We have upgraded the buttons on our G1000 bezels and audio panels to rubber buttons which look and feel more closer to the real G1000 hardwares. Options for rubber and plastic buttons are available when making a purchase for the G1000 hardwares in our online shop. For those who has already bought 1 bezel with plastic buttons and wants 1 more bezel or an audio panel, you can choose plastic buttons. Otherwise we strongly recommend the rubber buttons. We are going to discontinue the plastic buttons eventually.
After months of coding, the V7 for both PFD and MFD has been released. A major change in this version is the graphic engine moving from OpenGL ES to Metal because Apple has abandoned OpenGL leaving their own Metal the only choice. Unexpectedly, switching the graphic engine makes this update the hardest one for me ever. The benefit is that we now have those 2 apps also available in Mac App Store. The down side is that the lowest iPad OS version required to run the apps has been raised to iPad OS 12 which makes iPad Air the bottom line. Any iPad models earlier than iPad Air won’t receive this update. I will see whether there will be a way to make the apps run on older iPads again later.
A good news is from this version on updating the navigation database is decoupled from the apps’ update. We will be publishing the navigation database regularly. The apps will check database update every time they launch and show a message to ask users to update the database if there is a newer one available. Users can also initiate the update check for the database manually in the settings window. New database will be downloaded online and extracted within the apps. Not recommended, but users can also do this offline, copy the database file manually into the apps’ folders. For iPad apps, database file can be seen under the app’s folder in Finder(MacOS) or iTunes(Windows) when iPad is connected to the computer. To manually update the database, drag the new database file directly into the app’s folder. For Mac apps, select the new database file by selecting ‘NavData->Import’ on the menu bar. Again, manually update the database offline is not recommended. And, every time the database is updated, no matter online or offline, it’s highly recommended to re-launch the app.
Now All the apps on iPad and MacOS supports keyboard shortcuts for all the G1000 knobs and buttons. Keyboard shortcuts are also available for manually fly the aircraft on PFD whereas only accelerometer inputs are accepted before. To show the keyboard shortcuts, hold the command key(⌘) on iPad or select ‘File->Show Keyboard Shortcuts’ in the menu bar on Mac.
There are also lots of improvements and bug fixes in this version. I hope you guys enjoy!
As we are already accepting pre-orders for the compass, some customers have already received their own. This is a video about how to correctly install and config this component. Users who want to know more about the compass are also recommended to take a look at this video.
As some of you have already known, we decide to discontinue the old G1000 hardware bezel since it’s for 9.7″ iPads which Apple is not selling any of those for a while. Being the best selling product of ours, it’s now renewed as a new model which is fitting 10.2-11″ iPads. With a lot of work on redesigning this product we finally managed to make a bigger opening to for the screen and more space for bigger iPads to put in while keeping the outside dimension exactly the same as the old one. With a bigger screen it looks even more close to the real G1000. One thin I’d like to mention is that because we need to design the new bezel to be much more compact inside to accept bigger iPads we have to change the buttons on the circuit board with smaller ones. Thus the feeling of pressing the buttons will be a little lighter and shallower than the old one. We do care the details for our products and this is the best we can achieve. The new bezel is actually costing more than the old one because of the increased complexity of the manufacturing process. Yet we decide to keep the price unchanged for now. We appreciate your support as always. Stay safe and have fun!
For those who has the LCD based standby gauges, if you want to configure the airspeed indicator to match a plane other than a Cessna 172S please download the gauge loader program on the download page. Currently the loader program is for windows only. The usage is pretty straight forward. Please refer to the image above to get an idea how it works and take a look at the video below to see how it look to get it work. The original images and data used with the stock standby gauges are included in the download package of the loader program. So you mass it up, just load the original configuration so it will be restored to factory settings.
The first patch of FS2020 has been pushed to users today by FS2020 team. This update fixed the frame drop problem when 3rd party programs communicate with FS2020 via SimConnect library. With this fix our bridge program runs normally with FS2020 and we can finally get some reliable results from our tests with FS2020. While we can do less about the missing variables in FS2020 we will definitely go for the autopilot stability problem. Currently the autopilot algorithm in the PFD program doesn’t control the planes in FS2020 well, leading the planes to keep banking violently to both side while trying to maintain a certain bank/heading. We are working on this problem and will get it work ASAP.
We’ve been quiet for a while during the past few months which are very anticipating months since people are waiting for the brand new FS2020 to be released, so do us. And we were not just waiting. We were very busy to bring out our new hardwares as well as the software. Finally we have this major update for the G1000 apps, the v6. In this version we added a configuration page for engine gauges which let users to set the engine type and parameters so the use of the apps can be expanded to a much wider range. All the piston, turboprop and jet engines are supported. Flaps and elevator trim indicators are also available to show up aside. Also in this update we added volume controls for X-Plane. NAV and COM volumes in X-Plane now can be controlled by the apps. We hope you enjoy the new version.
Ok, now let’s talk about FS2020. It’s the most exciting thing that the FS2020 has been released a few days ago. We’ve received a lot of emails asking for support for the use of our apps with FS2020. Well, we are still downloading our copy of FS2020 and will test and develop as soon as we have it. So far, according to users’ reports, the current bridge program for FSX also works with FS2020 although significant frame rate drop has been observed which we think should pretty much be an issue resides in FS2020 rather than the bridge. One thing worth mention is that users need to install SimConnect library manually as it’s needed by the bridge and is not installed with FS2020(like FSX steam edition). Anyway, we will soon be on the bridge for FS2020. We will test and see what is need to do with it and let you know as soon as we have an idea.
Situation here in our city is getting better. We are now gradually resuming our business and restocking our products. Online shop is now reopened. Orders will be shipped with no delay.
Due to Chinese government’s strategy of controlling the spread of the new coronavirus, companies are required to be closed until further notice. Therefore, our business is greatly limited for the time being. Our shipping company, DHL has also stopped their service. Considering all that, we decide to close our online shop for a while. For the orders already payed, we will ship them as soon as shipping service is available from DHL. The earliest date we are expecting is Feb 10. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at lichenpo@hotmail.com.
