[simpits-tech] Careful what you wish for...

[Roy Coates]

On Sun, 4 May 2003, jwaldron wrote:

> I am a little out of my depth i think.
>
> I am interested in building my own cockpit - though of a A320/A340 or B717
> or B777. But don't know where to start looking.
>
> I've looked around the internet, but there doesn;t seam to be a hole lot of
> choice of stuff in the UK.
>
> Can any one point me in the direction i deed to be going. Am having trouble
> getting information regarding the di,entions of the cockpits layout and also
> info about visuals ( interested in all-round visual ) including side windows
> with an infinity view.
>
> Am also interested in gaining knowedge about anything to do with cickpit
> building, in pert' system setups.. why the need for moer than one system..
> and what kind of frame rate do you gys get running such a sim with multiple
> systems?
>

Heya James, welcome to our hell! The determination to build a good simpit
is with you now, and will consume vast quantities of time, money and many
mm of finger nails ;)

You _can_ find parts in the UK, but most of the fun (for many of us) is
that age-old question: "How the HELL am I gonna do that!?" - you then
rummage around hardware stores, under the kitchen sink, and anywhere else
you can think of to find something that you can convert into a fair
replica of the part you need.

Why will you need more than one system?  My first simpit used two, one for
the 'view' and one for the instruments (http://www.x-plane.info/cockpit/)
while my newest venture currently uses six. Three for the 'ahead' view,
two for the chin-window views (its a helicopter) and one to drive the
various bits of hardware I need to make it all work.

Trying to derive multiple views from one computer would eat up vast
amounts of cpu time and ram. It just ain't feasible.

Dig around peoples web-sites, visit www.simpits.org for help, ask here for
help - it'll all start to come together.

Roy.