How hard is that shit?

I'd like a control panel of nicely haptic buttons for some of the Arma 3 side features, Lights on/off, Engine on/off, Chaff, Smokelauncher etc.

From what I gathered researching it's basically just building a box, soldering some switches to a micro controller and bob's your uncle. I feel 80% confident I can do those things - am I missing something? Anyone ever build their own "sim"-control-deck?

  • BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org
    ·
    5 months ago

    It’s pretty easy as long as you are comfortable with basic maker things like soldering and wire cutting. You can use a PiZero, Arduino or a Leo Bodnar board for the core electronics which makes it super simple and a lot of fun.

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      ·
      5 months ago

      Do you have experience with USB-Encoders? I feel like I could save myself some time of learn2code if I were to just use something like that?

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        5 months ago

        One of the arduinos can be used as a usb-hid. Check hackaday or instructables and you'll find a bunch of easy keyboard like projects. I looked it into it a while back for a stroke PT glove but never pulled the trigger on it.

      • BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org
        ·
        5 months ago

        Yeah, I’ve used all three. A Bodner board is probably the easiest as there is no setup to do since they are designed to do exactly this. Arduinos and Pi’s are also pretty easy, but do require a bit of configuration.