X-Plane 10 + Linux my experience

[wmburns]

Are you:

• New to flight simulation and looking for ways to save $$'s on your sim rig?
• Do you have some "older" PC hardware looking for some useful work?
• Do you hate spending your hard earned $$'s on a Windows license?
• Do you want to support open/free software?

If so running X-Plane under Linux may be for you.

Over a year ago I had an idea to upgrade my sim to support a better external visual displays(s). The original idea was to use obsolete PC's running Linux to control costs. The project started with trying to get a single PC running Linux plus PilotEdge.

In short my first attempt was abandoned for a number of reasons. Mostly relating to Linux working with all of the "add on" software/hardware in my sim. Fast forward to today and 100's of software changes/updates later and the results are a much improved!

The sim set-up:

• X-plane 10 versions 10.42 and 10.45
• PilotEdge client
• FS Economy (FSE)
• Saitek Pro Flight Yoke
• Saitek throttle quadrant (dual)
• Saitek rudder pedals
• Saitek radio panel. Will need the Xsaitekpanels plug-in.
• Several Carenado aircraft including BE58, PC12, CT206H, B200, C90B. Tested at version 3.2
• Nvidia GTX750Ti graphics card. Note, at the current time the Linux video driver support is strongest for Nvidia graphics cards.

The operation systems (OS) tested (all 64 bit):

• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit with X-Plane (DVD version)
• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit plus Steam client with X-Plane (Steam edition)
• SteamOS (Debian based Linux with X-Plane 10 Steam edition)

In each case once X-plane was started the experience was virtually the same as under Windows. Note, Linux lacks voice support. This means that the ATIS voice does not work (text only).

More information:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6058
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5926&start=20#p40409
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app ... file=14646

Disclaimer:

I personally have a love/hate relationship with Linux. My experience shows that many things don't work as well under Linux as they do under Windows. Further not every add-on out there maybe supported under Linux. Beyond a doubt device support is not nearly as good under Linux.

But if you are on a budget, have the time, and sim requirements fit within what Linux is able to deliver, this may be an option for you. YMMV.

Note; if your sim hardware includes an AMD graphics card then choose the Linux SteamOS. The SteamOS includes custom video drivers for both AMD and Nvidia cards and is likely the simplest choice. In addition, the graphics drivers themselves are likely better vetted in order to work with more games.

[FrigginGuy]

Very nice! A Linux sim setup has been on my backlog for a long time now. It sounds like SteamOS is the easiest way to go considering the drivers it has. I'm hoping to be able to begin selecting hardware soon, would you mind sharing your hardware setup or any recommendations? I don't have any old PCs at my disposal (I've been a Mac user for 10 years), so I'll be buying new. I'm tempted to get the latest & greatest of course, but I'm hesitant regarding Linux driver support for the newest stuff.

[wmburns]

Without a budget and an idea of your expectations/plans I can only make generalizations. But if asking for a recommendation, here it goes some ideas on how to get the MOST bang for the LEAST buck for a dedicated sim using standard clock speeds(No overclocking). Stock scenery. No super high end technologically advanced aircraft. Using this criteria if an option doesn't affect the performance bottom line now, skip it.

Buy one of the cheapest Hasswell/Broadwell (socket 1150) Motherboards out there. If looking for the safest option look for a MB with an Intel NIC. However I also have an ASRock H97M pro4 MB that I used as my Linux mule. I can can say for certain that Linux does recognize it's built in NIC. ASUS also makes great MB's. Don't spend extra $$ getting a MB with features that you don't need.

Next, get an Intel 1150 CPU with the fastest SINGLE core that you can afford. If $$'s are tight, get a Pentium (yes that's right a Pentium dual core). If $$ are not an issue, then get the i5 (don't waste $$ getting the i7 for a sim rig). Remember that the sim application is more or less tied to a single thread. So if given a choice, go with few fast cores instead of more/slower cores.

For a non-overclocked PC, the stock CPU cooler is good enough.

Power supply: IMO many people overbuy power supplies. Today's CPU's and Graphics cards don't use as much power as before. For a single mid tier GPU non over clocked rig a 350-400 Watt power supply is enough. Very few modern PC actually need more than 500 Watts (yes there are always far out configurations but we are talking about "in general" here).

Hard disk: SSD's are out for a build like this as an SSD does not improve the running of the sim.

Unless you are also buying an unlocked CPU (K) series and a Z series motherboard, buy 8 GB of the cheapest 1600 MHz DDR3 memory. Don't spend extra $$ on higher speed memory that won't be used unless in being put into an over clock build. More than 8GB won't make this budget sim PC run much (if any) faster. But if you are the kind of person that thinks about "future" proofing, then get a single 8GB stick of a well known name brand. This will make it possible to match in the future.

The 1150 series CPU's are nearing the end of the product cycle. There are some great buys out there right now.

