VFD segment displays in HTML/CSS for my SimPit

So I dunno if you know what a #VFD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_fluorescent_display) is but I’m a sucker for these – at least virtually.

Games like #RebelGalaxyOutlaw perfected the look and this is where I want to go with my #Arwes HUD app for my #EliteDangerous / #X4Foundations home cockpit too.

The segment displays are heavily inspired by #AugmentedUI project (https://augmented-ui.com/) where I’ll borrow some more elements. Learned the neat fake scan lines from there too. And yes the 8 segment display works by shifting bits under the hood This isn’t really needed for an app but I have plans to add some real segment displays eventually (I do have a whole box full with these!) so I wanted to know how to implement this anyway.

Video from an earlier stage in the development demos the scan line effect.

The bars are configured with parameters in size, count, percent, colours and thresholds I also added a random chance of 5% to shift the hue a little bit because just as in real life nothing is perfect.

And yes they are fully themed so switching the colour theme also affects the virtual VFDs.

I’m also going to replace the older horizontal bars, that look way too boring in comparison.

It’s still very early but I hope to get some rad animations going too. See https://www.hudsandguis.com/home/2022/retro-digital-dashboards to get an idea in which direction this is going

See the dedicated project page https://SimPit.dev for more details on this #Macross #VF1 inspired #cockpit panel.

https://beko.famkos.net/2025/05/04/vfd-segment-displays-in-html-css-for-my-simpit/

Quick demo time: I got a touch display 17.3″ that will replace my rather old one in my VF-1 inspired cockpit panel.

Pick your poison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4LsyqYPCA / https://makertube.net/w/nCopvNbkvkwR9XcG5QPQ3i

Mostly because of the bad viewing angle. I’m not a huge fan of touch but sometimes it is really useful and if I already spend money why not go the extra mile

https://beko.famkos.net/2025/05/01/15629759/

Short morning stream

[ENG/GER] SimPit Day for Space Pew Pew - SimulIDE all the Mega

#LinuxGaming #GamingOnLinux #SimPit #Linux #EliteDangerous #EliteDangerousOdyssey #StarCitizen #PewPew #ViperPit #X4Foundations #Macross #VF1 #tech #videogames #XWing #TieFighter #Arduino #Mega #HomeCockpit

https://live.famkos.net

Updated https://simpit.dev/ - home of the #Space #PewPew #SimPit inspired by a #VF1 Valkyrie cockpit (#Macross)

That's a glorified #DIY joystick controller with an LCD ('MFD') and plenty of #RGB for my #Linux PC

Newest additions are my #XR sheniagans (and some notes on #Breezy and the usage of #IMU data as #headtracker), the games #AceCombat and #XWVM (#XWing / #TIEFighter) and a bunch of videos were updated.

Best viewed WITH an ad-blocker and patience (slow af).

How we enjoyed X-Wing today.

(XWVM is not an official product from Lucasfilm Ltd. or Disney. It is not endorsed or authorized by either. It is a fan recreation of the game engine used to play X-Wing and TIE Fighter for the sake of accessibility.)

Heh, Jon combines his #SimPit with #Synth now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoY0Orwq4GA

Showing off new features for my home cockpit: Priority alerts, sounds and more status indicators

This uses my X4-SimPit extension for X4: Foundations, that sends ship telemetry via a socket to my node-red plumbing pipeline, which in turn forwards data to Websockets, SocketIO and MQTT. Various subscriber listen on the new messages to run blinken lights and my HUD app. I’m using the well known message format also used by Elite Dangerous so it’s compatible with that game as well.

Pick your poison: https://makertube.net/w/nUoG2ZPeAW1QhT3A2BXRrM / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp1PkVhH9cc

Oh yeah… and on Linux PC

Let me know what you think!

X4-SimPit code (pending changes) is here: https://github.com/bekopharm/x4-simpit
The cockpit panel has a dedicated project page here: https://simpit.dev/

https://beko.famkos.net/2025/03/12/showing-off-new-features-for-my-home-cockpit-priority-alerts-sounds-and-more-status-indicators/

Got some help carrying the #ViperPit from the basement into my man cave today and since I got the peripherals operational again already, and got Ace Combat 7 on a sale, which seemed to be a good fit, I decided to play that first:
https://makertube.net/w/wiKFYNPaKhhCmrrz3aGLYb / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEPK0lHX_3s

Little did I know what a pain in the neck it would be to get this running. No, Linux wasn’t the problem. That was just Press Play, as usual.

There is however no settings menu for #HOTAS joysticks so any mapping has to be done by manually editing the `Input.ini` of the game in an text editor, which is a guessing game. Head tracking is also a no go. I pulled the old trick to map the head tracker to a virtual XBOX controller but the game comes with an annoying deadzone where the camera snaps to the center.

