MAD1

Interesting thread this. Glad to hear some blokes' environments are fine, W11 etc. (inc. W10), whilst others have grief. Me, am still a dinosaur playing with my currently broken PCs. Got a HPCompaq, a HP xw6400 Workstation, both ex-work (Compaq was my first work PC, Workstation my second) and in good nick (other than faults now), both WinXP with FS2002 on both. Got a Lenovo PC and a Dell Latitude E6500 both with Linux Ubuntu. Thought I'd have another go at getting my FS2002 back up and running. Thinks... how hard can it be! (naive fool), take one of the C: hard drives from a HP, plug it into the Lenovo (disconnect its Ubuntu drive) to test a startup using the Lenovo's motherboard. Nah, on both WinXP C: drives I got the Windows Activation code thingy. I do have the Product ID's for both, having bought the PCs legally with WinXP installed on them legally, and somewhere in the house a set of installation CDs. Darn! This weekend did numerous Dr Google searches for what to do, numerous items found including YouTube video, some posts say the various 'fix's fixed their prob, others say it didn't! Too bad, so sad! Gave up with a glass of red wine (or 3). Methinks better to pursue my goal of ditching MS from my house altogether and get everything running in Linux, if I can. Then I can install and run the software I own (I know, I only own a licence to run it) on any hardware I wish. Option, yes I know you'll say, chuck it all in the bin and buy new gear. But ..., this thread shows there are hassles with newer stuff! Don't wanta do that (am becoming a stingy, crotchety old bugger). I know this isn't the thread for my observation, and searched in flightsim.com re 'Windows Activation' workaround, thinking to ask for ideas in a new thread in the appropriate forum. All too hard! Good luck fellas!

Hi tatest Tom. Very interesting your story, helps those (many) of us who are using older hardware and sim software.

Huh, thanks defaid, yes, am sending this via the bottom button. I now see that around the top, left, bottom edges it works, seems that the label field in the button sits over the top of the button proper so that the cursor doesn't change to the button function proper (whereas the top button has the label 'transparent' so you can hover anywhere over it).

Ahh, thanks Mr Zippy, I would normally prefer newest first too, just like in emails. Never thought of a setting. Just found it and set it newest first (on that sneaky little blue menubar under the main blue menubar. Is "Forum Actions" > "General Settings" > Thread Display Options" > "Thread Display Mode": "Linear - Newest First". The other options are handy/useful e.g. "Threaded". That'll do the job for me, newest first. Was just my usual self, a lazy SOB, didn't bother to explore the site. Thanks Mr Zippy.

Hi Nels and admins, I'd noticed lately (probably always been the case, I just didn't realise before) that for the blue "+ Reply to thread" buttons - top one works, bottom doesn't. This is perhaps why folks are tending to use the "Reply" or "Reply with quote" buttons at the bottom of an individual post (and perhaps overusing a bit the quote option). I use the "Reply" button at the bottom of another person's post after trying the bottom blue "+ Reply to thread" button a few times. It was only yesterday that I tried the top blue button and thought "huh, that works". Could this situation be fixed? Or maybe it doesn't matter, but it's a bit confusing. As folk will naturally go to the end of a thread as they read the latest posts, having the bottom blue button working would be good.

And another thing, do gentle turns, only small movements of the controls. And if you find yourself starting to over-correct, we've all done it / do it, you'll get yourself into what's called "pilot induced oscillations" (PIOs), and then things start to go pear-shaped. Better to just say "ho hum" and do what you're supposed to do in Real World (RW) actual flight, abandon your landing attempt and do a "go around" and try and set yourself up better at your next attempt. Of course, being a sim, if you're feeling tired and thinking "to hell with this, I'll give up" simply pause the sim, go take a break (e.g. a cup of tea or coffee and a lie down) then come back refreshed and resume the sim. Most folks don't have the patience to use the sim in a proper simulation way, they rush things, also they don't learn to get a circuit under their belt properly. That's fine, if they want to treat the sim as a "game", but you can also treat it as a good proper simulation/training environment. Being an oldie, I presume you're like the rest of us oldies who realise that life isn't instant coffee. Perseverance with patience over a decent length of time does bring satisfaction. I also "mess about" but in coming back to simming after a long break, I decided I wanted to "get it right, do it properly". The built-in tutorials in the sims are very good. (My sim is the obsolete, but still good, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002, and the Rod Machado training within it, plus the FS2000 book makes for a very good training setup.) And remember, you're in control of the plane, but it'll fly itself. Be gentle with it, if you get cranky with it, it'll bite back! (PS: as a young buck I got 6 hours solo under my belt in a Blanik glider, so when in the sim I relive my RW experience, however I never did powered aircraft other than as a passenger with the guys at my local aero club as they practiced circuits.)

