My laptop has breathed its last breath...

[Rami]

Good morning,

I just wanted to let you know that my laptop has breathed its last breath, and I am now facing the "white screen of death." I knew this was coming, and this laptop has survived two trips to Europe in a backpack, as well as the daily workday grind of going with me to school for just over five years. I will be getting a new one in the coming weeks.

Regarding CFS2 though, fear not. I make regular backups of all my files...and my desktop copies of CFS2 are entirely current. I will be making a full backup of my files onto my backup drive this evening, just to be safe.

However, during the daytime, this will mean that I will only have my phone to manage the library. While upload approval during the day should not be adversely affected, my ability to respond to posts and e-mails during the day may be spotty, at best.

I am making sure that the new rig will have Windows 7 on it, not Windows 8. :very_drunk:

[Finn]

Poor you - but then on the other hand, having lost no files, you get a brand new toy to play with. And after five years of full service, the old one deserves a decent funeral. Finn

[Rami]

Finn,

I'm not sympathy-hunting here, just being informative. But regarding the "not losing files" part, I'm very mindful of what's happened to bobhegf's Guadalcanal / Solomons effort a couple of times now and have nightmares about such scenarios. :hopelessness:

Accordingly, I have three copies of my seven installs at all times...one on my desktop, one on my backup drive, and another on my laptop. The files on my backup drive get updated once per week.

[CrisGer]

Sorry about that Rami, we all have to do that, I would suggest sticking with XP SP3, i am and plan to forever. My tech says both Windows 7 and 8 are bad, 8 is the worst and never should have been released.

Copies of XP are still around for sale cheap. it works just great and CFS2 loves it.

anyway, good luck and i am glad you are backed up well very important. Let us know if you need any help or advice. I have a great tech.

[hairyspin]

My tech says both Windows 7 and 8 are bad, 8 is the worst and never should have been released.My tech HATES XP with a passion. That's why I'm still on Windows for Workgroups 3.1. Boy, he knows his stuff! :drunk:

[Allen]

My tech HATES XP with a passion. That's why I'm still on Windows for Workgroups 3.1. Boy, he knows his stuff! :drunk:


You'll have to pry XP out of my cheetos covered dead hands.

[Rami]

Hey guys,

My old laptop was she, may she rest in peace: http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/gateway-md7818u-review/

This will be her replacement: http://www.amazon.com/Gateway-NX-Y2GAA-009-NV76R45U-17-3-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00EELXK1W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I'd rather have Windows 7 than 8, and I have Microsoft Office and Adobe Professional ready to go.

[CrisGer]

heheh this is fun. Actually I also use a WIN 98 SE set up for some things and another box with 95, and I still have my Apple 1, the little tower.

ah that new lappy will be nice Rami. hugable. but i agree re XP, no way they gonna get it away from me, runs everything i want to work on and just learning to make 3d models in various formats. plenty to do.

good luck with the transfer Rami. so glad you have learned to backup

[hairyspin]

You'll have to pry XP out of my cheetos covered dead hands.

Your proposal is acceptable, lol. :-)


http://i.imgur.com/MQZnvUC.jpg

[Blood_Hawk23]

If I had a choice i'd stay with XP. Next best option is Win 7. Win8 Is only good for tablets and touch screen monitors. My dad has win 8 and a touch screen. Its ok. I'd still rather have XP. I don't care if i can't play Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja.

[bobhegf]

Rami, LOL, I learned the hard way to. I now have my Cactus scenery on a CD and am getting ready to add some more. I found out that it was not my hard drive this time but some nasty things I picked up on the net. It cost me $150.00 to get it cleaned and save the files.

[Sarg Willy]

I,ll bet it was the nrop virus:
biggrin-new:

[hairyspin]

There is something the XP fans ought to consider: XP drivers for new gear are becoming thinner on the ground. A friend has put a new rig together for CFS3 and finds he has to use IDE mode for his HDs, since SATA AHCI drivers for XP don't exist for his hardware and he particularly wants to use XP. I'm fortunate my 5-year-old rig has drivers for both XP and Win7, since I run both OSes.

Just sayin'.


@ Blood_Hawk23: Angry Birds is available for the PC and will run in XP. Now you know!

[Blood_Hawk23]

Hey All,

I was just given a HP with Win 7. What are some of the first things I should do to run CFS2? My wife's lapto has Win 7 so I now what I'm looking at. I just need to know whay I have to doso everything will work.

