7 Segment Display 6 digits

Latest Information on Sim Innovation's flagship product Air Manager

Moderators: russ, Ralph

Message
Author
Mike Horsten
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:50 am

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#21 Post by Mike Horsten »

Corjan wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:18 am For now though I would suggest (like others) to use the message port. There are a lot of Arduino libraries available that can get the job done quickly.
Corjan
Corjan,

Can we have a small message port example on the WIKI with the corresponding IDE Code for the Arduino. Maybe just a simple example with a switch/button/TM1638 7segment module. This way we can all understand the messageport. Today the wiki lines are not enough

Mike
Building a home Cessna 172SP Steam. X-plane/MFS2020
(ex Name on Airmanager forum Polarair)

User avatar
Sling
Posts: 5237
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:37 pm
Contact:

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#22 Post by Sling »

Mike,

Did you watch the message port tutorial video?


Mike Horsten
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:50 am

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#23 Post by Mike Horsten »

Hi Tony,
Yes i did look at it but programming is not my strength. Also Joe tells me to forget Messageport and you tell me to watch the tutorial again. I only want to make AM better and i believe a bigger audience.
Also there is a lot of text in the video. is there a link to the code, i could not find it.

Mike
Building a home Cessna 172SP Steam. X-plane/MFS2020
(ex Name on Airmanager forum Polarair)

User avatar
jph
Posts: 2846
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 12:50 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow..

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#24 Post by jph »

+ 1 to Tony
Also Mike, I think you misunderstand, I am definitely NOT saying forget messgaeport :!: :shock: - I am saying that 'for now' you need to 'forget' messageport as you need to build the whole thing in Arduino THEN consider linking it via message port - certainly NOT ignore message port. Chicken and egg. ! Hope that makes sense. Linking the two - Arduino and AM - VIA - messageport ! involves firstly building the main unit with the Arduino with full custom coding and working functions and then and only then, trimming the code to make the transfer variables compact - and then - using messageport to establish two way comms from Arduino to AM, then integrating this into AM with Lua and AM fucntions.

Unfortunately, there is no
simple example with a switch/button/TM1638 7segment module
using messageport
It involves a good understanding of the Arduino and language used within the Arduino IDE, AND AM - AND Lua and the appropriate SI calls and functions.
As for future, there could be the possibility of an integrated feature for this unit - although I think it is highly unlikely - of native support, but as I said previously that there has to be an appropriate demand, there has to be the resources available on a particular board and also the trouble with the various versions of the board - there are at least three - possibly four.
That is why, and possibly always, it will have to be a complete DIY solution using Arduino coding with appropriate libraries for your specific display / unit that does the main work, then using MP, to link to AM and then using the different LUA Language with AM functions. Not really an insurmountable problem, but neither is it simple.
Neither does messageport give you, or is designed to give you, a plug and play unit - even when all is written. It will be on a per unit, per instrument, per input / output / per board basis.
I am not trying to be negative at all Mike, it is simply that you need a very good knowledge of all the various parts to accomplish the task.
Joe.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

User avatar
Sling
Posts: 5237
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:37 pm
Contact:

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#25 Post by Sling »

Mike,

You asked for an example of something simple. The video shows exactly that.

I don’t think I’ve still got the AM code but you should be able to extract that from the video. I might still have the Arduino sketch though. I did think after the fact that if I do more tutorials that making all the test scripts available for folks that want to follow along would be useful.

User avatar
Keith Baxter
Posts: 4674
Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:00 am
Location: Botswana

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#26 Post by Keith Baxter »

Sling wrote: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:22 pm I did think after the fact that if I do more tutorials that making all the test scripts available for folks that want to follow along would be useful.
Great Idea Tony

Keith
AMD RYZEN 9 5950X CPU, Corsair H80I cooler, ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS AMD Ryzen Mother Board,  32Gb ram Corsair Vengeance 3000Mh, MSI GTX960 4G graphics card 

User avatar
Corjan
Posts: 2936
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:04 am

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#27 Post by Corjan »

Mike Horsten wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 2:36 pm
Corjan wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 11:18 am For now though I would suggest (like others) to use the message port. There are a lot of Arduino libraries available that can get the job done quickly.
Corjan
Corjan,

Can we have a small message port example on the WIKI with the corresponding IDE Code for the Arduino. Maybe just a simple example with a switch/button/TM1638 7segment module. This way we can all understand the messageport. Today the wiki lines are not enough

Mike
Hi,


The wiki page has an example for both Arduino and AM instrument lua sides:
http://siminnovations.com/wiki/index.ph ... ng_started

Note that the message port only allows to send messages back and forth between the Arduino and instrument.
It is a very generic component, and should only be used by people that are comfortable with programming Arduino's.


It is more complicated than doing AM instrument coding.

Corjan

Mike Horsten
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:50 am

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#28 Post by Mike Horsten »

Thanks to all,
i will, after reading all this, think i will refrain from AM message port for the moment as i just dont have the time to learn LUA, IDE or any other programming language. Ill just stick to what i can do. Learn by doing like they say.
I understand you all, it just seams sad to see Simvim (now HCSCI) supports multiple TM1638 segments and AM a commercial product does not because of memory issues. Maybe an idea to start thinking of creating a Arduino slave board (connected to the serial interface) for the things we need the memory for or that are not possible today. Using slaves is not uncommon.

I will start de-soldering the LED modules So i can build them with Max chips. The 6 segment and 4 segment are so cheap and available in so many colors. Unfortunately they are not in available broadly with Max7219 chips.
Again thanks to all for the replies and suggestions. I appreciate your help and comments.
Mike
Building a home Cessna 172SP Steam. X-plane/MFS2020
(ex Name on Airmanager forum Polarair)

User avatar
Ralph
Posts: 7876
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:02 pm
Location: De Steeg
Contact:

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#29 Post by Ralph »

I didn't follow this topic closely, so someone might already have mentioned this, but you can also control your character elements directly from the Arduino:
https://siminnovations.com/wiki/index.p ... #8_Segment

Depending on the number of characters and your choice of control (CA or CT) you will need to use some transistors and/or Darlington (transistor)arrays.

User avatar
Corjan
Posts: 2936
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 9:04 am

Re: 7 Segment Display 6 digits

#30 Post by Corjan »

Mike Horsten wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 7:39 am Thanks to all,
i will, after reading all this, think i will refrain from AM message port for the moment as i just dont have the time to learn LUA, IDE or any other programming language. Ill just stick to what i can do. Learn by doing like they say.
I understand you all, it just seams sad to see Simvim (now HCSCI) supports multiple TM1638 segments and AM a commercial product does not because of memory issues. Maybe an idea to start thinking of creating a Arduino slave board (connected to the serial interface) for the things we need the memory for or that are not possible today. Using slaves is not uncommon.

I will start de-soldering the LED modules So i can build them with Max chips. The 6 segment and 4 segment are so cheap and available in so many colors. Unfortunately they are not in available broadly with Max7219 chips.
Again thanks to all for the replies and suggestions. I appreciate your help and comments.
Mike
Hi,


The logic in that a commercial product should have everything a non-commercial product has doesn't make much sense to me. This logic doesn't hold up anywhere in the software world I'm afraid...

We are kinda bound by the least powerfull hardware we support, which is the Arduino Nano & Uno.
Just checked it though, couple of days ago, and still have about 4k of flash to play with. TM1638 might come in a future version.


Corjan

Post Reply