On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:14:11 -0600, you wrote: >wrong, as with the Cessna autopilot where the dialog box is invisibly >disconnected from the real autopilot.
Reading the digest, I am a little slow on keeping up with this thread. The built-in autopilot is not the "real autopilot." In MSFS, there is one autopilot and any aircraft panel autopilots are just front ends to this. In FlightGear, there is the opportunity to completely replace the autpilot with a NASAL scripted version. This is pretty much what the KAP140 does. It does not use any features of the built-in autopilot. FlightGear enables users to define process controllers to move control surfaces. One can construct an autopilot by scripting that activates and provides data to controllers. The autopilot I NASAL scripted, does not even pay attention to the built-in autopilot. The traditional autopilot it models does not even come close to being usable. The Digitrak is a completely GPS driven autopilot using ground track and ground speed data and drives the control surfaces in a completely different way than any traditional autopilot (well, maybe a few recent digital ones are catching up). NASAL script monitors the GPS and drives process controllers to maintain GPS track. As a result, _it could not be modeled correctly in MSFS_. Only FG provided the ability to model it correctly. I could even model the three dimensional gyroscope and magnetometer it uses in heading hold mode if I were willing to write some C. Please don't think I'm being picky, this is a significant point for someone modeling offbeat technology. The confusion comes from the way FlightGear developed, first there was one built-in autopilot and a dialog was created for it. Then a process controller system was contributed. This made it possible to create a multiplicity of autopilots, which gave rise to the confusion. The problem is a technical one, of how to rework the interface so it reflects what is available in the system, which I think is the direction you're heading. -sek _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@flightgear.org http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
