My New Flight Deck

[Tom Clayton]

I've had a 39" TV on the wall in my bedroom that I never watch. Today, I picked up a new desk and moved the TV to the wall over that. With the TV in use as an extended desktop monitor, I'm looking forward to flying with a nice wide view! Notice the GPS and radio popups undocked and moved down in this quick demo pic...

 

[Anthin]

Very nice.Where is your keyboard?

Anthin.

 

[Tom Clayton]

The bottom monitor is my laptop, with a full keyboard, but I also have a wireless keyboard that I didn't yet have on the pullout when I snapped the pic. I probably won't use that during flights though. I'm still tweaking the setup, so layout will probably change. I also need to get a better mouse, but the ones that say they work on glass are pricey.

 

[Anthin]

Thanks Tom for the reply.Very interesting.

Anthin.

 

[Motormouse]

...... I also need to get a better mouse, but the ones that say they work on glass are pricey.

If it's any help with that, I use a track ball, aka upside down mouse, because of limited desk space.

The one on the left here >

http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/mice-pointers/trackballs


Ttfn

Pete

 

[Tom Clayton]

I've used one of those for quite a while, but I don't like the latest L'tech configuration software for it - they took away too much of what I used just about every time I put my hand on it. I'm thinking about this one:

http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/performance-mouse-mx?crid=7

 

[zswobbie1]

Just an idea (does not take up space)! Maybe use a 2nd keyboard, tilted up against the wall, next to your laptop's keyboard, with remapped & relabled keys (I used FSUIPC).
On this keyboard, I grouped & colour coded key assignments for eg. radios gears, engine start, etc, to make button presses more realistic.

This way, you can actually minimise a lot of mouse (& conventional shift-, & alt- type key) usage.

 

[srgalahad]

I learned long ago that mice, in general, are ergonomic disasters just like traditional keyboards if you do a lot of typing. Since most people don't have their mouse at a proper height or distance it can lead to alll sorts of repetitive strain injuries and awkward movements. The other value of a trackball is that it lets you use less footprint on a crowded surface. As a result I only have a mouse around for when I'm traveling as it's better than a touchpad.

I too wanted easier access to commands so I went with a Logitech G-13 GamePad

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-ca/product/g13-advanced-gameboard. 25 programmable keys, and the mini-joystick is a plus, again when I travel. It's not a great replacement for a full-size stick but it actually can be used with FS for basic test-flying, which I sometimes have to do while on holidays.

I use the trackball right-handed and the GamePad with my left along side my Siatek yoke and throttles

 

[Tom Clayton]

I thought about the game pad, but if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I'll spend a little more and get myself a G510 keyboard with 18 programmable "G Keys." It looks to me like a reboot of the original G15, which I had for several years.