Dal Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 With all the recent excitement surrounding the announcement from Microsoft about Flight Simulator, I thought I'd share where I started flying simulators. Actually, I remember flying on a monochrome green screen monitor. This is my copy of the first color version of MSFS. "...a flight simulation so realistic that even licensed pilots have their hands full with it." Nowadays I fly X-Plane 11 and Prepar3D and of course, the hardware requirements are a tad more than a 5.25 inch disk drive and 64K memory. (note - Optional: joysticks or Microsoft Mouse) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Q Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 A friend, now deceased, introduced me to flight simulator, and though I'm not sure, may have been this version. It was probably about 1989, the time of Tiananmen square. I started with VS 5.0, and found it amazing at the time. How far we have come!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal Posted June 26, 2019 Author Share Posted June 26, 2019 This version was released in 1984, and I never looked back... well, except today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rongor Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 My older brother installed me a copy of FS3 when I was 12. Parents had to gift me FS4 right after release for christmas afterwards. Had a blast on a 386 @16 MHz with it. And don't forget the dynamic scenery, the Europe-scenery-disk and the following release of the "Designer"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlosqr Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 I never saw such thing. I started with FS9, so this is nice indeed How it has improved through the years, cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meerkat Posted June 26, 2019 Share Posted June 26, 2019 I started with FS2 on an Amiga 500 - there was even a printed handbook with aerial charts (which I didn't have as we guys were swapping game disks ). It was fantastic - cities were yellow, all other land green, majour roads white lines, and yet I was happy when the runway came in sight after an IFR flight (which was the only educating and funny thing you could do then - VFR flying first became interesting when ORBX stepped on the scene). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 I bought an Amiga 500 and an Apple II GS specifically because of Flight Simulator. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben77 Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Great post Dal, I think I started with FS4 or FS5. I remember my Dad showing me a clip in a newspaper about it and my imagination went wild! It's amazing how relative things are, I now get upset when I see a stutter in my current simulator, it's good to keep things in perspective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone1 Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 You guys remember the F-18 on the Amiga 500! Man your pictures bring back some fond memories of my earlier days in Flight simulator for sure! I still have my Commodore 64 and 128, the Amiga is long gone though. That stuff was state of the art back then for home Flight Simulation; I have been hooked ever since! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryisenor Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 I started with the Commodore 64 as well and had to buy an add on disc drive to load from the 5.5 inch floppy discs (Original software was on cassette tapes). When FS3 was available I moved on to a Compaq PC and shortly after walked into the local software store and there was Airport and Scenery Designer. I was hooked. Still doing airports (Global Freeware Airports) and have done a lot of different scenery over the years. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone1 Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Flashback of the past for sure Larry, man have we come along ways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 2 hours ago, larryisenor said: I started with the Commodore 64 as well and had to buy an add on disc drive to load from the 5.5 inch floppy discs (Original software was on cassette tapes). When FS3 was available I moved on to a Compaq PC and shortly after walked into the local software store and there was Airport and Scenery Designer. I was hooked. Still doing airports (Global Freeware Airports) and have done a lot of different scenery over the years. Larry HAHA! Do you remember the sound made as the cassette tape loaded? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryisenor Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 Yes. It sounded like jibberish. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 I was reminiscing with my wife the other day about all things flight sim. I started flying with that early version and eagerly upgraded as each new version came out. I remember showing my wife a screen in the 2000 version and remarking that it couldn't possibly get any better, then 2004 came out and I said the same thing, then FSX came out and... Now I just installed P3D4 and look forward to telling my wife that it can't get any better than this -- until the new Microsoft FS comes out, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.D Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 I fired this old girl up the other day (Apple IIE). Dragged it out of the shed, a quick dust off, and away we go. Surprised it still works. Of course I still have the original disks, hand books and box the software came in. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal Posted June 28, 2019 Author Share Posted June 28, 2019 Hey Chris, I remember that! That might explain a lot of vision problems later in us old flight simmer's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braun Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 On 6/26/2019 at 8:41 PM, Dal said: I bought an Amiga 500 and an Apple II GS specifically because of Flight Simulator. =) The Ataris ST Version was Groundbreaking for its day, as was the Amiga’s Version. I had an ST so of course I HATED anything Amiga at the time, as the Amiga folks equally hated the ST. Why? Who knows...it’s just how we rolled back then LoL -Braun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dal Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 I played flight simulator on an Atari 800, at the time, a "real" computer, unlike the Atari 800XL which was for "games". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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