Railworks for Linux

[FoggyMorning]

Hmm if true Windows 8 will go the same as MS Flight, Which the studio was recently closed for various reasons. One of the main ones looking on FS forums due to lack of 3rd party support etc.

Chris

Flight had no 3rd party support because MS Flight did not allow 3rd party content to be added at all. This seems to be the way RSC is heading with RailWorks and perhaps they should think twice about it?

Mike

RS.com seem to be actively encouraging more 3rd party content with the introduction of Steam Workshop and their Partnership Program

[tnleeuw01]

I personally don't see the need to upgrade the operating system if the one your using is adequate for the job in hand.

Keith

What if it came pre-installed on your shiny new PC?

I was hoping that W8 would be a could way to keep existing systems in shape, as earlier builds seemed to have quite good performance. Now by the sounds of it, we better not try upgrading our Win7 PCs to W8. OK, that's something we can manage -- we will just not do that

But if you buy a new PC and try to install Steam & RW? Then what?

I really need to upgrade my aging old . PC at some point. Don't have the cash to do it now, but at some point it will be unavoidable. Then what will we do with all our current software and games? Will I be able to run RW on it?

I most certainly hope so!


Kind regards,

--Tim

[TransportSteve]

I'll be obtaining a new computer next year, however, according to a bit of research, I read that Windows XP Professional x64 for Embedded System, the end of life isn't scheduled to expire until 2020, so, if we can use XP for several more years then that'll do for me, better than April 2014 anyway, which Microsoft originally announced for their XP system.

My only question is what is an embedded system, I can't seem to find anything on the Microsoft website, but, they're probably keeping it under wraps as they want everyone to purchase W7, or, W8 in the future.

Cheerz. Transport Steve.

[USRailFan]

AFAIK embedded systems means mobile phones, ATM machines, etc

[andynwt]

64 bit XP is horrible. you wouldn't want to run that anyway if at all possible. standard XP support does expire in April 2014, but it's 11 years old now, and really shows it's age.

[Rockdoc2174]

.....they're probably keeping it under wraps as they want everyone to purchase W7, or, W8 in the future.

I've only been using W7 for a couple of weeks but it's absolutely fine for RW so I wouldn't avoid buying a machine with that on. I could take advantage of M$'s offer to upgrade to W8 for about 15 quid but I probably won't bother as I'm not hearing much that's positive so far. I'll want to see plenty of positive feedback from desktop users before I even consider it. On the other hand, my experience with the new machine on W7 does make me think about upgrading my Vista box, which hasn't caused me a lot of trouble but is getting ready for an install from scratch anyway.

Keith

[andymar54]

Hi all,

Ive been running Win 7 for ages now with only the following issues;

1. Some hardware I had on the old Dell laptop, and peripheral devices, didn't have Win7 drivers and wouldnt work properly until I could source and install drivers for them.
2. Some of my favourite and old PC games will not run on Win7 (not compatable) so have had to be dropped. Some older games run on Win 7 but can have unexpected glitches, it seems to be try it and see what happens.

Win 7 and Railworks has ran fine for me except the usual problems associated with the game core and widely reported.

My latest laptop and netbook both came with Win 7 installed, and it's been the most stable platform I have used. The only prog that causes video lock ups and crashes to desktop is, Railworks.

Andym

[rivimey]

My only question is what is an embedded system, I can't seem to find anything on the Microsoft website, but, they're probably keeping it under wraps as they want everyone to purchase W7, or, W8 in the future.

In the general case, it's a computer that's an integral part of a system, as opposed to a desktop or laptop which are general purpose and essentially are the system.

I would tend to classify a smartphone as a computer that can make calls, and thus not embedded, although others may disagree.

Some other examples of computer embedded systems:

The electronic injection controller in your car - the one that reads the chip when you "chip" it.
The electronic key fob for your car
The processor driving your kitchen multimixer
The processor inside your digital camera that does menus and control keys (and may do other things!)
The processor inside the keyboard I'm typing at
The electronics scanning your burglar alarm's sensors and reporting to base.

You get the picture!

Ruth

[Kariban]

Thankfully microwaves aren't quite complicated enough to need Windows embedded... the bank machine on the other hand might well be running some version of windows. I don't think it's made it's way into aircraft yet ( brr ) but there's certainly ships running on Windows, and trains. "Embedded" used to mean they burned the only program the system runs onto a ROM chip & stuck it into the circuit board, but I guess these days things like ATMs are probably just something like PCs running a customised version of windows. I'd say my router was an embedded system but it seems to be running linux inside all that fancy plastic.

[gswindale]

"Thin Clients" used in numerous workplaces have embedded systems - just enough to boot up and load up the Remote Desktop client of choice.

We use a WYSE terminal with Citrix desktops at work in this manner. Works reasonably well and gives us a bit more desk space

[crumplezone]

Thankfully microwaves aren't quite complicated enough to need Windows embedded... the bank machine on the other hand might well be running some version of windows. I don't think it's made it's way into aircraft yet ( brr ) but there's certainly ships running on Windows, and trains. "Embedded" used to mean they burned the only program the system runs onto a ROM chip & stuck it into the circuit board, but I guess these days things like ATMs are probably just something like PCs running a customised version of windows. I'd say my router was an embedded system but it seems to be running linux inside all that fancy plastic.

Dear god, don't give that image of my microwave being controlled by windows, I can imagine it requiring a update before being able to cook meals or even being hacked into and being turned into some deathray machine be tweaking with the microwave settings or worse yet getting a BSOD while your part way through cooking

Kinda surprised Windows has been incorperated in some ways into public transport, epsecially boats and trains. I can understand it being put on smaller ships however, but certainly would be raising a eyebrow if its on oceanliners, I would full expect the oceanliners to have custom coded and operating systems wholly seperate of any external corperation or company due to the chances of hijackings, terrorism or system error, especially when the oceanliners these days carry in excess of 1,000 passengers.

In regards to the original topic, I don't see much point in developing for linux or wasting money in a conversion attempt for Railworks, the money can be better spent elsewhere and the market which uses Railworks will be utilising Windows for familiarity and easy of use.

In regards to Windows 8, if Windows XP is anything to go by, even after 10+ years it will still be used and there isn't particularly anything wrong with Windows 7 in both its 32bit or 64bit form, its probably one of the better versions of windows to date and will likely be used for a very long time. I honestly can't help feel that Windows 8 will be another Windows ME and flop in the PC market especially with big software and game developers not interested in it. To me Windows 8 also seems ideally more suited towards the tablet PCs which are available and the touch screen ones to, it doesn't look like a OS for mainstreaming PCs at all, even if they gloss it up with colours and fancy buttons.

Either way, RSC has more important things to be concerntrating on than creating a railworks version for a small almost niche market of users.

[transadelaide]

I've used (only about five years ago) point of sale systems (combined cash register, stock tracking, EFTPOS/CC processor, bar code scanning etc) which had Windows 3.1 behind the scenes.

I've also read that earlier Electrostars run a system built around Windows 95, which says a lot about who built them...

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[TransportSteve]

Hi all,
Ive been running Win 7 for ages now with only the following issues;

2. Some of my favourite and old PC games will not run on Win7 (not compatable) so have had to be dropped. Some older games run on Win 7 but can have unexpected glitches, it seems to be try it and see what happens.

Win 7 and Railworks has ran fine for me except the usual problems associated with the game core and widely reported.

Andym

Hi Andy,

This is my major gripe, and why I've stayed with XP all these years, I purchased all of the Call of Duty versions since it started in 2003, as my old laptop was able to cope with them and they play really well on my Tower PC also, however, if and when I go onto Win 7, I'll probably have to give these games up if they aren't compatible, which is a huge shame as I have lots of them, Colin McRae: Dirt, Medal of Honor, Need For Speed, Far Cry, etc, etc, there's too many of them to just chuck away, and all the new games are now DRM driven and you have to go through Steam mainly to play them, which isn't my cup of tea any more, at all.

I have nothing against Win 7, my sister has it on her laptop and she says it's the best thing since sliced bread, well, since Vista, anyway.

Thanks for the replies guys, and to Ruth, for her explanation of what an embedded system is.

Cheerz. Steve.

[gptech]

Those with the need to retain XP, for the few games and applications that won't run under Win7, could easily set their systems up to dual boot.

[transadelaide]

Those with the need to retain XP, for the few games and applications that won't run under Win7, could easily set their systems up to dual boot.

A large proportion of people will have some hardware support issue doing that, hardware companies being at least as good as software companies when it comes to making things inconvenient for people who don't want to upgrade.

Just as Microsoft will eventually wind down their support for Windows XP, hardware companies will never feel themselves compelled to carry on supporting it forever. Some have already made that move, just as the demise of the built-in optical drive is well on the way as the cloud is allowing ultrabooks replace notebooks and future desktops for mainstream users are trending towards smaller units with reduced desk footprint.