Freware Garmin Gns 530/530 Waas For X-Plane

[ngidalov]

Dear all,

As an enthusiastic x-plane user as plug-in developer I decided to make a contribution to the x-plane community.
Part of the activity to build a fill motion flight simulator (www.elise-ng.net) includes building a fully functional Garmin GNS530 device which interfaces to X-plane. Garmin provides GNS 430/530 simulators/trainers both as a 16 bit applications and 32 bit application. The 16 bit application 430/530 trainers are very outdated. I decided to build an interface to the new GNS430/530 WAAS trainer provided by Garmin (http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3532)
Although there is a commercial implementation from RealityXP I decided to build my own "shell" around the Garmin trainer in order to learn about it and to be able to implement more functionality that RealityXP currently provides.
At this moment I have completed part of the "shell" which can tune the COM1/NAV1 frequencies and can send GPS data to the GNS.
The connection to the auto pilot still has to be done.
The shell runs in a local standalone application. I plan to extend the "shell" to run as:

- X-plane plug-in (pop-up window)
- X-plane panel instrument 2D/3D
- Local standalone
- Remote standalone

Please stay tuned for the first version of the plug-in. After cleaning up the code and doing some extensive testing I plan to release the first version before the end of this week.

[img]https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/assets/images/products/010-00416-01/en/cf-lg.jpg[/img]

With kind regards,
Nikola Gidalov
(www.elise-ng.net)

[mDR40]

Hey,
great news thank you very much, I'm looking forward to this!!!

[N_Altafini]

yes defenately a great news!

[ZAV12]

That's great news, I've been waiting for this for so long (especially X-plane panel instrument 2D/3D).
Good luck! You have a fan.

[blackjaw]

Hi, this is fabulous news! Will it support mac os? I will be looking forward to the end of this week for sure.

[JSandi]

Will this be a Windows only thing,like the Reality XP one or have you made one that will work with Mac as well?

[MindBrain]

Hey I'm on Mac too please make a Mac version

[-bc-]

Well, I always hope for the best for Mac users. I would have a Mac except for a feeling of limiting myself.
On behalf of Windows users, THANK YOU though.
I am seriously looking forward to this.
bc

[-Scrat-]

[quote name='ZVV12' date='28 December 2009 - 08:48 PM' timestamp='1262029712' post='473912']
... (especially X-plane panel instrument 2D/3D)...
[/quote]

I can only repeat that. Great news. You should be able to create Linux / Mac versions by use of WINE for
running the Garmin.
Thanks for your work.

( ps: maybe even make the source available for people like me? :-) )

[Finn Bell]

Great news! Looking forward to the release and actually can't await trying it... This was missing for much too long.
I really hope it will be developed for Mac as well... ;-)

[Martko]

Wow that's great. Good luck.

[mattevans]

Another vote of desire for a Mac version of the plugin here - I realize that Garmin Trainer itself has to be run separately on a Windows machine, at least for now (come on Garmin...).

This would be a game changing development for me and I am sure many others who find the existing X-plane garmin implementation to be, in a word, pathetic.

Presumably the interface you are developing could equally be used with minor effort(?) to bring the Garmin G1000 and Perspective trainers to X-plane?

[JSandi]

[quote name='mattevans' date='30 December 2009 - 11:03 PM' timestamp='1262235806' post='474304']
Another vote of desire for a Mac version of the plugin here - I realize that Garmin Trainer itself has to be run separately on a Windows machine, at least for now (come on Garmin...).

This would be a game changing development for me and I am sure many others who find the existing X-plane garmin implementation to be, in a word, pathetic.

Presumably the interface you are developing could equally be used with minor effort(?) to bring the Garmin G1000 and Perspective trainers to X-plane?
[/quote]



I agree, it boggles the mind that XP has made it to version 9.41 in all its wonderful, beautiful glory and marvelous technology yet we still do not have a nice replica of one of the most wide spread GPS units in aviation today. Or an add on FMC such as those made by Integrated Simavionics for X-Plane.

When you see the work done by flythissim.com it really makes you wonder why a nice representation of the Garmin hasn't been created.

