Paul:

Reading all your posts on EFI systems and GPS intefacing has kept me
thinking about what might be the best operating system to use if one
wanted to create an entire home-brewed glass-panel display.

I ran the idea past my wife's cousin, who is now retired from a position
as a programmer for some Silicon Valley hardware developer.  He
suggested a look at TCL (pronouced: Tickle)

see:
http://en.labs.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tcl_Programming/Introduction#So_what_is_Tcl.3F

He sparked my interest so I've been hacking around with it for the last
couple of day.  The weather has been snowy/rainy and we occasionally
have up to 3 dogs and 8 grandchildren under 8 years of age ramming
around the house, so hiding in my office is often prudent behavior :)

I first explored methods using TCL GUI tools to draw the panel
instrument (which I've done with the vertical gauges on the bottom of my
panel).  I  then decided that displaying images of real instruments was
a faster/prettier way to do it. I can now simulate the appearance of
most anything on the screen.

I now need to figure out how TCL can be used to read an external
data-source.
I will probably test it by having it read test-numbers from a simple
external data file, but according to claims from online sites, I should
be able to read data from most any data port as well.  That is my next
project.

This is one of my most recent panel displays.

Robin Bergland


Robin,
This is very impressive and very nice appearance.

SUGGESTION: include an attitude indicator, and layout the "clocks" in the
standard T layout.

Philippe CHENEVIER

Can TCL be used to program a Honeycomb tablet?
Tablets have build in gyro's.


Paul Lamar

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ixellence.ixgyro.android.demo&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5peGVsbGVuY2UuaXhneXJvLmFuZHJvaWQuZGVtbyJd



http://tinyurl.com/c9b59oa

Theres and app for that. Its android. I have it on my phone and my tablet.
Works OK, except-

In coordinated turns there is theoretically 1G, so it doesnt know that you
are turning.
In a slip or uncoordinated flight, it thinks you are turning, even if you
are running straight down the runway
However, I have a Windows APIC software package that has the AI slaved to
the GPS. It works well but doesnt work on 64 bit or other than Windows OS.
I also have an app for my android OS that couples the AI to the GPS, and
it performs as expected. Again, however if you lose the GPS signal, it
gives erroneous information. These are free apps that let your kids run
through the house and watch the AI move, not really tailored for A/C
instruments.

If I have time I will try to look at the code for the apps that I have and
see what is going on inside. It may be that we can link the AI to the GPS,
and use the built in compass and inertia chip for corrections. That has to
be the way the new glass units work. The inertia chip simply cant react
like a gyro.

Kevin Alderman