WIDEFS Virtual Buttons

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

good day gentlemen..........
i'd been over to pete dowson's earlier in the year and he was using this technique in his cockpit to control things from a touchscreen monitor.    so i decided to look at it a bit further.     given the level of human traffic that goes thru my sim (some of them are extremely good), i decided middle of the year to build in a 'failures' system.      my thinking was that if you can control something in the sim with a switch or pushbutton, then it was logical to assume that you can control that same thing outside the sim with a switch or pushbutton.
so, after assembling a switchbox/controller card board, i just thought i'd look at the Virtual Buttons again.      i am just amazed.  using the WideFS/Wideclient [ButtonScreen] function, i have been able to install a complete control system outside the pit.   sort of a remote control system if you like.
from 'at the gate' to landing at the destination can now be accomplished from a remote computer.
it's very low cost (i like that), all you need is a registered version of WideFS/FSUIPC.
anything you can assign in FSUIPC using a controller card, you can do with this technique.  send keys, assign FS Controls and even manipulate the Offsets.
now the next time somebody thinks they are ahead of the game flying the pit, they're going to have a bad day          i'm even controlling the EFIS functions and the MCP.

so, my question.......  is anybody else doing anything 'special' using this WideClient facility?     

i take my hat off to Peter (the man's a genius)...... there is so much you can do with just these two pieces of software.    got to be the best value for money i've spent in my pit 

would be interested in hearing what you are doing with it (maybe i'm missing something i've not thought about)........

have a good one chaps .....    ian

[Trevor Hale]

Ohhh Ian, what a fantastic solution.  I actually never really thought of accessing the same functions through a remote pc and a button press.  But thats genius. 

To be able to turn off ones Hydraulic pumps, or window heat or anything like that, from behind a curtain.. is fantastic.  It would force the pilots to notice the indicator lights, and cycle their switch in the cockpit to correct the issue. 

You are Right.  Pete has created a software that really is what makes all of this come together.  I know for a fact that the day Pete throws his hands up in the air, will be a sad day for all of us indeed.

Thanks for sharing this information.  I know there are people writing instructor station softwares that have failures built in, but in this case you can actually fail independent systems.

Top notch..

Trev

[jackpilot]

I agree, it is easier to continue without Microsoft that it would without Pete .
This being said I recently printed both FSUIPC manuals (reg & Advanced).
I found out that things were much easier to understand when read on a sheet than looked at on a screen.
Less distraction maybe, possibility to write some notes, highlight sentences....I know all this can be done on the computer but it works better without...for me anyway,whatever the reason...

PS: Thanks Ian, I overlooked those. Will check

[luisgordo]

Please check the Instructor Station. You will be able to perform all those tasks, and even more... !!!!

http://sites.google.com/site/luisgordo2/instructorstation

Best regards,
Luis Gordo