Hi Whizzer, from one oldie to another. As you know, you're never too old to make a fool of yourself! This might pertain to your landings. There is no escape to the old adage "practice makes perfect", so don't worry, just keep doing circuits. A few tips: use a simple General Aviation aircraft e.g. the trusty old Cessna 172. Do a bit of reading about circuits (sounds as though you know what to do). Set the heading bug to the runway direction you take off, then you can see on the compass your turns, so you can make nice 90 degree turns. Helped me a lot, before I did that, I was all over the shop. Watch your altitude, try and keep it consistent. Doesn't have to be perfect, but you'll feel joy when you can do a roughly 1,000 ft altitude circuit, more or less rectangular, then do 'finals' approach and touchdown. Give yourself plenty of room, don't cut in too soon, read the tutorials and turn onto base leg once you see the strip disappear from your behind 45 degree view out of your side-back window, don't come in too fast, get yourself set up with a nice proper speed e.g. say 70 knots, then just let the plane descend by itself. Enjoy. That's what it's all about! If you haven't got a joystick or yoke, go get one, you can't really do stuff with keyboard alone. A yoke is better I find than a stick. Don't spend heaps of money, a good nice old second-hand yoke does the job (I got mine from the junk shop). It has much finer control than a stick that perhaps was designed for kids doing shoot-em-up gaming. Throttle via keyboard is fine. And if you're not using flaps, learn about them and drop 'em to have a better landing experience.

If you want a bunch of folks who are friendly, convivial, helpful, you're in the right place. It's a great international community. They follow the old dictum "there's no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer"! Also, I find the history very interesting, you can trawl for fun back through forum posts over 25 years and learn heaps. Also, check out the other parts of the site, e.g. the Articles section, very good reading there. Happy trails (air trails that is!)

Thanks Mr Zippy for the link, yes, after a particularly wet season, I venture into the garage/workshop and discover green or perhaps blue-green stuff on items, what the..., damn alien invaders! On reflection, there are two facets to the problem of "sticky" stuff: - old gear. The plastic is breaking down. Hence some of my old computer (real classic items, e.g. the original IBM pc circa 1981), cables are sticky because the plastic, for whatever reason, is decomposing, i.e. chemical decomposition. Can't be fixed as even if you clean the gunk off, it'll continue to degrade. Potentially dangerous e.g. carcenogenic as we don't know what the chemicals are that are liquifying. - environmental factors. Something is congealing/growing on the surface. Cleaning will fix it but temporarily, if the environment persists, e.g. damp storage, it'll return e.g. mould. Not particularly worrying as we know what mould is, just annoying. A wipe with a bit of bleach will kill the gunk. On a different topic, un-stickyness remedies, yes, the trusty old WD40 is amazing (saw a TV doco about the invention of it by that American guy, amazing). However, it does smell a lot and is oily feeling. A good alternative is a dry lubricant. One very good product I discovered in my local hardware store (Bunnings, a national retailer in Australia), which turned out to be a miracle product, frees up all sorts of stuff e.g. stuck zippers, sliding windows, etc. etc. and no after-smell or oiliness, is a silicone-based (I think) dry lubricant Selley's "Ezy Glide" https://www.selleys.comau/products/cleaning/lubricants/selleys-ezy-glide. Is amazing stuff, handy around the house. (Of course, the "old school" way is to pull stuff apart and lubricate with e.g vaseline, that's what I did with my old yoke I got from the garbage tip shop, it now works fine. However trying with a spray or dribbling some type of lubricant down the sides is the easiest first option).

My climate is similar to Florida - here it's subtropical, warm and humid, hence good ventilation is critical. The question I have always had is "what are the stickies". And yes, stuff grows on rubber too. I presume it's some type of bacteria. What is that stuff?

