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A340GC, libGC and RDDPA340GC, libGC and RDDP form a historical free software and hardware project line of ASK-Solutions and the IRADIS Foundation. The work grew from simulator-related projects and explored how glass cockpit displays, audio, network communication, simulator data and real hardware interfaces could be connected in an understandable and reusable way.
The project is historical, but it remains important because it shows a central ASK-Solutions idea in practice: software, hardware, documentation and protocols should not be locked inside one simulator or one installation. They should be understandable, inspectable, adaptable and useful beyond the first project for which they were written.
A340GC was an Airbus A340 glass cockpit simulation. It was not only intended for entertainment use, but also for scientific, educational and simulator-related use. The project aimed to create a free framework that could be used to build a glass cockpit upon.
The visible A340GC software represented aircraft information through glass-cockpit style displays such as the Primary Flight Display, Navigation Display and ECAM pages. Those displays were part of a larger technical question: how can simulator state, visual output, audio, network communication and physical interface hardware be connected without making the whole result dependent on a single closed simulator product or vendor-specific protocol?
The project was released as free software under the GNU General Public License version 2. That mattered because simulator work is often expensive, specialised and closed. A340GC and libGC were meant to be studied, modified, integrated, extended and reused by others, rather than becoming a black box inside one cockpit project.
libGC, the Glass Cockpit Library, was created for A340GC and became the reusable software layer behind the project. It formed a bridge between OpenGL graphics, audio, network communication and the RDDP protocol. SDL was used to access OpenGL and audio in a more portable way.
This separation was important. A340GC was the visible glass cockpit application, but libGC contained reusable functionality that could support other simulator displays or interface work. Instead of treating a simulator as one large program, the project separated concerns: rendering, sound, communication, protocol handling and integration with external data sources.
The RDDP protocol was used to exchange simulator data in a more open way. Rather than tying A340GC directly to one flight simulator protocol, simulator data could be placed into a data pool and exchanged through protocol-specific modules. This made it possible to think beyond a single simulator package and beyond the limits of closed or vendor-specific data interfaces.
That approach fitted the foundation’s wider free-software and shared-knowledge position. If a simulator display can only understand the data that one proprietary protocol exposes, then new data, new hardware and new experiments depend on the choices of that protocol owner. With an open protocol and reusable code, new data and new integrations can be introduced by people working on the simulator itself.
A340GC and libGC also connect to the BFX hardware project. BFX provided a way to connect a computer to sets of interface cards through a BFX bridge and bus. Those cards could provide encoder inputs, seven-segment display drivers, digital inputs, digital outputs, analogue inputs or a matrix keyboard interface.
This matters because a simulator is not only software on a screen. A serious cockpit project also needs switches, encoders, indicators, displays, sensors, lamps and other physical controls. The BFX line helped connect that physical world to the software and protocol work around A340GC, libGC and RDDP.
This project line belongs to the early ASK-Solutions and IRADIS Foundation history because it brought together several founding concerns at once: free software, reusable hardware, practical education, simulation, interface design, protocol design and shared technical knowledge.
The project also shows why the foundation did not treat software and hardware as separate worlds. A useful simulator needs both. The display software must understand data. The communication layer must move data safely and predictably. The hardware must provide inputs and outputs that can be tested, explained, repaired and extended. Documentation and licensing then determine whether that work remains available to others.
In that sense, A340GC, libGC, RDDP and BFX belong to the same practical tradition as later projects: make systems understandable, keep them reusable, document what was learned and avoid locking knowledge inside one installation or one vendor-controlled toolchain.
A340GC, libGC and the related simulator-line work are historical projects. They are no longer the current focus of ASK-Solutions, but they remain important as part of the foundation’s free software, free hardware and simulator history.
The original A340GC archive remains available at a340gc.iradis.org, including historical information, downloads, documentation and screenshots. The project pages on this site explain the work in the wider context of ASK-Solutions and the IRADIS Foundation.
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