bluesky123

My Feedback: (2)

This software works with all our USB devices, which are currently: bidirectional Transmitter-Computer USB interface and a wattmeter/data logger, with more devices in the development.

For the USB interface, our software does the following:
1) Configures it for simulator use, which includes:
- measuring the travel range of each channel to cover it with full 10-bit resolution = 1024 levels (unlike "dumb" interfaces, which reserve their 8 bits to the maximum possible channel travel, which limits the real resolution to roughly 7 bits or about 100 levels)
- sets buttons and channel mapping to match simulator requirements or simplify simulator setup
2) Controls an aircraft from your transmitter in "Output PPM" mode
3) Programs an ESC or plays a throttle sequence to the ESC
Here's the manual:
http://milehighwings.com/manual_usb_v4.htm

For eFlightWatt wattmeter/data logger, the software does all configuration and data exchange as well as programs/controls an ESC.
Here's the manual:
http://milehighwings.com/manual_wattmeter.htm



My 2 cent contribution to the off-topic discussion about Mac vs. PC:

Since Apple switched to regular PC hardware, Macs became very well engineered PCs. When a friend of mine, who is a VP of Development of a big CAD company, decided to get himself the best Windows laptop money can buy, he bough Mac. Nobody would argue that Apple hardware is well made and, lately, reasonably priced, comparing to similar quality PC hardware (there are tons of cheap PCs, but they are way inferior to Apple hardware).

Apple software is another story. I won't discuss end user applications, which are probably ok and certainly ready to use out of the box (unlike a typical PC, Apple buyer don't have to re-format the hard drive and re-install the system just to get rid of tons of trialware and other crap that PC makers have pre-installed). Much touted "ease of use" is mostly BS from Apple marketing department--if you are used to ways MacOS works, you find it more convenient than Windows, and vice versa. After owning dozens of PCs (I'm constantly upgrading them and selling the old ones) and getting a Mac, I got used to it and found Windows and MacOS equally [un]convenient.

My biggest complaint about Apple software is their development tools and development documentation. Yes, Xcode is free, but you are getting exactly what you've paid for--an inconvenient, limited, and sometimes buggy (though, no more so than MS VisualStudio) development environment, which is plainly a pain. Apple documentation is a joke. Apple libraries suck. Apple practice to change APIs with every release of MacOS is sick (in the bad sense of the word) and their inability to fix known bugs (google "HID Manager" and you'll see what I'm talking about) is pathetic. That's why Mac development requires more efforts and costs more.

I hope I didn't offend anyone, at least, this wasn't my intention.


Boris
MileHighWings R&D

lsnover

My Feedback: (19)

Boris:

Thanks for the info.

I use both system extensively and do software development myself, so I know what you mean. Apple's QC can be a bit spotty. I have some friends who work there. They concentrate too much on the "consumer" oriented items and tend to let the business oriented features take a back seat. Many of the APIs have changed from release to release, which can be a challenge. But they generally get better, and there's quite a bit to work with. I mostly work in the database end of things, and Oracle is my favorite. Apple and Oracle's support has been pathetically inconsistent. This is a real shame, because we have many loyal Mac customers. This inconsistency is what forced me into the Windows world where there IS more support for the business oriented user. That said, there's lots of things about Windoze that blows chunks. Dealing with security and viruses and updates is a constant nightmare.

Performance USE TO to be better on the PC for much of what I did, now with the Intel macs and optimized programs, I'm seeing the Mac outperform Windoze by a good margin with some of my apps. And VMWARE Fusion actually runs windows very well. My VMWARE Server 2003 intallation on my 24" iMac Dual Core actually runs Oracle 11 faster then a 1 year old purpose build Dell Server with Quad XEONS. Hard to believe. The emulators just haven't caught up on the Video hardware end of things yet, but I think they will get there. Best thing about VMWARE is I build a Virtual PC with all my bits and pieces, back up the file. If my Virtual Machine gets flaky, get's a virus or get's hacked, I just dump the file and restore from my zipped pristine copy. And moving to another Mac is as simple as a copy to a Firewire hard drive. Plus I can run whatever flavors of Windows I want even at the same time. Of course you can do this with VMWARE for Windows too, but if your "base" machine goes haywire, your toast. The Mac is a better choice, IMHO.

