a340gc is an Open Source (Free Software) Airbus A340 glass cockpit
simulation. which is not only meant for entertainment purposes but
also for scientific and educational usage.
Yes the developers behind a340gc beleave in the user' rights.
Therefore a340gc is released under the GNU General Public License
version 2 (GPL2). You can read more about our philosophies behind this
choise at our website http://a340gc.iradis.org/.
a340gc is free software because its authors believe in the rights
the user of a computer program should have. Without the rights we give
to the users of a340gc; a340gc could not be the open platform we want it
to be; when used in a research simulator the end result would only benefit
that specific simulator not simulator as a whole; users would not have
the opportunity to extend a340gc or to integrate it seamlessly.
You don't have to pay us for a340gc because a340gc its developers
see developing it as their hobby; their contribution to the flightsimulator
world; they make their money with their regular daytime job; and they don't
see money as a reward but as something you just need in this society.
However you are always free to donate the work of the IRADIS foundation.
Not because we demand you to, but because you want to let us know you
appreciate our work and want to support us.
People who want to support us or want to contribute are always
welcome to join our efforts. Please sent an email to the project
administrator and main coder Laura Bottelier.
If you find any error in either look, colours, sizes, or behaviour
of a340gc please report it to us through our bug tracker at SourceForge.net.
Currently you can feed a340gc with data from FlightSimulator 98, 2000,
and 2002. This can be done with the latest release of FSLink that is
sceduled for release. There are plans to implement support for other
protocols and flight simulator software.
To be precise a340gc doesn't support any flight data transfer protocol.
Instead it tries to get its flight data from a 'pool' (a kind of tupel space.)
This 'pool' is filled by a protocol specific module. Currently only one
module is provided. This module implements the RDDP protocol. This is a
very open protocol unlike for instance WideFS which is specific to Microsoft
Flight Simulator. When a340gc would use such a flight simulator specific
protocol you would be limited to only the data known by the protocol author.
For each new data a new version of the protocol must be requested. Whith
an open protocol like RDDP new data can be instroduced by anyone at any
given time. With only the currently supported screen we already have about 5
to 8 times more data than supported by protocols as WideFS!
As the end user you have two possibilities: use FS-Link v3.0, or use a
RDDP to WideFS bridge. The program FS-Link is similar to WideFS but can talk
RDDP. This version is currently not available but will be in a few weeks. A
RDDP to WideFS bridge brings more overhead and duplicate network traffic but
gives you compatibility with your existing software. Also such a bridge is
not yet available but may be in a few weeks.
A third alternative would be a WideFS specific module. However you
will lose most functionality and your simulator would not be anything
like Airbus A340. To compensate for this a340gc could make use of both
protocols at the same time. And although surely not impossible it poses
both synchronisation and data consistency problems.
Yes it most probably is!
It both depends on how your product uses a340gc and the way your
product is organised. A product that wants to make use of aa340gc can
fit into two categories: a free software product, or a proprietary
product.
You can freely download the source code of a340gc and pre-compiled
binaries from our website http://a340gc.iradis.org/.
You also need to have libGC and SDL installed in order to use a340gc.
libGC can be downloaded from our website http://a340gc.iradis.org/ and SDL from
http://www.libsdl.org.
The .tgz files contain pre-compiled binaries. For instance the file a340gc-0.1-1-win32.tgz contains a precompiled version of a340gc for windows. The .tar.gz files contain the sources of a340gc, and the .rpm files contain pre-compiled binaries for Linux systems using the RedHat package manager.
Both the .tgz and .tar.gz files be be extracted on a Windows system
using the widely used program Winzip.
You can use CygWin, DJGPP, Borland C++, or Visual Studio to compile
a340gc on a Windows system. When using CygWin or DJGPP follow the
procedure as descibed for Unix / Linux systems. Project files for
both Borland C++ and Visual studio are contained in the src/ directory
of the a340gc and libGC source distributions. You can open these project
files and press build.
This error is reported on Unix/Linux systems when the configuration
scipts are not in the Unix file format. This is probebly caused by
unpacking the .tar.gz on a Windos system. Use tar xzf filename.tar.gz
to prevent this.
Either SDL is not installed on your system or the SDL development
header files and libraries are not present on your system. Go to
http://www.libsdl.org and download
both SDL and the development support files.
Either you only installed the runtime library of SDL and not the
development libraries and header file, or the installed version of SDL
is too old. a340gc requires at least SDL version 1.1.
Either libGC or the development headers or libraries are not installed
on your system. Please download libGC at http://a340gc.iradis.org/.
Most videocard drivers included with XFree86 have no 3D hardware
acceleration, mostly they only provide only 2D acceleration to speed up
the rendering of your windows and icons. For many graphic cards the
chipset manufacturer also has a XFree86 driver that has full acceleration.
XFree86 doesn't include these drivers because they aren't Open Source and
sometimes have a license that forbits packaging with XFree86. Please
checkout the website of either your graphics card or graphics chipset
for an 3D accelerated version of the XFree86 driver.
Under windows a340gc looks for its files in the current directory
normally this is automatically set by windows to the directory where
you've got a340gc installed. Under Linux a340gc looks for its files
in the directory $(prefix)/share/a340gc where prefix is specified
by the configure script during compilation. For the rpm distribution
this is the /usr/share/a340gc directory.
Under Linux a340gc must know which XServer to use. Normally
you've only 1 XServer running. To let programs be aware of this
the environment variable DISPLAY must be set:
2. Can I freely download and use a340gc?
3. Why is a340gc free software (Open Source)?
4. Why don't I have to pay for a340gc like I have to for other flightsim tools?
5. I'm a developer how can I contribute to a340gc?
6. I'm an A340 expert/pilot and I noticed an error in a340gc!
7. How do I feed my simulator' data to a340gc?
8. Why doesn't a340gc support the WideFS protocol?
Is using a340gc commercially illegal?
Downloading
1. Where can I download a340gc?
2. What else is needed besides a340gc?
3. What do I need the .tgz, .tar.gz, or the .rpm?
4. I'm using windows how can I extract a .tgz or .tar.gz file?
Compiling
1. How do I compile a340gc under Unix/Linux?
$tar xzf libGC-0.3-1.tar.gz
$cd libGC-0.3
$./configure
$make all install
$cd ..
$tar xzf a340gc-0.3-1.tar.gz
$cd a340gc-0.3
$./configure
$make all install
2. How do I compile a340gc under Windows?
3. I get ':command not found'
4. I get 'configure: error: *** SDL version 1.1.0 not found!'
I installed SDL but configure still complains!
5. I get 'configure: error: The glass cockpit library libGC was not found'
Running
1. A340GC is really slow under Linux why?
2. a340gc reports it cannot find a file!
3. a340gc complains it has no available video device.
$export DISPLAY=0:0
