why is MW so difficult to configure?

[tovrin]

multiwii is not a plug and play software. The confusion is here I think. -Alexinparis

the quote above is from the lead developer of MW, it was an offhand comment to someone asking why multiwii was so difficult to setup, or more accurately, why it wasnt easy.

I wanted to make a post to help explain the intent of MW to new people coming into this project.


1. Multiwii is an open source project with intent of giving the end user a large variety of parts to choose from, dependent on their budget and availability, as well as leaving the door open for new parts to be used as they become available (good example is the mpu-6050, awesome cheap easy available sensor combo)
2. Multiwii allows many different configurations of multirotor projects, from unicopters to octocopters, from X and + configurations to H and user configured mixing.
3. Multiwii gives the end user full control of every aspect of their own project, allowing users to take it places it wasnt originally designed for. (one guy made a RC car / quadcopter that he was able to drive as both with a single RX/TX)

there is no way to allow all of this possibility and make it easy.
there is no way you can walk into this project without a lot of reading, and experience and be able to understand it all. you will need patience, time, and some reading glasses, but you WILL get it.

if you want a plug and play multirotor project, I think airhogs is making one now. there are plenty of other open source and private projects as well, but you will be using their specified hardware, and configuration. A lot of the projects lock down their software too. meaning you get little control over the future of your project, including adding sensors, TX/RX settings, tweaking flight habits, etc.

In a market of opportunity, multiwii is the only flight controller software that gives this much power and configuration to the end user while making it as inexpensive as possible to get started.

[Alexinparis]

Thank you to recall the background.
Besides this fact, it is possible to make multiwii almost plug and play on a specific board with all the required beginner documentation. Some shops/sites already do this.

[copterrichie]

With the idea of Keeping it Simple in mind, why not have a super easy version of the MWC with Gyro/ACC, Battery monitoring that can be part of a package deal offered by vendors. The end user can select the Mixing table (BI,TRI, QUAD or QUADX) from a special version of the GUI. Having those mixing tables compiled into the code would not add that much about 17K final size. Once the user learns more about the firmware, they are free to upgrade.

[Hamburger]

as most people start with flying quads, in effect we are there already. That is the config vendors put on their boards.

Once that has wet your appetite, you must get involved inside the (multicopter and) MWii world anyway, just no way around it. The basic hardware has its limitations and that shows. On the other hand the current layout gives you plenty of freedom to tune it your way.

You do not like the balance? Then you are probably better off using one of the plethora of alternative FlightController choices out there. Good enough for me.