[dr.coolgood]

JSandi,

it's all dictated by numbers:
While in X-Plane Mac OS X market share is 50%, the absolute market share is about 5%.
Big companies set out for easy market reach, so they bet on an OS with 95% market share instead of 5%.

Most developers swinging over from the FS world only have one OS they know.
And in most SW developments portability comes as an afterthought - when it is too late.

Are you still wondering why you see so little Mac support?

Though vasFMC is an open project and we received applause for it, we did not get a single offer from any developer to assist in it's continuation.
Such is life - full of rude awakenings.


Best of luck for the next decade!
Joe T. Hermann

[ngidalov]

Hi,

I released the first version of the plugin. This a win32 version which runs inside x-plane.

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=9620

Stay tuned for the next releases...

Regards,
Nikola Gidalov

[mattevans]

[quote name='dr.coolgood' date='31 December 2009 - 09:42 AM' timestamp='1262274142' post='474362']
JSandi,

it's all dictated by numbers:
While in X-Plane Mac OS X market share is 50%, the absolute market share is about 5%.
Big companies set out for easy market reach, so they bet on an OS with 95% market share instead of 5%.

Most developers swinging over from the FS world only have one OS they know.
And in most SW developments portability comes as an afterthought - when it is too late.

Are you still wondering why you see so little Mac support?

Though vasFMC is an open project and we received applause for it, we did not get a single offer from any developer to assist in it's continuation.
Such is life - full of rude awakenings.


Best of luck for the next decade!
Joe T. Hermann
[/quote]

But Joe, even putting aside Mac vs Windows, the fact is that the choice of GPS add-ons for X-plane is poor.

In terms of Windows vs OS X market share, remember that a large segment of Windows users are corporate licences, and not one of those computers will ever have a flight sim or other game installed on them. Once you adjust for that the market shares in the base of real "home" computers shift drastically.

[JSandi]

[quote name='mattevans' date='01 January 2010 - 10:50 PM' timestamp='1262407818' post='474595']
But Joe, even putting aside Mac vs Windows, the fact is that the choice of GPS add-ons for X-plane is poor.

In terms of Windows vs OS X market share, remember that a large segment of Windows users are corporate licences, and not one of those computers will ever have a flight sim or other game installed on them. Once you adjust for that the market shares in the base of real "home" computers shift drastically.
[/quote]


Plus, if you want to get down to the bare, hard facts.

Developmentally speaking MSFS is dead.

ACES is gone and one must accept the realistic possibility that there will never be another MSFS version beyond FSX.

Right now the most advanced candidate for its replacement that is on the market now, not on someones drawing board is XP. As more and more people make the swap, or just buy the sim as an alternative to have incase MSFS is abandoned that market will open up vastly.

[dr.coolgood]

Matt,

this article http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/9E601E8E-2ACC-4866-A91B-3371D1688E00.html
confirms your market share statement. While it triples my initial figure, 15 vs 85% still is not that significant in corporate decisions.
We have to keep in mind that the products and decisions we are talking about were long taken before the Vista debacle.
If you make an IT decision TODAY and you bet solely on a single platform I strongly suggest a sanity check.

Again I wanted to point out, why Garmin did target the Windos market with their simulators at that time.
Even_ IF_ the thought of coupling it with a flight sim played a role, this was the time of MSFS, so they were correct in their platform decision.
Remember the Mac client for their units only appeared last year.

Your statement on the GPS add on is lamentabely true - but to create a sim of such a unit is a humongous task.
And then think about firmware upgrades. Do you want to follow up and reverse engineer each change?
We played with the idea of A G1000 skin for vasFMC and put it aside for this reason.
We still invite skilled developers to join the team.

JSandi,

I went to FSWeekend, the biggest FS event in Europe, with the same idea and hopes as you.
People were deeply impressed with my hardware, driving X-Plane.
After I said that it is available exclusively for X-Plane and not MSFS people turned away.
Devastating.

We are now 9 monthes into the de-announcement and guess what people are using for NEW projects?
MSFS for sure. AddOn projects are still started for FSX.
From my own and other insiders perspective FSX still has an expected lifespan of 3 - 5 years.
In the hotel bar people pointed out, that they are not going to change sims, after they have aquainted over 20 years with the platform and its idiosyncrasies.

