Making a buttonbox - input wanted

[foxymop]

I think arduino Leonardo can act as a keyboard. Don't know if can act as a normal arduino at the same time to act as a hud.
I've ordered some material also to try some things too.
You can get a list of all the info you can get from hive? Maybe plan the hud from there?
Like, if you can get the fuel value, you can have a buzzer for that, or for engine heating.

[Killg0re NL]

I recommend the lit limiter also on the wheel.

I will try to make a post on building your own buttonbox.
(Arduino Leonardo sketch)

[Maskmagog]

Satco1066: sounds interesting! Do you have any details? What network interface? Do you have any code you’re willing to share?

Foxymop: Yes, vrHive has a list of supported values. There’s a pdf available on vrhive.co.uk.

[Black TimeZzZ]

I use a Arduino Pro Micro
acts as standard keyboard, wired like a matrix
i use 15 buttons and 4 encoders on my box

[Maskmagog]

Yes, just read about the Pro Micro has built-in keyboard emulation. All arduinos with Atmega32u4 maybe?
Just tested, and it seems to work fine. Found two tutorials on youtube:

Rotary encoder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9cDEef0IbQ
Keyboard emulator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIcliL4O14

@Black_TimeZzZ: Do you know how many (and which) of the pins that are available for this on the Pro Micro?
I might need a few of these, but a while ago I ordered a handful from China. Dirt cheap, should arrive in a couple a days.

I also ordered some of these 7-segment displays, that I plan to use for lap times:

That will be served by a separate Arduino, probably a Nano.

[Maskmagog]

Do you know how many (and which) of the pins that are available for this on the Pro Micro?
I

Gonna answer my own question..
According to this post, 18 pins are available. So a matrix, 9x9 means 81 buttons maximum. Well, that'll have to do

[Killg0re NL]

You can use ' my sketch' for the buttons and encoders

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/sho...68#post1490568

Reading of the actual status such as ABS ESP is still in progress (with an ESP8266)

The leonardo has more pins available.
i am able to work with an MCP23017, but i don't have the buttonpresses attached yet.
(Working with an MCP23017, uses only 2? inputs on the leonardo, but extends the inputs.
So this leaves more in/outputs available to communicate with the ESP8266 and rotary encoders

[satco1066]

Satco1066: sounds interesting! Do you have any details? What network interface? Do you have any code you’re willing to share?

.

i used an Ethernet Shield W5100, a TM1638 board and Mega 2560R3. Wrote an UDP reader and interpreter to decode car stats for some status leds, gear, speed, fuel etc for the 7-segments and also decoded rpm to display at the led line of the TM1630. Worked fine on the testboard, but never made it to a finished device.
This was 2 years ago and just a test project. Must search for the code in some backups.

[belaki]

You gotta love a button box, and projects like the one you envision are fabulous learning experiences and creative outlets.

But physical button boxes have significant limitations. For the most part, they are seriously resistant to change. Further, they occupy cockpit space with a one dimensional use case and can be bulky. I could go on...

Save yourself the aggro. Build a virtual button box using something like Roccat Powergrid on an Android tablet. The added benefit is the Android will also run many other tools useful to the driver. Below is a picture of a now deprecated cockpit (meaning I have reconfigured screens - something near impossible with physical dash and button boxes) that shows Powergrid on the right hand glass panel. Note this same panel is also switchable to a telemetry screen running concurrently in the background. With the Powergrid I can also launch PC2 and all associated add-ons directly from the cockpit - and there is also a (rudimentary) keyboard and trackpad. It is very flexible.

[Maskmagog]

Belaki, you make good points. But one of the reasons I’m doing this (probably the biggest) is that I want to learn more about arduinos, switches, leds, shift registers etc. I just love that mixture of analog and digital! It’s a hobby for me, and I plan to use the knowledge in other, non-pcars2 projects

Edit: Nice setup!