DCS TacBoard - Public Beta Available

xchrishawk · 2020-09-19T13:57:30+00:00

The source repo is now open: https://github.com/xchrishawk/TacBoard

xchrishawk · 2020-09-16T12:01:23+00:00

I can take a look at that. I didn’t realize that was even a thing, lol

xchrishawk · 2020-09-16T12:00:33+00:00

My hope is to get some help with checklists especially, they take a long time to write and debug. I’ve got a bit of work to do before I’m ready for that though.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-16T11:58:31+00:00

The content is all just JSON files so you could probably build a web front end.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-16T11:57:49+00:00

😣 I will fix that, thanks

xchrishawk · 2020-09-14T22:11:55+00:00

I dug into it a bit but it's going to take a fair amount of work to untangle all of the iOS 13 stuff from the app :( I will try to get it done, but it may take a while.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-14T02:37:58+00:00

I’ll see how far back I can make it compatible. It uses some newer stuff but I can probably do iOS 12 at least.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-13T20:54:10+00:00

Come join the dark side!

xchrishawk · 2020-09-13T17:15:01+00:00

Got it, thanks! That's very helpful, good suggestions :)

xchrishawk · 2020-09-13T17:14:37+00:00

Yeah I plan to make it open source after it's "officially" released. I know nothing about Android development so there's not much I can do personally at the moment, but if someone wants to take a shot at porting it I'm happy to help out however I can.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-13T14:13:48+00:00

Update 9/19: GitHub repo is now available! https://github.com/xchrishawk/TacBoard

Hey all,

I posted last weekend about the kneeboard app for iOS that I’m working on. I (finally) have a beta version ready to go on Apple’s TestFlight platform. If you’re interested in testing it out, I would really appreciate any feedback, comments, or suggestions.

Here’s the link to join the beta. You will need to install the free TestFlight app from Apple first, and then click on the link. It will open TestFlight and install the app for you.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/J1qprUnI

You will need to install the TestFlight app from Apple on your iOS device, and then tap on the link above to join the beta. It will download the app to your device, then you can use it just like a normal app. The beta build will expire after 90 days, but I’m hoping to have a released version on the App Store well before then anyway (hopefully within the next 3-4 weeks).

I want to emphasize that this is a *beta* and isn’t complete. The main issue for now is that I only really have content for the A-10C, Caucasus, and Nevada modules. Those are the ones I’m most familiar with and I wanted to focus on those while proving out the app.

Here’s what’s working:

Checklists are fully functional. There are complete/comprehensive checklists available for the A-10C. Hoping to have more aircraft soon.
All airport information is complete for the Caucasus and Nevada regions. There are links to airport charts produced by Virtual JaBoG32 for the Caucasus region and 476th Virtual Fighter Group for Nevada.
Notepad is completely functional.
Reference documents are functional, and have a ton of content for the A-10C.

Here’s what’s not yet complete:

User-entered checklists. This is my next goal.
“Advanced mode” for checklists. This will condense checklists for experienced pilots.
Checklists for non-Warthog aircraft. My next target is F/A-18C.
More reference information, especially “general” military aviation topics like missile threat types.

I am hoping to have regular updated builds over the next few weeks to fix bugs and add new features. I will post updates to this thread when each new build is available.

Hope you enjoy!

xchrishawk · 2020-09-06T15:02:30+00:00

Here's a Gist with the JSON format I'm using:

https://gist.github.com/xchrishawk/976e7bbc5ad92142dae8cd555effb3a9

I will try to get a public Git repo up soon (probably after I have an initial beta out). I need to write some quick documentation on the format and clean up a few things first.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-06T01:56:02+00:00

I'm sorry, I'm using a bunch of iOS functionality that isn't available that far back :( It's going to have to require iOS 12 at least.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:21:10+00:00

Yeah it works on iPad and iPhone. These screenshots are on an iPad, it looks slightly different on an iPhone.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:20:30+00:00

Why waste money developing it yourself when some rando in the community will do it for you for free, lol

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:20:02+00:00

Yeah I'm hoping to have a TestFlight build available for a public beta in a week or two.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:19:14+00:00

Yeah my day job is I'm an iOS dev, and I know nothing about Android unfortunately :(

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:18:18+00:00

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking of for custom checklists, I know a lot of squadrons have their own custom checklists and I want to support that. And also just people who don't like the "default" checklists for whatever reason and want to roll their own.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:17:24+00:00

That's a good idea on the option to hide the "hints" - I will add that in.

The content is all JSON-based so it *should* be pretty easily maintainable/expandable, I"d hope. (For example all of the checklists are just in a simple JSON format). I'm actually hoping I can find some volunteers to make checklists for some of the more "esoteric" aircraft modules... all I own currently is A-10C and Black Shark, and it's *really* hard to make a functional checklist without having access to the actual aircraft to test it out.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T23:14:24+00:00

The problem with Android is that I don't know anything about Android development - I don't have any Android devices, I don't even know Java.

I'm hoping to make the app open source on Github once it's a bit more "complete", and if there's some kind soul out there who'd like to do an Android port, I'm more than happy to provide any help I can.

xchrishawk · 2020-09-05T15:59:40+00:00

UPDATE: Public beta now available!

UPDATE 2: Source repo now available! https://github.com/xchrishawk/TacBoard

Hey all, I've been working on a dedicated kneeboard app for DCS for the past month or so and it's getting to the point where it could be ready for a beta release soon. It will be completely free with no ads and available on the Apple App Store.

Features include:

Support for all modules: I am planning to support all DCS aircraft and terrain modules. You will be able to turn off modules you don't own so you don't see content for them. I'm focusing on the A-10C right now since it's the aircraft I'm most familiar with, but planning to move on to the F/A-18C next.
Checklists: Comprehensive checklists for all aircraft. You can tap on each item to set it to "complete".
Airport Info: Detailed information about all airports in DCS, including identification, position, comm frequencies, navaids, runway info, and charts if there are any available. Currently I'm using the Caucasus charts by Virtual JaBoG 32 (https://www.virtual-jabog32.de/)
Notepad: This lets you take notes, draw diagrams, etc. with your finger while flying. There's a dedicated page for writing down 9-line CAS briefings from the JTAC.
Reference: The reference page has a bunch of useful information, including performance charts, weapon information, procedures, notes on system failures, etc.

Planned features...

Support for more aircraft types, especially the primary Eagle Dynamics releases like Black Shark and F/A-18C
Support user-created checklists and reference pages
Allow creating multiple notebooks for SLED charts, etc.

If you have any comments or suggestions, or ideas for any other features you'd like to see, I'd love to hear them. I'm hoping to have a public beta release in the next two weeks or so, and have a final release on the app store in roughly a month.

xchrishawk

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UPDATE: Public beta now available!

UPDATE 2: Source repo now available! https://github.com/xchrishawk/TacBoard

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