[Worthless]

Blood_hawk23

I'm not aware of anything special you need to do. I've had a HP e9227 Desktop running Win7 since 2009. 64 bit. I don't have any trouble with CFS2. I have experienced several problems with some add on tools that were created for working on CFS2 aircraft. Such as mk_mdlc_v2 and CfgEdit. I just can't get them to work in Win7. But, MB, FF, QC all seem to work fine. I've read where some folks have experienced issues with Win7, but ....."knock on wood"...mine is still going strong.

[Kofschip]

I am going to disconnect my 12 year old Dell XPS Gen 2 from the Internet on April 1st, 2014.:pop4: I am running XP SP3 on it and all my sims (FS8, FS9, CFS2, CFS3, IL-2 1946, SH3 and SH4) are running just fine and I am too old to start over again.:redfire:

From now on my Kindle Fire and Samsung S III phone are going to be my connection to the Internet.:biggrin-new:

[Rami]

Hey guys,

I bought by new laptop over the weekend: http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-Pavilion/G1V32AV?HP-Pavilion-15t-n200-Notebook-PC-with-Windows-7-ENERGY-STAR-

I added Microsoft Office Home and Student for the laptop, because it's compatible with the version we have in my classroom. I also have 2013 on my desktop.

I don't have to worry about Anti-Virus, I have BitDefender Internet Security 2014 ready to go.

Expected delivery date: Around April 15th.

[kelticheart]

Sorry about that Rami, we all have to do that, I would suggest sticking with XP SP3, i am and plan to forever. My tech says both Windows 7 and 8 are bad, 8 is the worst and never should have been released.

Copies of XP are still around for sale cheap. it works just great and CFS2 loves it.

anyway, good luck and i am glad you are backed up well very important. Let us know if you need any help or advice. I have a great tech.

Unfortunately, the only problem is that a new 64-bit machine (do they even sell 32-bit pc's still?) will not use 100% of its capabilities with 32-bit XP. I heard, in some cases, new platforms won't even run with XP, even if it's the 64-bit version.

In spite of that, I too will stick to my XP Pro for as long as I will be able to.

Cheers
KH :ernaehrung004:

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hi folks. I was on Skype with Rami at the time of his purchase and bought my own: http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/G1L49AV?HP-ENVY-15t-j100-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR- with Win 7 at the same time he bought his. I too opted for the Office Home and Student 2013 software and have my antivirus standing by... My expected delivery date is about the same as his.

[MaskRider]

Looking good!

Is this going to be a simming computer?

MR

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Looking good!

Is this going to be a simming computer?

MR

Yes it will. It replaces my older laptop and it's not Windows 8. :applause:

[MaskRider]

Yes it will. It replaces my older laptop and it's not Windows 8. :applause:

How will it perform with FSX do you think? I am just wondering as I am on the brink of being in the market for a new simming computer and wouldn't mind getting a laptop to fill the bill. But I would like something that would run FSX efficiently.

MR

[Rami]

Chris,

I can't say with definition, but my hunch is that your results may not be what you are hoping for. The majority of graphics cards in laptops are integrated, meaning that the GPU has to operate the computer AND display graphics at the same time. Because of the complexity of FSX, my hunch is that a stand-alone graphics card would be required to make framerates and details acceptable.

CFS2 I'm not worried about...you could probably run our proggie from a smartphone these days.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Chris,

I can't say with definition, but my hunch is that your results may not be what you are hoping for. The majority of graphics cards in laptops are integrated, meaning that the GPU has to operate the computer AND display graphics at the same time. Because of the complexity of FSX, my hunch is that a stand-alone graphics card would be required to make framerates and details acceptable.

CFS2 I'm not worried about...you could probably run our proggie from a smartphone these days.

Maskrider: The computer I ordered and indexed above has a dedicated graphics card: "NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 740M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory." I don't know what the minimum requirements for FSX are, but this should do the trick if I had to guess.

[MaskRider]

Shadow Wolf 07, Rami

Thanks for the info guys.

Yes, Shadow Wolf07, the stand-alone graphics card you called out certainly looks like it would do the trick. My current card, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS, has only 256 (1/10th) of dedicated video memory and just barely handles FsX so long as the sliders for Air traffic, Ground traffic, Water traffic are zero'd, and scenery object density stays low. I like to keep the terrain complexity and weather sliders maxed out and this old card handles that ok- still though it wheezes and hiccups. Runs Fx9 maxed out with no issues.

