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Old July 23rd 18, 07:11 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
john firth
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Posts: 127
Default Top Hat Question (XCSoar?)

On Thursday, July 5, 2018 at 4:25:27 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I like Top Hat a lot. But as with an attractive woman who seems to fulfill all your wishes, things aren't quite perfect. And like most men, I just want to make one tiny change. It's driving me crazy.

I need two screens:

Circling screen: automatically displayed when I started to circle. Zoomed into a one-thermal view (e.g., 0.6 miles). Displays certain infoboxes (right now, nearly the same ones as the Cruise screen but can be customized).

Cruise screen: automatically displayed when I roll out and fly straight. Zoomed out to whatever level I had set before I circled, from typically from 5 to 30 miles, so I can see waypoints, landing fields, terrain, etc. Displays certain infoboxes (nearly the same ones as the Circling screen but can be customized).

AND...in addition to the automatic switching, whenever I'm circling (looking at the thermal view) and want to take a quick peek at the cruise screen, I can press the "Switch Screens" button on the screen (that I've enabled), and instantly zoom out to see what landing fields I can reach from my miserably low altitude. Then I can instantly switch back to the circling view with another press of the Screen button.

What I can do now:
1. manually switch between the two screens whenever I circle or cruise, with the appropriate zoom levels applying; this works fine but since the autosensing feature knows when I'm circling or flying straight, it would be easier to let the software switch screens;
OR
2. automatically zooms in to 0.6 miles whenever I stop to circle. This works great but requires me to press the "zoom out" button multiple times to see the "cruise" view when I'm circling, then another set of multiple presses to zoom back in to the thermal view;
OR
3. let the software autoswitch between climb and cruise screens but retains the same zoom level for both (I'm not even sure I have this because until recently I had the same infoboxes for circling as for cruising so I may have been looking at the same screen the entire time with different zoom levels; i.e., same as alternative 2, above).

I've tried multiple combinations of autozoom, distinct zoom, single screen/multiple screens, same set of infoboxes vs. multiple sets of infoboxes, setting one or both of the multiple screens as "auto", and probably some I can't recall. Some I've tried in flight, but many others I've tried using the "replay" function. Autozooming works fine there but not some of the other options.

Is anyone doing this now? All the parts are there. I just can't get them set up the way I want.

I believe Top Hat differs from XCSoar in the way users can switch screens (especially with gestures), so my difficulty may be there.

Chip Bearden


I have been running TH on a Kobo; it recently started changing screens
unasked , ; not just between cruise and climb; a waypoint list appeared!
Now it refuses to connect to the PC at all; tried two USB cables and two PC s.

John F