I’m sure many of you remember me recruiting a new writer to work with me on how-tos for Engadget. Will O’Brien was one of the many who answered the call and has been cranking out quality projects. Today’s is modifying a standard R/C transmitter for use as a computer joystick. This “trainer” can be used with flight simulation software so you can practice flying without risking your plane. This is the first step in a future project.
Check out Will’s previous posts: Surface mount soldering iron, Popcorn popper coffee roaster, and Scaling video for better HDTV viewing.
I know for a fact they have commerical products that can do this. All you need is a compatiable RC controller and a standerd cable for your remote. Look on the back of most professional remotes, there is something that can be plugged in to be used with a free program called FMS.
This is to be able to use FMS with xp. xp does not allow the direct access to the serial port like win98 did, so before this software came out you had to either hard wire the sticks to the joystick port or build an external converter to change the pwm signal to a normal serial signal that fms could interpret.
I was using fms for a year, but then upgraded to xp and lost it, now it is back :) go hackaday!
oh man…i thought he meant he was using a real yoke, some rudder pedals, and a throttle control for his RC plane…that would have been teh bomb.
Hey Tom, that would be fantastic… A small camera on the plane could send an image back to the ground so the pilot could have a real flying feeling…
even my $90 remote controlled helicopter came with a joystick adapter for pc. kinda sucks in mame though..
i would love to see that hack… laptop, flight yoke, pedals, throttle, and an interface to an rc radio…. i want to see this posted by next friday. get crackin’.
hackaday is going too micro
I would like some large projects, too