And then, where are the equivalents to a PMDG 737, 747, MD11, Level D, German airports?
Professionally created and SUPPORTED products?
While I respect the work and enthusiasm of freeware developers - you can not build a business on "I will fix it sometime after my 4 week holiday season".

While MSFS users have no problem spending more on a single add-on than on the sim itself (multiplying this for maybe a dozen add-ons!) the X-Plane market seems to have a sound barrier at approx 20 US$.
How can this support family, mortgage and car?

I am pro Mac and pro X-Plane - but I also see the general movement of the market and I try to explain why things happen the way we see - and why there is not so much enthusiasm in the market as we hope and wish.

In my personal view the X-Plane users, and to an even higher degree the Mac users within, will have to live with what falls from the table. We are not in a position to demand a development done for us. Unfortunately.


Best hopes and wishes for 2010,
Joe T. Hermann

[mattevans]

[quote name='dr.coolgood' date='02 January 2010 - 04:49 AM' timestamp='1262429343' post='474611']
Matt,

this article http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/9E601E8E-2ACC-4866-A91B-3371D1688E00.html
confirms your market share statement. While it triples my initial figure, 15 vs 85% still is not that significant in corporate decisions.
We have to keep in mind that the products and decisions we are talking about were long taken before the Vista debacle.
If you make an IT decision TODAY and you bet solely on a single platform I strongly suggest a sanity check.

Again I wanted to point out, why Garmin did target the Windos market with their simulators at that time.
Even_ IF_ the thought of coupling it with a flight sim played a role, this was the time of MSFS, so they were correct in their platform decision.
Remember the Mac client for their units only appeared last year.

Your statement on the GPS add on is lamentabely true - but to create a sim of such a unit is a humongous task.
And then think about firmware upgrades. Do you want to follow up and reverse engineer each change?
We played with the idea of A G1000 skin for vasFMC and put it aside for this reason.
We still invite skilled developers to join the team.

JSandi,

I went to FSWeekend, the biggest FS event in Europe, with the same idea and hopes as you.
People were deeply impressed with my hardware, driving X-Plane.
After I said that it is available exclusively for X-Plane and not MSFS people turned away.
Devastating.

We are now 9 monthes into the de-announcement and guess what people are using for NEW projects?
MSFS for sure. AddOn projects are still started for FSX.
From my own and other insiders perspective FSX still has an expected lifespan of 3 - 5 years.
In the hotel bar people pointed out, that they are not going to change sims, after they have aquainted over 20 years with the platform and its idiosyncrasies.

And then, where are the equivalents to a PMDG 737, 747, MD11, Level D, German airports?
Professionally created and SUPPORTED products?
While I respect the work and enthusiasm of freeware developers - you can not build a business on "I will fix it sometime after my 4 week holiday season".

While MSFS users have no problem spending more on a single add-on than on the sim itself (multiplying this for maybe a dozen add-ons!) the X-Plane market seems to have a sound barrier at approx 20 US$.
How can this support family, mortgage and car?

I am pro Mac and pro X-Plane - but I also see the general movement of the market and I try to explain why things happen the way we see - and why there is not so much enthusiasm in the market as we hope and wish.

In my personal view the X-Plane users, and to an even higher degree the Mac users within, will have to live with what falls from the table. We are not in a position to demand a development done for us. Unfortunately.


Best hopes and wishes for 2010,
Joe T. Hermann
[/quote]

Joe, you are quite right and the reality is we should all, Mac and Windows users both, be concerned for the future of our hobby. I have recently got interested in sim (car) racing and the state of development and professionalism seems some way ahead of the state of flight sim today. Of course the audience is arguably much larger but the spending power of people interested in aviation also tend to be high and should support a healthy industry. But this sadly does not seem to be the case.

[Guy]

[quote name='mattevans' date='02 January 2010 - 10:23 AM' timestamp='1262449409' post='474659']
........... but the spending power of people interested in [s]aviation[/s] X-Plane (??) also tend to be high ..........[/quote]

You would need a microscope to find it.

