[simpits-tech] FlightGear and Hardware

[Manuel Bessler]

On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 12:42:43AM -0000, Al West wrote:
> Aye indeed I am - nice to see a familiar call sign in these skys too.
> Thought I'd better start posting here after it was suggested on the FG
> lists.  So do you have any experience of custom hardware in FlightGear?

Well, I'm working on it. What I have done a few weeks ago was that
networked joystick driver (see my prev mail). 

For my "big" project the PHCC (PIC homecockpit controller) I'll be
writing the flightgear part sometime during the next weeks. 

My current idea of how to have flightgear and PHCC talk to each other is
the following:
* PHCC is using the serial port or USB to talk to a PC
* on that PC, I have a program that's based around a property tree very
  much like the one flightgear uses
  - my property tree is simpler but has a few other features (like
    timers)
  - there are IO classes (C++) that can talk to PHCC, a commandline
    parser,...
  - there's gonna be a LUA (a scripting language, www.lua.org) interface
    to my property tree and some PHCC specific functions. this lua
    interface will allow things similar to what EPIC does
  - the property tree is also a common component of my Glass Cockpit
    stuff. I can build an integrated version with PHCC and glass cockpit
    support, or one with only one of the two.
* my property tree will have a bi-directional network interface to 
  flightgear's property tree. It can subscribe to changes on certain
  properties on the flighgear side.
  This "property tree to property tree" protocol/interface does not yet exist.
  I'll have to write the code for that interface, similar to the things
  found in the Network subdirectory in the flightgear source tree.


I hope my description was half-way clear... :)
Still lots of work ahead of me :(


Manuel
-- 
Opensource/Free Software: No Gates, No Windows