but in this one: [127 kB] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/gallery/p7350side1024.jpg the propeller has three blades, while P7350 is in the middle of this one: [174 kB] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/gallery/bbmf3ship1024.jpg and there are four blades. Were the propellers interchangeable on the same model? I'll get on to RAF Coningsby on Monday, and see what we can get. Jonathan ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
Jonathan Richards wrote On Friday 23 Apr 2004 5:24 pm, Vivian Meazza wrote: Jonathan Richards snip I'm prepared to write to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight [1] and ask them for information. snip I think that would be a very good idea. I think I have evolved a pretty good idea of what it did from various documents on the web and elsewhere (good enough for our simulation anyway), but I would be absolutely fascinated to learn how it actually worked. Quite a bit seems to get left out. I assume that it was common knowledge at the time, and they didn't expect guys like us to be worrying at it over half a century later. I'm baffled, now. I have just been poking around the website I referenced earlier, and there are two pictures of the MkIIa, clearly taken some time apart, because the squadron markings and paint scheme are different. That's OK, but in this one: [127 kB] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/gallery/p7350side1024.jpg the propeller has three blades, while P7350 is in the middle of this one: [174 kB] http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/gallery/bbmf3ship1024.jpg and there are four blades. Were the propellers interchangeable on the same model? I'll get on to RAF Coningsby on Monday, and see what we can get. Jonathan I think that's a hybrid. 4 bladed propellers were introduced on the Mk VI, but weren't produced in any numbers until the MkIX. You can also see that the wrong exhausts are fitted - they should be the 6 into 3 ejector exhausts, but these are 6 per side stub exhausts. My guess would be a Mk II airframe fitted with a Merlin 60, since these are probably the most common engines. Well spotted! Regards Vivian ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
RE: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Fri, 23 Apr 2004, Richard Bytheway wrote: You can find my pictures at http://photos.stockill.org.uk/ludex2004 I have to ask, what is img_0006.jpg (Captioned It's evil but it might just work.)? Heh :-) That's the kit that interfaced the cyclic... -- Jon Stockill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Friday 23 April 2004 10:59, Jon Stockill wrote: They were particularly impressed with the seahawk and hunter models, so if Vivian wants to do a Seafire version of his spitfire model I'm sure they'd be happy to supply some information. Also they said they would be happy to help with anyone who wanted to take photos or measurements from their aircraft. However, I guess they meant for the person to be there rather than rely on them to provide the information. IBM wanted to know if it'd run on their powerseries kit (I don't think anyone's done it so far, but they seemed rather hopeful when I explain the architectures it already runs on), Did you get a contact at IBM? I'm sure they'd be happy to lend/donate a Workstation for development purposes. I can see it will be very likely that IBM may choose to use the Wasp once at other shows in the UK or even Europe to draw crowds and play on the link to DB2 'Stinger'. I am considering at the moment if I can spare the time to prepare a 3D model and cockpit for the Westland Wasp. Cheers for now, Al ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
[Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
Greetings All, I think it was very successful show. I estimate we got about 80 or so people a day flying with FlightGear, around 10% managed to land. It was a shame that we were not able to use the controls within the helicopter, due to a 'feature' in HP/Compaq Machine USB controller. However the helicopter was certainly the main attraction and IBM were running a competition to win a camera of which part of the entry was to have visited the FlightGear Stand. It was highly enjoyable to be able to talk to people about something one is very interested in and I am disappointed that both days passed by so quickly. My congratulations go out to the two Jons who did a fantastic job in instructing during the show. It was great to be able to put some faces to email addresses. I took some photos on the second day (I'm not even a photgrapher by any means ;-) which are available at: http://uk2004expo.fotopic.net/ The images are between 300KB and 700KB (1280x1024) - sorry if you are on dialup but I've not had time to crop and compress the images. The Fleet Air Arm Museum are very interested in having their own simulator but this would depend on them being able to find a sponsor - so it's still dubious as to if anything will happen in that respect. However I was talking to one of the members of staff of the Aeronautical Department at Imperial College (London) and they are in the process of looking for an open-source flightsim for Linux and she was very excited to learn about FlightGear. Also we came across another group who want to use FlightGear for displaying and showing UAV data and position. Well I'm not a journalist either - but if anyone has any questions about the show then feel free to ask. Cheers for now, Al ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
Re: [Flightgear-devel] 2004 Linux User Developer Expo
On Thursday 22 April 2004 20:29, Al West wrote: Greetings All, I think it was very successful show. I estimate we got about 80 or so people a day flying with FlightGear, around 10% managed to land. It was a shame that we were not able to use the controls within the helicopter, due to a 'feature' in HP/Compaq Machine USB controller. However the helicopter was certainly the main attraction and IBM were running a competition to win a camera of which part of the entry was to have visited the FlightGear Stand. It was highly enjoyable to be able to talk to people about something one is very interested in and I am disappointed that both days passed by so quickly. My congratulations go out to the two Jons who did a fantastic job in instructing during the show. It was great to be able to put some faces to email addresses. I took some photos on the second day (I'm not even a photgrapher by any means ;-) which are available at: http://uk2004expo.fotopic.net/ The images are between 300KB and 700KB (1280x1024) - sorry if you are on dialup but I've not had time to crop and compress the images. The Fleet Air Arm Museum are very interested in having their own simulator but this would depend on them being able to find a sponsor - so it's still dubious as to if anything will happen in that respect. However I was talking to one of the members of staff of the Aeronautical Department at Imperial College (London) and they are in the process of looking for an open-source flightsim for Linux and she was very excited to learn about FlightGear. Also we came across another group who want to use FlightGear for displaying and showing UAV data and position. Well I'm not a journalist either - but if anyone has any questions about the show then feel free to ask. Cheers for now, Al It sounds as though things went really well - round of applause to all concerned. I wish I could have got up there, if only to visit but sadly, there wasn't any way I could make it. LeeE ___ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
