Why Not Use PC To Make Glass Cockpit?

Le Chaud Lapin wrote:
Standard disclaimer applies: I still have my copy of Flight Training
next to the porcelain throne. Ahem.

The Garmin (originally Apollo) MX-20 is a highly specialized PC.
It runs Windows NT 4.0. If you look carefully at the datacard
you'll find a stripped down verion of Windows there (and if you
look really carefully when it boots up you'll see the kernel
startup message appear (updside down at the bottom of the screen
in the current incarnation...older versions came right side up).

The MX20 has yet to blue screen or otherwise exhibit any software
related failure.

Not quite true. I've received the blue screen of death on an MX20. I
could not reboot after that. It required a software upgrade. Since that
time, Garmin AT has re-done their entire system, with new (3rd
iteration) display hardware and software. {I've had my display replaced
3 times now: I'm keeping my fingers crossed}

Discussions with Garmin AT engineers have led me to believe that
hardware-wise this ain't your mother's motherboard. For one thing, it
is (supposedly) able to withstand temperatures well over 100 F.

wrote:

Not quite true. I've received the blue screen of death on an MX20. I
could not reboot after that. It required a software upgrade. Since that
time, Garmin AT has re-done their entire system, with new (3rd
iteration) display hardware and software. {I've had my display replaced
3 times now: I'm keeping my fingers crossed}

Discussions with Garmin AT engineers have led me to believe that
hardware-wise this ain't your mother's motherboard. For one thing, it
is (supposedly) able to withstand temperatures well over 100 F.

The more I hear of this type stuff, including similar problems in "high
end" biz jets, it seems only Boeing and Airbus have really gotten it right
for advanced displays and nav systems.

wrote:
The more I hear of this type stuff, including similar problems in "high
end" biz jets, it seems only Boeing and Airbus have really gotten it right
for advanced displays and nav systems.

Hmmm... you have never seen the video of the Airbus A320 flying through
the trees prior to crashing at the Paris Airshow several years ago, have
you. So much for advanced electronic nav and display systems!

john smith wrote:

wrote:
The more I hear of this type stuff, including similar problems in "high
end" biz jets, it seems only Boeing and Airbus have really gotten it right
for advanced displays and nav systems.

Hmmm... you have never seen the video of the Airbus A320 flying through
the trees prior to crashing at the Paris Airshow several years ago, have
you. So much for advanced electronic nav and display systems!

That was an anomoly. But, in any case, that was a auto-flight/flight controls
design and operations issue. My previous comment, as you can see, was about
flight instrument displays and navigation systems.

In article , wrote:

Hmmm... you have never seen the video of the Airbus A320 flying through
the trees prior to crashing at the Paris Airshow several years ago, have
you. So much for advanced electronic nav and display systems!

That was an anomoly. But, in any case, that was a auto-flight/flight controls
design and operations issue. My previous comment, as you can see, was about
flight instrument displays and navigation systems.

It might have been an anomoly, but it was not surprising given the history
of introducing new technology and the resulting discovery of new failure
modes.

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule

Bob Noel wrote:

In article , wrote:

Hmmm... you have never seen the video of the Airbus A320 flying through
the trees prior to crashing at the Paris Airshow several years ago, have
you. So much for advanced electronic nav and display systems!

That was an anomoly. But, in any case, that was a auto-flight/flight controls
design and operations issue. My previous comment, as you can see, was about
flight instrument displays and navigation systems.

It might have been an anomoly, but it was not surprising given the history
of introducing new technology and the resulting discovery of new failure
modes.

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule

I would certainly agree with that. Having said that, my comments in the context of
the thread were about flight instrument displays and navigation systems. There are
huge problems with this stuff from light aircraft panel mounts to high end biz
jets. In that context, both Boeing and Airbus have done far better to provide
robust flight instrument display and navigation platforms that the rest of the
industry.