Very nice!!

although at US$ 1270, it would be a better deal to get a few LCD screens and a gauges package

but then, this is a starter kit... and hooking up screens and setting up a third party gauge package would be far more complicated than installing this thing  
i wonder if you can customize the layout

Cheers

I really, really, REALLY, want this, but man, for that same money, I could probably have myself a system for FSX.

Is there anything similar to this for under a grand?

If not, what's a different alternative to getting started in simpits?

I've got an entire room devoted to this hobby, now it's time to do something neat with it.

ShaneG wrote on Feb 28^th, 2009 at 7:57pm:


Shane,

Look into the Goflight units for a "plug and play" approach to some instrumentation at a far cheaper price.

best,

.................john

ShaneG wrote on Feb 28^th, 2009 at 8:20pm:


This is one of the reasons that I decided to go sort of "generic" with my pit.  I spent a LOT of time looking at cockpits on Airliners.net to try to grasp what makes a cockpit "FEEL" like a cockpit, visually and spatially.  Then I stole aspects from many differenet aircraft that I liked to make up the layout of MY aircraft.

I look at the my simpit as MY customized aircraft.  It can have the features that I want in it....... in that sense I am a "billionare" that can order the plane to my custom specs.  

The interesting thing is that I occasionally fly aircraft othher than the BAe 146-200.  And I find that what I notice is the handling characteristics change significantly ......... and that gives me the "feel" of a completely different aircraft.  There is a nice "home base" feel to knowing where the controls are.....and it does not seem to detract from the experience.  

I can have a Cessna 172 with "Boeing glass" installed........ how much more slick can you get then that!  

However that being said........ I have found that mainly flying one aircraft is not feeling very limiting in any way.  I am getting to KNOW that aircraft very well.  Tha way a type rated pilot gets to know the aircraft.  THAT is a pretty special feeling in its own right.  So it can be more of a "depth" rather than "breadth" experience.

This puts the focus on improving the simulation of the one aircraft...and the sim exterior display itself.  THAT can be very involving and exciting.  So I don't spend much time downloading new aircraft....... I am looking more for gauges, and sceneries, and tweaks, and hardware, and creating new panels, and so on.

It is a different way of enjoying the simming hobby.

And going "generic" saves you a BOATLOAD of money.  If you want an exact re-creation of the pit of a 737 or 747 or the Concorde or something like that.... get a mortgage.   

best,

...................john

ShaneG wrote on Feb 28^th, 2009 at 9:16pm:



Shane,

Yeah.... it takes a crapload of disparate parts to make a simpit come together.  PLANNING is the key to making it come out well....... and for not hitting too many dead ends.

My pit currently is running off of 4 computers.  Eventually it will be 6 machines down the road a bit.  The main out-the-windscreen view is on a projector.  Then there are 4 screens, 2 lcds and 2 crts.  There will still be one more small lcd that will form the FMC display (or a Garmin GPS unit).   

One machine is just for FS2004 with FSUIPC, ActiveSky 6.5, AIBridge, and FSXpand running on it.  The others (junkers) drive the avionics displays and the interfaces like the Phidgets and Goflight stuff.

All of the latter machines are "freebnies" that are really old.  They work just fine for the uses they are put to.

Your carpentry skills will go a long way on the construction of an enclosed shell  .   I expect a work of art.  The importance of enclosing it cannot be overstated; it changes everything.

Hope you decide to join in.  I need more people doing this stuff to prove that I am actually sane.  

best,

....................john

Shane,

Your first purchase after the yoke and pedals needs to be a registered version of FSUIPC (get the one for fs2004 if that is what you're using) and WideFS.  That allows you to have stuff on the other PCs think that fs2004 is actually running on those machines.  It is the "data transmission link" program pair.

Registered FSUIPC is also the "Swiss Army Knife" of the sim.  You won't beliecve what it can do for fs2004.

Then you'll need LAN cards in each machine and a LAN switch.

Then go to the sticky about FreeFD at the top of the forum here and get that software to get you started playing around.  It is still unfinished and has bugs and has old navdata.  But it'll give you some "starter avionics" to run on those machines.  

I strongly recommmend changing to the Ellie Avionics packages when you can.... they are the evolution from FreeFD (same author).  The features are great, they are "bulletproof", and the price is right.  The navdata is upgradable via Navigraph if you demand real world currency to navigation issues.  (another alternative is Project Magenta......... if you've got a couple of Grand to spare.  )

best,

.....................john