Eric Tomlin

Beautiful and really brings back the memories for me too.

What I'm interested in is using a 680 or 690 with triple 42" or triple 52" HDTVs with FS9/FSX/Prepar3d. This is for a full size LJ45 sim. Currently very happy using FS9 still, so I'm guessing the 680/690 will push FS9 on those three HDTVs nicely. Thoughts?

This is what I've been trying to convey- maybe I did not do a good job of that.

Wow- HARDCORE! I used to surf all the time and even here in South Ga/NE Florida the winter surfing is very cold (to me it was anyhow) and I cannot fathom doing this in Nova Scotia. What made it so bad was 1) the extra amount of energy exerted just to paddle in the suit, 2) the flushing of the suit on nearly every duckdive or at the end of the ride and 3) having to take the darn thing off and losing that layer of super warm water! Of course Matthew, you know all this all too well. Enjoy mate!

For me, life is good. No, GRAND. I have two beautiful daughters (one 7 months old and the other 4 years old) and a beautiful wife of nearly 10 years. Her family have taken me in like their own. I have my own side of a divorced set of parents, which presents us with additional Christmas visits. At age 37, I decided yesterday that it might be good to slow down next Christmas and not try to force so many different visits into one day. The 4 year old had fun going everywhere, but I think she would have enjoyed staying at home a bit longer too. I know that my wife and I would have too. But then you have the question of missing out on being with the entire family (even if it entails multiple stops all day long). I've never spent Christmas alone, and if I can avoid it I surely will. But I have to say that sometimes we are just entirely too busy. In this age of mobile-everything (PCs, phones, games, etc.) it's like we are super-connected to the world, but rarely to the person sitting next to us on the couch sometimes. I miss the days when I was a kid that we would just randomly stop by a friend's house to say hello and that person would be totally okay with having us visit for a while and might even fix a meal while there. Now, you must call and make arrangements before hand because it's almost considered rude to just drop in. For us with two kids, our house is almost always a wreck. Stopping by unannounced will yield a very embarrassed response from myself and I might not even invite you in. I feel like we as a society have become so engrossed by self and stuff that we miss out on some of the best parts of life. Christmas is about the only time of the year that I feel connected to those outside of my immediate circle, but as I age I find it growing harder to relax and enjoy the day(s) and not be thinking about what *I* normally am consumed with. I appreciate the original poster's post and the replies here. Sometimes you just need to sit down and put your thoughts and feelings into words and as strange as it is, a reply from a total stranger half a world away can bring comfort and insight. How odd it is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone

Thanks. Some days, I wish that I had a really nice generic setup though! Love your project Howard.

Very nice setup. I cannot say how many times my "better half" has thought about leaving me because of my project.... The key (trust me here fellas) is to remind them that all the time and money spent on such a project is better than being gone off all day and night at who-knows-where spending who-knows-what on things that only make you say and do silly stuff. Wait. What am I saying? I sit in a Learjet mockup and pretend to fly from one airport to the next over a span of a few hours and in reality have not moved one bit.... Not so sure my advise will work out all that well for ya! :-)

Very excited to see this product. Very nice.

+++1

+++1

I strongly disagree. First off, FS9/FSX, NGX et. al.. is NOT an $80 simulation. That's the retail price point. It's actually a multi-million dollar simulation that's priced to sell many units at $80 each, thereby making up investment in sales quantity, not price. Secondly, it would be better to break the question down a bit further. Maybe a better set of questions would be: a) If I know how to operate the PMDG 737 properly, could I operate a real 737NG properly? The answer is an astounding YES! I know, because I've done it. I can tell you the name of the aircraft and where it was- The US Navy P8 named City of Orange Park, based at NAS JAX in Jacksonville, Florida (where I worked as contractor one time). I can tell you that the technician was blown away by the fact that I knew where every single item in the cockpit related to pre-start and start of the APU and all the electrical systems were and the flows to get them up and running. b) If I can "fly" the 737 in FSX, then can I fly it in the real world? Maybe, maybe not. I would say that I definitely can both fly and operate real-world aircraft better than the average person with no sim experience because I've done it time and time again. Do I have bad habits? Yes (not looking outside enough when clearly flying VFR in the real world). Do you feel all the same sensations? Clearly the answer is no. But, flying an ILS is not much different in a real C172 and a 737 outside of speed and power management along with all the safety flows required to operate procedurally correct. Always remember- very few planes are intentionally designed to fly poorly. PS- I guess I should throw in that I fly my full scale LJ45 sim weekly and that probably would help quite a bit as far as having more of a feel to all the hardware in place vs. mouse/keyboard. But the experience I shared regarding being able to operate the aircraft after spending considerable time with the PMDG 737NG (original version for FS9) on desktop and then getting a session in the real aircraft- that was before I had my full size sim and naturally, the LJ45 and 737 are not comparable in any way other than both being faster than a C172 :-) +++1