Enjoy!

MR

[Devildog73]

I have XP-32bit on one HD on my big PC, partitioned with WIN 7X32 on the other half.

I then have a separate physical HD with WIN 7X64 internal.

I am running 6GB system RAM and 1GB Video RAM on a GeForce 6800GT.

All my flight sims run really well EXCEPT FSX at full graphics settings. I have to back FSX off a bit to get the frame rates I like.

I will not be getting rid of my XP any time soon either, even though I have tuned WIN 7X32 to run the flight sims like XP.

(TUNING): First: Shut down the UAC. Then: Right click your flight sim shortcut and run as administrator always, right click on the flight sim folder in "computer" and then go to properties/security: give yourself full administrator privileges on all sub-folders and files. This will give you the ability to modify all of your dat and cfg files in the sims, a necessity if you run multiple skins or change out weapons.

I have one laptop with WIN 7X64 and one with WIN 8X64. I don't do flight sims on either. They just cannot handle even CFS2, let alone anything more robust.

Oh, and BTW, I will be back to writing and tweaking BPF shortly. I finished my last Masters class until fall, so Putin notwithstanding, I will be pretty absorbed with retirement processing for this summer exodus back to CONUS and might actually have some time to devote to my hobby....

[Oglivie]

It appears that I avoided most all the security user account stuff by not installing CFS2 into the Program Files (x86) folder. I installed Microsoft Games directly in the C drive root folder. Out of curiosity I copied CFS2 to the Program Files (x86) folder and started having security issues with it in the x86 folder right away. Instead of turning UAC (User Account Control) off, I just deleted CFS2 from the Program Files (x86) folder and continued to use the CFS2 I have installed in the C drive root folder.


There are of course quirks running CFS2 with Win 8 (8.1). One is the macro 1037 error that I am running into that is supposedly caused by macros being turned off in the registry, http://www.faultwire.com/solutions-Windows_Vista/Windows-Help-*1394.html

This appears to be causing the CFS2 aircraft selection window to be blank. The macro can be turned on by editing the registry, but since I am using this 8.1 pc for mostly the internet I am going to leave the macro off for safety sake.


By far the best operating system for CFS2 (and probably CFS3 and others, except maybe FSX) appears to be Win XP, of which I still have two PCs with it and CFS2 installed and running well (I will be taking the XP PCs off line from the internet soon for safety sake).

[Captain Kurt]

I'm going to be doing the same thing as Oglivie. For CFS2 I have a old custom gaming tower with XP which I just had rebuilt last year and I bought a refurbished back up tower also with XP for $250 from the computer shop working on the rebuild. So I should be able to keep CFS2 on XP for a long time to come.

I happen to have a extra Win7 laptop. It was stolen a couple of years ago. It was my son's college computer so we replaced it immediately. Then the police recovered it last year and returned it to me. It has been collecting dust since as it hasn't been needed. So I will be connecting it to the internet next week and disconnecting the XP tower to keep it safe from viruses.

[Rami]

Good evening,

I finally got the new right laptop. Tomorrow is set-up day! :very_drunk:

[Naismith]

My first laptop died today, 13 years old it was, I think it realised XP was toast and decided to join it.
Kinda sad really it has been all over Eu & NA with me. Weighed a ton and had pathetic battery life and 13" screen but I will miss it.

[Rami]

Shadow Wolf 07,

Hey buddy, are you getting black flicker in certain views when flying CFS2? I'm having some minor issues with this on the new portable rig.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I'm just starting to put in my installs of cfs2 and haven't flown any yet on my new system. I do not recall such errors on my old win7 rig though. I will check it out this afternoon and let you know. I did have a black flickering on my win8 system though - rather annoying.

[Rami]

Good afternoon,

LOVING the new laptop. Still having the flicker, though in the screen. Sometimes it's an issue, other times it is not.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Good afternoon,

LOVING the new laptop. Still having the flicker, though in the screen. Sometimes it's an issue, other times it is not.

Rami: Have you tried different combinations of enabling/disabling the settings in the display settings window yet?

I've set up 2 installs so far, Western ETO early (1940-43) and Western ETO late (43-45). I'm starting on the Western MTO - early and late - installs next...

[Rami]

Shadow Wolf 07,

Not yet. I am using the same settings as on my desktop. I was hoping to discuss that with you tonight.