How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

Help with Air Manager Android version

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Moonhawk
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#11 Post by Moonhawk »

Ralph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:13 am I understand, but it is also a sliding scale if we start naming all the things that aren't possible. In general you name the things that the software can do.
Understood, but I think this is quite a significant part of what your solution does. Maybe I'm a little dim, but when I bought AM PC and AM Android, I did not for a second think that I would not be able to create custom panels on the PC and then run them on the Android panels, especially since the 2 solutions even have the same name. I think maybe calling the Android/iPad versions Air Manager Lite, would at least make users realize that there is an immense gap in functionality between the 2.
Ralph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:13 am It would have to be a Air Player application if Air Manager can send instruments and panels. There is a very old alpha version, we have worked on it. The problem is partly the licensing. But it also takes quite a lot of time to develop it into a release version. Then we have to consider: is it worth it? Right now there are a lot of other things that have our priority.
An alpha version of? I wasn't sure what you were referring to here.

I understand that you have to weigh priorities and make decisions based on that, I can't fault you for that. As a consumer, I don't mind purchasing something that has limitations, as long as I know about them. What I do mind, and I'm sure you do as well when you purchase something, is to find out what I bought doesn't do what I thought it did :)

Anyways, I do really appreciate the dialog, it's much appreciated. Also, I think AM Windows is a superb solution, it really is, and imo is definitely worth the price. AM Android though just needs one basic feature to be added, and that is allowing it to be fed panels and instruments from AM Windows. Oh, and a name change :-)

Moonhawk
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#12 Post by Moonhawk »

Crunchmeister wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 1:28 pm @Moonhawk - If you're looking to display Air Manager panels on your Android tablets, look into SpaceDesk. It's a free app that turns your tablets and other touch devices (including iPad, phones, Windows laptops with touch screens) into remote, wireless touch monitors for your main PC. You run a small server app on your main PC, and client apps on your wireless devices. They then essentially become touch monitors for your main PC. You can then use your normal desktop Air Manager and display panels on your tablets.
Thanks for the tip, Crunch! Much appreciated.

With this configuration, is it possible to move FS panels/windows to those SpaceDesked tablets, ie. for G1000 panels?

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jph
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#13 Post by jph »

Hi Moonhawk,
I was thinking that if you needed a specific size there was always the option of driving panels like the Ipad3 LCD panel via an LVDS card (just the panel - not the ipad - yuk :lol: ! - they are cheap as chips new) but you already have the tablets it seems. I bought 9 ipad 3 units with minor faults but all great LCD panels for less than 100 euros for the lot.
As you already have the tablets, In that case then absolutely, by all means give spacedesk a crack. It is completely free as it is still in development, well, it has been for 8 years ;) .. but it is extremely stable - no issues at all. You only need normal air manager (PC) as the tablets will be seen as extension monitors by windows and you can use the touch if needed. Give it a try it is really very very good.
Personally I prefer to run spacedesk on another PC running Air Manager and not the main power house that runs the simulator but you would just need to try it.
I have quite a few spare pcs as you can buy a really good quality ex corporate PC like a Lenovo Edge 72 full Tower (not the small form factor) for about 50 to 70 euros that will do the job superbly. They are all standard components so you can change the PSU and add a triple head GPU if needed for little money. Running Air manager with 3 or 4 monitors and space desk with a couple of tablets is no effort for a machine like that. They all run Win 10 no worries as well.
I like the sound of the SC cockpit !. Are the tablets the lower displays ? - that would be excellent. It is something I always intended to get into but never made the time. :cry: I was an avid original 'Elite' player on the BBC model B and then the Amstrad 6128. SC always seems like what Elite would have naturally developed into. Braben and Bell are proud I am sure. It's a shame they didnt stay together. One day I will have to take the plunge though.

Oh, and yes, you just open air manager panels up on space desk monitors, they are seen by windows more or less exactly the same as a normal plug in monitor. You can extend your screen, drag windows across, anything. Enjoy.
Joe
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

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Crunchmeister
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#14 Post by Crunchmeister »

Moonhawk wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:19 pm With this configuration, is it possible to move FS panels/windows to those SpaceDesked tablets, ie. for G1000 panels?
Absolutely. I used this for a while before getting actual touch screens. I'd move my G1000 popouts from MSFS over to my tablets without issue.
- Ryzen 5950x, 64GB 3600MHz RAM, RTX3070Ti

Simstrumentation Instrument dev
Free Air Manager instruments for MSFS available at http://www.simstrumentation.com

Moonhawk
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#15 Post by Moonhawk »

jph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:27 pm As you already have the tablets, In that case then absolutely, by all means give spacedesk a crack. It is completely free as it is still in development, well, it has been for 8 years ;) .. but it is extremely stable - no issues at all. You only need normal air manager (PC) as the tablets will be seen as extension monitors by windows and you can use the touch if needed. Give it a try it is really very very good.
Personally I prefer to run spacedesk on another PC running Air Manager and not the main power house that runs the simulator but you would just need to try it.

