Crunch time- Win10, Win11, FS9, and you.

[Sbob]

I actually prefer Win11. I find that the sim runs a bit smoother than in Win 10.
In any case, I've customized Win11 by using OneCommander as a file manager, Start11 to change the Start menu, Everything as a desktop search engine, Teracopy to replace the default copy command, Lively to give an animated desktop & Rainmeter foe widgets & gadgets.

I quite enjoy modding W11, just as I enjoy modding my FS9, Golden Wings & my Platinum Wings.

Hold that thought, I need to take a screenshot on the new rig you'll enjoy.
You've listed programs I've checked out but I prefer to let my buddy Manual make those changes.
Not that there's anything wrong with running apps, the way I do it just feels more direct.

 

[ian elliot]

Still have my old XP disks somewhere, dont give me ideas Micheal

 

[Sbob]

Good evening friends,
it seems that I am a real oldy, lol
I run the good old FS2004 on my about twenty years old tower pc with Windows XP.
Ok, it last some time more than a cigarette to start my loved sim.
I have two configurations, One with aircaft reality otions on full realism for flying fixed wing aircrafts,
The other with the sliders for realism full to the left for helicopter flying.
At the scenery options all sliders are at the right.
Some rare sceneries slow the framerate down but it is rare.
A friend sended me a stick with his FS2004 and it runs perfectly from the stick after adapting my flight controls and
some minor things. I was astonished how well the sim on the stick worked well.
Here some precisions about my old rig, what I tried to update abit some years ago:
Windows XP Home SP3
AMD A4-6300 APU with Radeon HD Graphics, 3,5GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 520
PS someone once told me that the advantage today to run a pc with the old Win XP is that it is less
vunerable to virus attack as most viruses today do not agree with WinXp beeing to old.
Nevertheless I have AVG Antivirus installed
So far from my side

Best regards

Michael

Michael; THANK you for posting in this thread.

I think we need to see ALL of our options for next October.
Outside info is confusing. There are opinions but for the most, a LOT of people don't seem to care.
I feel good because it seems like XP is still immune to being forced into the old folks home.

 

[michaelvader]

Ian,
if you can afford it, buy an used pc equip it with the best graphic card accepted by XP
and than install FS2004 with whatever you want.
When I read all the problems peoplehave with the updates and so on for the newer OS, brrrrrr
My XP is stable and runs well
Yes to watch youtube in most cases you need now nwer pcs bof

Michael

 

[Sbob]

Still have my old XP disks somewhere, dont give me ideas Micheal

I was in Panic Mode looking for my PSP6 install CD* when I found my old Win95 and Win98 install CDs.
Imagine, an entire OS on ONE CD!!!!!!!

*- I found my install CD for Paint Shop Pro 6 almost ten minute's after I found a used example plus the books on EBay.
Ahh, in case anyone falls into the same predicament, hit me with a private message and we'll work something out.

For the record, PSP6 installs just fine on Win11 and works about the same when it comes to auto-running PSP for different extensions.

 

[Sbob]

Posted for zswobbie, without comment (unless you read the title of the image):

 

[zswobbie1]

 

[Sbob]

OK, I'm kind of jealous..

BTW, is that a desktop or something lower?

 

[zswobbie1]

That's my desktop. The taskbar is hidden. Then I'm playing audio, the line under the time digits acts like a sine wave. Left on the bar on top, shows the title of whats playing on my 2nd screen. The digital clock is animated when the minutes change. All the gadgets are add-ins from Rainmeter.

I just like the screen to look 'different.' - Boys & their toys!
This is what my mp3 player looks like: (the reels rotate!0

 

[Sbob]

"Noice" and I'm glad we forced you to grow up.

I thought you were still running a Lappy.

I'm kidding! I like that perf. monitor. Not sure if I'd like it on the desktop or not, but its pretty slick.
I wound up installing VCE (again) for DVDs but I'm still looking around. Just a CD/DVD/Blueray? player with NO cloud hoo-hah or bloat.

 

[zswobbie1]

My inner child often needs to be let out to play!

'Tis my Lappy! That is a audio program called 'Aimp'. It has other 'skins' such as CD players..
For movies, I use Pot Player. I'm also using a program called FXSound, which is a graphic equalizer, to improve sound to my desktop speakers.

Probably a decent player for CD's etc could be VLC. Have a look at Pot Player anyway. I found that it gave me the better audio, compared to other players.

 

[tommieboy]

I'm wondering if this would be a handy thread?

