Update: I purchased TrackIR5 because it was bundled with Arma2 (which I was going to pay 50.00 for anyway)for 159.99 from GoGamer.com. I can now say without reservations; that if it was not for the fact that Arma2 (and a couple of other high end sims) only supports TrackIR for headtracking, TrackIR would NOT be worth the money compared to Freetrack (which I also use). This is such a huge dissapointment, I just played several rounds of Rise of Flight and Il-2, and in both I could see little to no difference (I actually think my Freetrack system is slightly better than TrackIR in Rise of Flight but that might be due to the tweaking that I have done to Freetrack). Freetrack will stay in my simpit unless future games absolutely will not support it, and the TrackIR will be on my desktop for Arma2. What a waste of money....sheesh.

Ok, rant over.

Hey Propnut sorry to hear that you're not happy with TrackIR5. I have been wondering about purchasing one but now I'm not so sure. I take it you're satisfied with Freetrack? What is all involved with Freetrack?

Hi Propman,

I did not say that I was unhappy with TrackIR (hardware or software, they are both very nice) but rather with the amount of money spent on a product that, to my admittedly untrained eye, no improvement in gameplay. I do believe, however, that the future of headtracking will see more and more companies excluding Freetracks from use...so it might be best to join the masses and buy TrackIR if you can afford it.

Otherwise PM me and I will walk you through building a Freetrack system.

Quick update,

Nope, I have not fallen off the edge of the world. The semester is almost over and I now have some time to once again waste on my simpit (oh, you did not just say waste did you?!!). Ok, maybe not waste, it is a great deal of fun and satisfaction making new doodads and geegaws for my pit.

The other day I replaced my old projector (Infocus X1) which had a max res of 1024x768) with a new Dell 2300MB with a max res of 1640x1080. It is a full 1080p system! Extra bright PC interface.

More later.

Bet your loving the higher res on the new proj. mine maxs out at 1024x768 and I'm looking to upgrade myself, more for movies than anything though. Great to hear your moving along!

HHF, you gotta believe it. What I really like is how bright this one is compared to my old one. The Infocus is excellent for movies (max 720i) but for use with the PC it was pretty dim. The Dell has a PC setting which is as bright as my desktop LCD monitors. The higher res makes the picture very sharp also.

Yah know what the best part of this new projector is? It was free, yep free. My sister is moving back to Alaska, she was going to throw it away because she had lost all the cords and the remote (you need to know my sister to understand). Works perfect for me.

I need to take pictures of a few other minor improvements that I have made, these include rollers on the front of the chair to improve movement, and some wiring issues that I fixed. I still need to pick up another Leo Bodnar board so I can add trims, mixtures, and radiator adjustments.

More later...

Added another lever quadrant yesterday, for the radiator and mixture settings. I used the second throttle port and the unused port on the bodnar unit, this used up all eight axis. I still need three axis for trims...not sure I can find a reason to pay 81.00 for another bodnar unit for to only use three axis..might be better to just use the Saitek Aviator guts that I have in a drawer, they do not work as well (or as easy) but it should be fine for trims and my second throttle. I need to post pictures of the second lever unit. I used rubber O-rings and made grooved cogs out of a garolite type material that I have in a 6'x4' sheet. They attatched to the levers and the pots, the pots a mounted below the levers. The system works very well, and mades for a small footprint unit.

Right now I am having PC issues, either my PSU is too small (could very well be true with the amp draw that I am asking a 480w unit to do) or my CPU is overheating due to poor ventilation. Several times my PC has simlpy turned off (no warning) during Rise of Flight. It could be the GPU pulling huge amounts of wattage when the graphics get intense or it could be the CPU overheating because of the same issue. I have CoreTemp running (and logging) and will attempt to replicate the problem. The log will from Coretemp (and another from RivaTuner for the GPU) will tell me if it is a heat issue. I have a new Dell 750w PSU from Ebay (16.00) but it needs to be adapted for use in a non dell motherboard. MORE TO PLAY WITH!!!

If the CPU overheats, you should get an alarm tone from the motherboard - unless you've turned it off or the board doesn't have that feature on by default. Sounds like you're gagging that poor power supply.

g.

Could be, I had troubles with the motherboard way back when as well. This is why it was in a closet and availible for the simpit. All the parts are old used bits and bobs, oh well. I will figure it out eventually. I might just bag the simpit and build some pull out platforms for the office (see pictures of my office space in my current pc link in the sig). Ideas have been running through my head. THis would allow me to use my X52 as well as the leo bodnar unit to do all the axis/button that I could wish for!

Installed the Dell 750W PSU (after a bit of rewiring to make all the plugs match) and it seems to be working well. Several hours this week in Il-2 and Rise of Flight with no hickups.

Leo Bodnar recieved my order for another of his excellent controller boards. This will allow me to install the second throttle quadant (for Radiator, mixuture, etc) and add buttons. I am going to do a toggle panel ala Gene's amazing build (if you do not mind my borrowing your ideas), and completely redo the instrument panel. I am going to use Plexi instead of plywood. This will allow back lighting where ever I wish to place it, no LEDs needed. I am also going to reduce the number of fake gauges (although someday I want to replace them with working gauges) to have more room for buttons, etc. So many buttons...so little room! lol