Guys, I would like to hear your opinion. I’ve been thinking of a way to go past the memory limitations of Leonardo board, while continuing using the Joystick library, that really helps to keep code simpler.
In the previous post, I’ve shared some ideas on the 1st MK4 device, the simple collective. One guy asked me about motion platform compatibility, and I’ve decided to make a lever, designed for use with one. That means no counterweight – and thus the lever needs to be compact and lightweight, so no heavy head.
With this in mind, I decided to modify the base and introduced a pedestal – a small panel on the top of the lever that can be used to place some switches and other stuff, like the radio panel. The cool thing, the mount is standard and allows for mounting pretty much anything you want there (as long as it doesn’t interfere with comfortably placing your hand onto the lever)!
That means, to keep things functional and cool, we need a mode switch and some related software magic. Probably, for each of devices! That, in turn, means a lot of code, and looking at the current situation, there’s no way to put it into a single Leo board.
So, here are few thoughts about what I would like to see in MK IV controller:
- 3 independent Leo boards: one for collective, one for cyclic and pedals, one for miscellaneous stuff
- flashing peripherals from the controller (integrated USB-UART board and a separate RJ-45 socket for flashing)
- modular design – user manually chooses devices he wants to include in the configuration tab
- built-in USB hub
I would like to hear your thoughts on this and what else can be added / changed to make it better!
I like your enthusiasm for this project. I changed my flying also to 100% vr and I was thinking about some panels with some switches, Potis and encoder to use under the hood via muscle memory. Except that I have some issues with the building process of the collective I like the Idea to get some panels with the pro minis via the master because I build in 4 LAN connectors but using only one for the collective. There are still 3 free for a kind of plugin for panels.
I think panels may be plugged into some socket in the collective itself to avoid some unneeded wires =)
Also yes it is great. But will it compatible with the mark 3.
Thank you! Well, yes and no. Some functionality like flashing hardware from the controller will require upgrading stuff a bit (soldering a few extra wires), but code wise, yes, it will be compatible with everything – and all MKIII hardware will be supported =) Well, with time. I will probably start with something to speed things up and will be adding things over time.
It’s just, I won’t be able to add MK IV stuff into MKIII firmware because no more RAM and we can’t fit another joystick object =(
Another thing is to make the Huey head a little bigger to get the things easier inside.
Well, maybe, or maybe I have to write some list of tools needed (I only use basic tools intentionally, of which the drill is most advanced lol, yet some thingies like curved pliers and an awl make things a lot easier!)