I bought an interface cable for FMS off ebay and it just seemed buggy...sometimes it would work,other times it would sort of have a"tick"to it,take off and crash.
Who has a GOOD preferably USB cable,interface cable for FMS and Windows XP?

http://www.clonepac.freeserve.co.uk/prod03.htm

think this is where you have to go as having same problems
myself unless i run under windows m.e and use a paralell interface
in the printer port...

I'd recommend getting on Ebay and buying either the gameport TX adapter or the USB one. I can't remember the company website but you can get the cables from them directly as well. Then you can use you TX in any program that takes a joystick. $25 for the gameport version $50 for the USB. I have the gameport one and it works great in everything.

http://www.milehighwings.com/ just saw the link posted in another message.

Try these links for XP and a cable

http://www.geocities.com/deonvdw/Docs/PPJoyMain.htm

http://www.heliguy.com/nexus/fmsinterface.html

For USB interfaces, you can contact Dennis Koroluk via email at [email protected]. He is situated in Canada, but I am sure he will be able to help you. You can also have a look at the different interfaces available for the home constructor on my web at [link]http://myweb.absa.co.za/eric.brouwer[/link]

Find all info about my cable and FREEWARE softwares to look at your transmitter,
record a flight a.s.o.
In forums, search for: pcm fms cable
or go to my club's site for an ARTICLE about (simple)PCM
[link]http://www.jdm-nivelles.be[/link]
that has a link to all doc, softs and plan.

PS: don't be afraid about 'pcm': your transmitter does not need
to be PCM. the name just refers to the fact that the cable does
PCM coding of your transmitter PPM signal to pass it to the PC.

Philippe
Brussels Belgium

Additional software in the (simple)PCM series
Search with "joystick expo" in 'Articles'

[link]http://www.jdm-nivelles.be[/link]

Philippe
Brussels

And announcing AIR-SHOW where you can win plane+radio+equipmt

does that cable only work for FMS or is it for anything that takes a joystick?

EDIT: Problem solved. PPJOY allows it to be used as a joystick in Windows XP.....cool

If you are in Belgium, north of France, or neighbour countries
The field is located 30km south of Brussels (near town Nivelles), close to E19 highway (Brussels-Paris)

Come and see us at our AIR SHOW 2004 Aug. 21 and 22

You can win a complete plane with full radio and tech equipement (value 940 Euros)
You will also get info about (simple)PCM project.

This is a pre-annoucement . Book the date in your agenda.
All info will be available soon on our website, with access map, a.s.o.
And a participation voucher that you will need to get your chace to win the prize (your presence at the show is mandatory to participate)

[link]http://jdm-nivelles.be[/link]

Feel free to print copy the flyer and show at your club.

Philippe
Brussels

My cable (see above in this thread), that works with my RC softwares and with FMS simulator, even on Win 2K and XP, has no problems on laptops, as it is powered by the RC transmitter (there are only 2 wires to the PC: data and ground).
If you do not have a COM port, use a serial to USB converter, it works fine.

Philippe
Brussels Belgium

All info and downloads in 'Articles' at [link]http://www.jdm-nivelles.be[/link], with English docs for most of the items.

The following is confirmed:

A SIMULATOR stand will be present at our Air Show 2004, with various demos.

The PIC cable and various (simple)PCM software s will be demonstrated.

The SIMU contest will be done on FMS, with RC transmitter s linked by the PIC cable.
This contest is separate from the main contest, with 940 Euro prize.

All info in previous appends, and at
[link]http://www.jdm-nivelles.be[/link]

Philippe
Brussels Belgium

RE: Belgium: Win 940 Euro plane + radio (in reply to phildc) Report This Post | (Post No. 2)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JDM Nivelles Air Show 2004

Participation voucher for the "PLANE" contest:

http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/images/bu...ticipation.jpg

The rules:
http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/images/reglement.jpg

and the access map:
http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/images/plan.jpg


You must handle it personaly at the Air show !

There is also a SIMU contest and many other activities (see flyer)

Philippe

I am using a USB Interface Cable for FMS that works good with a Hitec Eclipse Xmitter buddy-port and USB port on Windows XP.
The device simulates coming in on COM3 or COM4, so you don't need an actual COM port.
The site is a little funky, but he has a cable to fit just about any Xmitter(including square or round):

http://www.tti-us.com/sim/prod-USB.html

Beware, the above "USB" cable is just a regular FMS PIC-serial interface with an embedded USB-to-serial converter.
Such an interface supports only a couple of sims besides FMS:
[link=http://www.milehighwings.com/sim_compatibility.htm]http://www.milehighwings.com/sim_compatibility.htm[/link]
From the other hand, a true USB interface supports all simulators working with Windows joysticks as well as some of Mac sims.

antonio104 mentioned a "USB cable" from TTI.
Note that, despite using USB interface, it's just a PIC serial cable in disguise--it has an on-board USB-to-Serial converter, which does not change the fact that very few simulators support it:
[link=http://www.milehighwings.com/sim_compatibility.htm]www.milehighwings.com/sim_compatibility.htm[/link]

A true USB interface is visible in Windows control panel as a multi-axis joystick, it can be used by any software supporting joysticks.

