How to connect a Futaba SKYPORT4 to FMS ? - Futaba SkyPort4 to FMS

[Quebecois_Sti]

Hello,
I bought a mini helicopter and I have some difficulty with and I download FMS to practice but the program dosent work with my remote control. I have the cable and a Futaba SkyPort4. Is a parrallell port. The program dosent recognized my remote control.

A image of the cable and the remote control :

Thanks to help me !

[Steve Lewin]

What operating system ? Those parallel interface cables don't work with Win2K or XP.

Steve

[Quebecois_Sti]

ok. you find the error... i'm on WinXP... ??? whats can I do for working ? does it exist a USB cable or something who work with XP?

thanks!

[Steve Lewin]

Many people sell such interface cables. Here are 2 to get you started :

- look under R/C Projects

There is also a free software driver called PPJoy which is supposed to allow parallel port interfaces to work with Win XP but I've never tried it myself. If you search for PPJoy you'll
find plenty of information about it.

Steve

[70challenger]

Hi,
I have the same controller bought from the same people and have the same problem. I tried PPjoy and am able to calibrate the controller but it still does not function with FMS. You have to go to device manager and assign a irq to your parallel port. I will try a different program like Pre-flight and see if it works then.

[olivier2]

Hi,

A) For Win 95-98-Millennium with FMS, 2 easy possibilities (above all
possibilities that are also possible for Win 2000 and XP, see section "B").
1) THROUGH THE PARALLEL-port (LPT1)
eventually with a resistor and zenerdiode, see the manual of FMS
(http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index.html) or some examples on my
website which I personally tested (http://users.belgacom.net/TX2TX) figure
7f-fms and others in chapter 7. Or here : (German).

2) THROUGH THE SERIAL-port
See the manual of FMS (http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index.html)

If you think you're not able to make such a cable, buy eventually one :


(German)

B) For Win 2000 and Win XP with FMS, a SIMPLE connection through the
parallel-port or serial port is not working, those 2 versions of Windows are
handling other protocols on these ports than Win 95-98-Millenium.

Your options then :

1) THROUGH THE SOUNDCARD
With smartpropo :
The advantage is that it's simple to make : 1 audio-cable and a resistor or
potmeter

2) THROUGH THE SERIAL PORT (Com-port)
a) via an interface with a programmable IC (PIC), which is described in the
directory of FMS, see .FMS\Doc\Interface\readme_en.htm on your harddisk.
Or
b) or the same electronic interface that you can buy ready to use here :




(German)
(French)

3) THROUGH THE USB-port
(selfmade)







(French)
(French)

(German : kit)
(German)
(German)
If you have a 4-axis joystick, you can use an interface-cable
gameport-->USB, for sale in every computershop, thus ideal for modern
laptops without a COM-port

4) THROUGH THE GAME-port
a) with an interface which transforms the signal of the transmitter in a
joystick-signal
(selfmade)



(French)
(German)
(German)

b) buy a 4-axis-controller joystick

(German)

c) or make yourself a 4-axis joystick with an old RC-transmitter, removing
all electronics, replacing the 4 potmeters by potmeters of 200K (not 100K
like mostly mentioned), and wiring like in :

(French)
(French)

5) Or make a partition on your harddisk where you will install Windows
95-98-Millennium. Then you can connect your radio simply via the
parallel-port or Serial-port as described in the manual of FMS and start the
older Windows (see section "A").

Hope this helps,
Olivier