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Windows 8.1 Problem

Started by SGOS, August 19, 2014, 12:08:16 PM

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PickelledEggs

Quote from: SGOS on August 19, 2014, 04:02:00 PM
The information I looked up was old enough that Wine has asked for information from users about the current Wine combined with FSX.  From what I read, Wine seemed to help some issues like long flights causing crashes to desktop.  There were other complaints, however.  Some sounding serious enough to negate the value.  Some issues were surmised to be caused by graphics cards other than Nvidia.  But the comments were all older than 10 years.
From my experience with WINE is that even the same exact computer build with the same exact OS can have a different experience running a program. In other words, you should probably just try it. Plus if the last complaint was 10 years ago, it's probably resolved by now.

DunkleSeele

Wipe away Win 8.1.
Install Win 7 professional and Libre Office.
Install Linux Mint on a second partition.

Live happily ever after.

SGOS

The last MS flight simulator came out in 2006, but it didn't show up on the shelves until 2007.  Then in 2009 Microsoft shut the project down after an extremely successful 20 year run, and left committed fans and online communities disappointed.  The only thing comparable to it that is still left is X Plane, which I've never tried. 

Until the last release of MSFS, it was an open program.  Fans could design planes, airports, control panels, scenery, and all sorts of freeware that were openly uploaded and downloaded at various sites.  Some of the stuff that fans created was actually better than the stuff Microsoft included in the program.  That's the part of the program that kept my interest in it going for so many years.

The last release used a different rendering engine, which made it much more difficult to create addons.  X Plane, from what I understand, doesn't have much of a following of builders and innovators.  It's probably not as open as MSFS.

Some smaller company bought the rights to MS Flight Simulator, and was supposed to release something this year, but I haven't seen it yet.  I've seen some arcade games that involved flying, and I bought one, but all it did was fly around and shoot at ships and stuff.  It included nothing that resembled the skill and knowledge of actual flying.  I didn't find it interesting at all.

SGOS

Quote from: DunkleSeele on August 19, 2014, 04:33:14 PM
Wipe away Win 8.1.
Install Win 7 professional and Libre Office.
Install Linux Mint on a second partition.

Live happily ever after.
I think MSFS ran best on windows XP, and don't think I'm not considering getting rid of Windows 8.  I could see having a special computer running XP and dedicated only to Flight Simulator.

DunkleSeele

Quote from: SGOS on August 19, 2014, 04:58:29 PM
I think MSFS ran best on windows XP, and don't think I'm not considering getting rid of Windows 8.  I could see having a special computer running XP and dedicated only to Flight Simulator.
I don't know anything about MSFS, therefore I can't really help you here. I know that I always hated XP with a passion; it's bloated, unstable (at least until they released SP3) and slow. I liked a lot Win2000 Professional and with Win7 I got back some of the things I liked about W2000: reasonably fast, stable and easy to maintain. As far as I know, it also has a very good backwards compatibility with programs designed for XP.

Having a dedicated XP machine isn't a good solution, in my opinion. XP has been discontinued and some security holes won't be patched any more. If you need to be on the net when running MSFS, it could be a recipe for disaster.

PickelledEggs

Yeah If it ran on XP, definitely try it through WINE. That is definitely old enough to have the bugs worked out. Like I said, I had Guild Wars 2 running on Ubuntu and Guild Wars 2 is a VERY graphic intensive game.

And like DS said, try some version of Debian (mostly because it's more user friendly for new linux users to set up and use) Linux Mint, Debian.... Just don't do Ubuntu. Ubuntu sucks major balls.

_Xenu_

Quote from: SGOS on August 19, 2014, 12:32:15 PM
Actually, you might.  I googled open office, and it looks like what I might want.  I just need a word processor, and spreadsheets.  In fact, the spreadsheets aren't a big deal, but I'm gunshy about downloading anything after that last little debacle with that solitaire game.  LOL  I take it that open office meets your needs?
You could try its offshoot, Libreoffice, as well, but dont expect as much polish.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home

_Xenu_

Quote from: Hydra009 on August 19, 2014, 01:19:04 PM
All I really need is a basic word processor just a tad better than notepad.  So yeah, works fine.  Certainly beats shelling out every month.
Try Abiword. Its simple, open source, and available for any platform. Just don't expect much compatibility with MS products.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home

