It’s baaaaack!
A quick trip to Radio Shack for batteries, and my beloved, venerable Tandy PC-6 from back in junior high school(!) is back among the living. (I actually must have remembered to remove the old batteries before they started to corrode — wow!)
Here it is, folks — BASIC-language paleotechnology, 1986-style!
Well, no actual steam will be involved — just a PC or two, Flight Simulator, and several PIC microcontrollers. the idea is to create actual realistic-looking (working) instruments for use with FS. Having found CHComm3a, which claims to be able to output data from FSUIPC to an RS232 port, it seemed like a good idea to try to do something useful with this data.
My plan is to go for something like a Cessna 182RG setup eventually — mostly, by building the “easier” components first. Clockwork components like the altimeter may have to wait until I can find a suitable (read: nonfunctional but in nice condition; I don’t want to ruin a perfectly good instrument) part on eBay.
I just picked up a copy of “Programming 16-Bit Microcontrollers In C,” which seems to have some good tricks for migrating from the 8-bit parts I’m familiar with to the PIC24 family.
Here’s the To-Do list so far:
