A B W A I N

Steve seems to have had an issue with spam too.  Brave man!!

http://www.steve-lacey.com/blogarchives/2007/11/your_attention.shtml

In my spare time, which by the way is almost at nil right now.  I setup a blog on my domain JasonRitchie.com.  Which you can see now has just a logo.  The experiment really didn't go too well, as the spam bot's hit it with a vengeance and were dropping thousands of comments a day.  I didn't have time to clean them out, so I wiped it.

I will most likely make this my home until I have the following:

1. TIME

2. TIME

3. More TIME

4.  Researched a better blog software suite, most likely Wordpress.

As far as what's happening on my end?  Well the house is less than a month away from being ready, we'll be VERY happy when its done.  I'll then have a proper office and a proper desk.  Space is way too limited where we are at the moment.

Later,
Jay

Spaces is nice, but for the ideas and things I would like to do, I am thinking I need my own space.

I present my future albeit messy home http://www.jasonritchie.com, I may think about keeping ABWAIN as the name, we'll see.  Please also disregard the 'crap' on my main page.  I quite possibly will have multiple blogs for FlightSim, PC stuff, and PC building tutorials.  I am still banging around a few ideas.

Until then though this will be my home, and I'll post here a little more often.  Seeing as I had a burst of visitors on my last post.  Does feel good someone reads my jibberish!! :)

Till then!

Jay

I haven't been blogging because I have been moving.  Did I mention moving bites!?

Well finally today we are free and clear of our apartment, and have taken residence up in temporary quarters until our new abode is complete.  I cringe at the thought of doing it all over again, and in the winter.

In any case I hope to be busy real soon doing some cool things, for now though I am pooped from nearly 5 hours of driving today.  Will update on a few things this weekend, that is if anyone is reading this still....lol

CYA!!

It's been awhile hasn't it.

Well as you all know the Acceleration beta has started so everyone involved is busy.  I'll update as we move along.

My personal website is up now, http://www.jasonritchie.com.  Pop by, not much there right now, but I am working on a few things as you can see.

Be back later with more.

polypoke:  Owen writes about some new stuff he is trying with a hot looking Twin Commanche.

Phil Taylor: Well, Phil has been busy.  Does he ever sleep?

Nick Whittome: Has information on FSX/Squawkbox and a cool Windows Home Server design.

Jon Patch: Is chipping away at the highly anticipated Vancouver + for FSX.

Hal Bryan: Has been travelling, and was right in my back yard.

As I catchup, I'll post more.  Oh yeah 1 more update...

ABWAIN:  No, I didn't fall off the edge of the earth.

Take Care All,

Jason

It's merely coincidence Owen mentions this.  But I am really looking forward to going to Winds & Wheels this weekend.  Downsview is about 45 minutes from where I live.  I live in the Eastern Region of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).  Hal, you gonna be around?

Are you going to be there?  Let me know!  Here is the link to the Festival.

• Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the famous DHC-2 Beaver, witness a historic homecoming fly-in  of 20 Beavers aircraft, and meet their pilots
• See a full-scale replica of the Avro Arrow, Canada’s first supersonic jet interceptor
• Celebrate Air Canada’s 70th anniversary by inspecting oldest airworthy airliner --- a Lockheed 10A used to launch scheduled passenger service in 1937.
• Explore more than 40 vintage and modern aircraft, including First World War fighters, 1930s biplanes, 1940s Harvard trainers, modern training aircraft, helicopters and Downsview-built airliners and business jets.
• Meet local members of The Ninety-Nines – the international organization of female pilots – and view their aircraft at the terminus of their annual "Poker Run" fly-in
  Enjoy a hangar full of aviation exhibits and displays

Hopefully I'll see some there!!

GO....have fun....!!!

Available on http://www.fsinsider.com.

Here are the direct download links to the exe

English
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/5/2/8526e721-0a01-4f7b-8529-0ae8286619cb/fsx_sp1_ENU.exe

French
http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/8/2/682bcb3a-7fb0-4a8c-8681-5404d6d49793/fsx_sp1_FRA.exe

Italian
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/7/b/57bdc11c-18a4-430c-9c23-89286baabeb7/fsx_sp1_ITA.exe 

German
http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/a/f/7af84201-aba4-4979-a750-f592e1399abf/fsx_sp1_DEU.exe

Spanish
http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/a/3/7a3895f5-06e3-47e9-a60e-042e322e64b7/fsx_sp1_ESP.exe

Polish
http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/7/3/c73b5c32-b133-4709-88c0-d83f02ac9acb/fsx_sp1_PLK.exe

Well, I wish I could say more but as Phil mentions in his blog they hope to release SP1 very soon.  Not much more can be said on that here.

