FlightGear TQPanel

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Revision as of 10:58, 17 February 2014 by Laserman (talk | contribs) (set the IP does not work on android)
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FlightGear TQPanel
Started in 01/2014
Maintainer(s) repository
Contributor(s) d-laser,Michat
Status Under active development as of 02/2013
multitouch app to control FlightGear aircraft
alternative style

d-laser(aka pommesschranke) started a python/kivy app that can be used to control various FlightGear aircraft.

It is a multi-touch App, so you can move each throttle alone or both together using 2 fingers. Use 2 fingers for the toe-brakes, or only one for differential braking.

Kivy apps run on Linux, Windows, Mac, android, iOS


With my kivy TQ I can now control..

  • speed brake
  • 2 x throttle
  • elv. trim
  • flaps
  • field of view (zoom)
  • parking brake
  • thrust reverser
  • 2 x toe brake
  • gear up/down
  • change view

(12 nodes in the protocol xml file)

I developed and tested on Linux(800x600) and it runs without changes on an Android tablet (1024x600)

Installation & Setup

requirements: python and kivy or kivy launcher

  • download/git repo:

https://gitorious.org/flightgear-tq-panel-made-with-kivy

  • copy the 2 xml files to the Protocol folder of your FlightGear data directory.
  • start the panel:
python main.py
  • start FlightGear:
fgfs   --generic=socket,in,10,,9009,udp,from_kivy 

Todo

  • config dialog and config file for the IP address of the computer running FlightGear. - DONE, works on Linux but not yet on android :-(
  • add all the light switches to the protocol
  • on startup of the panel read the state of the aircraft, like park brake postions and the number of views
  • I started some code to make it bi-directional but run into "race-conditions" when using with FlightGear. Between 2 panels it does work (one master and one slave panel)

I disabled that for now. atm the panel only writes values to FlightGear but does not read anything.

  • speed brake does not work on F-16c ?

Conclusion

Although it is not a hardware TQ, I think it is more fun to use than the PC-keyboard. And it is nice to have visual indicators for the position of speed brakes, throttle, flaps, gear