For everyone who has updated their computer or OS or is considering it, October is approaching and Win10 will no longer be supported.

Good evening friends,
it seems that I am a real oldy, lol
I run the good old FS2004 on my about twenty years old tower pc with Windows XP.

I'm with Michael on this one. My Windows XP Tower was built for FS2004, and is still the family's only desktop. The family has transitioned to smart phones, tablets, watches, etc. as their preferred platforms. So that leaves me as the only one who still uses this old XP Tower. XP11 fulfills my flight-simming needs (barely), and an older (non-subscription-based) version of Adobe Photoshop CS4 takes care of my photo-editing needs. If and when I truly need to replace Windows XP Tower, it will most likely be with a space-saving 24" all-in-one computer. If it doesn't run my old flight sim and CS4, I'll just spend more time in the garden.

Tommy

 

[Sbob]

These replies are outstanding!

For those of you who haven't shopped for a PC recently, the market has been contracting for the last couple of years.
My experience is limited to North America but I think its the same for most of the world outside of Asia.
Walk through a Best Buy (or a WalMart) and you'll see it.

Surf over to Amazon and you'll REALLY see it. Most of the older tried-and-true brands are just gone.
Smart Phones have done a LOT of damage to the home PC market.

Some of you may have noticed that I'm not the biggest fan of laptops. Let me explain why.
Back in the day I was a field engineer for Eastman Kodak. I worked mostly on "office systems", stuff like office networks, copiers, and printers.
We also had a side-gig as the face of 1-800-SOS-APPL (aka AppleCare). Their customers would call in, if needed we were the ones who rang the doorbells and fixed the stuff. As side-gigs go it was lucrative for Kodak, our "work clothes" were a mandatory suit and tie so we didn't look like a kid in tee shirt and sneakers. It was also a total "waste" of time for the folks in field. We were trained to work on proprietary big-dollar/high volume equipment for customers who had big-dollar service contracts. Working on PCs and laptops (especially) put a big drain on our time management and kept us away from "the important stuff". Some of us would set up AppleCare visits on our weekends so we knew there was probably an adult in the house and we wouldn't waste a drive. Laptops, I have to be honest, were the worst. Imagine trouble shooting then cracking open a lappy on some lady's kitchen table, fixing the hard ware, and all the while the customer feels compelled to talk to us.
"Great weather, huh", "Lousy weather, huh", and the best, "How much do you get paid?" which was always followed by "Can I call my son-in-law so he can watch you?". Mind you, I haven't even gotten to the point where I have to reseal everything and test it.

There were also some pretty cool service calls. As it turns out, I have a Deja Vu personality and odd stuff always seemed to happen. I had my share of showing up to a house call only to meet an old school mate but the best was the call to fix a Power Mac in central New Hampshire.
The call itself was simple. The battery on the mobo had died. Meanwhile, I notice this guy is also an old sailor who, like many of us, has an "I Love ME" wall. Cool pictures but one really stands out.
I already have the Mac opened up and I say "Would it be bad if I called you Sir?" "That would be correct." "Well, I couldn't help but notice that picture of the dry dock.." "That was my retirement ceremony, what about it?" "Was that in Pearl Harbor and is that the USS Bremerton in the dry dock?"



"How do you know that?????"
"That's my buddy Chris standing on the deck of the sub. We were wondering what the ceremony was for."



Mind you, we're standing in a farm house in New Hampshire. So, I make a quick moral call and say, "About the PC, the main board is fried along with the RAM and the hard drive. The good news is that I can fix it today. The other good news is I don't have this board and the other parts in my car so everything has to get upgraded with better stuff".

"How much will it cost?"

"You mean cost to you? Nothing, I can write it off under warrantee. Just do me a favor, when you think of me, think nice thoughts".

 

[zswobbie1]

Interesting times!
In the good old days, before laptops, when we had a Virtual Aviation club going, 'Cape Virtual', based at our local Airforce Base, Ysterplaat, (FAYP), we used to meet every second Saturday. We had to pack up our PC boxes at home, pack them up, then unpack at the clubhouse, PC tower, monitors (some of us had 2), keyboard & mouse. Then we connected everything. Often we heard the dreaded beeping on switch on!Then we had to switch off everything, open the tower, make sure that the RAM sticks were pushed in properly. (sometimes they got dislodged in transit).
Then (phew) start up again & finally see that everything was working.
Obviously, we had to repeat the whole saga again after the virtual session! - Those old cathode ray monitors were damn heavy!

