"Pre-Newbie" question ?

[rickalty]

Hi, I installed FSUIPC and WidevieW with the intention of allowing my main computer, a desktop unit with multiple monitors, to handle the "out the window" views while I flew on it, and the client computers - a couple of old laptops - to display just the instrument panels. Well, all worked well except that the instruments on the client displayed panels don't work (Well, a couple of them - Altimeter, ASI, and Artificial Horizon - do, but most don't)

If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

Thanks,

Richard

[rickalty]

Hi, I installed FSUIPC and WidevieW with the intention of allowing my main computer, a desktop unit with multiple monitors, to handle the "out the window" views while I flew on it, and the client computers - a couple of old laptops - to display just the instrument panels. Well, all worked well except that the instruments on the client displayed panels don't work (Well, a couple of them - Altimeter, ASI, and Artificial Horizon - do, but most don't)

If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

Thanks,

Richard

[Pete Dowson]

I installed FSUIPC and WidevieW with the intention of allowing my main computer, a desktop unit with multiple monitors, to handle the "out the window" views while I flew on it, and the client computers - a couple of old laptops

With WidevieW, really, the "client" PCs need to be just as capable as the main FS PC -- they need a full installation of Fs just like the main PC.

- to display just the instrument panels

Oh. I suppose if you don't need to see the scenery on those PCs then they can be a bit slower, etc/

Well, all worked well except that the instruments on the client displayed panels don't work (Well, a couple of them - Altimeter, ASI, and Artificial Horizon - do, but most don't)

I'm not sure how WidevieW works these days. If it puts the slaves into "slew" mode then this may explain such a problem -- I don't think many of the instruments work in slew mode. On the other hand it may simply be that you are using the version of WidevieW which is really intended for multiple outside views. I remember, back when it started, there was a fully configurable version which could be set to provide all of the instrument values too. This was not "WidevieW Light", but the full thing. I don't know if it was ever updated to FS2002. Did you check the appropriate support site (Luciano Napolitano is the author, sorry, I don't know the website).

If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

You can't use normal FS panels on any PC that isn't running FS. the panel gauges are only DL's which use many routines inside FS to produce their graphics and motions. For external panels, under WideFS, there are products like Project Magenta (payware) and FreeFD (freeware). There are probably others. See the links on the Schiratti/dowson page.

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I installed FSUIPC and WidevieW with the intention of allowing my main computer, a desktop unit with multiple monitors, to handle the "out the window" views while I flew on it, and the client computers - a couple of old laptops

With WidevieW, really, the "client" PCs need to be just as capable as the main FS PC -- they need a full installation of Fs just like the main PC.

- to display just the instrument panels

Oh. I suppose if you don't need to see the scenery on those PCs then they can be a bit slower, etc/

Well, all worked well except that the instruments on the client displayed panels don't work (Well, a couple of them - Altimeter, ASI, and Artificial Horizon - do, but most don't)

I'm not sure how WidevieW works these days. If it puts the slaves into "slew" mode then this may explain such a problem -- I don't think many of the instruments work in slew mode. On the other hand it may simply be that you are using the version of WidevieW which is really intended for multiple outside views. I remember, back when it started, there was a fully configurable version which could be set to provide all of the instrument values too. This was not "WidevieW Light", but the full thing. I don't know if it was ever updated to FS2002. Did you check the appropriate support site (Luciano Napolitano is the author, sorry, I don't know the website).

If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

You can't use normal FS panels on any PC that isn't running FS. the panel gauges are only DL's which use many routines inside FS to produce their graphics and motions. For external panels, under WideFS, there are products like Project Magenta (payware) and FreeFD (freeware). There are probably others. See the links on the Schiratti/dowson page.

Pete

[Guest airdemon]

why dont you try to reverce the setup have just the instrument panal on the server than the outside view on the client than the instruments will work

[Guest airdemon]

why dont you try to reverce the setup have just the instrument panal on the server than the outside view on the client than the instruments will work

[Guest Bob Scott]

Without 3D (specifically OpenGL acceleration) neither Project Magenta nor FreeFD will work on the laptops. And without DirectX 3D acceleration, you can't use the laptops for outside views.

The older laptops may still be useful for running non-graphics add-ons, like Radar Contact 3 (ATC), ActiveSky wxRE or FSMeteo (WX), Squawkbox (online ATC client), Flight Deck Companion (flight deck copilot calls and checklists) and Roger Wilco (online ATC voice comms). It's also nice to have programs like Whazzup and ServInfo up on a separate PC when flying online. With a couple of PCs running these ancillary processes you can really add an extra dimension to your online flying. And it helps FS2002's performance considerably if you can get these programs off the CPU that's running FS.

If you are using Win XP and a dual-head AGP video card in your PC for multi-monitors now, you can add a second PCI dual-head video card and a couple of inexpensive 15" LCD monitors to get the 2D instrument displays the way you had envisioned. I use a GeForce 4 Ti4600 dual-head AGP card to drive two 22" monitors, and a second GeForce 2 MX400 dual-head PCI card to drive two 15" LCD monitors off the same PC. As long as I'm just driving undocked 2D instrument windows on the secondary card, it's a barely noticeable hit on frame rates.

Regards

Bob Scott

ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V

[Guest Bob Scott]

Without 3D (specifically OpenGL acceleration) neither Project Magenta nor FreeFD will work on the laptops. And without DirectX 3D acceleration, you can't use the laptops for outside views.