Pop over to Phil's blog to read up on his comments.

It's going to be a great step forward, I am sure everyone will have something good to say.  At least I hope so.

I just mosied on over to Jon's blog, and saw something that blew me away:

This...

Can't wait to get my hands on this creation.  While your there check out the rest of the pictures of this incredible scenery for FSX.

There is a couple of things I wanted to touch on.  I was doing some testing and my mind passed on a few posts I have seen about the FSX SP1 Beta.  An interesting post I saw asked an interesting question.  Why doesn't aces allow for a public beta of the SP1?  Isn't knowing about the Beta and it's progress enough?  Hasn't Aces put themselves out there enough, practically updating the community weekly if not more?  Wouldn't Aces have already taken the time to pick a representative beta team to help in testing?  What do you think?

Something else....I have been involved with MSFS for many years.  And I have seen the ebbs and flows of the community.  However more and more recently I have seen, a real increase in heated discussions, sharp responses to opinions given and very emotional outbursts.  It would seem that MSFS has become a real part of people lives.  Do you see a difference in the community?  Is it a good thing?

Now, what do I think?  Well I am usually the guy to sit at the back, and listen to others go at it.  However I have this blog now, so why not put an opinion piece out there for readers (if any) to respond to.  I think Aces has done a great job at getting information out about the progress of MSFS.  Never before have we 'the community' had such an insight into the work under the hood of FS the good and the bad.  In most cases 'the community' have accepted the open lines of communication with a positive response.  However it has disappointed me that a few have taken the opportunity to openly attack the Aces team and FS.  It would seem such ones, no matter how good FSX gets, will never be happy, and are content to complain and point fingers for the fun of it.  Now wait a sec, yes I know everyone is entitled to their opinion, albeit expressing that opinion in a respectful manner, so as not take away from what they feel may be an issue.

Yes I also will agree there have been some problems with MSFS over the years, that have caused even myself some aggravation.  However I learned to workaround the problem, or turned to the same community I speak of above for help.  For 95% of those times I have been helped.  Now, isn't that what FS is all about?  Bringing a diverse group of persons who all have a common love, Flight!?  I think so.  I also feel that Aces now opening up is a good thing for the future of FS.  I only hope it stays that way, and there is no need for Aces to close up again due to unrelenting accusations and attacks.

There I said it, I won't delete it, and if feedback is good it won't go anywhere either.  So, see that feedback thingy down below?  Go ahead press it, it won't bite.

SP1 Beta 4 a la ACES...

More here - FSX SP1-Beta4 posted

It is what it is; we are trying to get it right. That does take time. And we believe the result will show that care and attention to detail."

The FSInsider site has been updated, and looks to be a great change to the site.  Have a look and see what you think.

And the link would be over to the left.  If your lazy like me, click http://www.fsinsider.com.

Microsoft released a hotfix and an accompanying Knowledge Base article.  This fix is a big one according ACES, you can read a response here at Avsim Forums to my original post.  As I stated in my post,

"Just to Clarify, this is a Windows Vista OS fix, not an FSX fix. Not related in any way to SP1 for FSX."

There is a 64-bit version of the fix available also here.

I don't use Vista with FSX at the moment, however I do run Vista Ultimate on my PC.  I have a few issues that need to be resolved before I place FSX into Vista.

Eaglesoft is on a roll recently releasing the CJ1 for FSX.  You better believe i'll be grabbing this one real soon, and post a few thoughts on it as soon as I have time.

I'll hopefully get it tonight and see what it's all about.  More to come.....

News on SP1 is breaking.  Phil Taylor commented earlier about how SP1 for FSX is progressing however there is a slight delay, and mentions that SP1 is going to a 3rd beta release.

His comments located here:

"It is true, for perf testing the upcoming Beta3, I gave advice to turn AI aircraft down. Some AI aircraft have a high render cost and will skew the results of perf testing Beta3. We had a perf regression in trees we believe Beta3 will fix, and need results that are not skewed to validate that.

And yes, this means we won’t make April, sorry about that. We are trying to get it right."

Beta 3 as Phil mentions in earlier posts, helps a few 3rd party issues that were found, to be resolved.  This is good news in my opinion.  The extra time gives the ACES team the needed time to 'get it right'.

My comment to Phil and the Aces team is to, take the needed time, update when possible, and I have no doubt the community will be there with smiles on our faces to grab SP1 whenever it's ready.