Ok,

 

plea for Linux suggestions....

 

I tried it ( hard ) with our PaiPix  ( a variant of Knopix ), and I really don't think this is the best choice to run X-Plane 10.

 

What are you Linuxers using?

 

What do you recommend?

 

I use Linux mostly in command line IRL... and mostly AIX on a P5, so, I know running this sort of software is really not my strong point....

 

I use: Lubuntu - http://lubuntu.net/

 

Lightweight, fast and based upon Ubuntu. I get much better frames here than windows, i.e. I can run melt my gpu on shadows quite fine . 

OpenSUSE ... over so many years (effectively all the time I started using XP8 on Linux) ... and just as a matter of fact, its developed where I live (at least their bureau is here).

Ok,

 

thx for your suggestions ;-)

Is Linux better for X-Plane than Windows? I tried installing Linux here, but gave up after spending 2 hours trying to install the Nvidia Driver and getting the Can't install because of X is still running thing...

For me it was not necessarily the question if XP10 (or 9 or 8) runs better on Linux, but if I want to have Windows on my home machines at all (and about 7 years ago, I decided: no).

Is Linux better for X-Plane than Windows? I tried installing Linux here, but gave up after spending 2 hours trying to install the Nvidia Driver and getting the Can't install because of X is still running thing...

 

I just clicked somewhere in the system settings to activate/install the Nvidia proprietary drivers. Later, because I wanted better performance for the CRJ displays, I installed a PPA for newer (and faster) drivers. Today, I'm using the driver recommended by the Steam client software.

 

Alec, what's your distribution ? And what's the result for this command line ?

lspci -nn | grep VGA

What are you Linuxers using?

 

For now it's Ubuntu (64-bit) with the Gnome Classic Shell.

 

What do you recommend?

 

- With popular distributions, it will be a lot more easy to find help, support, and answers to all your questions. Don't forget, X-Plane is still only a niche market, and X-Plane with Linux is a niche inside a niche. I guess most readers here discovered the name PaiPix for the the 1st time today. :wink:

 

- Avoid all "3D" compositing window managers. If you want it to be a good X-Plane operating system, just use a lightweight 2D desktop. Don't waste your GPU resources for things like Compiz, KWin, etc...

 

- Only buy add-ons where you'll be able to use your favorite operating system.

 

- Use a "realtime" kernel (like the one shipped with SteamOS) only if you need very fast interaction, low latency. This may be nice for aerobatics, or formation flying on a LAN. For every other use, and performance, the default kernel in most distributions will be great.

ah Linux GUI is heavy , especially KDE and Gnome3, don't like Unity.  take something like XFCE or LXDE.

 

You want a good desktop distro than LMDE 64 bit. Do not run compiz when using XPX try and use Xfce or Lxde both are lightweights. 

 

I used to setup Linux servers (Suse) long time back, just reinstalled LMDE Petra after removing windows for Flightgear on my Toshiba.

 

You can change GUI from synaptics manager to what you prefer. The other GUI i liked is Razor-QT.

 

I think Nvidia has better driver for Linux. You may not be able to install the downloaded Nvidia drivers one manually , it may even crash the desktop. But may turn out different on your system.

 

Let us know if we can help.

 

 

Best just use xdm (Hmm was it xdm ? sorry don't remember) and run XPX from the console window 

Well guys, thank you... I have a lot to study to optimize XPX now :-)

By the way, I think in KDE4 its a default keyboard shortcut to enable / disable the 3D compositing window manager. At least I use that feature all the time on OpenSUSE ... I disable 3D desktop for flying (for me its shift+alt+f12) and enable (same combination) it for everything else. Quite easy and does the trick of freeing up resources for XP10 without the need to avoid - the otherwise quite enjoyable - KDE4 desktop.

Well guys, thank you... I have a lot to study to optimize XPX now :-)

 

 

I am awaiting my XPX and the first try will be Linux. Hey BTW there is a good photoscenery for europe. zonefree-xplane try it , looks good  I downloaded Frankfurt area and unzipped it to check and they have a texture folder .dds  and the thumbnail view looks great. Was trying to port it to FSX but I think it is too much of a hassle, will just wait XPX.

By the way, I think in KDE4 its a default keyboard shortcut to enable / disable the 3D compositing window manager.

 

 

Yep there is .

I just clicked somewhere in the system settings to activate/install the Nvidia proprietary drivers. Later, because I wanted better performance for the CRJ displays, I installed a PPA for newer (and faster) drivers. Today, I'm using the driver recommended by the Steam client software.

 

 

 

Alec, what's your distribution ? And what's the result for this command line ?

 

 

I tried Ubuntu and Linux Mint. But I gave up after spending all those hours for nothing. And since I know there are addons that aren't compatible with Linux in X-Plane, I will probably continue Windows only! But thanks for the help!

I recently did a full install of Knoppix on an older computer that used to have WinXP. I might at a minimum try to install XP9 there and see what sort of results I get. XP10 is on my Win8 pc.

There are a large number of distributions so you will always get a variety of answers from a 'which dist' question. Personally I use Ubuntu as the large user base means I can usually google for people solving the same issues I have faced. e.g. http://askubuntu.com

 

I have recently installed X-Plane 10. To do so, I upgraded my existing Ubuntu system to an i5 and an Nvidia GTX660 with 2GB VRAM. Consensus seems to be that X-Plane is GPU/VRAM heavy. Once I had everything installed and running, I tested it with the Unigine Valley free benchmark and I was getting 40-odd FPS IIRC. After that, X-Plane has been running very nicely.

 

Unfortunately the Nvidia linux support is pretty awful. They provide their own install script that is at odds with Ubuntu's packaging and you have to shutdown the XServer to do the install (!!). I would have preferred to get an AMD card but someone locally offered me the 2GB VRAM card for $100 so it was a no-brainer. So the video drivers can be a real PITA but once running, you are golden.

 

And with the advent of the Steam distribution, things will only get better. I'm waiting for the day they get out of beta and then I will seriously think about installing Steam OS. It's been over 12 months since I have needed Windows for gaming and I have no plans to go back

I think the most important thing to remember is to log into a lightweight 2d desktop as has already been mentioned several times here. Xplane runs fine for me in the full 3d desktop environment but it is definitely snappier in the lightweight environment with the added bonus of a couple more FPS, (for me anyway, possibly not for someone with a really high end machine).

 

Regards

 

[edit] Just an afterthought. There is an Xplane linux forum over at the org which may be of help to any who are having issues.