...

Oh, and yes, you just open air manager panels up on space desk monitors, they are seen by windows more or less exactly the same as a normal plug in monitor. You can extend your screen, drag windows across, anything. Enjoy.
Joe
Heya Joe and Crunch!

So I tried Spacedesk, as you and Crunch suggested. In general it worked, but I did have a few issues and wanted to see if you guys came across anything similar.
  1. I was able to drag a popped-out G1000 PFD and move it to the Android Tablet running the Spacedesk app, but I could not re-size the PFD without it locking the aspect ratio of the PFD, so there were always black bars on either the sides or top. Can the instrument aspect ratio lock be turned off in FS? I assumed this was an FS problem and not Spacedesk.
  2. When Spacedesk is running on my PC, dragging any Window, regardless of whether FS is running, or I'm dragging on the main display or the Tablet, it lags everything big time. The Window being dragged slowly "swims" towards the mouse pointer. The only way to stop this was to shutdown the Spacedesk Server app on the PC and actually Exit it. This would obviously make it unusable for me if there is no way to stop that. Are others seeing this issue?
  3. At least twice during a one hour flight, the Tablet Panel went black and just showed text saying "disconnected". The first time I shutdown Spacedesk on the Tablet and re-ran the app and everything was back, and the second time it came back on its own after about 30 seconds.
jph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:27 pm I like the sound of the SC cockpit !. Are the tablets the lower displays ? - that would be excellent. It is something I always intended to get into but never made the time. :cry: I was an avid original 'Elite' player on the BBC model B and then the Amstrad 6128. SC always seems like what Elite would have naturally developed into. Braben and Bell are proud I am sure. It's a shame they didnt stay together. One day I will have to take the plunge though.
As many people do, I have a love/hate relationship with Star Citizen :) On the one hand it's an incredibly ambitious project with great features, gfx, ship detail, etc. but on the other hand it has some very simple functionality that just doesn't work and is never fixed, and the reason that is always given is that it's an "Alpha"; which to me sounds like a hollow excuse after 10 years and while customers are spending literally thousands of dollars to purchase virtual spaceships. And yes, I am one such fool myself :) I do really believe in the project, but I'm mad at myself whenever I put more money into it while their progress is crawlingly slow.

Well SC Rant Mode Off! I use GameGlass to drive Star Citizen panels. It works pretty well, although it's nothing like Air Manager, mostly because Star Citizen doesn't yet have an API that would allow retrieving data such as Switch States or any vehicle stats, such as speed, instruments, shields, etc. With GameGlass you can design and configure each panel on your PC and then push it to the Tablets you want to run them on, or you can also run them on the local system. It works well.

Can AM be used for games/simulations other than the Flight Simulators that are listed?

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MiGMan
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#16 Post by MiGMan »

Regarding this gentleman's gripe - maybe SI could consider renaming the Android version to

Air Manager Android Cockpit
Air Manager Cockpit Builder
Air Manager Instruments
Air Manager Android Instruments
Air Manager Cockpit Instruments for Android

... or similar, to avoid 'buyers remorse'.

FWIW I am enjoying great success with life-size instruments by spreading the individual instruments over several Androids.

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jph
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#17 Post by jph »

Moonhawk wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:47 pm
jph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:27 pm As you already have the tablets, In that case then absolutely, by all means give spacedesk a crack. It is completely free as it is still in development, well, it has been for 8 years ;) .. but it is extremely stable - no issues at all. You only need normal air manager (PC) as the tablets will be seen as extension monitors by windows and you can use the touch if needed. Give it a try it is really very very good.
Personally I prefer to run spacedesk on another PC running Air Manager and not the main power house that runs the simulator but you would just need to try it.

...

Oh, and yes, you just open air manager panels up on space desk monitors, they are seen by windows more or less exactly the same as a normal plug in monitor. You can extend your screen, drag windows across, anything. Enjoy.
Joe
Heya Joe and Crunch!