Ah well, got it all working okay-ish in the end and enjoyed some pew pew in the skies. There seem to be plenty of #Macross mods too so trying that will be next

https://beko.famkos.net/2024/12/26/playing-ace-combat-7-with-viture-pro-xr-glasses-in-my-viperpit/

https://makertube.net/w/bufv9BJv2vcXDb3KUaksB7 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpP7KS1fbrY

`@ozoned` interviewed me on my home cockpit on a live stream via his #Owncast instance at https://stream.ozoned.net/. This is a more condensed version of the stream that is still just 1h shy. We’re going over almost every feature of my Primary Buffer Panel and I explain how everything works. I also decided to add various photos, slideshows or video snippets during the talk only sections so things don’t get too boring. Sometimes that even complements the talks

Ever wondered how to start your own DIY #homeCockpit / #SimPit on? It’s easy. Just watch this stream

Dedicated project website: https://SimPit.dev

Check out the original recording if you want to see more or the full stream with more [dirty] details: https://video.thepolarbear.co.uk/w/9zNcweVw2fxxpSrmBnaQJa

#Gaming #LinuxGaming #GamingOnLinux #EliteDangerous #X4Foundations #StarCitizen #HOTAS #HOSAS

https://beko.famkos.net/2024/12/18/interview-in-depth-walkthrough-of-my-primary-buffer-panel/

Interview: In depth walkthrough of my insane home cockpit panel with BekoPharm and Ozoned

https://makertube.net/w/bufv9BJv2vcXDb3KUaksB7 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpP7KS1fbrY

@ozoned interviewed me on my #homeCockpit on an #Owncast live stream (https://stream.ozoned.net/). This is a more condensed version that is still just 1h shy. We're going over almost every feature of my Primary Buffer Panel and I explain how everything works. I also added photos, slideshows or video snippets so things don't get too boring

Interview: In depth walkthrough of my insane home cockpit panel with BekoPharm and Ozoned

https://makertube.net/videos/watch/54ed2651-7b73-40a2-943e-00439c733a64

Reviving an old ThrustMaster Rudder Control System for my ViperPit

https://makertube.net/videos/watch/0ae25773-5299-4484-9664-f7909b05e580

#EliteDangerous cockpit by C-Pit 101

This is one of the cockpits that inspired me to start working on my own: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1gNmbLAhjw

The topic came up so I had to look up the channel and I think this deserves some more attention. I really hope that we'll see one day some updates on this project

Now would you look at that: https://video.thepolarbear.co.uk/w/9zNcweVw2fxxpSrmBnaQJa

@ozoned had me on his live stream and made me show off my #HomeCockpit in detail

This video is how I gutted my already modified old Thrustmaster F-16 FLCS joystick of my ViperPit and made it work again with the help of an Arduino Pro Micro. This flight stick (and also the other peripherals) do belong in a museum but where’s the fun in that? I modified it and now it’s a generic USB joystick that works on any recent system. I focus mostly on the 5×5 button matrix since this is the hardest part to understand. In the end are a few minutes of playing X4 Foundations with it to give it a good test run. Now it just needs some oil for the creaking

https://makertube.net/w/qrqqZLr2QvJFjCwyNzzAmp / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYiPFDpHwmc

https://beko.famkos.net/2024/11/05/reviving-an-old-f-16-flcs-joystick-for-my-viperpit/

Damn, the #VR bubble is unreal in explaining to me why a #SimPit is just wasted money and how I can not have fun with a #HomeCockpit. Literally below my posts/videos showing how much I enjoy pushing buttons.

Is this how #Console gamers feel when someone from the PC Masterrace shows up?

I totally missed the memo but apparently there is a Linux version of #GameGlass for a while now: https://support.gameglass.gg/en/articles/9351904-installing-gameglass-hub-on-linux

* Ubuntu 22.04+
* Linux Mint 21.2+
* Fedora 39+

Not a fan of GameGlass (I prefer my switches and dials, as you may know) but it’s probably of interest for other #homeCockpit builders.

#SimPit #Gaming #GamingOnLinux #LinuxGaming #StarCitizen #EliteDangerous

https://beko.famkos.net/2024/09/19/15629338/

Updated https://simpit.dev/ - home of the Space Pew Pew #SimPit inspired by a VF-1 Valkyrie cockpit (#Macross)

That's a glorified #DIY joystick controller with an LCD ('MFD') and plenty of RGB for my #Linux PC

Newest additions are my videos for #X4Foundations, #EliteDangerous and #FlightOfNova (all also on https://makertube.net/a/bekopharm) and instructions how to compile #OpenTrack with the #neuralnet tracker using #ONNX runtime.

Best viewed WITH an ad-blocker and patience (slow).

I had the chance to play Flight Of Nova (https://flight-of-nova.com/) for the first time today. This was on my wishlist for quite some time now. Dived in blind and had no idea what to expect. 3 tutorial missions later: Oh boy… this is hard. I can see myself sinking many hours in this.

Anyway, as usual, my focus is on interfacing with my home cockpit (or simpit) and while there is no ship telemetry [yet?] I was able to get it running just fine via Proton and with my DIY headtracker using OpenTrack. Hats off, seldom that I see a game that detects my joystick just fine, has great ingame calibration, offers me a windowed mode and a bunch of ultra width resolutions without having to resort to hacking config files or use gamescope to resize it

Head tracking is, as usual, TrackIR only so far (I guess the native Linux PC version does not have UDP in place here but I couldn’t check due Steam refusing to download another version today). Anyway, you can see me fooling around with the buttons and do an A+ crash landing in the end – sunny side up Not too shabby considering that this was my 3rd landing at all.

Pick your poison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2A_uVbUKWU / https://tube.tchncs.de/w/iV21V6EZxNCTsC8bvsCQDt

https://beko.famkos.net/2024/06/14/demo-flight-of-nova-with-headtracker-and-hotas-on-linux-pc-crash-landing-my-spaceship-again/