Just my 2 cents...

Thanks bluesky123, my penance is to share another of my less than perfect choices, my latest computer.
It has a P-4 motherboard Intel 82845 video controller with 64mb shared memory. It works fine with G2 and FMS, but it has no AGP slot, just PCI. I wanted to try AFP or XTR.
XTR site says "Hitec Eclipse 7 system(mine) will not work with the XTR simulator".
AFP says "AGP 2x harware accelerated video card required".

Has anyone tried the Hobbico NexSTAR FutabaTowerTx/USBPC interface cable for the NexSTAR Edition of the Great Planes RealFlight flight simulator program with the freeware FMS? Windows 98 and/or XP?

http://www.rc-electronics.co.uk/siminterfaces.htm

A range of solutions to suit your sim of choice, preferred PC interface and budget.

After considerable researching, I sourced mine from here. I wanted a "no hassles" solution and that's precisely what I got. Reliable product, prompt service, reasonable price...what more can you reasonably ask for? Highly recommended.

[link=http://www.rc-circuits.com]R/Circuits.com[/link]

The above site has all the information you need to understand how these interfaces work. There is schemtaics, PIC code and detailed descriptions on the circuits and PIC programming. You will find all the info you need to build your own interface or you can buy fully assembled interfaces if you prefer.

Dennis
[link=http://www.rc-circuits.com]R/Circuits.com[/link]

This site has plans to build interfaces.

[link=http://www.rc-circuits.com]R/Circuits[/link]

As a remainder, how to make an FMS PPM to PC serial cable. For USB, add a serial to USB converter cable.
Based on a PIC 12F675. Ok for 98, ME, 2K, XP, portables.
[î]needs a TTL compatible PPM signal ( (*) and ref to doc), which is the case of most transmitters[/i]

Schema: http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/...cteurs_PCM.pdf

PIC hex file: http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/fms/pcmcab.hex

Printed Circuit:http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/...it_imprime.jpg

"Manual" printed circuit: http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/...uit_manuel.jpg

Tools to help you:
Virtual scope on PC audio input (mike) (to find your PPM signal): http://polly.phys.msu.su/~zeld/oscill.html

COM signal analyser: http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/...32analyser.exe

PPM signal analyser (has COMx and audio interface inputs): http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/fms/Analyser31.exe

Transmitters info (how to find your PPM signal or make a buddy cable): http://users.belgacom.net/TX2TX

All docs and other softwares (viewing plane or helico, record a flight, ...):
http://www.jdm-nivelles.be/fichiers/fms/SPCMliste.htm

Philippe
Brussels Belgium
JDM- Nivelles

(*): TTL signal: low < 0.8V, high > 2.4V. Check with scope.
Edit: remark from a user on the FMS forum (http://cgi.ethz.ch/~mmoeller/fms => Forum: it is in English ): one could use a lower voltage zener (3.3v?) , still be in the PIC specs at 4MHz, and achieve a lower "high" voltage. NOT TESTED !

What happened to the post from the guy in Canada? If he reads this please send me a pm.

Hi Vicman

I sent you a PM.

Dennis
[link=http://www.rc-circuits.com]R/Circuits.com[/link]

Got my cable and it worked fine. Thanks! I am having some difficulty getting FMS to work consistently tho. Any suggestions? Also where are the millions of planes I heard about?

I'll just respond to your post. There is nothing wrong with how the program FMS functions. Any problems you have are strictly due to the interface or controller. There are a multitude of software and hardware issue sourrounding the various cables/interfaces/controllers available for FMS. If you don't believe me, visit the forums at FMS:

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

I spent a fair amount of time researching these units looking for one. I talked with various developers, and I even purchased one from Mile High Wings that intermittently worked. I finally found a simple and reliable solution that has served me extremely well. You can read my two posts at the Joystick-Interface Forum at FMS.

There are many models to download into the models file in FMS, and the site gives plenty of links to them. You'll have to spend some time and effort searching around for them.

Ciao,

Eagle Al[8D]