Then came laptops! The luxury of carrying everything in a bag/backpack!.
My first laptop was a lot of fun! When I got it, I made sure that the components could be replaced/upgraded! After about 3 years, I had issues starting up the thing - the dreaded BIOS screen kept on popping up. So, off to the dealer. The service manager told me that, because of the amount of times the thing was being switched on & off, there was a bit of thermal shock issues with the contacts of the onboard graphics card, & yes, the mother board can be replaces, as can the GPU!

Yippy, I thought, then the service guy said that because the thing was so old (3 years), there is no longer any stock available. But he came up with a great suggestion!

He told me that I must get a hair dryer, open the back of the laptop, & blow hot air over the graphics area of the motherboard. This actually worked!! I got to admit that I did get some strange looks when I got to work & opened up the laptop to blow hot air over the insides.
This actually worked for about 6 months, until, finally, the laptop told me that, yes, we did have a lot of fun, a few laughs & a few tears, but the time has come to say farewell! So, off to find a replacement (finally)

 

[Golden Rocket]

It makes sense buying a (new) laptop preloaded with the latest OS, my feelings are to match the latest hardware with the latest operating system.

I totally agree with this. BUT, the great problem with them are the insufficent power units. With the RTX 4070 video card and running douzens of AI aircaft at the same time, the incorporated fan has continually to be set at its maximum. Using a desktop would by far be more comfortable and avoid any overheating.

Bernard

 

[zswobbie1]

Modern laptops have become quite good. I have a 3 year old ASUS A15 i7 16GB RAM laptop. it has both AMD Radeon Graphics onboard, as well as a GeForce RTX3050 GPU. The AMD GPU is the default GPU & & can select the RTX 3050 for mor intense graphic work.
I'm using a 3rd party utility called G-Helper to manage the power modes - Silent, Balanced, Turbo, as well as the GPU modes - Eco, Standard & Optimized.
The laptop has 2 fans & their activity & speed profile can be set, according to temperature. It helps is that the laptop comes with a 180W power supply.

Both FS2004 & P3Dv4.5 work very well, & those sims are heavily loaded with AI & scenery. I've also run FS2020 for a short while, before dumping it.

 

[tommieboy]

Sometimes, better is not better. Originally, I had a single full-length "gaming" graphics card that covered two motherboard slots, needed two power connectors, had two cooling fans with a huge heatsink, 8 GB, and sounded like a hair dryer when I ran my flight sim. When it broke, I purchased the cheapest graphics card to get the computer back up and running for the family as quickly as possible. It was a half-length, single slot, single fan, 4 GB graphics card. Essentially, a true downgrade in every department, including RAM speed. The thing is, the cheap replacement card ran FS2004, FSX, etc. smoother than the original "gaming" card and was whisper quiet, too. Because of that, I never felt the need to pursue another ginormous gaming card for my current computer. That happened six years ago, and that replacement card is still alive and kicking.

Tommy

 

[Sbob]

Moving myself back on topic , here's something that came up in my Y/T feed that's worth watching:

If you're planning to bite the bullet with Win11, or you already have done so, watch the video but replace "Documents" with "Downloads".
My Win10 Downloads folder has more zip files than the NYC phone book has names. As the years go by, those zip files build up.

 

[Sbob]

Sometimes, better is not better. Originally, I had a single full-length "gaming" graphics card that covered two motherboard slots, needed two power connectors, had two cooling fans with a huge heatsink, 8 GB, and sounded like a hair dryer when I ran my flight sim. When it broke, I purchased the cheapest graphics card to get the computer back up and running for the family as quickly as possible. It was a half-length, single slot, single fan, 4 GB graphics card. Essentially, a true downgrade in every department, including RAM speed. The thing is, the cheap replacement card ran FS2004, FSX, etc. smoother than the original "gaming" card and was whisper quiet, too. Because of that, I never felt the need to pursue another ginormous gaming card for my current computer. That happened six years ago, and that replacement card is still alive and kicking.

Tommy

Yep, the only reason I install a GPU, now-a-days, is to free up a little bandwidth on the CPU but mostly to get better display controls for the monitor.

 

[Sbob]

Oh, I'm using Microsoft's Defender anti-virus

I meant to touch on this before I got side tracked.

I also run Defender. It does it's thing without a lot of drama.
If you're used to running another anti-virus/anti-malware program on an older system do some digging.
I ran another A/V program for years. One day I got bored and started digging. What I found was that my A/V, in reality, was just a shell program that added some control panels and animated icons while it ran Defender in the background.
Every A/V program is different, but I suspect most of them use the same strategy.