Hi All

In a message to Jim Hamilton recently I described my rig. Ben asked me to submit some pix. So, here they are.

The first is an early stage with a novel use for a Black & Decker workbench. It provoked a steady verbal barrage from " She who must be obeyed"

The others are a full frontal of the rig, and two pix taken during an approach into Honolulu Intl. The projected image is much better than these photos show.

Best regards
Frank

• RE: Home Cockpit,Emile, 10:45z, 01-31-03
• RE: Home Cockpit,Ben_Chiu, 19:08z, 02-02-03
  • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 06:46z, 02-03-03
    • RE: Home Cockpit,Ben_Chiu, 03:40z, 02-04-03
      • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 07:57z, 02-04-03
        • RE: Home Cockpit,Ben_Chiu, 19:27z, 02-05-03
          • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 23:37z, 02-05-03
            • RE: Home Cockpit,Ben_Chiu, 05:08z, 02-06-03
              • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 11:31z, 02-06-03
                • RE: Home Cockpit,Ben_Chiu, 20:44z, 02-06-03
                  • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 23:42z, 02-08-03
• RE: Home Cockpit,jimh, 19:36z, 02-03-03
  • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 23:06z, 02-03-03
    • RE: Home Cockpit,jimh, 15:55z, 02-09-03
      • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 07:59z, 02-10-03
        • RE: Home Cockpit,jimh, 10:41z, 02-10-03
        • RE: Home Cockpit,jimh, 20:52z, 02-11-03
          • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 06:06z, 02-12-03
• RE: Home Cockpit,PaulCroft, 01:48z, 02-08-03
  • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 05:40z, 02-08-03
• RE: Home Cockpit,L1049H, 18:25z, 02-24-03
  • RE: Home Cockpit,jonahbird, 18:49z, 02-24-03
    • RE: Home Cockpit,L1049H, 03:51z, 02-25-03

WOUAAAAAh !!!
No servos on the armchair?
Where is the parachute?

Great !

Regards
Emile
EBBR Brussels
Belgium

Greetings Frank:

> In a message to Jim Hamilton recently I described my rig. Ben asked me
> to submit some pix. So, here they are.

Now you've gone and done it...
When Tarmack sees your 4'x3' screen, he'll have to get a dozen of them!

Looks fantastic, Frank!

Ben

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Hi Ben

>>When Tarmack sees your 4'x3' screen, he'll have to get a dozen of them!<<

That's the cheapest part of it. It's the projector that strips the pocket book.

BTW my carpenter made the screen using MDF and hard wood framing. I painted the surface with white emulsion.

Regards
Frank

Hi Frank:

> That's the cheapest part of it. It's the projector that strips the
> pocket book.

Which projector are you using? Any recommendations or things to watch for when shopping for one?

Thanks!

Ben

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Hi Ben

After trying a number of models, I found the NEC LT150Z to be most suitable for my needs. A local Hifi and Plasma TV specialist friend guided me. If some more detail is wanted, I'm sure he would be glad to supply.

This model is small enough to sit on the window pelmet behind and above me, and the image was the best we could find. The downside to projection in a relatively small space using a houseable unit is that you forego some resolution. The native res for this model is XGA, but I find this acceptable. It can project upto UXGA but words are hard to read above XGA. It is analogue; to our surprise the digital model produced an inferior image.

Another downside is that this small unit (9.5"W x 7.7"D) gives only 1000 lumens (I think) and is best viewed in a darkened room, but for me that adds atmosphere.

In short, only buy from a supplier who will provide on site testing, comparing several models.

Hope this is of interest.
Frank

Greetings Frank:

> This model is small enough to sit on the window pelmet behind and above
> me, and the image was the best we could find. The downside to projection
> in a relatively small space using a houseable unit is that you forego
> some resolution. The native res for this model is XGA, but I find this
> acceptable. It can project upto UXGA but words are hard to read above
> XGA. It is analogue; to our surprise the digital model produced an
> inferior image.

That's interesting. Is your unit a CRT, LCD or other-driven device?