BMW has a small percentage of the market, as does Apple. But that's not to say you can't make money making good Mac software. There's less competition, and Mac users will spend more. That said, it's a premium machine, and the users expect premium software. Second rate stuff usually doesn't fly. Same with half hearted ports. Microsoft is about to find that out with Office 2008 for Mac.

I don't mean to offend either, I just don't buy the argument that it's bad business to go after a smaller market niche. I've pretty much made a career doing that. ;-)

Cheers!
Lee

macuser

I just ordered a Mac Pro (single 2.8 GHz quad) with a Nvidia 8800 GT graphics card. This thing should run these flight simulators no prob. No I just have to wait. After spending so much money I'll be hard pressed to scrape up the $ for a windows OS and the $200 for the flight sim

Excited about being able to use this simulator soon!

The R/C Man

Yeah they are pricey. I am still debating weather or not I should buy a "gaming" laptop PC or the Mac Book Pro. I am just impressed with the Macs. I am up in the air about the bang for the buck factor though. For the price of the Mac I can get a 512mb video card 4meg of ram and a larger hard drive ect for the same price of the Mac. Either way I am still wondering which sim to buy.

macuser

The Mac Book Pro currently has a better video card than the highest end iMac so it's a good choice for gaming. Mac laptops are competitive with PC's while the iMacs are a bit less so. The value in getting a Mac is that they include a lot of useful applications that are very powerful and easy to use. Leopard has a great backup feature, cover flow and quick look are awesome, and the list goes on. When you buy a PC you have to then get third party applications if you want to do stuff. In my opinion the security of Macs are far superior to PC's. Case in point - I was on the phone speaking to an online banking representative with CIBC and I was asking him questions about security. When I told him I had a Mac he said I was much more secure than with a PC. For me this peace of mind further sold me on the Mac. So far there are zero viruses for Macs, just keep in mind when you boot up into windows on your Mac, that side of your drive is open to the same viruses, etc as a PC. Macs also have excellent resale values, which when considered into the lifelong purchase of your computer, makes Macs cheaper than PC's. Just check out ebay for prices on used Macs and you'll see what I mean.

I'm going to get Great Planes Realflight G4. I'm interested in the helicopter sims and from what I've read and heard it's the best sim. Winter 2008 edition of Radio Control Helicopter has a good article on the various available flight sims.

F4DevilDog

Put me down for the first good sim for Mac. No reason, with the growth of macs, that someone hasn't picked up and run with it. When they do, I'll be first in line with my credit card.

; )

nelsonmay

I am in agreement on all the above issues. It would be nice to have a sim for MAC OS. I am using a ESKY with FMS on a PC, and I guess the only hassle is having to move across the room, start up another machine and practice. That is my inconvenience! It would be nice to stop what you are working on, open an application take a few flights and go back to work (all on your MAC). That said, if someone wrote a pretty good sim for MAC, (us MAC users) would pay a bit more for it, just to have the convenience.[&:]

macuser

I have G4 set up on my Mac Pro (Nvidia 8800GT) through Boot Camp. Ièm using Vista Home Basic (32-bit) and the game works awesome. I saw fps around 48 on the one flight that I checked.

macuser

I was just playing with the graphics quality settings while running RealFlight G4 on my Mac Pro. With everything on the highest setting I saw fps as high as 178. However when I went to one of the lakes and used a float plane I could get the fps to go as low as 25, but normally it was 35-75 while on the highest settings. Wow, you can see shadows of trees in the rippling water and rustling leaves - awesome stuff.