The older laptops may still be useful for running non-graphics add-ons, like Radar Contact 3 (ATC), ActiveSky wxRE or FSMeteo (WX), Squawkbox (online ATC client), Flight Deck Companion (flight deck copilot calls and checklists) and Roger Wilco (online ATC voice comms). It's also nice to have programs like Whazzup and ServInfo up on a separate PC when flying online. With a couple of PCs running these ancillary processes you can really add an extra dimension to your online flying. And it helps FS2002's performance considerably if you can get these programs off the CPU that's running FS.

If you are using Win XP and a dual-head AGP video card in your PC for multi-monitors now, you can add a second PCI dual-head video card and a couple of inexpensive 15" LCD monitors to get the 2D instrument displays the way you had envisioned. I use a GeForce 4 Ti4600 dual-head AGP card to drive two 22" monitors, and a second GeForce 2 MX400 dual-head PCI card to drive two 15" LCD monitors off the same PC. As long as I'm just driving undocked 2D instrument windows on the secondary card, it's a barely noticeable hit on frame rates.

Regards

Bob Scott

ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V

[Guest]

(Rick) to display just the instrument panels

(Pete) Oh. I suppose if you don't need to see the scenery on those PCs then they can be a bit slower, etc

Displaying only the panels they worked just fine - except that most of the instruments don't move :-( I was actually surprised at how well they worked even showing scenery - it was blocky and unrealistic looking, but there was surprisingly little 'stutter' considering that they are old P133's with only 16MB of RAM and 4MB non-3D video cards

I remember, back when it (WidevieW - Rick) started, there was a fully configurable version which could be set to provide all of the instrument values too. This was not "WidevieW Light", but the full thing. I don't know if it was ever updated to FS2002. Did you check the appropriate support site (Luciano Napolitano is the author, sorry, I don't know the website).

I had already checked on the WidevieW forum, and with Luciano. Instrument panel display on clients isn't supported in the FS2002 version :(

(Rick) If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

(Pete) You can't use normal FS panels on any PC that isn't running FS. the panel gauges are only DL's which use many routines inside FS to produce their graphics and motions. For external panels, under WideFS, there are products like Project Magenta (payware) and FreeFD (freeware). There are probably others. See the links on the Schiratti/dowson page.

Thanks, I'll check those places out.

Richard

[Guest]

(Rick) to display just the instrument panels

(Pete) Oh. I suppose if you don't need to see the scenery on those PCs then they can be a bit slower, etc

Displaying only the panels they worked just fine - except that most of the instruments don't move :-( I was actually surprised at how well they worked even showing scenery - it was blocky and unrealistic looking, but there was surprisingly little 'stutter' considering that they are old P133's with only 16MB of RAM and 4MB non-3D video cards

I remember, back when it (WidevieW - Rick) started, there was a fully configurable version which could be set to provide all of the instrument values too. This was not "WidevieW Light", but the full thing. I don't know if it was ever updated to FS2002. Did you check the appropriate support site (Luciano Napolitano is the author, sorry, I don't know the website).

I had already checked on the WidevieW forum, and with Luciano. Instrument panel display on clients isn't supported in the FS2002 version :(

(Rick) If I use WideFS instead of WidevieW would I be able to do this? The old laptops I have don't have 3D acceleration so they're no good for scenery, but their screens make good "glass cockpit" displays.

(Pete) You can't use normal FS panels on any PC that isn't running FS. the panel gauges are only DL's which use many routines inside FS to produce their graphics and motions. For external panels, under WideFS, there are products like Project Magenta (payware) and FreeFD (freeware). There are probably others. See the links on the Schiratti/dowson page.

Thanks, I'll check those places out.

Richard

[rickalty]

OK.... this may be a really silly question, but since I switched to the registered version of FSUIPC I can't access WideFS anymore, so I can't check for myself....

Does a computer running WideFS have to be running MSFS itself?

I'm writing a stand-alone application to display a "Project Magenta" type instrument panel on an outside computer, but it's all in Visual Basic, so no OpenGL / 3D acceleration will be needed on the client. If they don't need to run MSFS even, then I can use REALLY cheap old laptops for this.

Richard

[Pete Dowson]

OK.... this may be a really silly question, but since I switched to the registered version of FSUIPC I can't access WideFS anymore, so I can't check for myself....

Registering FSUIPC is unrelated to Registering WideFS -- the use separate registration keys. And for FSUIPC 3 you need WideFS 6, previous versions won't run, there are too many changes. WideFS 6 needs registering or it cannot be used.

Does a computer running WideFS have to be running MSFS itself?

Well one of them, the one containing WideServer.DLL and FSUIPC.DLL, needs to be running FS, of course, as those modules are FS modules and have to be installed in FS. All the other WideFS client PCs simply run WideClient.EXE instead of FS, plus your application programs.

I'm writing a stand-alone application to display a "Project Magenta" type instrument panel on an outside computer, but it's all in Visual Basic, so no OpenGL / 3D acceleration will be needed on the client. If they don't need to run MSFS even, then I can use REALLY cheap old laptops for this.

Correct.

Regards,

Pete

[rickalty]

Excellent!

Thanks, Pete.

I'll go ahead and get the latest version of WideFS in a short while and get this tested out on an outside machine.

Richard