Retro flight sims

[Bud Greene]

I was just thinking of my early days of flight simming on my old Apple IIe computer.  Ahhh, Flight Simulator 2 with a monochrome moniter and frame rates that would make us all cry if we experienced them today.  And subsequently flying MSoft FS on the original 128k Mac.  I learned a lot about flying back then and had tons of fun but compared to today's sims those were a joke.  I'd be interested to hear about any other retro flight sim experiences from those who wish to share.

[Webb]

I have a Commodore 64 emulator with Flight Simulator II (around 1984).

It's horrible.

I can't even stand FS98.

[Fozzer]

I still have a bedroom full of my old Computers; hardware, and software: Apple IIe, Sinclair ZX80, Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k and Spectrum +, Commodore C64, Amstrad CPC 464, Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200, various old cartridge Consoles, etc...etc.....
...up until the emergency of the Windows PC's in the 1990's...
Microprose "Gunship" was/is my favourite Flight Sim on my Spectrum which I still use, courtesy of my excellent "Spectaculator" Spectrum Emulator on my PC!
I have converted many of my crates of my favourite 1/4 inch Spectrum tapes to my PC now!

http://www.spectaculator.com/

I still regularly program my Sinclair Spectrum, both in Sinclair BASIC and Zilog Z80 Machine Code!

The simple joys of 8-bit programming!... ...!

Paul..Elderly Bedroom Programmer... ...!

[hyperpep111]

You know, I always laugh at my dad when he says the most graphically advanced game of his time that couldn't even be played on personal computers because the requirements were too high was Pac man . Now I play it on my phone .
And speaking about comps.
The gomputer used to launch the Apollo spacecraft were less powerful than my 3/4 inch flashdisk 8-).

[Bud Greene]

I still have a bedroom full of my old Computers; hardware, and software: Apple IIe, Sinclair ZX80, Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k and Spectrum +, Commodore C64, Amstrad CPC 464, Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200, various old cartridge Consoles, etc...etc.....
...up until the emergency of the Windows PC's in the 1990's...
Microprose "Gunship" was/is my favourite Flight Sim on my Spectrum which I still use, courtesy of my excellent "Spectaculator" Spectrum Emulator on my PC!
I have converted many of my crates of my favourite 1/4 inch Spectrum tapes to my PC now!

http://www.spectaculator.com/

I still regularly program my Sinclair Spectrum, both in Sinclair BASIC and Zilog Z80 Machine Code!

The simple joys of 8-bit programming!... ...!

Paul..Elderly Bedroom Programmer... ...!

Too cool, Fozzer! 
Before my IIe Dad bought a Texas Instruments 994A.  My brother (only age 10 at the time) wrote a program where you had to land an airplane only by maintaining the correct airspeed.  It took 15 minutes to load via audio cassette!

[pete]

I love those old Flight Sims. I remember how I was obsessed by FS95 and the one that existed around 1986 - B&W on the PC I had at the time (borrowed). Also that FS in the late '90's* that was based around the SF area and had pretty detailed scenery - but only in that area.

One of the favourite cars I have ever owned was a VW Beetle. There is something very special about simplicity and appreciation of what you have when it's compared to nothing. Somehow I feel a little spoiled with FSX even though I would have dreamed about it in the early days.
I appreciated the early ones more - because they were really amazing for their time.

* Flight Unlimited - I dug out my old CD's to find it ......

[Bud Greene]

I love those old Flight Sims. I remember how I was obsessed by FS95 and the one that existed around 1986 - B&W on the PC I had at the time (borrowed). Also that FS in the early '90's that was based around the SF area and had pretty detailed scenery - but only in that area.

One of the favourite cars I have ever owned was a VW Beetle. There is something very special about simplicity and appreciation of what you have when it's compared to nothing. Somehow I feel a little spoiled with FSX even though I would have dreamed about it in the early days.
I appreciated the early ones more - because they were really amazing for their time.

FS for the early Mac was about the same.  San Fran, L.A., Chicago.  I used to love flying in and out of Meigs Field on Lake Michigan.  The ONLY scenery was the Sears Tower, Hancock tower, etc.  I have to laugh when I think back.  I got pretty good at landing the Learjet with a mouse. 

[Fozzer]

;

I love those old Flight Sims. I remember how I was obsessed by FS95 and the one that existed around 1986 - B&W on the PC I had at the time (borrowed). Also that FS in the early '90's that was based around the SF area and had pretty detailed scenery - but only in that area.

One of the favourite cars I have ever owned was a VW Beetle. There is something very special about simplicity and appreciation of what you have when it's compared to nothing. Somehow I feel a little spoiled with FSX even though I would have dreamed about it in the early days.
I appreciated the early ones more - because they were really amazing for their time.

Flight Unlimited II* ( + III), by looking Glass Studios, using photographic scenery, Pete!
That program, plus Pro Pilot '99 were two of the programs which finally led me to MS Flight Sim '98...and onwards!
I still have the old, boxed, Sims, (Fly! etc), and regularly try them out!
Anyone remember the original Flight Unlimited 1, (Looking Glass Studios)...the "Aerobatic" Flight Sim version?...still got it!

Happy days...a lot of water gone under the bridge since then!

Paul... 8-)...!

* ...its also the reason why, today, I can mostly be seen flying around the Bay Area!...Happy memories of "FU2"!....D...!

[ozzy72]

Started out with sims on a Speccie 8-)

[Fozzer]

Started out with sims on a Speccie 8-)

Mark...
..have you located for me, a special QWERTY USB keyboard with all the Sinclair Spectrum coloured labels on the keys?

I need it for my Spectrum (Timex) Programming!

Paul...10 BORDER 4: PRINT AT 10,15; FLASH 1; "SPECCY RULES!"... ...!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

[C]

I started with F15 Strike Eagle III and AV8B on the PC. Moved on to FS5.1, then 98, 2000 - 2004. FSX is somewhere in the house, and X-Plane is on the phone, but sadly most of my sim time in the last 5 years has been real (and normally not that fun or pleasant!)

[Fozzer]

I started with F15 Strike Eagle III and AV8B on the PC. Moved on to FS5.1, then 98, 2000 - 2004. FSX is somewhere in the house, and X-Plane is on the phone, but sadly most of my sim time in the last 5 years has been real (and normally not that fun or pleasant!)

...serves you right, for wanting to shoot and bomb things..........in real life!... ...!

Paul.... ..... ...!

[ozzy72]

Paul... Print USR 1000

[Fozzer]

Paul... Print USR 1000

Press reset...to escape!... ...!

(Just tried it!)... ...!

Paul.... ...!

[TacitBlue]

My first taste of flight simulation was "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer" on a windows 3.1 Packard Bell PC. If I remember right, you had to open the game from a DOS prompt. What I remember about it was that the Cessna was almost impossible to fly, it would stall any time you tried to climb, no matter the power setting. I liked flying the F-16 and the X-1. You could get the X-1 into orbit if you did it right. 

Now I must go download this game and relive old times using the DOS BOX emulator.