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I successfully modified an M550SV today.  All you have to do is remove the control panel and solder a jumper between either diagonals of SW1.

Edit 10/07/2013: This does NOT work… after about 20 seconds the monitor will shut off again.  I found this out yesterday and am supposed to be installing 6 of these in the simulator tomorrow where I will no longer have access to this panel.

Edit 05/31/2014: I realized that I hadn’t updated what I ended up doing… I did a home-run of two conductors from each monitor to a relay which does a momentary (1 second) switch simulation.  I was able to use just one relay with all of the positives from all of the monitors on one terminal and all the negatives of the terminals on the other.

Edit 06/30/2014: It looks like I did this for nothing – the monitors seem to power on when they detect the VGA signal from the computer… DOH

Edit 07/31/2014: Okay, I didn’t do this for nothing… apparently if the monitors shut off because they lost the VGA signal, they will come on when they detect the VGA signal.  But if you lose power to the monitors they will NOT come back on without hitting the power button.

Officially an LLC today, filed just under the wire for 2012.  A firm that insures operators of amusement attractions recommended that the manufacturer (Unistellar Industries, LLC) be separated from the operator (Paragalactic Entertainment or a variation thereof) for purposes of legal liability and, ultimately, the ability to obtain insurance.

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Looking for business insurance I ran across an article with things you can do to lower your premium.

Setting up the maintenance in CMMS I realized we did not yet have a fire suppression plan for the enclosure.

My research led me to Halon 1211.

• Halon is an effective agent on Class B and C fires, the ones you’re most likely to see in a simulator.
• As a gas, it’s capable of getting into hard-to-reach places like the inner workings of your instrument panel.
• It’s a non-corrosive clean agent, which means it won’t damage items it comes into contact with.
• It won’t shock-cool your avionics.
• It’s lighter and more efficient than CO2.
• Halons are low-toxicity, chemically stable compounds.
• It works in gas form, so it will not obscure your vision like the powder emitted from dry chemical extinguishers. Basically, it’s invisible.

The manufacturer recommends 1 pound of Halon 1211 per 140 cu. ft. of space.  I found 1.25 pound units (too small) and 2.5 pound units for about the same price.

I also inquired about using automatic discharge 165°F units about the efficacy and availability.

I had a bunch of these left over from military panels that I have been hoarding for over a decade.  However, most of them don’t have lamps in them.

Looking at the datasheet I was able to find the replacement 12 AC/DC/50 mA part number  is 10-1109.1279 (01-913.12).  However, you can’t find that part number anywhere except in reference to the switch datasheet.

I worked with DigiKey technical support this morning and we think the SM1250S will do the trick.  I ordered 100 of them and they had them in stock.  I will post a follow-up comment and find out whether they actually fit or not.  I previously bought the SM1250G but they were too big!

Over the next couple weeks I am going to be installing all of the monitors so that we can start applying the interior skin and also start playing with multiple frustum rendering.  Once they are in place I will take precise measurements of each of the corners of the monitors so that we can compute the frustums from some arbitrary point between the two airmen.

Protect the monitors from scratches, easier cleaning, glare inside cockpit is more realistic, and helps another pressure distribution layer in case someone bumps a screen.

Product chosen is Optix® Acrylic Sheet from Professional Plastics.

Optix® acrylic sheet is crystal clear, durable, weather-resistant and lightweight. It also offers the advantages of high molecular weight for ease of fabrication, low heat loss for economy and an attractive clear edge color.

For the 55″ monitors we need 4 sheets at 26.875 x 47.75 (26.75 x 47.625 +/- 0.125)

One of which I already cut from an old projection screen TV that was dismantled.

And another of which is 53.75 x 47.75 (53.625 x 47.625 +/- 0.125) which I will try to thermal form for the top middle.

For the 42″ monitors we need 2 sheets at 20.75 x 36.75 (20.625 x 36.625 +/- 0.125)

Did a number of calculations but placing the whole order at once saves 40% on shipping.

$47.71 shipping on whole $174.16 order is 27%
$25.32 shipping on partial $37.84 order is 67%
$25.70 shipping on partial $64.30 order is 40%
$28.57 shipping on partial $102.14 order is 28%
$30.25 shipping on $128.60 is 24% (all but curved piece)
$34.44 shipping on $65.56 is 53% (curved piece only)

We did a little more brainstorming and investigation about Venus last night.  The back-story we are working with is as follows:

The cities on Mars now lay in ruin – as abandoned as they were unsustainable.  The lack of economic self-sufficiency was exacerbated by the inability to terraform the planet.

Rewind to when Mars was in its heyday – we looked to Venus for the abundance of an otherwise rare isotope (36) of Argon which was crucial in controlling the fledgling fusion technology of the period.  “Air” as we know it is buoyant at 50km above the Venetian surface where the atmospheric pressure is almost identical to sea level on Earth.

Large, floating mines were created to extract the isotope in the atmosphere and shipped to orbiting facilities for transport back to Earth.  The conditions in which these mines operate make one shudder: noxious gases, acid rain, violent convective activity, and volcanic ash plumes for starters.

Protection from solar radiation was a constant battle as the planet similar problems with core rotation that we encountered on Mars.  Even the Argon-36 was radioactive.

Was going to try a VisionTek Eyefinity6 Radeon 7870 which I won on eBay for $255!  Can anyone spot the problem?

I offered to pay $155 for it but the seller declined. This one is going back as part of an eBay case.  I have since ordered a brand new one from TigerDirect at a crazy Cyber Monday low price of $359.

My gut is telling me that we will have to run in a 2×2+2 extended configuration in order to mix resolutions but the thing I am most worried about is running my application across these different viewports in DirectX. The benefits of one application would be sharing texture, mesh, point, and telemetry information. In reality I think switching the view and projection matrices out 6 times per second will impact the frame rate.

I also have 6 of these active mini-DP to RGB adapters on the way from China which I got for $10 a piece on eBay!

I also had to upgrade the power supply – NewEgg took care of me there with a 550W 2×6-pin PCI for $40.  That is the only piece I actually received so far.  Everything else should arrive next week.

My conversion from watts to VA was off pretty significantly.  I am now using the maximum designed wattage as outlined in APC specifications for each UPS.  The SC1500 that I intended to use will be overloaded but it is more economical to get three of these LS700 units instead!  The values for the computers are estimates based on the PSU in each unit (value can only go down from there) as well as the 1A regulated 12V supply consumption.  I don’t think we need the monitors themselves on backup power (it would be cool for them to flicker when we transfer from internal to external power and vice-versa.