This week was tough. I reconsidered this whole project for various different reasons but not for lack of interest. At one point, i was about to call it quits and close down this blog. But anyway i reassured myself and got back with renewed zeal.
All this week long, i was reading a lot and doing my research. I sense that it is going to take atleast a couple of months of planning before actually start building the pit. This week i focused mainly on deciding the control system i want to go with and did considerable amount of research on this.
The choices came down to:
1) EPIC -- the mother of all
2) FSBUS
3) Photon
4) Hagstrom
EPIC:
With EPIC, issue is the price. It seems to be the most versatile, flexible and powerful system but expensive. Requires a fair amount of custom programming in C like language, which i am not worried about. However, i decided not to invest a lot of money upfront in a system like this.
FSBUS:
Looks like a winner. All the information (including the circuit designs) available online for free. However, you need to build these boards yourself which requires fair amount of electronics knowledge. This could be the cheapest solution amontg all. Major drawback is for help, you are on your own or dependent on online communities.
Photon:
Relatively new to the market. With the available support, it seems to be a fair balance between price and ease of use. Probably very good for someone looking for quickly up and running without much hassels.
Hagstrom:
Easy, quick keyboard emulator based solution. Limited for future expanding needs and one may not learn much. Good for someone with limited programming and electronics knowledge and don't care to learn either. All you want is to have a cockpit and quickly get to flying, this is the one.
This is only a quick and dirty summary. I have actually compiled a detailed feature by feature comparison of all these solutions. You may contact me if you want this excel file and i'll email it.
Anyway, in my final analysis, I am inclining to go with FSBUS for two reasons:
First it will be less expensive but more importantly it allows me to learn electronics and data communication. For making this decision, at the end, i asked myself - what is my goal for this project, what do i want to really accomplish. The came out - learn as much as possible besides having a sim to enjoy realistic flying experience. I was almost decided to go with Photon but ruled out against it in the final analysis, since both Photon and Hagstrom doesn't make me learn much. They will be quick point solutions.
Also, with less money invested in FSBUS(compared to others) and armed with all the knowledge i gain from struggling to make it work, i can easily venture out and move to another system in future, fairly easily, without much trouble. This is the most important reason why i chose to pursue FSBUS. Inorder for making me to switch the system in future, i plan to build the control interfaces in a modular and easy to disassemble fashion. This mean, no hardwiring of components to circuit boards. Instead i plan to use connectors for all connections to FSBUS boards.
It took me a week of research to come to this decision.
I considered making the PCBs myself but ruled out since having a professional good quality boards for starters seemed like a good idea. So the next step is to locate a PCB manufacturer who will make the FSBUS boards at a reasonable price.
meanwhile, i have a Xbox now and i need to work on the long awaited xbox mod project next week. I am planning to mod xbox and make it a networked media player streaming all my audio and video files over the network from my basement computer to the family room entertainment center. I tried to play a game on the xbox and it didn't interest me at all..i was bored in the first fifteen minutes.
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