Father Christmas will shortly give my son and myself a brand new Saitek Cyborg Evo joystick.
I am a flight simulator addict. And my three years old son too. I always wanted to be a pilot. How I became a computer scientist is a complete mystery to me.
When I have nothing to do (or, more precisely, when I really want to have fun), I boot my PC under Windows XP (I feel I have lost all credibility now…) and I load Flight Simulator 2002:
I know it’s old. But it runs perfectly on my (rather limited) GeForce FX5200 graphics card. Being a perfectionist, I only pilot two airplanes: the default Cessna 172SP Skyhawk and an Airbus A320 which I’ve obtained at Flightsim.
What my son and I really like is to fly from an airport, say, Toulouse Blagnac in France, and land at another airport not so far, say, Paris Orly. I like flying the A320 in IFR conditions with real weather and under the control of ATC.
But it does not work with Linux or Mac OS X
Yep. And this is crap as I routinely use an Apple MacBook and a lot of Linux boxes. So I’ve been looking at multiplatform flight simulators recently.
The first one is X-Plane:
According to the blurb, “X-Plane is the most thorough, flexible, and realistic flight simulator available for personal computers, and is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms.” I’ve read numerous forums and people seem to agree that X-Plane is vastly superior to Flight Simulator.
Unfortunately, it seems very difficult to buy. It is not available on Amazon for instance. It’s only available at the X-Plane Store and shipping it to Mauritius is prohibitive.
I’ve downloaded the demo and used it a little but I really needs to get the Saitek first to appreciate it.
Another issue is the amount of disk space it requires: at least 4Gb! And, if you buy the complete version, you require 60Gb of hard disk space for the scenery! On my small laptop, I don’t have 60Gb, not even 4Gb free.
Perhaps I should try a previous version which had much more modest requirements…
Opensource?
Another contender is FlightGear which is an open source flight simulator. I tried it once. And I have to try it again.
Conclusion
2008 will be an interesting year. There will be a lot of transitions.
Will my son and I move to X-Plane or FlightGear after years and years of Flight Simulator? Only time will tell.
Popularity: 3% [?]
December 3rd, 2007 at 18:40
Avinash,
When you play games on your MacBook, does your CPU fan go nuts ?
December 3rd, 2007 at 19:22
You can play FSX or X-Plane online with IVAO or VATSIM which is more fun IMO. I don’t like much to play with the joystick because of the backforce. The trim tab is the best invention. X-Plane is nice since the physics is there. You can draw any airplane and the law of physics will apply. It’s more ‘credible’ than FSX. One you don’t experience is the G-load. You can feel the adrenaline rush and G load when doing a spin or spiral dive.
December 3rd, 2007 at 19:37
get sa boug la taaaa.. li astE zuzu pou so garson.. avec lintention ki li pou gagne pou zuE ar sa li osi!!!!
moi si mo ti pou fer sa daprE role.. mo pa kapav blame li!
hahahahahaha
I boot my PC under Windows XP (I feel I have lost all credibility now…)
Hahahaha :p pas fer nou montrE sa foto of avinash using windows la la!
Anywayz, happy flight simulating :p..when you get it… i mean… when father christmas gives it to you :p
+$3|v3n
December 3rd, 2007 at 19:57
To Patrick:
Yes. The fans become mad when I launch the demo of X-Plane.
To Stéphane:
Do you use X-Plane? I’ve been trying to buy it for ages but Amazon does not sell it. A new version (v9) has just been released.
One of these days, I’ll experience first-hand G-load from the cockpit. Count on it
To Selven:
It’s great to have a son with (more or less) the same taste as you. He likes airplanes and eating nice food. Typically me
As for Windows, would you believe me that I have Windows XP at home and I’ve only installed the AVG anti-virus, Firefox and Flight Simulator 2002?
I don’t even have Windows installed at work! My PC hosts Kubuntu 7.10 and FreeBSD 6.
December 3rd, 2007 at 20:48
It’s great to have a son with (more or less) the same taste as you. He likes airplanes and eating nice food. Typically me
Yup you can buy gifts for you and claim its for your son :p nice, you are lucky.
And you can be an eternal kid!
My PC hosts Kubuntu 7.10 and FreeBSD 6.
:p ports rulez :p
+$3|v3n
December 5th, 2007 at 05:15
I tried the X-Plane v8. The flight simulators are great for instrument training. The online gaming is great for developing ATC communications skills. I’ll have to download the v9 demo. You can fly the new Cirrus jet in v9.
December 6th, 2007 at 07:05
“ayo” - i’ve had too much troubles with drivers for those joysticks that the keyboard seems good enough.
But your new shiny toy is very appealing. I wish your son and you to have loads of fun.
Mr. Avinash, you’re indeed an awesome parent
*raise up your hands - how many want him to adopt you?* - just kidding.
$3|v3n Said: :p ports rulez :p
True true!!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 20:07
MS Flight simulator is the greatest piece of software ever written!:-) I have both the 2004 version and the FSX.The FSX is great for the terrific graphics but I by far, prefer the 2004 version. It is rather easy to modify the aircraft specs, change the color, add gauges , modify panels etc, things that are not possible with FSX. I will stay with the FS2004 for ever I think. I have only 1 great regret, I have not enough time to fly to every airport capable of receiving my B747-400
May be when I retire…
By the way, great blog!
March 26th, 2008 at 00:11
I use FS2002 and I find it great. I’ll “upgrade” one of these days… as my current setup works great.
What am I missing from FS2004?
By the way, thanks for the compliment
June 3rd, 2008 at 13:05
hi everyone!
and hey avinash , can you just help me up as to where can i buy a saitek cyborg evo ? online?……….jeez , not much decent flight joystick available around here!to gagne zis joystick genius…. and does anyone know if MS sidewinder joystick are on sale in MU?mem dans 1 ti simin port louis parla…!
June 3rd, 2008 at 18:24
I bought my Saitek in France. I think I saw Sidewinders at Le Cygne in Rose-Hill some time back… but I may be mistaken.