Mac Pro with single 2.8GHz quad core, 2GB ram, Nvidia 8800GT, Bootcamp, Windows Vista 32-bit Home Basic. I've ordered the 64-bit version but I don't know if that'll make a difference. Some gaming people have suggested that you need Vista Premium 64-bit to get the most out of the 8800GT but I really don't know if that's true. Anyone know anything about this??

ripplewave

I am ready to upgrade my old sawtooth G4 (macs last longer than this post! javascript:void(AddText('','')) )with a refurb. Without going back and reading everything in this post, has anyone mentioned the use of the mac mini or which imac could be used? Not being as involved with the inner workings of any past my sawtooth (yes I still AM radios, dont use them, but I have them) Will this work? http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nplm=FA876LL/A or perhaps this? http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...DVYU8v3/2.?p=0

nelsonmay

APPLE guarantees refurbs. It also has the intel chipset so you can run bootcamp or parallels for running Windows. I am an apple person and check the graphics card that is in this one. It may or may not be the most up to date compared to the new macs, especially if you plan on doing a lot with windows based programs. I am a video editor, so I always "jack up the RAM" for best performance.

ripplewave

The imac lists this as.....Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB of GDDR3 memory

Being way behind on what is current....is this enough graphic horsepower to handle the r/c flight sims? and about the only other pc apps I would run would be some CAD applications...

nelsonmay

I would go on the apple discussion groups on the apple site and ask a question. those are some "die hard dudes!", and they even put a team together because I had such and unusual problem with a fire wire based audio interface.

Anyway, go into the MAC OS, probably leopard, because apple will not let a computer out without the latest software system (even under warranty: if they have to replace it and you had an older OS), give these guys the specs, tell them what you want and check you inbox in the morning.

hope this helps. they save my butt all the time. video editors can really push software.

WilliamDu

The small Mac market share doesn't seem to bother the many game developers that develop their games in Windows and later port them to the Mac.
I have several dozen excellent games on my G5 Mac (including x-plane which doesn't hack it for an RC flight sim), most of which were originally Windows games.

The post that a Mac version of G4, Reflex or FSOne would capture a fast hunk of the market is pertinent. Any of the top sims would get a large, fast buy. We long time Mac users (I've been through over a dozen since '84) know why. We spend a little more for the quality and security of the platform. For the history fan, Excel started as Multiplan for the Mac only in the fall of 1984, and then metamorphosed into Excel as Gates climbed on the Mac platform until he got Windoze going on the Itty Bitty Machine.

Business people and companies that needed to do dull stuff cheap (like COBOL applications) gravitated to Gates. Graphics types, engineering firms, gamers, Microsoft Flight Simulator fans, innovators and performance oriented folks stuck to the Macs.

Flight sims are a natural draw for Mac users who love graphics. I don't believe there are that few that are into RC, or would grab a flight sim just for a unique application.
Those of you FS developers that monitor this forum should check out the RC magazines. RC is big and growing, as is the Mac market share. Apple has a lock on the innovation idea and Gates will never catch up as long as Jobs is at the helm.

Count the number of pages just on this forum where RC folks are discussing the issue, and then extrapolate to the entire RC set, Mac users that snap up any Mac game, particularly one where you get to fly an airplane, drive a race car or a boat, and the failure of any one of the top flight sim developers to jump into the market is curious, if not backward. If the cost/return ratio for porting a flight sim or a game, (which are much more complex than an RC FS), to the Mac were that bad, there would be far fewer games available for the Mac.

Just be sure I can plug in my DX6i while you're porting, please, and I'll buy one instantly - any one or more that works on a PowerPC under OSX.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Gaming on a Mac.

somegeek

asiminakis

ευχα�ιστο

dandodge

I used to have an RC sim on my old G3 that I've had since 1996 (Yes Macs last that long, the G3 still works) but it was for OS 9. I did a search on Version Tracker and found nothing for OS X though so I guess me and my G5 are out of luck. Unfortunetly my G5 isn't a dual boot MAC so I'm gonna have to wait until I get a new Macbook or Macbook Pro.

