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[SAS~Storebror]

That's exactly the idea Skylla.
The Switchbox covers all the key commands you would usually have to look up from manuals first.
Most of the keys you will find blindly after a couple of days, otherwise the coloured keys can be used to group commands by their "topic", e.g. all engine commands on one colour, all weapon commands on another etc. so in case you have to look for the right key, you don't need to scan all 40 keys but just 10 of them.

To me the switchbox proved very valuable.
No more funny and fancy unintended things happening just because I pressed Alt+P where Shift+P would have been the right combo...


Mike

[sniperton]

No more funny and fancy unintended things happening just because I pressed Alt+P where Shift+P would have been the right combo...

Don't take me wrong, I don't argue for using key combinations instead, it's just the sheer amount of buttons that makes me wonder what's the advantage over assigning e.g. engine controls to QWERTZ, weapon controls to ASDFGH, etc, etc. It's something like a very detailed 2D map without the keybord F and J bumps to help you locate them blindly.

I find it more ergonomic to define modifier keys on my left hand hotas and to multiply this way the functionality of my right hand joystick buttons. Flaps, pitch control, all three trim axes and supercharger are all on my hat switch for instance, the keyboard is only used for engine selection, bomb selection, start engine, level autopilot, i.e. for functions where my left hand can leave the throttle/hotas part without dire consequencies.

Anyway, congrats to both of you for designing and producing this masterpiece. 

[Blaubaer]

I suppose he is going to label them.
At least I would do so
But aside from this, after having to look at the labels for a while I would certainly expect to find the right button "blind" at some point.
Anyway, congratulations Blaubär!

Thank you Skylla. The labels are helpful, you quickly get used to the switchboard and it gives me a feeling of more realism.



Regards, Michael

[sniperton]

Just an insanity check, please forgive me for my ignorance   
I'm a little bit perplexed by KiCad's schematics for the Teensy++ 2.0.

Am I right assuming that...

... red pins #2 to #20 are for button matrix and correspond to the physical pins B7, D0 to D7, E0 to E1, and C0 to C7? (with the remark that #9/D6 should be skipped)

... red pins #24 to #31 are for analog input and correspond to the physical pins F0 to F7?

[SAS~Storebror]

Yes, that's correct.
The PIN's names differ according to the software being used.
B7, D0 to D7 etc. are C language pin names:


The kicad drawing uses simple numbers for the pins, but I've added the Arduino language pin names to it, like "INT0_PWM" etc., according to the arduino naming specification:



Mike

[sniperton]

Thanks Mike for the clarification.
As I see (e.g. here: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/18379-teensy-20-mmjoy2-firmware-joystick-controller/?tab=comments#comment-288080) MMJoy identifies MCU ports by the C language code, so I guess I'd better stick to them as I don't want to go into custom coding as you did (I only need a 6x6 matrix and 8 analog inputs).

[SAS~Storebror]

Well in that case...
MMJoy works great within it's limits.
The main reason I went away from MMJoy was the fact that I wanted to turn my box into two controllers.
That required some deep hacks in the USB code of the Teensy library, but eventually it worked.
If 6x6 + 8 axis is enough for you, then MMJoy will definitely do the trick for you.


Mike

[Zechsau]

Hi everyone I'm Paul, new to the forum, IL-2 and coding.
My dad saw this thread and asked me whether I could build something similar to this. Seems to me, he didn't got the memo about the non-intuitive handling of Mike's panel. Yet here I am, challenging myself to build a Panel for my old man and to enrichen my skillset by adding coding and microelectronics. I'll keep you updated with any problems, shenanigans, misunderstandings I ran into, so you all don't have to learn your own lessons.
@Mike, as we two agreed (well you asked me to, and hereby I agree) I'll post my questions here in order to make this accessible to everyone.
What I did so far: Layout on the box, prepared wiring and pushbuttons (those tiny ones that come with any arduino kit, I had them flying around in my drawer for some years now) on breadboards and connected according to your wiring diagram with a few minor differences, due to function and use of the switches.
Further I coded some debouncing routines for practice. Now I wanted to run the arduino sketch on my Board and connect that to the breadboard skidaddle, to get a clean sketch that I can start working from. I included all text lines and all files accordingly. The teensy as well as my breadboard layout are working as expected: perfectly fine. They get recognized as 'Gamecontroller' and there are two controllers but somehow both have the same name. But that doesn't bother me at all. After I found the pins you used for 'hat switches' i excluded them from my wiring, as I only use a total of around 55 functions.

Then I headed over to arduino to code my LED functions but ran into a Problem right off the start. Tried to check your Arduino sketch so I am sure to have a clean start, and it runs into the following message. I don't know if this is just some missing files in the correct arduino-folder, but I did everything exactly as you described in your readMes. I wish I could attach a screenshot but as I am new here, I'll have to post some more to get these rights.


The Arduino Error (can't even put code or the complete message in here)
/////


  return false;

         ^~~~~

cannot convert 'bool' to 'ListNode<SwitchButton*>*' in return
/////

I briefly went through your USB-Code and my mind dropped dead . I intend to run my dad's box with only 35 pushbuttons and 20 toggle ON/ON switches, which further I intend to use as single use only and therefor I only have a total of 55 buttons plus the 5 potis. If I have to dive deeper than that into the hacks of dark sorcery and witchcraft, I'll put that on my bucket... eeeerrhm to-do list as well . But for now everything works just a okay.

Unfortunately, I can't upload any files for you all to get a better idea of the whole project yet, as I am new to this forum and this is my very first post.

Cheers , Paul

[SAS~Storebror]

Hi Paul,

They get recognized as 'Gamecontroller' and there are two controllers but somehow both have the same name. But that doesn't bother me at all.

That's a Windows/DirectX issue. In fact the two controllers have different names, but DirectX fails to query the 2nd node on the same physical device for it's name, that's why.
You can cross-check using Pointy's Joystick Test application: http://www.planetpointy.co.uk/joystick-test-application/
Using "Raw" input mode instead of DirectX, you will see two different controller names, whereas "DirectX" input mode shows only one.

The Arduino Error (can't even put code or the complete message in here)
/////


  return false;

         ^~~~~

cannot convert 'bool' to 'ListNode<SwitchButton*>*' in return
/////

Change that to "return NULL;" and you'll be fine.
The original version of LinkedList.h had that issue, but older Arduino versions didn't care. Newer do however, so LinkedList got updated: https://github.com/ivanseidel/LinkedList

Code posting option is available to you now, it's a Spambot protection that kept you from posting code in 1st post.


Mike

[Zechsau]

Thanks Mike, that was a bullseye.

I'll keep you updated!

Here is Cider's Combat Case, for everyone interested. The layout shows the LEDs and intended Functions.





Cheers, Paul

[SAS~Storebror]

Cheers Paul, looks great!


Mike

[Stainless]

I just have a mental image of Mike as Rick Wakeman.