Flight Simulator in Linux

Dedicated flight simulator build (using X-Plane 9 & 10 and whatever else I can get on here)

Cheapest list of things I could throw together.

• AMD CPU/GPU $40
• Motherboard $50
• RAM $30
• Case with 300W Power Supply $50

Total: $168 dollars shipped

1. Base install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server
2. Get video working with AMD/ATI APU
   1. XFCE Install:

      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get upgrade
      sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

   2. Install latest AMD/ATI Catalyst Driver
      1. Download from http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx
   3. Install

      wget http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.zip
      unzip amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.zip
      chmod 755 amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.run
      sudo sh amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.run

   4. Reboot now that we have AMD drivers installed
   5. XFCE did come up, but it said restricted drivers available
   6. Simply ran the AMD code again as root in X11 mode, and got windows this time
   7. Followed defaults and allowed it to do its thing
   8. Reboot (following directions)
3. Hook up yoke and throttles, etc… (many thanks to this post: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=60462&hl=saitek )
   1. Use lsusb to get the Vendor and Device ID of all the Saitek Devices
   2. Create a file so udev can set up permissions for all these devices
      1. Edit

         sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-input-joystick.rules

      2. Insert the following:

         # Saitek Pro Flight Throttles
         KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0bac", ATTRS{idVendor}=="06a3", MODE="0666"
         # Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals
         KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0763", ATTRS{idVendor}=="06a3", MODE="0666"
         # Saitek Pro Flight yoke
         KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{idProduct}=="712c", ATTRS{idVendor}=="06a3", MODE="0666"

   3. Re-Plug in all your devices
4. Get sound working (this was retarded!) I would NEVER have figured this out on my own… OMG.
   1. Thanks to this post… you just
   2. Edit your ~/.asoundrc to contain the following:

      pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave {
          pcm "hw:1,0"
        }
      }
      ctl.!default {
        type hw
        card 1
      }

   3. Load up alsamixer and unmute (use the M key) the first couple of items
   4. Save your configuration with

      sudo alsactl store 0

   5. Need to load the libopenal

      sudo apt-get install libopenal1

5. Install X-Plane
   1. Need the 32bit compatibility libraries to install, so

      sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

   2. Copy the program to your desktop (use the GUI or a command line if you like)
   3. Run the Install program!
   4. It complained about not having dedicated 128MB of VRAM
   5. Ran the AMD Catalyst driver installer again

      cd down
      sudo amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.run

   6. Rebooted again (followed all the defaults you sheeple)
   7. Ran the installer again… it didn't complain and appears to have worked!