[NTLUG:Discuss] Flight Sims and Linux- was: Will work for free !!!

[Steve Baker]

"Kevin E. Ivey" wrote:
>
> > Just *too* much fun...and increasingly using Linux. (Just to stray back
> > in the general direction of the topic of the list!)
> 
> Speaking of which... Are there Linux based motion- and Digital imagery-
> systems out there now?

We aren't (AFAIK) working on motion platforms right now - but I once built
a motion platform controller using a 286 using DOS and Borland Turbo C...so
that's not exactly challenging!

The graphics subsystems are my 'baby' - so you may care to guess what OS
that's being built using!  :-)
 
> The cost of maintaining/upgrading the software for the advanced aircraft
> simulators has bitten a big chunk out of the STRICOM (simulator people)
> budget.  At a million bucks per upgrade, that adds up to some real
> money.

Yep.  We have been selling sims with HUGE SGI machines that
cost upwards of $10M...and that's just for the visual subsystem.  The
advent of nVidia graphics cards with similar performance to $500k SGI
graphics
engines marks a *massive* change for the industry.  Linux plays a big part
because it's relatively easy to port IRIX applications to Linux and M$
software simply can't stand all the scheduling and multi-threading you
need in this kind of application.  Try running 14 threads under Windoze
and see how long it takes to do something unpleasant to you.

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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