VIDEO - Open Source, Scavenged Hardware, Powers Life-sized 747 Simulator
Los Angeles (CA) - Retired Air Force pilot John Wojnaroski can't seem to get away from flying and he's been constructing the "ultimate" flight simulator with authentic screens, switches and even throttle controls. Using scavenged passenger jet parts and the "FlightGear" open source simulator platform, Wojnaroski's simulator can emulate most jumbo jets and can even perform instrument approaches along with around the world flights.
John Wojnaroski's 747 Project VIDEO - Filmed at the SocalLinux Expo 2008
Wojnaroski has been refining his simulator for several years and showed off the latest version at the SocalLinux Expo recently held at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles. Previous models used to have multiple computers controlling the various screens, but Wojnaroski has managed to consolidate all the computing power down to a single machine with an Intel P4 2.8 GHz processor and two GeForce 5200 fx cards.
Wojnaroski's three man team has spent an estimated 5000 man hours on the software and hardware. He tells us that the total cost has been approximately $100,000 (taking into account costs for labor).
You can check out detailed diagrams of the 747 project here.
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Humphrey Cheung was a senior editor at Tom's Hardware, covering a range of topics on computing and consumer electronics. You can find more of his work in many major publications, including CNN and FOX, to name a few.