Multiple Monitor/MFD ?Touchscreen

[HChipman]

I would like to build a simulator with one (possibly touchscreen) for the MFD's and the other one for the "view outside" . Do I need 2 video cards and if so, do they need to be the same type? Anyone doing this- is the touchscreen a good idea? Is it possible or recommended to use 3 smaller montiors for the "view outside" with something like the TH2G? If I use this, can I still put the MFD in it's own monitor, perhaps connected to that 2nd video card (that would make 4 monitors). Thanks for your help. I don't want to buy the wrong kind of monitors if it will not work. I want the MFD to be on a separate monitor to enhance the "realism" of the cockpit.:beach:

 

[TSPenguin]

This is defenitely possible.
If you want your 3D view on more than one screen you will need a solution similar to TH2G (at least if you want to use fullscreen mode). For the MFDs you will need to use ExtMFD.

This can be achieved with a single card with two outputs. The TH2G on one output with the 3D window and on the other one your touchscreen showing MFDs.
There are other ways of doing this, but this one is pretty efficient. I recommend searching for "simpit" to get some clues. If you have old laptops (or PCs) lying around, you are in for a treat with MaxiVista.

Happy Orbiting

 

[Blacklight]

This will really come in handy for when I use Virtual Mission Control with my unmanned missions. Are there any addon pannels for VMC ?

 

[whitewatcher]

I'm writing a network MFD-Client/Server. You can buy an old computer on ebay (300Mhz,128MB or similar) and install the Server.

Then you take your favourite spacecraft, compile-in the client and launch the simulation.
When loading the spacecraft-module, it connects to your little MFD server and uses it as real-MFD.

It's not yet finished but it's in a working state. If you are interested, write me a PM in this forum.

I want to connect real buttons to the parallel port and poll them every 100ms or so. Of course you can use any input for which you have the C++-library. At the present state, I use keyboard input:
- "1" to "6" for left button row
- Shift + "1" to "6" for right button row
- "p" for PWR
- "s" for SEL
- "m" for MNU

 

[markl316]

This might also be nice...
http://www.naplestech.com/shopcart/quadstation_12.asp

 

[whitewatcher]

Again: I have written a Network-MFD addon as part of my thesis.
It is now published: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=14784

Advantage:
- You can use as many MFDs as you want to over the network.
- Easy to install, easy to build, schematics available.

Disadvantage:
- Requires modification to the vessel. You must ask the vessel developer to include NetMFD.cpp.
- 6 months of beta-testing, but there could still be bug, of course.

If you want the code, I will publish it within days. Just tell me!