1970 flight sim?

if you dig up the nat. geographic magazine from 1970, there are color
pictures that show full color graphics of a runway - this is years
before color video games began to appear. what system was this???

"Mad Scientist Jr" wrote in message
om...
if you dig up the nat. geographic magazine from 1970, there are color
pictures that show full color graphics of a runway - this is years
before color video games began to appear. what system was this???

I don't know -- I don't have that magazine around for me to dig up -- but
flight simulators predate wide-spread use of computers by at least a decade,
possibly more.

Early flight simulators include the pneumatically powered Link instrument
flight trainers, and visual trainers that used terrain models and a video
camera that was moved along the modeled terrain according to pilot inputs.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the simulator depicted in the 1970
National Geographic issue is one of the television-based simulators.

Pete

It was probably for a Radio Shack TRS-Model 1 computer. I had one and
bought the software. A six mile by six mile virtual world. You could
just fly there or go into the soppwith camel combat mode and fly, shoot
at things like targets on the ground, etc. It was crude, yes, but I
learned a lot about flying way back then. I even talked to Bruce
Artwick himself, one time, on the phone. I'm still thrilled at talking
to such a genius. A few years later, in Chicago, I talked with a
lady that used to work there making SCENERY DISKS covering all of the
United States. I still enjoy FS-2004 with the ULTIMATE TRAFFIC 2004
Add-on.

Peter Duniho wrote:
"Mad Scientist Jr" wrote in message
om...

if you dig up the nat. geographic magazine from 1970, there are color
pictures that show full color graphics of a runway - this is years
before color video games began to appear. what system was this???


I don't know -- I don't have that magazine around for me to dig up -- but
flight simulators predate wide-spread use of computers by at least a decade,
possibly more.

Early flight simulators include the pneumatically powered Link instrument
flight trainers, and visual trainers that used terrain models and a video
camera that was moved along the modeled terrain according to pilot inputs.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the simulator depicted in the 1970
National Geographic issue is one of the television-based simulators.

Pete

"jbarnes0995" wrote in message
...
It was probably for a Radio Shack TRS-Model 1 computer. [...]

Unlikely, for a variety of reasons. One, because the TRS-80 Model I (I
assume that's what you meant) didn't have a color display, nor was there any
flight sim for that computer as far as I can recall (I owned a Model III and
would have had a flight sim if one were available...with a screen resolution
of 128x48, it wasn't really suitable for flight simulation anyway).

Bruce Artwick's original program was for the Apple II, not the TRS-80 (later
available on the Commodore 64 and Atari 800, and of course eventually on the
IBM PC published by Microsoft). The most compelling reason it wasn't the
TRS-80 Model I, though, is that the original poster is writing about a
magazine issue from the year 1970, nearly a decade before the TRS-80 Model I
was made.

I think it's great you've enjoyed computer flight simulation for so many
years, but your memory has left you high and dry.

Pete

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:43:40 -0700, "Peter Duniho"
wrote in rec.aviation.simulators:

Unlikely, for a variety of reasons. One, because the TRS-80 Model I (I
assume that's what you meant) didn't have a color display, nor was there any
flight sim for that computer as far as I can recall (I owned a Model III and
would have had a flight sim if one were available...with a screen resolution
of 128x48, it wasn't really suitable for flight simulation anyway).

I had the TRS-80 Model I which I got way back in 1979 and there was indeed a
flight sim (FS1) for it which I also had.

It was of course (by today's standards) very crude with the 128x48 monochrome
display, but still I had a lot of fun with it.

You can see some information about it here :
http://simflight.com/~fshistory/fsh/fs1.htm

Regards

Peter

"Peter Bjoern" wrote in message
...
I had the TRS-80 Model I which I got way back in 1979 and there was indeed
a
flight sim (FS1) for it which I also had.

I stand corrected. Can't believe I missed out on a flight sim for my
TRS-80.

Even so, the post to which I was replying was clearly off the mark in a
variety of other ways (especially the assertion that there was a TRS-80 plus
flight simulator in 1970).

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 10:43:42 -0700, "Peter Duniho"
wrote in rec.aviation.simulators:

Even so, the post to which I was replying was clearly off the mark in a
variety of other ways (especially the assertion that there was a TRS-80 plus
flight simulator in 1970).

Yes, I completely agree with that.
The TRS-80 Model I came out (I believe) in 1978, and there was no way
it could have been the one seen around 1970.

The one featured in National Geographics in 1970 must almost certainly have been
a professional type flight sim, if for no other reason than private persons did
not own computers in 1970.

Regards

Peter

Sorry but I bought my first computer, a Model I Trash 80 in January
1976!! HA! No, it was not color, but it did run on Model I my friend!
I sold mine in 1981 to a guy who wanted one at home for his business.
$1,000 for $2,500 in software and $2,000 in hardware back then. It was
fun and rewarding for me. Jim

Peter Duniho wrote:
"jbarnes0995" wrote in message
...

It was probably for a Radio Shack TRS-Model 1 computer. [...]


Unlikely, for a variety of reasons. One, because the TRS-80 Model I (I
assume that's what you meant) didn't have a color display, nor was there any
flight sim for that computer as far as I can recall (I owned a Model III and
would have had a flight sim if one were available...with a screen resolution
of 128x48, it wasn't really suitable for flight simulation anyway).

Bruce Artwick's original program was for the Apple II, not the TRS-80 (later
available on the Commodore 64 and Atari 800, and of course eventually on the
IBM PC published by Microsoft). The most compelling reason it wasn't the
TRS-80 Model I, though, is that the original poster is writing about a
magazine issue from the year 1970, nearly a decade before the TRS-80 Model I
was made.

I think it's great you've enjoyed computer flight simulation for so many
years, but your memory has left you high and dry.

Pete

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ...
"Mad Scientist Jr" wrote in message
om...
if you dig up the nat. geographic magazine from 1970, there are color
pictures that show full color graphics of a runway - this is years
before color video games began to appear. what system was this???
[...]
Early flight simulators include the pneumatically powered Link instrument
flight trainers, and visual trainers that used terrain models and a video
camera that was moved along the modeled terrain according to pilot inputs.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that the simulator depicted in the 1970
National Geographic issue is one of the television-based simulators.

I think you're probably right. Or perhaps it could've been an Evans &
Sutherland prototype. I believe they were just getting started around
then.

Kevin

Actually there were quite a few interesting graphics posted in that
Nat Geo issue, not just the flight sim. This was a year before even
Computer Space, 2 years before Magnavox Odyssey and Pong, 6 years
before Night Driver. Even earlier, there is a "computer graphics
timeline" online (search for it) that cites wireframe animation done
in 1963 for a TV ad (possibly by Bell Labs?). Also, I always wondered
what system they used for the "death star tapes" in Star Wars.