Graphics card: This choice matters and is one place where spending additional $$'s makes sense. For Linux get an Nvida graphics card. On my test mule I'm running either a GTX750Ti or a GTX970. For the GTX750Ti most of the time the frame rates were in the 30-50 FPS range. However there were times that the frame rate would dip into the 21-24 FPS level. Note, for the aircraft I'm flying this is still a playable frame rate.

For the GTX970, the frame rate was almost always above 50 FPS.

The GTX970 or higher should be considered if building a sim rig to support an technologically advanced high end demanding aircraft. But honestly if this in the short term plan, some of the other hardware choices should be re-considered.

If $$'s are tight, the minimum new graphics card to consider should be a GTX950. Again stepping up to a GTX960 is a good use of your $$ for this build and gives some future proofing. IMO at today's price levels buying a new GTX750Ti is not the best bank/buck.

If the budget allows, consider upgrading to the cheapest "Z" series motherboard that the budget will allow without cutting corners on any other parts. This is a great idea should you decide to also purchase a Windows license as it's tied to the MB.

Regarding SteamOS, this is the more difficult Linux to make X-Plane changes to. This is because of the way SteamOS handles user permissions. When in desktop mode files are saved to a different user-id. So when adding plugin's it will be necessary to change to owner/group to "steam". It can be done but just not as simple as a Windows style "drag and drop". It's even difficult to find where Steam stores the X-plane directory because it's hidden.

SteamOS game directory: /home/steam/.steam/steam/SteamApps (note the "." makes the path hidden).

Note, if you wish to combine SteamOS with the DVD version of X-plane then this won't have the difficult permission/ownership issues.

SteamOS is the easiest initial install giving almost a true "console" like experience. Not to mention the ability to play Steam games on the same device. Unbuntu will need some Linux "smarts" to set up for the first time.

Which version of X-plane 10 are you currently using (DVD, digital, or Steam)? What is your PC budget? What about additional X-plane addon's? Have you done the research regarding Linux compatibility?

[FrigginGuy]

Well I've been planning a budget of up to 1500 USD. How does this look?

Screen Shot 2016-03-01 at 15.47.40.png (460.22 KiB) Viewed 9210 times

[wmburns]

This is a rather high end system and a very different direction from the low cost with best bang for the buck build.

My initial suggestion.

Spend less on memory. IMO this is too much memory for a sim PC. Also, because the MB is not a "Z" series, having Over clockable memory isn't going to be used.

Look at an M.2 PCIe Gen3 SSD. This MB supports NVMe as a boot device (UEFI). Using a SATA3 in a build like this is short sighted.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147466

Spend MORE on the graphics card. Look for a GTX970 (or GTX980) with 4GB.

Are you still looking for this to be a Linux build? There are some limitations on HD size for SteamOS. Per the SteamOS requirements the minimum HD size is 500GB.

What "other" sim hardware are you planning to use (yoke, rudder pedals, throttle, radio)?

What else do you plan to use this PC hardware for?

Which version of X-Plane do you have (DVD, digital down load, Steam)?

[FrigginGuy]

So the machine would be used for the sim primarily, and I would probably put a partition aside for various tinkering projects. I do intend to make it a nicer system and I'm willing to spend a little money on it (not that I don't want to save where I can of course ). Future-proofing is the main reason I had in mind for this.

Right now I have the DVD with the USB authenticator. My hardware is Saitek yoke, throttle quadrant, and CH Pro pedals; Logitech USB headset. I tested the DVD install with the USB auth dongle a while back and that worked ok on Ubuntu for me, as did the pedals. I have a different yoke and headset since then.

I'll adjust my configuration this weekend and get back to you.

[ewandougie]

I think XP10 generally doesn't work great under Windows, I got a Mac Pro (the big silver older one) off Ebay for XP10 (I got sick of FSX and since I use XP at work alot (I am a HFACS engineer) I wanted it here). Anyway I tried it on bootcamp Windows 7 and it would just randomly hang whenever I flew higher than 10,000ft, I then had a facepalm when I realised I could run it on OSX, deleted Windows and its far more stable on OSX and faster (like with renderring almost maxxed out, in the Flightfactor 767 or the SSG 748 (possibly the highest fidelity addons I have it chugs along at 30-40, dips into the 20s when on final to KLAX which is fair enough)

I think because its coded on OSX the Unixish OS versions (i.e OSX and Linux) probably run better, and considering that Windows can be a pain on resources as well

[Justin Lerner]

Thank you for this thread, it's very informative. When I was still in the process of acquiring the pieces for my computer I was looking really hard at Linux operating systems and desktop environments to figure out a minimalist configuration that would work well for my purposes. Unfortunately, I bit the bullet and got Windows because I also like to play games and frankly there's a lot that don't have native Linux support (surprise!). I haven't completely abandoned the idea, it's just sitting on the back burner for now.

How easy was it to install the NVIDIA drivers? Are there any snags someone should look out for in a first time install?