Elite PCATD flight simulator on an old Mac...

[Louis]

Hello,

I've recently been asked to help out a former employer with a Macintosh-related problem. Experience-wise I'm much more of a PC guy, but I'm interested in tackling this one.

I'll post more details in January once I get to poke around the system, but I figured I'd start a thread here in the meantime as I begin researching into possible solutions.

It's a flight school that runs an old Mac version of the Elite flight simulator program. (I think the software is version 5.) This is in combination with hardware yokes, rudders, switches and screens for the pilots inside a cockpit-style box.

I'm not sure what Mac model we're talking about yet. But it's began freezing occasionally, which reportedly never happened in the past 10-15+ years.

The simpler, and cheaper, the solution the better. I'm guessing some replacement used Mac hardware will do the trick, but emulation with readily available COTS x86 hardware, if it can be pulled off, would have its advantages too.

Either way I figure that other posters here might have a pointer or two.

Regards,

Louis

[Cat_7]

Hi,

Welcome! Seems like an interesting project. The peripherals you mention all connect to the Mac, perhaps through the serial port. It will be real challenge to get that working through an emulated Mac on a Windows/Linux system.

Best,
Cat_7

[24bit]

If the vintage Mac is only freezing occasionally it might be possible to fix it.
If you get hold of it, check that cpu isn´t cluttered with dust, PRAM battery is good and take a close look if there are leaking capacitors.
A solution for the Mac might be available over at 68kmla.

Are the original flight simulator installer media still availabe or is it possible to clone the drive with DiskCopy?

[Louis]

I had a closer look at the system. Took some pictures as well.

So this is a Power Macintosh 7200/120. I've spoken to the owner, he said it freezes occasionally, as if someone had hit the "Freeze" button, with the screens remaining on.

Now, there is an actual "Freeze" button used to pause the simulation, so I asked if the mouse and instructor station still worked but he was working on second hand info and that detail wasn't clear.

Thanks for the info. This is indeed an interesting project, but being a commercial endeavor it has to remain viable as well.

I also ran a Disk First Aid test and the hard drive was reported as OK, so I don't think that's our problem here.

Will try to apply 24bit's suggestions. I also asked and the installation floppies are still available.

Regards,

Louis

[24bit]

Really interesting pictures!
Looking at the heaps of dedicated hardware, I doubt it will ever be possible to run the software in emulation.
It should be possible however, to make use of another PCI vintage Mac with a 601 or 604 cpu up to the 9500.
This excludes the 6100 as it is Nubus.
How much free RAM is left with the flight simulator up and running?
I would take out the RAM and re-install it afterwards. If you have unused RAM under operating conditions, you might try to run with three bricks only, to check if one is the culprit.
Try the PCI card from the left-most slot in another slot too.
For the HDD, I would run NU6 from here: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/norton-utilities-6
Best retart the Mac holding "c", thus it will boot from CD ROM.
The Mac´s desktop file should be rebuilt too. TTP will do that for you among other things: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/techtool-pro-25