PickelledEggs

Quote from: _Xenu_ on August 19, 2014, 06:43:50 PM
Try Abiword. Its simple, open source, and available for any platform. Just don't expect much compatibility with MS products.
Libre office has different saving features if I'm not mistaken. You can save it as the libre office file (.odt) or you can sive it as a MS Word file. And same goes for the other Libre programs, I think

_Xenu_

#24
Quote from: PickelledEggs on August 19, 2014, 06:51:27 PM
Libre office has different saving features if I'm not mistaken. You can save it as the libre office file (.odt) or you can sive it as a MS Word file. And same goes for the other Libre programs, I think
It may have this in theory, but in practice MS intentionally builds in incompatibilities that keep it from working as well.

The truth is, anyone who's looking to move to Linux has to accept that most of the software they have used before isn't going to be compatible, and either find open source replacements or do without.  My father is an author and using Openoffice caused all kinds of problems for him because his publishers all used MS Office. That's a common problem in the business world where the ability to exchange documents is a big deal. Similar compatibility issues are likely to come with using MS Flight Simulator.

Having said that, I don't personally need much compatibility with MS anything. What I lost from the Windows platform I more than made up for in the simplicity of use, and the availability of open source software in repositories. The archives of whats available are amazing, and contain simple, modular functionality that I never imagined in Windows. There's no malware, no hunting down things on the Internet,and no real question about you can or cannot do. Linux is not designed to make any one money. Its not there to appease the MPAA, or to put any sort of limitations on how you use it. And you can do quite a bit, but the price you pay for it is the loss of your old Windows software. Its not for everyone, and anyone who really wants to move to Linux has to make that sacrifice. Of course, dual booting is always an option.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

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SGOS

Eventually, I'm going to give Linux a try, but as far as running Flight Simulator, I'm not reading much that's encouraging.  I won't say it doesn't work, but I haven't read anything that says it runs great on Linux.  But the way Windows is going, eventually, it probably won't run Flight Simulator anyway.  Some of my older programs didn't run right on Windows 7, and some that worked fine on 7 no longer run at all on 8.  Backwards compatibility seems like a nice fantasy to me, and I'm getting a sense that it's fast becoming a fantasy only.

The relationship between consumers and Microsoft seems to be that the consumer's purpose in society is to adapt to Microsoft's needs, mostly to their financial goals.  We are here to serve Microsoft.  That is our only duty.  Once we fulfil that to Microsoft's satisfaction, we are free to develop personal relationships and to engage in the pursuits of happiness.

Munch

hmm, kinda glad I read this. I've been debating on getting a new system soon and deciding between 7 and 8. heard mixed reaction to 8 and how its bad for gaming, so might just leave off getting the latest system for now.
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

_Xenu_

Quote from: Munch on September 06, 2014, 07:19:21 PM
hmm, kinda glad I read this. I've been debating on getting a new system soon and deciding between 7 and 8. heard mixed reaction to 8 and how its bad for gaming, so might just leave off getting the latest system for now.
You might be ok with 8. There's open source software that makes it look a lot like 7.
Click this link once a day to feed shelter animals. Its free.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/ars/home

Jason78

Quote from: Desdinova on August 19, 2014, 04:16:23 PM
When was the latest MS flight simulator released?   I noticed some open source flight simulators out there for linux.  Maybe you could try one of those.

The last release was 2006 with a new version to be announced in 2015.
Winner of WitchSabrinas Best Advice Award 2012


We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real
tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato

SGOS

Quote from: Jason78 on September 07, 2014, 06:57:04 AM
The last release was 2006 with a new version to be announced in 2015.
The Train Simulator people bought the rights from Microsoft, but what they end up doing with it is still a big question.  FSX is already 8 or 9 years old, and Microsoft dumped the whole project 5 years ago, in part because of it's outdated engine.  Microsoft introduced a simulator simply called "Flight" after they closed down Flight Simulator, but the thing was kind of lame and flopped.  In the end, Flight simmers are going to expect big improvements after a 10 year hiatus.  If the new owners can provide that, it might work.

However, the speculation is that the new version is going to be less than half a simulator.  If you want more planes, and the ability to fly to distant places, you will have to buy extra mods to do it.  It will be like buying FSX in parts at a much higher cost.  To be successful, it will need to provide something improved like better scenery, more ground action, or more than the generic buildings used over and over again at every airport, which made the airport at Katmandu look like the one at Newark NJ.