Interesting problem. I've experienced over the years various electric and electronic gear e.g. some electrical cables, computer power cords etc, old ones, where the plastic covering becomes sticky. Very unpleasant. Have often wondered (but not my highest priority in my life) why they degrade that way, and how to clean them. Also, have been somewhat concerned about their chemical impact, are they dangerous to handle, skin-wise. I notice that sometimes also that mould likes that plastic. I know mould loves leather if it's stored somewhat damp, but am flabergasted that it evens colonises vinyl, e.g.in my 40 year old 1981 Mazda 929 car that I use as a sim booth that's in storage in my garage under my house. Weird stuff. Will be interested for someone to give a scientific explanation of the phenomenon and of ways to fix it.

Sounds as though you've had a few experiences. Do tell!

Just watched much of your video. Very interesting for various reasons: 1. Am just starting to explore Xplane to see if it suits my needs. So seeing someone in a group event was useful, and in a 172 which is my aircraft so recognise the instruments. 2. Lesson learn't as we all know, 'situational awareness', shouldn't get distracted. Also, know your aircraft before you go up e.g. if it has autopilot and how to turn on and off. Best wishes for your next adventure, hopefully you'll make it back to the ground in a less dramatic fashion!

A very interesting conversation. Am also interested in real world (RW) sims for pilots in training. As PCs and software are progressing in leaps and bounds, quite amzing really, a PC based solution that anyone can set up is something that we couldn't afford 10 years ago and was only available to professional training organisations, the sim costing thousands of dollars, but today we can have it at home.

Consider this post to be "where did everybody go" version 2. No flame wars please! FlightSim.com has some traffic but seems a little quiet. How about a bit more "gay repartee", "chewing the fat", sitting around having a few beers and telling a few more lies?

Weighing in from Oz having had a glass of red wine, and gleaning that this thread seems to be morphing into a flame war, here is my five cents worth! Doesn't matter what sim you use. There are very good alternatives to Microsoft products or derivatives: try X-plane and Flightgear. Also, one doesn't need to be stuck with Microsoft Windows operating systems, opensource software is very viable e.g. Linux including Ubuntu platforms. Lots of choice out there. Just experiment with stuff and see how you go. Of course as we all know, that can be the biggest time waster, along with the simming hobby itself, just ask my wife! ("Darling, why haven't you done anything in the last month fixing the house, its falling down?" "Yes dear, I know, but I have very important things to do right now, I'll fix the house next weekend" (not!)

No I haven't tried it yet. My computer failed some months ago but I have a new computer and will try it once I get my flight sim working again.

Interesting to read all the posts. Lots of nostalgia including the IT history (I first learnt to drive a personal computer on the Tandy TRS80 ("Trash 80") in the 1980s, storage was on a cassette tape recorder!). Re my thread "25 years?", finally yesterday got around to finishing listening to Nels interview on Willy Canucks "The Haggis and Poutine Show" on Blue Sky Radio. As I've stated in posts elsewhere, one wonderful thing about FlightSim.com is the long history, with all posts still available, which can be very helpful given that many of us have older hardware and software, and posts from years ago are still relevant and helpful. As the old saying goes (am paraphrasing it here) "... those who ignore the lessons of history are destined to experience the same mistakes ...".

Hi Gunther, I read the PDF article weeks ago (have had login problems, back online now) and found it very interesting. I think such research is very good. Thanks for posting about it.

Just a post to replace the "last posted" thread in this forum. (Have had login probs due to forgotten pw, reset now.) Given my old but (was) good Hewlett Packard PC box with WinXP on it, has gone erratic. Have obtained friend's old unused laptop Dell Latitude E6500 that has Linux Ubuntu op sys, am now back online. Intend exploring trying getting FS2002 running on Ubuntu, following instructions in post in forum FS2004 "Install FS2004 on Ubuntu - it works! Here's how to do it." by Tigretto, 03-11-2021 10:15 PM.

