how many years have you been simming?

[UPHILL3]

Someone gave me a disc of FS1 in 1985 then I obtained a copy of FS2 - forever tried to land on the aircraft carrier off the California coast (San Diego, I think?) Same went for the Catalina airport, trying for a good touch-down, hardly ever succcessful).

 

Played them on an genuine IBM PC, 30MB + 545k Ram (no clones back then) in NYPD HQ: This PC cost about $5K back then - but it was confiscated under the RICO Act and given to the NYPD. (For me to play rudimentary flight sim, of course!)

 

That got me hooked, it seems, for a lifetime, and I bought every edition of MSFS since then (except that turkey, MS95)

 

First began downloading FS freeware after I signed-up for AOL in 1998 - yes, still with them! I'm AOL's only customer now, so they treat me right... Bought my first FS payware about two years ago - but still very frustrating & time-consuming to correctly download and register payware though...

[mrt12345]

as well coming up to my 50s lol Since 1982. SubLOGIC A2FS1 on an Apple II plus then in the late 80s had and Amiga as well. Some of the combat games were fantastic compare to the Apple Mac fish bowls. But in the 90s it has been PC all the way.

[kingnorris]

My very first computer was bought in 1998. My first flight sim was Fly! then Flight Unlimited III.

 

So by my count, 17 years now? Wow.....Lol.......doesn't seem that long!

[evm]

I'm one of the Sinclair guys too. Started computering somewhere around 82 on Commodore CPM and Sinclair ZX81 though. The first flightsims I remember were combat games on the Spectrum. One heli sim which was pretty good for the time, you had a map cut into numerous areas that at the beginning were divided 50/50 between you and the enemy. You had to conquer one by one using the helo, all the while the enemy did the same. Sounds pretty standard but - it was not possible to save your current state. Oh, those dark rings around the eyes... The other one was a jet sim. Names escape me. A friend of mine had the Commodore 64, and there I met my first incarnation of what we know as "MS" flightsim. Took 30 minutes to load. The first PC sims I remember are Chuck Yeagers and of course MS FS. And a really good Panavia Tornado sim, which also had a 'conquer mode'. And some "...fighter experiment whatever' that played the music right from the CD. I usually bought every sim I could get hold of, so it gets a little fuzzy around the time PCs really 'took off'. Flight Unlimited was pretty good, where you got blasted off the runway when taxiing behind an airliner... I still have all those in the attic somewhere. I always wanted to rebuild a Win98 or earlier PC, but I guess this has to wait until retirement...

[RatRace]

bout 1960 or 61, i think. i cut a nice piece of white posterboard. and used a compass and ruler to draw instruments on it. made needles you could reach around back and make them move on the dials for airspeed, altitude, etc. cut out a big rectangular front window with a cardboard disk behind it, so that you could rotate it from the back to change the scenery

 

Funny, I did almost the exact same thing as a kid.

Until one day I "got caught" by my mother, who not only was utterly amazed, but also seemed to think that was one of the funniest things she had ever seen.

Ah, moms, what do they know? :)

[evm]

Funny, I did almost the exact same thing as a kid.

Until one day I "got caught" by my mother, who not only was utterly amazed, but also seemed to think that was one of the funniest things she had ever seen.

Ah, moms, what do they know? :)

 

oh, thats right, I had one of those simpits too, before the puters. Built it under my desk for the closed space, using styrofoam. My mom was not amazed at all. My father and uncle both had aviation jobs, and I was fascinated by everything to do with that. But it was clear very early on that I would not be able to follow in their steps. So imagination it was.

[Rupert]

Hi KCD, there is no doubt in my mind that you were one of the very first customers of SubLogic's FS1 for the Tandy TRS-80, released in March 1980, while you were still in Massachusetts. So, there's nothing wrong with your story (your memory is better than you think :) ).

At any rate, very few would have known about FS1 before you, let alone that they would still be avid flight simmers.

 

 

 

It's not a competition, Rishab :) Good thing there are young simmers like you.

 

 

 

It's not a competition, but so far, you're the winner. Although, "circa" 1980 does sound a bit vague :D

 

I had a Apple IIE as well. It had 128K of ram, after I installed the extra 64K ram board. And a 20 meg, no I'm not confused, 20 meg hard drive. That was about the size and shape of a Sawyers 100 slide 35mm slide reel (Wiki that if you don't know what a Sawyers slide reel is.) that sounded like the drier fan at an auto car wash. You had to make sure it was up and running when you started the IIE and that you shut the IIE down before you shut down the hard drive. Otherwise, BIG CRASH!

 

But I didn't flight sim on it. When not using the AppleWorks software. (which is about the same as Microsoft Office without having to scroll through all the pages to find the instruction you want to use.) I played HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and similar games on it. YOU ARE IN A DARK SPACE turn on my flashlight YOUR BATTERY IS DEAD. etc.etc.

[alverthein]

Don't remember the date but my first experience was on a Dos ? machine,.,, black and white only and a buzzing sound for the motor...very simple but kinda fun ....then moved up to the Bruce Artwick Sim ATP? got "hooked" and been at it ever since...al v

[jgf]

I'm a relative newcomer to flightsim, having gotten hooked on FS98 in spring of '98. But a long time fan of racing sims, back to "Indianapolis 500: the Simulation", ca 1990. And cursing computers since the days of Time-Shared Basic on a HP-2000E with TTy terminals and acoustic couplers. First PC was a Sinclair, then a Tandy "Trash-80" which used a cassette deck for data storage.

 

Beyond playing chess on the 2000E the first games I recall were a Star Trek "Sector & Quadrant" game on the TRS-80 and an obscure title "Fungal Man" (about which I can find nothing online, though I still have the 5" floppy somewhere).

[alaskancrab]

I'm a relative newcomer to flightsim, having gotten hooked on FS98 in spring of '98. But a long time fan of racing sims, back to "Indianapolis 500: the Simulation", ca 1990. And cursing computers since the days of Time-Shared Basic on a HP-2000E with TTy terminals and acoustic couplers. First PC was a Sinclair, then a Tandy "Trash-80" which used a cassette deck for data storage.

 

Beyond playing chess on the 2000E the first games I recall were a Star Trek "Sector & Quadrant" game on the TRS-80 and an obscure title "Fungal Man" (about which I can find nothing online, though I still have the 5" floppy somewhere).

 

Indy 500 that game was just too much fun... one of my all time favorites.