Again, thanks for all the positive feedback, it's much appreciated. This controller does take a little getting use to, but it does make for a different gaming experience. It is a lot of fun to use for the larger ships like transports or gunboats (and up).
I hear some of you making mention of aiming with a joystick. A novel idea, but i think the mouse is a far more effective tool. When i play FL now, i primarily just use the mouse, and this new control panel.
For those of you who want to know how i did this, well, I'll include an image showing the unit with the back panel removed.
Someone made mention of using the Teensy board earlier, great idea ... but i don't think freelancer recognizes any inputs other then the mouse and keyboard. I am not a software guy, and couldn't even begin to fathom what would need to be written (or how) in order for FL to detect something else. Saitek joysticks would fit under this same realm, since those inputs are not recognized in game.
Someone else mentioned making a toggle switch so that the arcade joystick could be used for steering while in turret mode. I certainly like that idea, and will look to find a way to incorporate that into the next one i build.
If there is anyone who might be interested in having me build one of these for them, feel free to PM me. I would have to come up with an idea of a price after figuring out what kind of customization you'd want, but i'll warn you ahead of time, it probably won't be very cheap... these are 100% custom, and take a long time to build.
![[Image: qLcaW.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/qLcaW.jpg)