Prompted by Nels interview, looked up Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#History to refresh my memory: - "In the 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense funded research into time-sharing of computers." - "ARPANET development began with two network nodes which were interconnected ... on 29 October 1969 ... 15 sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971" - "Early international collaborations for the ARPANET were rare. Connections were made in 1973 to the Norwegian Seismic Array" - "In 1974, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn used the term internet as a shorthand for internetwork" - "Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 ... In 1982 (TCP/IP) was standardized" - "... expanded into academic and research organizations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan in 1988–89." - "Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in 1989 in the United States and Australia." - "In mid-1989, MCI Mail and Compuserve established connections to the Internet, delivering email and public access products to the half million users of the Internet" - "The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990." - "In March 1990, the first high-speed T1 (1.5 Mbit/s) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN, allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites. Six months later Tim Berners-Lee would begin writing WorldWideWeb, the first web browser, after two years of lobbying CERN management. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first Web browser (which was also a HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later known as CERN httpd), the first web server, and the first Web pages that described the project itself." And the rest is history, as they say!

SKYBLUERADIO. Willy Canuck show "Hagis and poutine" 16 May 2021, 1h59m30s long. Interviews Nels Anderson on the 25th anniversary of the start of FlightSim.com in 1996. https://pod.co/sky-blue-radio/willy-canuck-show-ft-nels-anderson 5 parts to the interview, in between is music. Part 1 ...16m15s-...26m35s Part 2 ...35m53s-...44m19s Part 3 ...55m09s-1h03m47s Part 4 1h16m45s-1h26m47s Part 5 1h35m45s-1h49m17s

Thanks Dominic, am listening to it now. Very interesting and heaps of nostalgia. Am noting the times of the segments in the show where Willy chats with Nels. Will post those times here once done. (The show is 1h59m30s with lots of music, so for convenience if anyone only wants to listen to the interview itself, see my times in the next post.) The start is at 16m15s. 16m15s. Introduces Nels. The early days, 1980s plus. Before the World Wide Web (www) although the guys say before the Internet, that it existed before. Yes, before www which I think began about 1993. I walked into my local university library in 1993, having signed up to take a one semester unit of an IT degree. The library had a display in the foyer, with a cobweb of string, and "World Wide Web" on a banner. I wondered what it was, had a brief look, and thought "hmm, seems to be something to do with libraries communicating with each other" Nels is talking about early 1980s and his Bulletin Board Service (BBS), with 4 phone lines incoming to his house, and dial-up modems. Back in 1981 I was living in London, England. I remember in a "videoclip memory few seconds", walking past a shop in The Strand near Charing Cross Station, and in the window was a sign "IBM Personal Computer". The box and a green screen was there, turned on. I think it advertised a spreadsheet, probably was SuperCalc. I wondered "why would anyone want a computer at home, probably a book-keeper or accountant might find it useful, can't think of any other reason". In 1996 a friend gave me his leftover modem after buying a better one, I remember clearly getting it fired up with dial-in, and a second-hand PC, with Kermit software on it, and connecting into that university's BBS. Was amazed. Only green text on a black screen. No mouse, no Windows, no graphics.

Thanks Dominic, I read it including all the comments. Very good. Nice to see a (perhaps older) photo of Nels and hear his story. I think he'd be the definition of an archetypal "quiet achiever", doesn't foist his views on anyone, just runs the site. And via this site the international community fraternity is what it is. Now that's altruism. I should also mention the other Admins, all those folk keep us enjoying this community. Thanks folks. And yes, the point about subscribing with a membership is pertinent, so I should look at doing that sometime soon. Just slack I suppose!

What was the first post on the FlightSim site? Have browsed through the Archive, the first one I can find is in forum "FS4": "Re: FS4 Forum" Started by volkman, 06-26-1996 11:01 PM Replies: 3 Views: 2,322 last nels 07-02-1996, 12:55 PM. Wednesday 26 June 1996. So June 1996 is indeed 25 years ago. When did FlightSim start? What was the first item in it? In Articles, the first is "Technic Direct Annnounces Aircraft Collection" by FlightSim.Com Staff Published on 06-01-1996 11:00 PM. Saturday 1 June 1996. All Features has the first item "How To... Fly The Big Iron With Pitch And Trim" by FlightSim.Com Staff Published on 01-01-1996 11:00 PM, Monday 1 January 1996. It'd be very good for one or more of the FlightSim founders to put an article in Articles about the start of FlightSim and a 25 retrospective. It's wondeful to have all the rich history in the site.