Ohhh goody, PDA software price wars!

I can't wait until the day when our entire panel will be a screen all with
the other instruments, and info just superimposed on the moving map that
will be landstat photos of what we are seeing out the canopy.

--
Gary Boggs
3650 Airport Dr.
Hood River, Oregon, USA
97031-9613
"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
...
Is anyone working on Linux flight software?

I've been looking at some really neat PIII "Car Computers" with 7 inch
screens that run on a very modest amount of 12V DC current - a 7.5 AH
battery should run one 6 hours or more. They cost about the same as a PDA
but have bigger screens, more performance and are infinitely customizable.

Bill Daniels

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
I can't wait until the day when our entire panel will be a screen all with
the other instruments, and info just superimposed on the moving map that
will be landstat photos of what we are seeing out the canopy.


Essentially, this could be done now. These 12V computer systems are the
same as the most powerful laptops and come with the same array of I/O ports
like USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. They can use hard drives or Flash Memory
virtual drives to make them more rugged. A single 7.5 AH SLA battery would
power the thing for more than 6 hours.

You would use an "Air Data" sensor that measures pitot/static pressure,air
temp and TE probe pressure. Add a USB GPS engine and you have all you need.
From this, compute and display IAS, TAS, Altitude, Vario (TE, Average, Netto
etc.) - use vertical tape displays if you prefer. Of course, the glide
computer with the moving map would be in the center of the display.
Updating the panel would become a matter of just updating the software.

The display could be a thin, daylight readable LCD that hinges down over the
existing panel containing the old round instruments. If the newfangled
computer goes belly up, just lift the screen up to reveal the old panel.

Bill Daniels

Forget the screen and go right to heads up. Superimposed or imaged onto your
sunglasses or whatever. Biggest problem with PDA's is the touch screen
thing - I like big round knobs that have solid clicks I can turn with my big
mitts. I hate poking (and squinting) at the iPaq, not very clever in my
opinion. Better yet with buttons on the stick and flap handle.

Best audio ever is the three-chord tone from an SB-8; Ilec should bring that
back for the -10 - it's like angels from Heaven in a climb.

Jim


"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
...

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
I can't wait until the day when our entire panel will be a screen all
with
the other instruments, and info just superimposed on the moving map that
will be landstat photos of what we are seeing out the canopy.


Essentially, this could be done now. These 12V computer systems are the
same as the most powerful laptops and come with the same array of I/O
ports
like USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. They can use hard drives or Flash Memory
virtual drives to make them more rugged. A single 7.5 AH SLA battery
would
power the thing for more than 6 hours.

You would use an "Air Data" sensor that measures pitot/static pressure,air
temp and TE probe pressure. Add a USB GPS engine and you have all you
need.
From this, compute and display IAS, TAS, Altitude, Vario (TE, Average,
Netto
etc.) - use vertical tape displays if you prefer. Of course, the glide
computer with the moving map would be in the center of the display.
Updating the panel would become a matter of just updating the software.

The display could be a thin, daylight readable LCD that hinges down over
the
existing panel containing the old round instruments. If the newfangled
computer goes belly up, just lift the screen up to reveal the old panel.

Bill Daniels

"Jim Phoenix" wrote in message
...
Snip-------

Better yet with buttons on the stick and flap handle.

Snip------

Jim

Cool idea - buttons on stick and flap handle. Limited vocabulary voice
commands would work too.

Bill Daniels



"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
...

"Gary Boggs" wrote in message
...
I can't wait until the day when our entire panel will be a screen all
with
the other instruments, and info just superimposed on the moving map
that
will be landstat photos of what we are seeing out the canopy.


Essentially, this could be done now. These 12V computer systems are the
same as the most powerful laptops and come with the same array of I/O
ports
like USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. They can use hard drives or Flash Memory
virtual drives to make them more rugged. A single 7.5 AH SLA battery
would
power the thing for more than 6 hours.

