AAR [After Action Report]

BTW, I only put these things out not for rehash purposes for those
folks that already know but I would suspect that RAS has a decent size
lurker audience too. So too, I re-visit RAS periodically just to keep up
on what's happening in the sim hobby which I continue to enjoy
thoroughly. Hey, with the real McCoy rates, flight sims are the next
best thing! Safer too!

That said, to business:

1. Left the machine on all night up to the present moment. No more
periodic [never went more than 3 hours max before a sudden mouse freeze]
mouse freezes. Tip o' the hat to John Ward on that one because I thought
I had the latest Direct X [9A] but in fact there was a July, 2003 issue
of Direct X 9B and once 9B was installed, not only was there a big
difference in overall 'look' but the mouse freeze business stopped.
Point: At least in my case, 9A was the mouse freeze culprit! And 9B the
remedy! Again, dunno why, just know it solved the problem.

2. Got a great deal [I believe anyway...] on a wholly generic [NOT that
EluminX [Sp. ?] brand...that goes for a about $100] 104 key
illuminated-key keyboard. On/Off switch right on the KB and VERY handy
for those needed function and 'F' keys on the top row in dim or low red
or no light except for the sim in the sim room and those necessary KB
functions that the external CH yoke may not have [or I'm too lazy to
re-assign within the sim]. best part: I paid $37 for it brand new. Look
around! Generic though, not any name nor brand to be found on the thing.
White box deal.

3. Still dealing with the ball mouse and the usual required clean up
when the thing gets filled with assorted gunk and crud? Go optical! Plug
in and that's it and no special drivers required. They are practically
giving away optical mice now...under $9..and basically maintenance free!

4. Memory jogger: Full screen mode [the best in my view] and 'then' you
remember the FSNav, right? Not a problem. Press 'ALT' and the top bar
should appear, click on FSNav and you can still keep full screen mode.
Caveat--if you find [due to sequence] that FSNav in fact appears on the
second monitor but the old mouse limit lock won't travel over to the
second monitor, hey, the plane icon and its long snout will at least
give you direction! And, this too, once you program [read: click the
small icon] FSNav to "plane follows map", it should stay that way from
flight to flight or whenever the sim is opened.

5. What's that? Some of the machine advancements that 'I' think have
really helped the sim hobby [and I've been at it since the Bruce Artwick
days]? DDR memory, both video and machine; 7200RPM HD's; video cards of
course with better and faster internal engines with further tinkerings
that can be done within the BIOS; motherboards that push the FSB
envelope and of course 'gig' class CPU's with 'reasonable' OC
capabilities....but then the matter of machine 'coolers' for virtually
everything [CPU, video card, certainly the main C drive HD, multiple
case fan secondaries, etc.] have become a cottage industry! It works!


6. Burners! Make a back-up copy! Ohhhh? Well, two things: get a nasty
scratch on the original $50 or more CD disk(s) and you'll 'weep' when it
refuses to run properly when you need to set-up again on a newer machine
or whatever --and-- it is no more 'illegal' to make a PERSONAL USE
ONLY back-up via a CD burner or the old save-on-tape thing than it is to
copy some flick off the satellite or cable TV. The law comes into play
only if and when you attempt to try to sell such things [as did a few
yoyos on Ebay with alleged 'back-up copies' of Windows XP for $10 a
shot!!! Talk about asking law enforcement folks [and Ebay Safe Harbor!]
to come pay a visit or cancel the Ebay account! Whew! And 'rightly' so!]
or use for some commercial fee charging purpose.

Doc Tony

Hey! Catch that editorial piece at Flightsim.com? In effect, is 2 years
really too short a time before another FS upgrade? What think? In one
sense, hey, the sim isn't exactly a give-away at $54 BUT then do you
really want to wait 3 or 4 years for the latest [true enhancements I
mean vs marketing hype] flight sim enhancements?


A detractor in Detroit: "Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz."

;-)