The following information was very kindly written and supplied by Osram from the BoB DG

"With modern flight Sims like BoB, the flight model, weapons model etc are extremely realistic. Apart from the missing danger of death or serious injury, which is one reason to fly simulators, the remaining source for reduced realism is input/output. When using standard PC equipment like a monitor, mouse, keyboard and joystick, especially if you want to learn how to operate a WWII warbird and have the satisfying feeling that you would be able to take off in one in real life, you need a cockpit with working levers, switches, and gauges. This means that the switch settings are transferred into the simulation and once the simulation has calculated the new situation of the plane the values are transferred into the gauges.
With situation I mean things like speed, orientation, engine temperature and 100s of other details.

Let's get a bit more technical:
The BoB.exe could itself poll the hardware for switch positions etc. Since different 'pits will have a different layout in the computer's memory, the program source would need to be tweaked. A modern day entertainment sim is one of the most complex computer programs around and to force each sim 'pit builder to tweak and recompile it and use the tools that BoB needs would be a bad thing.

So, the idea is to have a 2nd, very small and easy to understand program that translates between the hardware and one interface that the BoB.exe understands. Such an interface already existed in the form of the memory-mapped files used by Falcon 4. The memory-mapped interface has no disadvantage via other methods like using a DLL. But by using it we make it easy for people that already worked with it for Falcon. We are able to use it, since "Eagle eye" kindly gave us his permission.

The core technology works and was tested with a small example exe that "simulates" the hardware. To use this in practice, all we need to do is add all the variables that a specific hardware needs, IOW all the gauges and switches to the interface."

KEY

ITEMPICTURE
1BOOST CONTROL CUT-OUTPIC
2AIR PRESSURE GAUGE - SUPPLY4040

2

AIR PRESSURE GAUGE - STARBOARD4040
2AIR PRESSURE GAUGE - PORT4040
3TAIL TRIMMING INDICATOR30034
5UNDERCARRIAGE INDICATOR -UPDAVE'S
5UNDERCARRIAGE INDICATOR -DOWNDAVE'S
6OXYGEN REGULATOR- HIGH PRESSURE6d/513
6OXYGEN REGULATOR- LOW PRESSURE6d/513
7BRAKE FLAP CONTROL VALVEDAVE'S
8RATE OF CLIMB METER 6A/942
8TURNING INDICATOR - TURN RATE6A/675
8TURNING INDICATOR - SLIP6A/676
8AIR SPEED INDICATOR6A/583
8ARTIFICIAL HORIZON - PITCH AXIS6A/1519
8ARTIFICIAL HORIZON - ROLL AXIS6A/1519
8ALTIMETER 6A/685
8DIRECTION INDICATORSperry
9aSWITCHBOX - GUN SIGHT5C/543
11GUN AND CANNON THREE-POSITION PUSHBUTTONPIC
11aCINE-CAMERA PUSHBUTTONPIC
12aVOLTMETER TYPE C5A/1636
14ENGINE SPEED INDICATOR 6A/450
16BOOST GAUGE6A/1381
15FUEL PRESSURE WARNING LAMP.PIC
17OIL PRESSURE GAUGE6A/556
18OIL THERMOMETER6A/155
19RADIATOR THERMOMETER6A/494
20FUEL CONTENT GAUGE - DIAL6A/703
20FUEL CONTENT GAUGE - PUSH BUTTON6A/703
21REMOTE CONTACTOR AND CONTACTOR SWITCHPIC
22SLOW-RUNNING CUT-OUTPIC
23ENGINE PRIMING PUMPPIC
24PUSH SWITCH - ENGINE START5C/540
24aPUSH SWITCH - BOOSTER COIL5C/540
25FUEL COCK CONTROLPIC
28RUDDER PEDAL PIC
31RADIATOR FLAP CONTROL LEVERPIC
44UNDERCARRIAGE INDICATOR MASTER(SWITCH)PIC
46SWITCHBOX - NAV LIGHTS5C/543
50PROPELLER SPEED CONTROL LEVERPIC
52ELEVATOR TRIMMING TAB HANDWHEEL.PIC
53CAMERA-GUN SWITCHPIC
55PRESSURE HEAD HEATER SWITCHPIC
57RUDDER TRIMMING TAB HANDWHEELPIC
57aOIL DILUTION PUSHBUTTONPIC
66R.3002 PUSHBUTTONSPIC
69R.3002 MASTER SWITCHPIC
72OXYGEN SUPPLY COCKPIC
75WINDSCREEN DE-ICING PUMPPIC
76WINDSCREEN DE-ICING NEEDLE VALVEPIC
77UNDERCARRIAGE EMERGENCY LOWERING CONTROLPIC
79WINDSCREEN DE-ICING COCKPIC
79aJETTISONABLE TANK JETTISON LEVER
80UNDERCARRIAGE CONTROL UNIT LEVERPIC
80AJETTISONABLE TANK COCK CONTROLPIC
83IGNITION SWITCHBOX 2WAY - MAGNETO NO15C/548
83IGNITION SWITCHBOX 2WAY - MAGNETO NO25C/548
85SIGNAL DISCHARGER CONTROLPIC
86T.R.1196 OR T.R.1304 CONTROLLERPIC
89FUEL TANK PRESSURISING COCK CONTROLPIC
90T.R.1196 MORSING KEYPIC

 

cockpit_fig1.jpg

cockpit_fig2.jpg

cockpit_fig4.jpg