Thanks Manny That's what I suspected (seemed the common sense answer anyhow) but just wasn't certain.

Okay, I had the same question. For example, this card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA There's two DVI ports. Which other port would be used for the third monitor/display?

YES!!! Love it.

For our LJ45 sim, we use the default LJ45 with a few tweaks here and there. Overall, a great flyer. But, I'm not saying that I do not wish a 3rd party would develop a LJ45.

Not too bad. You see, it's going to have the 12v wire harness completed for the L/R electrical bus as well as several new panels as well as some new flight controls. All in all, worth the hassle.

Thanks Lee! Very kind of you. It will be dismantled the day after Christmas all to be moved about 50 yards into a new dedicated building. The tear-down should take about 3 hours. The rebuild will take about 3 months :blink:

Oh man Jerad, how we full scale LJ45 builders wish some company would come along and make a nice LJ45! I just got my real yokes off of a LJ25D. Looks like I need to buy the Xtreme Prototypes version just for fun and nostalgia!

Ha! This is right in line with my previous comments on the color palette in FSX being one of the major drawbacks for me.

Typically, we only get to fly Friday nights. Here's a go: 1) Walk out to the Hangar at 10pm or a bit after. If I've not already gotten the PCs up and running, I get them on and start the A/C in the building. 2) By this time my copilot is arriving and I've got FS9 up and running and getting the aircraft positioned at our departure airport. 3) Minimize FS and get the flight plan built via FSBuild and insure that all PCs are up and ready to fly. 4) Get the fuel required loaded as well as our passenger load, if any are present for this flight. 5) Once the flight plan is built, I get Squawkbox up and running and enter the FP as required. At this time I have my copilot enter the Flight Deck and get the Before Start checklist completed. 6) I climb in and get seated in whichever seat I was not flying from on the previous Friday's flight. All settled, I usually realize I forgot approach plates or the keyboard or maybe I need to take a leak. Sometimes I forget to turn on the Buttkicker or my drink. 7) Climb out to get or do whatever I forgot about prior to climbing in the first time. 8) Climb back in and finally get settled for the flight. 9) Perform the Engine Start Checklist and before you know it we've got the airplane up and running, ready for clearance. 10) Call whatever local authority from VATSIM is online and get clearance. If no facility manned, we simply monitor the CTAF. 11) Once clearance is handed to us, we go with the Before Taxi checklist and once it's done, we are finally (about 20 minutes later) rolling on our way to the active for departure. I must say, I am very fortunate to have a full scale Learjet 45 simulator! However, I remember back to the desktop days and it brings fond memories and if I didnt have the sim that I do now, it'd still be wonderful. Long live Flight Simulator!

Ahh... I see. Thanks for the food for thought. Very helpful.

Ive got ENB and use it in both FS9 and FSX on the same system. I prefer the color palette of FS9 way over FSX, so it's doubtful that it's a monitor (or in my case, projector) issue.

+1 Color palette. Even with GEX and UTX, the color palette is not so great and I actually prefer FS9's color palette.

For years now I've caught myself driving down the road thinking how on certain days the clouds look like the ones in FS! That's crazy. Yes it is.

Ah, sorry! Gotcha.