Month: August 2022

Modernized User Interface for CompuFly by Flytron

In this blog I am presenting my Windows-App USB2PPM4CompuFly for the CompuFly USBtoPPM Converter V2.0 by Flytron. This software replaces the CompuFly – programm available on the Flytron web-page.

The USBtoPPMforCompuFly-app maintains the proven user interface of the CompuFly-programm to a large extend but presents itself as a completely rewritten Windows 10/11 app with a more modern inerface and new features.

When started the app will automatically connect with the converter and the first DirectX capable Joystick or Gamepad found. Your configuration will be saved and reloaded when restarting.

The user interface of the app is intuitive and self-explanatory: simply associate joystick axes, sliders or buttons to channel outputs. In order to accommodate the specifics of your application, channels connected to sliders and axis can be trimmed and the pulse range can be adjusted (EPA).

On top of the feature set of the open source CompuFly.zip version 1.35 buttons can be turned into on/off switches. You would assign a button to an output channel. By checking the “sw” box which replaces the inverse option after you assigning a button to an output channel.

You will find the USBtoPPMforCompuFly app in the Microsoft app store.

 

Remote control DiddyBorg with gamepad or joystick

In this blog I present my Windows app JoystickRC4DiddyBorg for remote control of the DiddyBorg (from PiBorg) with a joystick or gamepad.

The DiddyBorg sample programs published by the manufacturer PiBorg also include a Python remote control script with joystick, but it uses Bluetooth and therefore has a rather limited range.

The app presented here uses the existing WLAN and UDP as protocol to ensure sufficient agility of the remote control. For safety reasons, the time-out logic of the ThunderBorg motor controller is activated.

Software installation

The DiddyBorg needs a Python script JoystickRC4DiddyBorg as receiver, which you can find on github.com. In addition to the receiver program, you will also find a version of the ThunderBorg – Library for Python 3.x in the repository (the sample programs for the DiddyBorg are still based on Python 2.x).

The easiest way is to copy the two files additionally into the directory with the examples – then the script should work without further adjustments of path names.

On the PC side, install the Windows app JoystickRC4DiddyBorg of the same name, which you can get for free from the Microsoft App Store.

Operation

First start the Python script on the DiddyBorg. If you have a screen connected, then the program will log in and indicate that it is waiting for a client.

When you start the PC app, it will automatically search for a DiddyBorg with an active and compatible receiver on the local WLAN (to which both the DiddyBorg and the PC being used must be connected). If no connection can be established, a corresponding error message is displayed.

After the connection has been successfully established, the channels can be assigned to the various joystick axes and keys. Channels 3 and 4 are used as push buttons and allow for example fast / slow rotation (the function of the push buttons can be traced in the Python script).

The assignment of the channels is saved and restored at the next program start.