[dr.coolgood]

There were two statements on the shoutbox: One considers 60$ for the Peter Hager A380 ridiculous and the other would rather build its own.
That is oil to my fire!

Many forget, that an a/c has more to it than a hull: Flight parameters, engine modeling and system logic.

I invite anybody who can do better than Peter for less to present his work.
He must not fear the comparison though.

Best regards,
Joe T. Hermann

[-bc-]

Gotta weigh in on this...

Its a sad day when a person buys a top rate horse then cheapens down to a mass market 'entry-level' saddle. The finer benefits of riding a well-bred horse, the subtleties, the art... the dance, are lost. Same with the simulator.
X-Plane is a fine simulator, everyone seems to agree on this point. Many of these same people, who are more than happy to bash Microsquat's decades long delusion of flight-model efficacy, complain only about the quality or availability of the add-ons.
But... when the darn chips are down on the table, they complain about $20. Come on, for crying out loud, if you want the high quality products to enhance your simulator experience, then cough up the cash. I'll bet many of these folks think nothing of buying a 4 wheeler for $10K and end up using it less than their flight simulator... or any number of other very expensive hobbies.

I, for one, went from about $500 in early 08 with MSFS, a few sceneries, a few planes and a utility or two to X-Plane. I dumped the MSFSx and goodies when I first flew a couple of the craft and realized that this was the real McCoy and bloody well felt like it. And that was with just the X52, a Dell Inspiron laptop and a single display. Now I have put my "fun money" completely into my primary hobby X-Plane, spending almost $10,000 in the past 18 months to immerse myself as best as I can.

I don't complain, and won't if the good developers charge a premium rate for the things that enhance the simulator and my experiences. I paid less than $50 for Inside Passage and yet have flown over 70 hours in that scenery. That's 71 cents per hour. Good greif, I pay 50 times that much to golf on a rainy day. Or to play billiards, or go to the theatre etc.

Yes... I will pay my share plus, if that's what it takes to empower and assist developers. This does not detract from those awesome folks writing freeware... it actually enhances their effort. If more developers couldf afford to bring more good payware on line, then more opportunities would be created for the best of the freeware guys to sub-contract out to assist in projects.

Lets support it, for crying out loud. Garmin project... I'll buy it. Traffic... count me in. etcetera, etcetera. and as a last note, I have only disdain for theft, and this is what I call it when a friend of mine told me he saw some X-Plane payware on a bit torrent. That helps nobody at all.

Okay... I feel better now. Count me in guys. If you're good, I'll buy it. If its more expensive than a comparable product for MSFSx, well, the darn simulator is better too. I'm in for the long run.

Many Blessings to all of you who toil to bring X-Plane to the heights it should be at!

bc

[Martko]

Hi, I can't get it work and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. My OS is Windows 7 64 bits, and X-plane 9.41. Here's the log file I'm getting.

06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 Log file opened
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- Configuration data loaded
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- x=100
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- y=100
06.01.2010 16:57:00.070 ??? GNS500Proxy::Initialize Error copying file C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin\GNS400W-500W Trainer\Trainer\G530SIM.exe
06.01.2010 16:57:00.071 *** Error initializing GNS

Thanks in advance.

[ngidalov]

[quote name='Martko' date='06 January 2010 - 06:05 PM' timestamp='1262797510' post='475394']
Hi, I can't get it work and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. My OS is Windows 7 64 bits, and X-plane 9.41. Here's the log file I'm getting.

06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 Log file opened
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- Configuration data loaded
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- x=100
06.01.2010 16:56:59.981 --- y=100
06.01.2010 16:57:00.070 ??? GNS500Proxy::Initialize Error copying file C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin\GNS400W-500W Trainer\Trainer\G530SIM.exe
06.01.2010 16:57:00.071 *** Error initializing GNS

Thanks in advance.
[/quote]

Maybe you do not have write permitions to
Try to copy C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin\GNS400W-500W Trainer\Trainer\G530SIM.exe file manually to gns530.exe in the same directory and restart the plugin

[ngidalov]

Today i released version 0.02. It supports COM1/NAV1 tunning and basic auto pilot coupling

Regards,
Nikola