All non-aircraft ACARS modules (TOPCAT, CPDLC, Dispatch, the server...) are totally independent from any simulator.
PMDG does not allow any other software to access their MCDU.
VATSIM/IVAO do not provide ACARS services.
We do not need another ACARS device. We need PMDG to allow access to their MCDU. And there is no need at all to involve IVAO/VATSIM.
In an ideal world, there would be open standards for MCDU access and ACARS exchanges. But the way it is today, everybody insists on building everything from scratch in their own closed environment. Instead, I offer a fully open environment, and it has already proven to work. Other authors wrote programs that display on my MCDU, and other authors wrote programs that use my ACARS server.
If PMDG opens up their MCDU, I can consider adapting ACARS to it. Not rewrite -- just adapt. If PMDG would use my open MCDU protocol, ACARS would not even need adaptation.
Mixing up issues
Hi Robert;
You mix up four things.
We do not need another ACARS device. We need PMDG to allow access to their MCDU. And there is no need at all to involve IVAO/VATSIM.
In an ideal world, there would be open standards for MCDU access and ACARS exchanges. But the way it is today, everybody insists on building everything from scratch in their own closed environment. Instead, I offer a fully open environment, and it has already proven to work. Other authors wrote programs that display on my MCDU, and other authors wrote programs that use my ACARS server.
If PMDG opens up their MCDU, I can consider adapting ACARS to it. Not rewrite -- just adapt. If PMDG would use my open MCDU protocol, ACARS would not even need adaptation.
If others would use my open ACARS protocol, everything could interface right away.
Jeroen