I Am A Flight Simmer. Sort Of. X-Plane Mostly, But ...

Really thinking of  getting back in to Microsoft Flight Sim. My friend back East swears by it and, about some things, is usually not too bad in his thoughts. And I had MSFSX (still do actually) and I did enjoy it.

But I've been into X-Plane for the past 4 versions or so because it runs on Linux, which I really like, and I do have a fair amount of money invested in planes and scenery. And I just tonight bought X-Plane 12.1.

And I really hate Windows. So much so that I have no Windows computers in the house. Even that Mini-PC that came with Windows 10 has been converted to Linux. But, MSFS runs only on Windows. Worse yet: only on Windows 10 or higher.

Which means a computer upgrade also. Nothing I have in the house meets even the minimum requirements. Looking at a HP EliteDesk 800 G3 SFF Desktop Intel i7-7700 UP to 4.20GHz 32GB DDR4 New 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD Built in WiFi BT Dual Monitor Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Support Win10 Pro (Renewed) for $250 and a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Graphics Card, 6GB GDDR6 192bit Video Card for Gaming GPU PCIe 3.0 x16 DP HDMI DVI 1080P 2K Game PC Card 1660ti 4K 8K Display (GTX 1660 Ti - Red) for another $190. Both of which will handle Windows and MSFS 2020. May have to upgrade the power supply though; which is easy if you can find one that fits. Both Bing & Bard say this'll work fine.

Then I'd have to buy MSFS 2020 (which ain't cheap but not out of reach) and start adding planes again. Doubt my MSFSX planes would work.

So, about $500+ to "play" with another flight sim. And it's not like YouTube won't continue taking down my video's of me strafing the White House or anything anyway even if I do switch to MSFS.

BUT, I should be able to attach the Oculus and do MSFX in VR. Which is what I want to do with X-Plane and will continue to play with that until it works and why I bought the Oculus in the first place.

If ONLY it would run in one of my Windows 7 Virtual Machines.

This EliteDesk SFF desktop I've been using the past 4-5 years has a motherboard made in 1998. But, I could upgrade the video card and make a dual boot and only run Windows when I want to use MSFS. What a pain though.

At least all my monitors have multiple inputs so I wouldn't have to buy new. I could mount a new computer under the desk and just switch the inputs to it when I wanted to fly. That'll leave my working computer up and running.

Hmmm ...

Next project: Get one of the Linux laptops completely set up to run my Ham Radio, do some digital communications, and keep my log book. I went through the trouble of getting my ticket and expense of a couple of radio's (857d & 991) and need to get back into that. I don't do Ham Radio as often as I did. Always seem to be busy doing something else.

PT today was a joy. Not. Been trying not to depend on the walker as much and leap out on my own. So far it's worked if I go slow.

SWMBO bought me dinner afterwards. First time going to DQ in a couple of years. Their chicken strips have improved over what they were serving last time I stopped there. Thank goodness.