So I tried Spacedesk, as you and Crunch suggested. In general it worked, but I did have a few issues and wanted to see if you guys came across anything similar.
  1. I was able to drag a popped-out G1000 PFD and move it to the Android Tablet running the Spacedesk app, but I could not re-size the PFD without it locking the aspect ratio of the PFD, so there were always black bars on either the sides or top. Can the instrument aspect ratio lock be turned off in FS? I assumed this was an FS problem and not Spacedesk.
  2. When Spacedesk is running on my PC, dragging any Window, regardless of whether FS is running, or I'm dragging on the main display or the Tablet, it lags everything big time. The Window being dragged slowly "swims" towards the mouse pointer. The only way to stop this was to shutdown the Spacedesk Server app on the PC and actually Exit it. This would obviously make it unusable for me if there is no way to stop that. Are others seeing this issue?
  3. At least twice during a one hour flight, the Tablet Panel went black and just showed text saying "disconnected". The first time I shutdown Spacedesk on the Tablet and re-ran the app and everything was back, and the second time it came back on its own after about 30 seconds.
jph wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:27 pm I like the sound of the SC cockpit !. Are the tablets the lower displays ? - that would be excellent. It is something I always intended to get into but never made the time. :cry: I was an avid original 'Elite' player on the BBC model B and then the Amstrad 6128. SC always seems like what Elite would have naturally developed into. Braben and Bell are proud I am sure. It's a shame they didnt stay together. One day I will have to take the plunge though.
As many people do, I have a love/hate relationship with Star Citizen :) On the one hand it's an incredibly ambitious project with great features, gfx, ship detail, etc. but on the other hand it has some very simple functionality that just doesn't work and is never fixed, and the reason that is always given is that it's an "Alpha"; which to me sounds like a hollow excuse after 10 years and while customers are spending literally thousands of dollars to purchase virtual spaceships. And yes, I am one such fool myself :) I do really believe in the project, but I'm mad at myself whenever I put more money into it while their progress is crawlingly slow.

Well SC Rant Mode Off! I use GameGlass to drive Star Citizen panels. It works pretty well, although it's nothing like Air Manager, mostly because Star Citizen doesn't yet have an API that would allow retrieving data such as Switch States or any vehicle stats, such as speed, instruments, shields, etc. With GameGlass you can design and configure each panel on your PC and then push it to the Tablets you want to run them on, or you can also run them on the local system. It works well.

Can AM be used for games/simulations other than the Flight Simulators that are listed?
Hi , its late here .. for me,, so a quick response, more tomorrow. I never run space desk on the main pc due to lag, always on a second pc as i have more pcs than i can shake a stick at. ;) Spacedesk is great, but as said, it can and does cause issues so best kept on a dedicated box,.
Joe
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

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Sling
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#18 Post by Sling »

MiGMan wrote: Thu Nov 03, 2022 10:33 pm Regarding this gentleman's gripe - maybe SI could consider renaming the Android version to

Air Manager Android Cockpit
Air Manager Cockpit Builder
Air Manager Instruments
Air Manager Android Instruments
Air Manager Cockpit Instruments for Android

... or similar, to avoid 'buyers remorse'.

FWIW I am enjoying great success with life-size instruments by spreading the individual instruments over several Androids.
I get the idea of renaming to make it clearer what each product is. This has been suggested on this forum before. However I think your particular suggestions would just make things worse. I’d be confused by those choices. If the naming changes it needs to be really simple and even then there will still be situations like this. I’m afraid to say that it’s on the buyer to ensure what they are buying will do what they want by asking their important questions pre purchase. It’s really only on the seller if they have incorrectly advertised a given feature.

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MiGMan
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#19 Post by MiGMan »

Fantastic panels on your YT channel BTW.

I respect your opinion and still beg to differ.

You are an expert in panels.
I am not an expert in panels... but I do have a 24 year history of publishing flight sim content...

... and I, like the original poster thought the PC and Android versions would interact.

So... name change please!

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Sling
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Re: How to push a panel from Air Manager PC to Android?

#20 Post by Sling »

Thanks, glad you like the panels.

Look I’m not suggesting it’s ideal currently and I agree changing the name to something that differentiates them may at least prompt a potential new user to go find what the differences are. I just don’t think a name change alone solves folks buying with a wrong expectation. There is still the emphasis on them to do pre purchase research and understand what they will be getting.

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