264: Complete Removal of the FIP Serial Page

On and off I received queries about the possibility of removing the serial page on the Flight Instrument Panel (FIP).  The concern was not just purely an aesthetic preference because the LCD of the FIP could easily get burnt if any image is left on for a long period of time (See my Post 144).  This is in particularly true to users who seldom switched off FIPs in their cockpits. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution since the page is hard-wired to the driver of the device by the manufacturer. In response to these concerns, flight simulator enthusiast Alexey Podrezov who lives in Germany recently wrote an utility called FIP Customizer.  The utility allows easy replacement of the internal serial page with a black bmp image and disable the serial number from showing in order to render a complete dark background on the FIP as the image shown above.  Surely the substitute picture could be any bmp image as long as it meets the 320 x 240 spec.

Click me to download

Via the utility, one could also:

• replace the serial number with any custom text;
• select other font and color for the serial number or the custom text; and
• change the timing of image showing if more than one picture is used.

Anyone interested in the utility could click the image on the right for immediate download. The black bmp image could be downloaded by clicking the top image in the this post as well. Please join me in giving a warm thank you to Alexey who shares his great utility with us.