I'm afraid that since Mac is still such a small market it will be quite awhile before we see a commercial sim come out for our platform, if ever.

Danny

Mac G5 Dual 1.8Ghz 2 Gigs RAM
12.1 inch iBook 800Mhz
Mac G3 500Mhz

1 DEAD PC that only lasted 1 year. (No it wasn't Compaq trash, just PC trash.)

The Macs still work great, the PC died faster then a snowball in,... well you know. Plus I don't get all those annoying data miners installing themselves on my machine without me knowing it and slowing it down. Not trying to trash PC's, I've just used both and know first hand which is the better computer. I'll never buy a PC again.

macuser

Is there anyone else out there that wishes they would make a version of this simulator that shot down other planes and ground targets?? I sure would.

Gonzalo38

I have an iMac with the following characteristics:

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB memory
320GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

Would it ran the G4 in bootcamp with windows XP ?

victorzamora

it would run it very nicely, actually. I have a Macbook, but I bought it just before Leopard came out...so I have no bootcamp. I''m looking at getting Leopard to install XP to fly on my mac...but I''d pay a lot more for a Mac-compatible simulator!!
WE NEED ONE!!!!!!

Deathbunny_SG

My Feedback: (6)

LoL you know that the hardware in macs is pure pc hardware now with nothing more then a chip added to allow the apple OS to run. I don''t understand why people pay more for an apple just to be limited in software choices and then complain about it The only thing that should be protested is apple for continuing to limit the softare that their users can run.

macuser

I have an Apple and I'm not limited in what software I can run. Actually YOU are limited in what software you can run! I can run everything you can run and more. You can't run Apple stuff on your PC, but I run PC stuff on my Mac no prob! It's as easy as holding down the alt key and clicking on PC.

Deathbunny_SG

My Feedback: (6)

Well if you consider running software (esp games/sims and other high hardware req apps) through a windows emulator satisfactory. I wouldn't want to take the performance hit personaly. But I guess you accepted that sacrifice when you gave into the devil and ate the apple err i mean bought the apple.

I have never personaly or even heard of anyone not being able to find a piece of software available for PC that would of been available to get if running Mac. I can't say the same for Mac, I think this thread proves that point well. Why would anyone come out with a unique piece of software and only offer it to the minority (Mac), that wouldn't make any sense.

macuser

I don't have to use a software emulator, in fact I don't even have one. I boot up my computer as a PC with a click of a button. In fact I run Crysis on my computer with all settings on high! As for software, it's obvious that you've never used Leopard. It's far superior to XP or Vista (I run Vista on my Mac) and has many features and killer apps that can't be found for the PC. One year ago I would have agreed with you 100% but things have changed tons since then. You might just want to boot up a new Mac - you'd be pleasantly surprised. Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a personal war, I just want people to keep an open mind about Macs. I have a 2.8 GHz quad core PC and my Mac blows it away.

dandodge

Final Cut Pro, Logic. Two applications that you will never see on PC's. And if you say, who'd want to run those? Well if you like music and movies you'll be hard pressed to find a movie or an album that wasn't mixed or edited on a Mac. Go look at benchmarks for apps that are available on PC's and Macs and see for yourself that they run faster on Macs. Oh, and new Macs don't need an emulator so there is no slowdown (and in my experience never was anyway, That's right, I have actual experience). BOTH Operating systems run native on new Macs. See thats the problem, you have no first hand experience with Macs, you are just doing what most PC users do, regurgitating what you have heard, but you have never thought to yourself, "Hey how do I KNOW that Macs are no good". You haven't, your happy to accept the party line thats handed to you. In the gun culture we call them sheeple. Never asking questions or thinking for themselves, just following the flock.