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Interface celestia with switches
Posted: 09.01.2006, 06:09
by aizul
Hello,
Is it possible to replace our keybord with switches.
If it is possible, do we need extra lib. to communicate between the hardware (switches) and celectia.
Posted: 09.01.2006, 12:09
by selden
It depends.
An on-screen keyboards plus a touch-sensitive screen would be one way to do it.
A fancy panel like those available for flight simulators would require changes to Celestia's source code.
Posted: 09.01.2006, 12:13
by t00fri
selden wrote:It depends.
An on-screen keyboards plus a touch-sensitive screen would be one way to do it.
A fancy panel like those available for flight simulators would require changes to Celestia's source code.
But first of all, any new piece of hardware like a "switch board" needs a low-level driver before it can talk to Celestia.
Bye Fridger
Posted: 09.01.2006, 12:35
by selden
No new drivers are needed if the device emulates an existing interface. In particular, aizul was asking about a device that emulates a keyboard.
fwiw, the only push-button device I've found so far emulates a joystick:
http://www.desktopaviator.com/Instructions/USB/
Posted: 20.01.2006, 07:52
by aizul
Guys, thank you for your feedback. My idea is to build a switch cosole so that we can simply turn on the switch for particular command instead of press the keyboard. Can it be done?
Posted: 20.01.2006, 08:36
by Boux
A few years ago, there was a very nice generic switch console available for MS Flight Simulator.
I believe the company went out of business but there may be some for sales on e-bay and elsewhere. You may want to do a google search to find how it looked like.
Currently, there are many such simulator consoles. They are (very) expensive and are most of the time dedicated to one type of aeroplane and/or navaid function.
I don't believe that they would be useful with Celestia (no use for radio panels, lights, landing gear, batteries, flaps control, DME, VOR/ILS, artificial horizons, fuel gauges, etc.).
Now, if you look at the number of keys and combination of keys used by Celestia, a keyboard is certainly the cheapest and the most efficient interface.
A switchbox emulating the whole keyboard would be very bulky, very expensive and likely unreliable.
Posted: 20.01.2006, 12:02
by selden
I'd suggest doing a Web search for the keywords
specialized keyboard
You'll find lots of companies glad to make whatever you want. Some may already have a model close to what you describe.