Hi everyone,
From what I've read in this sub-forum so far I gather that if you want your Arduino board to get information from FSX you either use LinkFS or use Lua scripting as outline by Kyle to pass to the information to the appropriate port.
I have limited experience with Arduino, but for my first panel I was going to opt for one of Leo Bodnar boards. You can program them and assign functionality using FSUIPC and Lua scripts and LINDA if you want a graphical front end. The Bodnar boards are quite affordable for me as I live in Ireland and they seem pretty straight forward.
Has anyone tried both and/or would people recommend at least trying the Arduino route? I presume you need the official boards, which seem to be quite difficult to obtain in this part of the world. You think you're getting the real thing, then you read the small print, and.......another clone!
Anyway, that's what I would like to know and I would appreciate if anyone could take the time to give me some feedback. It would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul,
I have both and both have some good points and bad points. But here is my :2cw:, if you want to build a flightsim, go with arduino. It will grow with you as your sim grows in both size and complexity. Trust me, climb the learning curve, learn Arduino and have full control over what 'you' want and not what someone else may or may not offer. You won't regret it. Lets see, for the cost of the Leo card you could have 10X the inputs/outputs going with arduino.
Rob
Hi.
I would agree with Rob. I will add though, for simple things I would use a bodnar card. For instance. Using a bodnar card for your yoke and throttle lets you get going quick and easy. Programming it through fsuipc is very configurable and will get you flying fast.
I use a Lua script to send data to my arduino. Programmed myself I only use the arduino for my servos. Some people like Rob use the Teensey card for all their instruments.
Arduino/Teensey gives you unlimited configuration. With the bodnar card you are limited to the functions inside fsuipc.
Trev
Paul,
Take a look at Mobiflight (www,mobiflight.com (http://www,mobiflight.com). It was the cure for my Arduino frustrations.
Pierre
Typo on the link: http://www.mobiflight.com/ (http://www.mobiflight.com/)
Just wanted to throw in a couple of resources since you mentioned trouble getting "legit" Arduino boards:
https://www.sparkfun.com/ (https://www.sparkfun.com/)
https://www.adafruit.com/ (https://www.adafruit.com/)
Both sides stock a bunch of genuine Arduino gear. I do encourage folks to buy the real thing in order to help support the Arduino project, but I also need to let you know that from a technical standpoint, most of the knock-offs (whether they be "honest" clones/compatibles, or actual counterfeit versions) that I've tried thus far work perfectly fine.
I'd also like to point out that when it comes to talking to the Arduino, there's a host of options out there. The basic I/O to the PC, when you get right down to it, is generally going to be serial (via the onboard USB-to-serial converter) or ethernet. A lot of the third-party solutions for I/O are just as much about talking to FSX/P3D/X-Plane as they are about talking to the Arduino. I encourage you to get comfortable with basic I/O with your sim software, AND Arduino communications (either serial or ethernet). Once you reach that point, you'll probably not bother with someone else's solution.
Speaking of I/O.....
http://macetech.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23 (http://macetech.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=23)
Two of these at $25/per, plus an Arduino Uno ($30) and some wiring, and you now have 128+ digital inputs/outputs, 8 analog inputs, and some PWM available, for under $100. That is hard to beat. :)
Matt