Plan-G, a great free/donationware flight planner, moving map. Windows only.

 

http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/

 

• Multiple Award Winning
• OpenStreetMaps interface
• Supports X-Plane 9 and 10
• Insert Snippet files and QuickSnippets into a plan
• Show multiple VOR & NDB radials
• Local KML & KMZ file support
• Aircraft performance profiles
• PDF chart viewer
• COM/NAV Radio stack
• Autopilot
• Enhanced Quick Planner
• Online VATSIM controllers and aircraft shown on map
• English / French / German / Italian (note:  manual not yet available in French or German – coming soon)
• Many more UI enhancements

My i7 laptop (Lenovo) is all SSD and boots in the same short time as a Mac laptop and runs a 3200x1800 display.  Why is it that Mac owners always seem to pick things from old PCs to compare to new Macs?  Please, guys!  I'm not anti-Mac or anti-PC because I use both, but let's compare apples to apples.

 

Bottom line is that either or both will run XP just as well as the other.  Use what you like and like what you use.  My only criticism is that I would never consider running a flight simulator on a mobile device - but different strokes for different folks.  I won't fly without my yoke, pedals and throttle which are darn hard to use with a laptop.

Why not the best of both worlds, and hackintosh (i.e. install OS X) on a custom-built desktop? Contrary to popular opinion, it's actually very easy to do so on a desktop, and is about as 'complicated' as configuring Windows on the same desktop. The same rules apply: install drivers, optimise system, set up any miscellaneous applications and you're done.

 

Furthermore, Laminar Research does most of its X-Plane development on Macs, and they endorse Macs as excellent machines for X-Plane. If you've got developer endorsement, what more? However, don't bother with the MacBooks - $3000 for a high-res screen and a GT 750M is ridiculously expensive. Get an iMac or better, if you end up choosing a Mac.

I've never thought of installing OSX onto a home-built machine.....  I never knew that you could do so..... 

Get an iMac or better, if you end up choosing a Mac.

Not questioning the recommendation but just trying to add a few numbers to it: That iMac with the 5K display which, for itself, surely is an interesting piece of hardware comes with an AMD R9 M290X 2 GB GDDR5. Hardly up to the demands which playing at the native resolution implies.

 

"Fortunately" ^_^ , you can at least get the 4GB version of that card (still very touchy when wanting to drive 5K in games) for "just" 250 Euros extra. This added price is close to the one of getting the card in retail shops and they want you to pay that just for upgrading from 2GB to 4.

 

Well they also charge 600! Euros for getting up to 32GB of RAM (from the default 8GB) and I think that's were the rational buyer should pause for a while. :mellow: Assuming there is such a being in existence.

 

Picking a MacPro, which surely is intended for other things while still aiming to look nicely on your desk, that pricing and flexibility issue (no Nvidia cards for example) even grows. So I think the love for the OS is well justified, I would consider OS X in quite some regimes but I cannot get over the fact that you are literally supposed to grab a shovel and feed the money-burning oven.

 

Good point on building your own system btw. If you can get the drivers and stuff ready, this should be way cheaper and tremendously more flexible when it comes to fulfilling your needs and even later upgrade wishes. Well, it won't look as nice on the desk. Pfft.

 

Back to the X-Plane on OSX issue. It seems manageable and I applaud to devs supporting a variety of operating systems. I would consider the platforms with the most (available) 'oomph' to be the Windows and Linux ones though, mainly due to fact that getting strong (and relatively cheap) hardware looks easier when compared and drivers are somehow current and available.

 

 

Why not the best of both worlds, and hackintosh (i.e. install OS X) on a custom-built desktop? Contrary to popular opinion, it's actually very easy to do so on a desktop, and is about as 'complicated' as configuring Windows on the same desktop. The same rules apply: install drivers, optimise system, set up any miscellaneous applications and you're done.

Sounds rather interesting, but after a little reading it doesn't seem possible if you don't already have a mac (for the software etc.). Or is it? I would be cool to give the OS a try in a non-committal sort of way lol.

Hi Cool,

 

Thanks-  I do in fact have the 4GB version of the GPU,  it's an option at purchase.  But it doesn't compare with my PC version, IMO, which is NV with 6GG, and of course many other differences such as Windows 8.1, etc.  So, maybe no direct comparison available that relates to the GPU only, but I have to turn down the AA settings in the iMac and still get less fps that the PC.

 

I know that we all worship performance, so this may be "going the wrong way"...

 

Thanks,  Bruce (who's gone the wrong way many times before    ).

Why on earth would anyone with a perfectly functioning PC want to do that?  Not criticizing, just asking ...

Why on earth would anyone with a perfectly functioning PC want to do that?  Not criticizing, just asking ...

 

Sheer curiosity. To be able to run Mac OS X on PC hardware you would potentially get the benefits of both.

Mac owners swear by the OS and PC owners swear by their hardware. (Let's face it no one's going to shout from the rooftops about Windows 8!)

 

I have a friend who has a MacBook so I might just give it a try on an external USB 3 disk.

I would not of course deliberately mess up my existing Windows installation, so nothing to lose.

Guys, sorry to spoil the discussion, but please don't post guides or instructions on using Mac OS X on Windows machines as this is essentially a crack/piracy and can get you a instant ban from Avsim.

I thought the Mac OS was free from Apple.  I don't have one, nor do I use Macs any longer since retirement, but one of the features that Apple fans cite these days is that they don't have to pay for their OS.  Must be something in the EULA....and yes, I agree that must be avoided if it's illegal.

 

Nevertheless, when I find something that I can do or wish to do on a Mac that I can't do on a PC, then I'll consider it.  But for me, over the past decades since Flight Simulator 1.0 by subLogic on my Atari 800, I've never needed one for simming.  Use what you like and like what you use.  No argument, no complaints, and certainly no need for anyone to change systems.

 

 

I thought the Mac OS was free from Apple.

 

It is now yes, but it's only intended to be installed on a Mac, and requires the AppStore on an existing mac to install it, i.e. AFAIK you can't just download a DVD image from Apple, etc.. The last mac I bought didn't even have a DVD drive, so if I lose the OS I have to install from a backup image I installed to an external USB drive. I think the price of their hardware covers the cost of the OS anyway :smile:

 

I switched over to a Mac around 10 years ago now as I really like the Macbook Pros and only use Windows when I need to do something for work, e.g. testing Internet Explorer or SQL Server. However, I've never found something that I can only do on Mac OS X which I can't do on Windows, the same can't be said in reverse, there is lots I can't do on a Mac which I can on Windows (Running many games and FSX for instance). Luckily X-Plane fills the gap for me and works brilliantly on Mac OS X along with all the addons I use (except G2XPL).

As one who bought a VIC 20, then a Commodore 64, then an Amiga 600 (later a 1200), before my first PC (a Tandy 200mhz), I have been through quite an evolution in computers.  After figuring out how they work, I have built all but two since my Tandy, and that was only because of the OS (Windows) cost over building and transferring in the early days.  I have also experienced the various flight simulators over those years as this was the best "gaming" available in my opinion (yeah, I tried that too).  With all this, I never went into Apple (except now with iPad, iPod, and iPhone), mainly because of the (1) inability to build my own (I really enjoy watching inert components come to life), (2) cost, and (3) unavailability of software (locally).

 

I have no problems with those who use iMacs, etc., but just couldn't justify the expense of them and the fact that the PC has always accomplished what I needed them to do.  My step-son tried his best to make my "jump ship", but it didn't work.  Pretty interface, but I guess I'm hard headed.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

John

I'd like to use XPX on my mid 2011 iMac, but it just doesn't perform as well as FSX in Windows on Bootcamp.  I was quite surprised by this, I assumed that XPX would be able to take better advantage of Mac hardware and 64 bit OS.  But I have to keep my graphics on their lowest settings, clouds on the lowest settings, and as a result things are blurry, complex airports run poorly, nice 3rd party aircraft look terrible inside and out to the point that the resolution on gauges is not all that greatly visible.  I would love to use XPX more often but it's just not near as usable on my particular Mac, I bet it performs far better on a current Mac since their hardware, and GPU is greatly improved.  Oddly though I can run PMDG 737, 777, tons of high quality 3rd party airports and applications on the same Mac in bootcamp and get a better visual, and better performing experience with frames in the mid to upper 20's.

 

Back to the main question though, a Mac user does not miss out on much since it seems all of the great sceneries and aircraft run on both platforms.  The only thing I've noticed is some 3rd party applications might only run on windows.

...as this is essentially a crack/piracy...

Negative. It is neither piracy nor 'cracking'. It merely breaks the EULA which is but a private, personal contract between Apple and the user - if the latter installs OS X on a computer not branded an Apple computer, the EULA states that Apple is not obliged to provide support and updates to that user. However, it is not illegal, since (as far as I am aware of) there is no law in any country that explicitly disallows and outlaws OS X from being installed on non-Macs.

 

As a matter of fact, recent boot loaders are powerful enough that the installation of OS X can be done natively without ever cracking the software, and OS X doesn't need to be cracked anyway - it doesn't include a license checker.

 

As long as you have a legitimate copy of OS X from the Mac App Store, which is why I advised again using 'distros', and are frowned upon by the OSx86 community itself, there is no piracy involved.

 

However, I shall stop posting since this is apparently against the AVSIM rules - I actually had no idea, since this is relatively freely discussed elsewhere. I just wanted to clarify the legal grey area that the hackintosh community often gets itself into, and offer a viable alternative to people who wanted both the experience of OS X and the power and cost-effectiveness of a custom-built computer.

 

Once again, sorry if I broke rules. Thanks, over and out.