For all those debating the current FS and their current hardware, now might be a good time to peruse where we've come from in the past five years. How's this for a flashback - introducing the Voodoo:http://web.archive.org/web/19961023025804/...cts/voodoo.htmlCare of the on October 23, 1996 - just a tad over five years ago.And it even comes in a deluxe four meg version too - WhooooHooooo! :-lolAnd what were we using all this insane new 3D power for? How about the brand new release of ... Drum roll please ... Flight Simulator for Windows 95! Read the fresh new MicroWings preview in Aug of 1996 (again, care of the [link:www.archive.org/index.html|WayBackMachine]}:http://web.archive.org/web/19961018064130/...s95preview.htmlAnd of course if anyone would care to peruse the very, very first Aviation Simulation Magazine Volume 1, No 1 (thats AVSIM to you and me of course - and yes in the "old" days it was called a magazine and was distributed in zip files around that new fangled web :-)), check it out:http://web.archive.org/web/19970619203326/...ss/avsim1r2.zipAh, the memories...@-@http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/elrondlogo.gif[link:flightontario.cjb.net]http://members.rogers.com/eelvish/flyurl.gif

Thanks for the memories Elrond!I first tried the then Brand new Diamond Viper 2meg card ($400) but found runing FS5+ the SanFran photorealistic scenery even on the then best 486DX2-66 at 4-6FPS just didn't errr a Fly! :) So I took it back to CompUSA (the whole PC and ALL) and 6 monthes later got my P90 with the ATI-2mb card, funny thing is that machine lasted up untill last October (with a few upgrades of course). Wow! :-lolNext year it will be 4-gig CPUs and 8x-AGP-256mb Video cards! :-lolI can still remember looking at comercial simulator brochures and thing how cool it would be to see something half as good in the distant future on a desktop PC.Those old million dollar sims pale next to what we now have today on our desk tops in so many ways! :)I still have the very first issue of FullThrottle Magazine floating around here some where, it had some of the first screen shots of FS5!Thanks for the great post!:-beerchug Paul

You folks don't need the WayBackMachine to get to the Pre-issues. :)They're still alive and kicking at http://www.avsim.com/preiss/ -- that's a raw directory listing at the moment, but we'll work on putting a page there to make things a little more pleasant. :)Cheers,--M

Funny you should mention your P90 system, Paul: just last night I replaced the last item still in use from my own 1995 P90 system, its CTX GM-1785 17" monitor. Its picture had started jumping up and down slightly but just enough to be quite tiring on the eyes-first every now and then, but all the time eventually- for the last three or four months or so, and lately it spontaneously switched to a lower resolution with a kind of I'm-dying-picture-tube-flash every now and then-well just about once or twice each session (and the computer, of course, didn't-so you only got to see part of the picture-in a sort of interlaced-looking view until you'd turned the monitor off and on again).I liked that monitor a lot though-but it really looked to be on the verge of breaking down forever now so I finally got me a new Iiyama 19" now-so sharp it almost hurts!That P90 was the most expensive PC I ever bought-with all of 16 Mb RAM, 1.2Gb HDD and 2Mb Diamond Stealth videocard, 16-bit Soundblaster and Windows For Workgroups 3.11 it cost me over 4000$!Later I started building and upgrading PC's myself and things are a lot cheaper now.I love looking back at the early days, way back to TRS-80 and Apple II and FS-1, when we were all wow'ed by seeing things 3D at all-even if it wasn't in color! Never dreamed flight sims would ever look as gorgeous as they're doing now...

Geezzz... a whole issue in less than 2.5 megs. Those were the days. Thanks Elrond for the memories.. :)

Awwww...I remember FS95...I had to install Windows 95 to run it, and it was so slow I couldn't really enjoyed...and at that time I had no diea what a video card was and what FPS meant so I thought the slowness was a bug in the game :DCheck out the System Requirements!Multimedia PC with 486DX/66 Mhz or higher processor (Pentium recommended)Microsoft Windows 95 operating system8 MB of memory (16 MB recommended)40 MB of available hard-disk spaceDouble-speed CD ROM drive (or faster)Super VGA, 256-color monitorMicrosoft Mouse or compatible pointing device (joystick recommended) Sound card with speakers or headphones required for audio

Final flight-and a commodore vic-20. Watching one line (the runway) move around the screen and waiting for the words "you crashed" or "you landed". The first version of fs that blew everything away-even though .5-1 fps was standard. Buying an amiga because fs was the best on it-it actually had threshold lines on the runway. Getting a voodoo 1 card on my new pentium 200 and being thrilled when fs's frame rates went from 6-12 fps.Yes-we have come a long way. Sometimes knowing history makes all the difference-on simming and in the real world!http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/geofanim2.gif