> In short, only buy from a supplier who will provide on site testing,
> comparing several models.

Good advice.

> Hope this is of interest.

Sure is. Thanks!

Ben

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Hi Ben

>>That's interesting. Is your unit a CRT, LCD or other-driven device?<<

Sorry. I don't understand the question.

I don't have any CRTs. I do have 2 18" TFTs (LCDs).

The projector runs off the most powerful PC (2.2Ghz) which has 2 graphics cards. The principal card is nVidia 4600 Ti.
The other PC (1.5Ghz) is networked but I don't use it for FS2002. The 2.2 drives all three screens when flying.

Regards
Frank

Greetings Frank:

> >>That's interesting. Is your unit a CRT, LCD or other-driven device?<<
>
> Sorry. I don't understand the question.

My apologies. I was referring to the light emitting device in the projector. My understanding is some use bulbs, some are CRT, LCD or some plasma-technology derivatives, etc..

Perhaps you can give me the make and model number of your projector I can look it up.

Thanks!

Ben

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Hi Ben

>>I was referring to the light emitting device in the projector. My understanding is some use bulbs, some are CRT, LCD or some plasma-technology derivatives, etc..<<

I didn't know that.

The projector is NEC's LT150Z, as I said in my memo dated 2/4/03

It uses a bulb, which is described as a "high-performance 135 watt NSH lamp".

Regards
Frank

Greetings Frank:

> The projector is NEC's LT150Z, as I said in my memo dated 2/4/03

Sorry. I missed that.

Anyway, FYI, your projector uses DLP technology (cutting edge stuff).

Ben

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Hi Ben

>>your projector uses DLP technology<<

Yes. Sorry, I forgot to mention that. We tried LCD but that didn't produce a satisfactory image. DLP gives better contrast and a much better picture structure.

Best regards
Frank

Hi Frank,

What a setup! It sounded great when you described it, but the pictures certainly are worth a thousand words.

I've got a second computer, and might acquire a third used one soon. The 2nd is behind the times (Celeron 450, Matrox G400 dualhead standard, 192mb ram), and the third remains a mystery 'till I get it.

The new computer will use up all my available funds for now, but when it's built, I might come back to seek advice as to the best way to utilise all three.

You must really enjoy flying that rig!!

Best wishes, Jim

Hi Jim

>>You must really enjoy flying that rig!!<<

Yes, I do. Its great quality for me is that it isn't a mock up of a real cockpit, so much is left to the imagination and I can fly all sorts of aircraft on the one rig.

Have fun with your growing network. If I can help at all, glad to do so.

Best regards
Frank

>Hi Jim
>
>>>You must really enjoy flying that rig!!<<
>
>Yes, I do. Its great quality for me is that it isn't a
>mock up of a real cockpit, so much is left to the
>imagination and I can fly all sorts of aircraft on the one
>rig.
>
>Have fun with your growing network. If I can help at all,
>glad to do so.
>
>Best regards
>Frank

Hi again Frank,

Can I take you up on your offer?

I've now got the used computer I expected. It is not upgradable and useless for MSFS, but it came with a 19" monitor, so that alone was worthwhile.

The plan is to run Fs2002 with a central screen for straight ahead and panel, with one each side for left and right-forward views. Is this possible with my two computers?

I plan on upgrading my No2 system to Athlon 2ghz. At present it has an old Matrox G400 graphics card, and I'm undecided about replacing it, or what to replace it with.

I intend to order a new system with Gigabyte GA8PE 667 Ultra mobo, P4 2400, 1GB ram, and Gainward GF4TI 4800 128mb.

Can you tell me more about fitting and running two graphics cards in one computer?

I took a look at the Gigabyte board in Tom's Hardware, and it appeared to have six PCI slots, and only one AGP.

As you can see, I'm very far from an expert in all this, and can do with all the help I can get!! Any suggestion is welcome.

Sorry to go on at this length trying to explain what I'm up to.