You would use an "Air Data" sensor that measures pitot/static
pressure,air
temp and TE probe pressure. Add a USB GPS engine and you have all you
need.
From this, compute and display IAS, TAS, Altitude, Vario (TE, Average,
Netto
etc.) - use vertical tape displays if you prefer. Of course, the glide
computer with the moving map would be in the center of the display.
Updating the panel would become a matter of just updating the software.

The display could be a thin, daylight readable LCD that hinges down over
the
existing panel containing the old round instruments. If the newfangled
computer goes belly up, just lift the screen up to reveal the old panel.

Bill Daniels

Cool idea - buttons on stick and flap handle. Limited vocabulary voice
commands would work too.

Bill Daniels

And when it heard certain words, it could activate the robot arm to mop your
brow with a cool cloth, whisper calming sounds into your ear, and drop a
valium into your drink, 8-0

Keith

Bill Daniels wrote:
...
Limited vocabulary voice commands would work too.
...

Only for english speaking pilots with the proper (i.e. probably american) accent.
Definetely not for me. Anyway I hate to have to speak to a machine.

"Robert Ehrlich" wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:
...
Limited vocabulary voice commands would work too.
...

Only for english speaking pilots with the proper (i.e. probably american)
accent.
Definetely not for me. Anyway I hate to have to speak to a machine.

Spot on! Now add differing wind noise, audio vario tones and the fact that
your radio might break squelch at just the wrong moment and voice controlled
instruments are a long way off technologically.

Ian

"tango4" wrote in message
...

"Robert Ehrlich" wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:
...
Limited vocabulary voice commands would work too.
...

Only for english speaking pilots with the proper (i.e. probably
american)
accent.
Definetely not for me. Anyway I hate to have to speak to a machine.

Spot on! Now add differing wind noise, audio vario tones and the fact that
your radio might break squelch at just the wrong moment and voice
controlled
instruments are a long way off technologically.

Ian


Come on, guys, it's the 21st century already - this stuff works. Robert,
computers aren't American or any other nationality, they can speak French
too - really. (Actually, they speak Japanese best. Ever thought about the
problem of putting 6000+ Kanji characters on a keyboard?)

Using voice input with my cell phone to control a remote computer works even
when driving a car with the radio on and the windows open. Voice input has
come a long way in the last three years. Wind noise, accent, vario audio
even radio background can be dealt with very successfully.

If you are really worried that it won't work in a critical situation, just
have a backup input method like a button or switch that does the same thing
the voice command does.

Anyway, Ian, why is your cockpit so noisy? Mine is so quiet that I have to
set the vario and radio volumes no higher than 2 -5% or they blow me out of
the cockpit.

Bill Daniels

Robert Ehrlich wrote:

Bill Daniels wrote:
...
Limited vocabulary voice commands would work too.
...

Only for english speaking pilots with the proper (i.e. probably american)
accent. Definetely not for me. Anyway I hate to have to speak to a
machine.

Just out of curiosity, have any other Brits here tried to use the American
Airlines automatic system to confirm a flight reservation?

Last time I did it heard "Miami to Chicago" as "New York to San Francisco".
Weird.
--
Soar the big sky
The real name on the left is richard

In my ideal world I'd like to see a single large flat panel screen smack in
the middle of my panel with the various companies vying for who can write
the best program to use for displaying the various things you guys have
brought up. It holds all sorts of possibilites and with multiple windows
open would even mean that you could run programs from different
manufacturers on that same screen.

This nonsense of having to buy a latest and greatest hardware gizmo to go
with the software is crazy. One big screen would be much easier to
read....maybe I'm just getting too old to see the damn little things! Maybe
they could even agree on a single box (hard drive?) to drive the thing as
well bringing it down to just the software competition.

Anyone know if the technology is currently good enough to make this work
i.e. flat screens wrt current drain, ease of use in high sun environments,
etc? I have no expertise in this whatsoever. Just dreamin'.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix