Life, The Universe and ... Everything!

A few people have asked me how to order the PCB for the FMC CDU, so I've decided to write up a guide. To begin with, the design is available for free. I used EasyEDA.com to make the schematic and PCB design available. If you are into electronics design, you can make a copy of the schematics and PCB design and make whatever changes you like, provided you comply to the license terms. Please do read through them as there are some restrictions that apply. If you just want to buy a ready-made PC...

There appears to be quite a bit of updates going on with the ExtPlane plugin source code in the last few months, and it turned out some of these are needed to fix some of the bugs I am facing when using it. Unfortunately, to get the latest and greatest version, you have to compile it yourself. Here are my notes on how to go about compiling the plugin on Linux and Windows. Note: If you are using my Pi-XPlane-FMC-CDU, you can just use the pre-compiled binaries linked to in my post here. This ...

Finally ... after a long hard battle ... my Pi-Xplane-FMC-CDU is now working with the Zibo 737. You will need to upgrade your ExtPlane plugin and also the software on the Pi FMC. Update Your Pi You should have already got your Pi FMC software running using the instructions in my earlier post here: http://blog.shahada.abubakar.net/post/installing-pixplanefmccdu-software. In the latest version, I've removed the hacks and workarounds I had implemented earlier to try and get ExtPlane workin...

This is my fully 3D printed design for a Dual Concentric Rotary Encoder with Push Button. It's useful for making the knobs for flight-sim radio panels, where there is an outer knob to set the smaller digits, and an inner knob to set the larger digits. It's inspired by a design I found on Youtube, where the designer, Theo Deckers, CNC'd a bracket to hold two regular rotary encoders together. I don't have access to a CNC machine or the parts that Theo uses, so I decided to design one purely ...

The agent said she had arrived, so I went down to the Shell station at Taman Connaught this evening to fetch my new house maid. Yes I have decided I need some help around the house. Although her responsibilities will only be to vacuum and mop the floor, she will be a live-in maid. As I've converted my spare room into a workshop, I've decided she will just have to sleep under the kitchen counter. She comes from what used to be a small fishing village in China. Unfortunately she only speaks ...

I've been stumped for the last few weeks with getting my Raspberry Pi FMC to work with Zibo's 737. I used the ExtPlane plugin to interface my code on the Pi with the simulator, and it works well for almost all FMCs except Zibo's. The symptoms would be missing or truncated data updates, causing the screen on the Pi to get messed up. Since I'm only working on the Pi end, it's hard to tell whether the problem is with ExtPlane or Zibo. The AirFMC iPad app, which comes with its own plugin, is ab...

This is a guide on how to install my Pi X-Plane FMC CDU Software, for use with the Pi FMC CDU Printed Circuit Board (PCB) I designed. Thanks to all the testers who provided feedback and corrections to this guide. Compatibility The Pi X-Plane FMC CDU software is compatible with the following X-Plane aircraft and FMCs:EADT's x737-700 and x737-800 (freeware) with Javier Cortes's x737FMC (payware).Zibo 737-800X (freeware) with built-in FMCIn the future, support for the following FMCs will be a...

A strange thing happened today ... I lost access to my Evernote content. Well not exactly, but close enough. Since I run a Linux Desktop, and there is no Evernote client on Linux, almost all my interactions with Evernote are via the Web Client. It's not the most powerful way to use evernote, but it gets the job done. I will occasionally boot up a windows virtual machine and run the desktop client if I need to insert a table or modify a note's creation date, but these occasions are rare and ...

I spent a few hours updating my Kuala Lumpur International Airport (WMKK) scenery for X-Plane. I've added Taxi Routes for every single taxiway in the airport. Taxi routes are used to guide AI aircraft around the airport, without which they will taxi through buildings and across grass areas. That involved not only tracing out each taxiway in WED, but also naming them. This also means the ATC is now a bit more intelligent when guiding you around the airport, i.e. when requesting taxi clearan...

6 December 2017 New toys for 2018 ...with two more units on the way, I can cover every spot I loiter about at home. Now neighbors won't just hear me laughing by myself, instead they'll hear me having whole conversations by myself! Inside each unit is a speaker and microphone, so it can "talk" to you and with some help from google's cloud, also understand what you say to it. The end result is a Star Trek-ish alternative interface to Google Assistant that is available on the new smart phones....