Best wishes, Jim

Hi Jim

First, I would suggest that you ask Ben to use your message to start a new thread, or, rewrite as a messagee to All. This will ensure that it attracts the attention of the many readers who know a lot more than I on the technical side.

My twopenn'orth:-
>>The plan is to run Fs2002 with a central screen for straight ahead and panel, with one each side for left and right-forward views. Is this possible with my two computers?<<

To do this you will need a good second computer and probably a third. All linked as a network and using WidevieW, a brilliant piece of software developed by Luciano Napolitano. Ideally you should use matching CRTs or TFTs. I believe Luciano's site is http://wideview.00server.com

As to cards,I have a nVidia GeForce3 Ti500 on my 2nd machine, and did use WidevieW successfully when this was linked with my prime machine , which uses nVidia's GeForce4 Ti 4600.

The spec for your new machine sounds good and will work well with the 2 Ghz machine.

>>Can you tell me more about fitting and running two graphics cards in one computer?<<

I don't know Tom's Hardware, but what you saw is typical. I don't know of any motherboard which provides 2 AGP slots. For that reason you use a PCI card as the second install. The second card in my prime machine is a 3dfx Voodoo5. That drives my lefthand screen which only has to cope with 2D images, such as FSNavigator. And the Ti4600 drives the projector and the screen in front of me. When I run FS, I don't use my second machine - only its TFT screen. But I don't use WidevieW any more.

Rambling, and incomplete. But something to go on with. Do access that wider audience, who are unlikely to be looking at postings under this thread.

Best regards
Frank

Hi Frank,

>>I don't know Tom's Hardware, but what you saw is typical. I don't know of any motherboard which provides 2 AGP slots. For that reason you use a PCI card as the second install. The second card in my prime machine is a 3dfx Voodoo5. That drives my lefthand screen which only has to cope with 2D images, such as FSNavigator. And the Ti4600 drives the projector and the screen in front of me. When I run FS, I don't use my second machine - only its TFT screen. But I don't use WidevieW any more.<<

Thanks for taking the trouble to detail how your own setup works.

I expected to need three computers to run the three screens, and had hopes of the Dell. When it was out of the picture, I remembered hearing of people running two graphics cards in one computer and wondered if that was an alternative at the cost of a card at 150 uk pounds, as against a lowest cost computer at around 500 uk pounds.

I'll follow your suggestion to start another thread, asking about driving three monitors for Fs2002.

Thanks again, Frank, best wishes, Jim

Hi Frank,

I thought I'd drop you a note to say I've been looking at the Wideview Manual. It has a link to a Bulletin Board, specialising in Wideview and the use of multiple monitors.

There seems to be a lot of expertise in the field over there, so I'll pursue some enquiries with them.

If and when I get something going properly, I'll let you know the result.

Thanks again for your help. Cheers, Jim

Hi Jim

>>Wideview Manual. It has a link to a Bulletin Board, specialising in Wideview and the use of multiple monitors.<<

I didn't know that (RTFM!). Sounds a useful source of info.

I shall be interested to hear how you get on.
Regards
Frank

Jealous? Me?? Naaah.

Looks like a great setup Frank.

Paul Croft
10 miles SE of Heathrow (EGLL)

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Hi Paul

Glad you liked it. I was most pleased with the "Heath Robinson" stage .

I badly wanted to try out this setup before the carpenter had made the unit, and my old friend, the Black and Decker, worked a treat. Not a thing of beauty, but it did the job.

All the best
Frank
10 miles SW of Gatwick (EGKK)

One good think about using the workbench for this is you can't use it for chores around the house!

You're using one of those video projectors for the main screen - that's not cheap!

Nice setup - love that GoFlight stuff. The only problem with looking at this is I'm drooling over it.

Hi Brett

You're right - not cheap. May have to sell the B&D Workmate - if you look closely you'll see it is an original. Must be a collector's item

Regards
Frank

It's not cheap! I work with some of them at work.

That's just like my B&D Workmate. I've had it 21 or 22 years and it's still going. Now if I can only convince my wife that we have to have that projector <G>.