Would this be enough to run Radar Contact v.3 to assist my gaming rig?I have no experience with LAN's but I'd be willing to try getting it hooked up.I would prefer not to put any extra load on my gaming machine. I've got it working great now and would hate to have to spare any processor power since I will be soon adding add-on scenery plus I like a lot of AI.So, before I even consider investigating this, is the 400 celly way too weak or what?Thanks, AdamOld old machine:Celeron 400 (this thing doesn't even have a fan on the processor!)128 Mb Sdram Pc-133tnt2 32 MB card3 GiG HDDMaybe there's life for this old dinosaur yet! :-lol

>Would this be enough to run Radar Contact v.3 to assist my >gaming rig? In a word - "Yes"!I have a Compaq Presario laptop, using an AMD K6-350 processor, with very basic on-board sound capabilities. It has 128K or RAM, running Windows 2000. I set it up as a "sidecar" computer to run RC3, communicating with my main FS2002 computer (a Pentium III 750) over a network using the the "WideFS" interface program. It works flawlessly!No pauses whatsoever in the controller voices - background chatter works well, and there is no noticeable impact on FS2K2's frame rates on the main machine. I simultaneously run FSMeteo on the laptop too.It would certainly appear that running Radar Contact on a second computer is the way to go for absolute optimum performance.This particular laptop is by no means a high-end system in terms of processor speed, memory or sound capabilities, so I'd have to think that a Celeron 400 would work equally well.Jim Barrett

Well, Jim...sounds like an old StarTrek episode... :-ufo2 ...That's good news indeed. Sounds certainly like you've had great success. This what I truly hate about computers! Always changing things, but the learning is great. OOPS, I just thought of something...My gaming system is WinME and the old antique is Win98...will it even work?Thanks, Adam

Adam,I went through this process about a month ago, trying to decide if I should make a lan with my old p2-300 that seemed to be dying a slow death. Well, I am glad I did. It runs RC perfectly, with the voices so fast I have to really listen up. I am running win xp on my main and win 98se on my old. No problems, what so ever....Larry

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Talk about dinosaurs, I have a P3 233mhz system with only 32mb of slow sdram (not even pc133). Due to memory constraints, I've stuck with Win95. I run WideFS on it and it handles every support program for Flight Sim.I think you'll be surprised how little resources are required to run FS Meteo, Radar Contact, FSNav, etc. WideFS is a breeze to install and run.Give it a try and you'll be surprised too! :-)

EXCELLENT!You gents willing to assist a hack in these proceedings should I decide to do this and require a bit of assistance?Reasonably computer illiterate. Though, I suppose if I fail abysmally, I can always take the machines into the ol' computer shop techs and pay them to do it. :( Thanks, Adam

Larry and Bruce, Do your older rigs have built-in sound on the mobo? Jim's seems to work fine with on-board sound. My old computer has only on-board sound. I think, from other posts, I may need a reasonably decent sound card - one that is capable of simultaneous wav playing. My new computer HAS a decent sound card, but I assume using it would defeat the whole purpose of using the old computer for RC in order to alleviate the workload on the new machine.Any ideas?I've been looking into LANS and they seem quite easy to set up - especially with WinMe, not so easy I guess for Win98.Just wanted to get a few details cleared up as I may be making a trip to the computer store this weekend and want to be sure I have a complete list of hardware to get.Thanks, Adam

Hi Adam,If you are just running RC on it I can't think of a reason why the onboard sound shouldn't work.I set up a lan (just the main PC and my laptop) just so I could run things via widefs and it is one of the best things I ever did.If you just want to connect two computers all you need is to have network cards in each and a special type of cable (whose name escapes me) to connect them. No need for an ethernet hub (much more expensive than the cable) unless you want to connect more than two.Good luck,John

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HI Adam,Yes my old P2 has an old ac97 on board sound, no sound card installed. It would not run rcv3 when I tried to use it as my main computer. That's when I finally broke down and got me a new P4. But, RC now runs perfectly on the old P2, using the on board sound card, because it's not competing with anything else for resources. FS is of course, now on my new P4.Larry

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Adam,I'm running with a sound card. This motherboard is so old no one thought to build a sound circuit into the MOBO. :-lol John is correct, if you are just hooking up two computers, all you need are 2 network interface cards in each system (assuming your newer system doesn't have a port built-in) and a crossover ethernet cable. No hub or extra cables are needed. Also with WinME or later OS, you can use the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard (ICS) to have both computers connect to the Internet. This is a must if you plan on using FS Meteo or ActiveSky on the second computer.Bruce

Adam,What Bruce said is exactly the way I have my system set up and it works perfectly. Really really fast...Larry

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Larry and Bruce,Thanks a lot gents!I'm off to the city soon and I'm gonna pick up 1 ethernet card as my new machine is ready to go. I will also get a cable.This is wonderful! I'm hoping to have my copy of RCv.3 soon and really looking forward to jumping right in.I finally broke down and did the 3 hour flight v2.2 sample KDFW/KMIA. I was getting excited as I approached KMIA expecting to be issued my hold. BAAH! I frantically went through the pilot request menu - nothing. So, I declared a missed approach and hoped again for an option to hold. It never came :( Oh well, all the more reason to look forward to v.3. :-smile12 Thanks again, Adam

Larry or John,I am trying to connect RC on a 2nd and networked computer but not having any luck.My network is stable, both systems "chatting" with one another.The server has FS2002 loaded and running. The modules folder contains the latest FSUIPC and WideFS files which I downloaded today from Pete Dowson's site.On the client, I first start WideFS, then RC3. I load a flight plan by browsing and poiting to the flights directory in FS2002 on the Server.After that, I hit "START RCv3" on the RC applet. I get the following in the dialogue area that states "Maybe running on wideclient, but FS not running on Server, or wrong FSUIPC".Any ideas???????Thanks,Mike