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Building a Cockpit Setup for Simulator Games?

Posted by Cliff on from the flashing-lights-and-switches-everywhere dept.

Milo_Mindbender asks: "For awhile I've been looking at building a cockpit-like setup for playing simulation games. One problem is finding a way to hook up a large number (up to 100) of lighted push-buttons in the thing and interface them to a computer that would poll the switches and control the (Tri-color LED) lights. Since the buttons/LEDs won't be clustered together, it would be nice if each button (or group of 4-5 buttons) could be on some kind of multi-drop network so the thing wouldn't turn into a wiring nightmare. The trick is that you don't want to miss button presses and you want to let people hold down multiple buttons without the setup getting confused. The big problem though, is cost. Anybody got an idea of how this could be done, preferablly with off-the-shelf parts, for under $5-$10 per button including the button?" Combine this idea with the earlier article we did on LCD-screens-for-cockpits, and you might have a kick-ass setup! Networked mech sims, anyone?

3 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Keep this in mind... by sphealey · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Saw an essay in "Private Pilot" mag about a year ago. The author visited a friend's house, and the friend proudly showed him his super-flight-simulator setup, with everything possible in a home environment except full motion. The author asked his friend how much it all cost, and the friend stated, "Around $8000". The author replied, "You DO realize that you can generally get your private pilot license for around $4000, leaving you with $4000 left over to rent time in a real airplane?".

    Something to think about.

    sPh

    1. Re:Keep this in mind... by checkyoulater · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You DO realize that you can generally get your private pilot license for around $4000, leaving you with $4000 left over to rent time in a real airplane?".

      Yes, but the cost of lessons is only a small part of the licensing process. You need probably close to a thousand hours of flight time before you are officially a licensed pilot. Factor in travelling time to the airport, time away from the family, etc. Not exactly feasible to many. Those hours are most certainly worth more than $4000.

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  2. PIC's your friend by sysadmn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Look at some of the application notes for the PIC microcontroller. A $2-3 chip could easily debounce 25 buttons and output a serial stream.

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