yanghu/instrument-panel

An instrument panel for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2020 - INSTRUMENT PANEL

An instrument panel for MS FlightSim 2020. This program is designed to run on a separate computer to the one running FS2020. It can run on either a PC or a Raspberry Pi.

It requires the companion program from here

https://github.com/scott-vincent/instrument-data-link

The companion program runs on the same host as MS FS2020 and collects all the data required by the instrument panel.

The instrument panel connects to the instrument-data-link over your network and receives the data at regular intervals so that the instruments can be drawn with up-to-date values.

You can run as many instrument panels as you like. They all connect to the same data-link. Each panel must be configured to point to the host where data-link is running. You do this by editing the settings file and updating the Data Link Host IP address. If you just want to test the instrument panel on the same host where FS2020 is running leave the IP address as 127.0.0.1 and it will connect to the local host.

This program was heavily inspired by Dave Ault and contains original artwork by him.

http://www.learjet45chimera.co.uk/

https://hangar45.net/hangar-45-forum/topic/standby-gauge-software-by-dave-ault

It has been completely rewritten and updated to use Allegro5. Hopefully, Allegro5 will support hardware acceleration on the Raspberry Pi 4 soon!

NOTE: Allegro5 must be built on RasPi4 as a standard Linux build, not the specific Raspberry Pi build, i.e.:

  mkdir build
  cd allegro5/build
  cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
  make && sudo make install

KEYS

p ........ Adjust position and size of individual instruments.
v ........ Adjust FlightSim variables. Simulates changes even if no FlightSim connected.
m ........ Move the display to the next monitor if multiple monitors are connected.
s ........ Enable/disable shadows on instruments. Shadows give a more realistic 3D look.
Esc ...... Quit the program.

To make adjustments use the arrow keys. Up/down arrows select the previous or next setting and left/right arrows change the value. You can also use numpad left/right arrows to make larger adjustments.

You can choose which instruments are included in the panel by setting the Enabled attribute for each instrument in the settings file:

  settings/instrument-panel.json

On Raspberry Pi you can configure hardware Rotary Encoders for each instrument.

 Physical Pin to BCM GPIO
  3  5  7 11 13 15 19 21 23 29 31 33 35 37
  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  2  3  4 17 27 22 10  9 11  5  6 13 19 26

 Physical Pin to BCM GPIO
  8 10 12 16 18 22 24 26 32 36 38 40
  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 14 15 18 23 24 25  8  7 12 16 20 21

Each rotary encoder is connected to two BCM GPIO pins (+ ground on centre pin). See individual instruments for pins used. Not all instruments have manual controls.

Note: pullUpDnControl does not work on RasPi4 so have to use raspi-gpio command-line to pull up resistors.

Donate

If you find this project useful, would like to see it developed further or would just like to buy the author a beer, please consider a small donation.