Janes 688(i) on a netbook
 

Hi Everyone, Im just wanting to get back into subsims. My first and favorite is Janes 688i and I have just ordered an atom tablet so I can sit in front of the tv browse the web and thought i could also be playing a subsim

The tablet is running XP and I have an external CD drive I can use from work to install Janes 688i but is there a No CD patch available. I had a hunt on the board but just infor about Sub Command comes up and I know the CD isnt needed on that after the 1.08 patch. I also have that but am not too sure how it will run on a 1.33ghz atom powered PC with onboard graphics. Screen rez aint that high either.

Any ideas how I can get 688i to run without a CD?

Cheers :)

Pretty quiet in here or is everyone just running silent?

Hey grover.

You could use a Virtual Drive program, like PowerISO or VirtualDrive Pro 11.8.

http://www.poweriso.com/

http://www.farstone.com/software/virtualdrive-pro.htm

These programs allow you to make a virtual copy of the a disk so you don't aft to have the disk in the drive. :rock: I've got both of these programs and I would recommend them to anyone. :yeah:

The other thing you could do is buy a steam copy of Janes 688i.

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/199/

Another idea is buy a External DVD/CDROM Drive, which might be the best thing to buy, because your going to have the same problem again I would guess with other programs you might have. :salute:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...HNQZXJQYWdlPSY=

Thanks mate. Yeah I have an external DVD drive but dont want to have to carry it around while playing. I just brurnt an image using Nero which i can mount with Daemon tools so that saves me a little bit of money on poweriso but good idea.

The notebook only has 32gig of ram on board but its not like 688i came on a dvd so i can live with the loss of hd space.
What im most keen on is checking the touch screen capabilities. I think they will be cool with 688i.

Thanks for the ideas :)

Well a bit of a bummer, the tablet isnt getting here till next month. But that means I can put it off until September / october and get the Archos 9
http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9/index.html

I think it wud be great for something like 688i as well as browsing the net and reading books / comics

I also purchased 688i on steam so I can install and not have to wory about disks / isos etc.

Hello grover.

That new Archos 9 toy looks great, :rock: when you do get it would you let me know what the A9 is like please. :up:

Good idea getting the Steam version of 688i, I bought the Classic Naval Combat Pack a few years ago, save messing about with disks. :salute:

Will do. Actually getting 688 through steam was a bonus. I actually just bought Sub Command as I couldnt find my disks but seems 688i and Fleet Command came as well.
Loved fleet command but i cant get it to play properly on a Vista or Windows 7 pc. I might have to try via steam though to see if they ahve something that solves that.

As soon as I decide on a platform, i'll post some pictures of getting it on

Hello grover.

Sorry for the late reply I've been a bit busy.

Cool niceone thats great, :rock: I've got the same pack from Steam. :cool:

Went you say I can't get FC to play properly on Vista & W7 how do you mean whats happening? :salute:

Hey FC. Fleet Command frames are really slow under vista or win7. Dont know why, heaps of grunt so figured it doesnt like the hardware or something.

I didnt end up getting the PC tablet I wanted (Viliv x70) but I have (through work) got an Intel Classmate tablet to use/try/test
This is an atom 1.6, 1gb ram, 8.9" screen jobbie with a swivel touch screen and accelerometer and is pretty cool. the units we have have a 6 cell battery too which makes them a bit more awkward to hold, and a little heavy but otherwise its a great little machine

So it took a while to get all the drivers working since i had been playing with windows 7, but without a bunch of win7 drivers, XP is the only option.
Last night I put steam on and installed 688i
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/001.JPG

Heres the ship control station.
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/002.JPG

The accelerometer will flip the screen the right way up when in tablet mode. Cool, but useless in portrait mode
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/003.JPG

http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/004.JPG

Because its set up for handwriting, its best to use a stylus or fingernail. You have to press quite hard if using finger presses.
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/005.JPG

Draging around waypoints for the tomahawks was easy enough.
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/007.JPG

To enter waypoints manually, the default writing input software came up. Its not perfect and you have to be fairly neat with your writing, but it did work.
http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/008.JPG

http://www.atomik.co.nz/grover/010.JPG


Conclusion? ive only really just started playing. Have completed a single mission, just did an easy one with the downed pilot so I dont know what it would be like under a heavy work load. i think it would be slow. Having an onscreen keyboard I though would be a benefit, especially if you have a full tablet and no access to a physical keyboard.

Generally the use of a stylus is pretty cool, but it may be a novelty. One thing is tho, not being able to right click easily, when changing course, depth, speed etc, if you want to go from 8knots to 5 knots, you have to cycle up all the way through the range, eg, 9, 0, 1, 2 etc. Its not too much of a hassle but could be under a heavy work load.

For Janes 688i though, the screen res is great. It does stretch the screen (1024x600) but it doesnt look too weird and its easy to forget.
It may be a bit harder to do things in places, but generally, for the benefi of being able to sit in front of the TV and play a game with it on your lap, its brilliant. Having something thinner with a decent pop up keyboard would be better, but this will do until I win lotto and can afford an Archos 9. :)

doh, pics should work now. They worked when i put them in, but then stopped working???

Wow, that's interesting. It gives an idea of what DW might be like on a fully fledge touchscreen tablet. (Not that I can afford that right now :03: )

Using fingers or a stylus enhances the realism compared to a touchpad/mouse. (IMO)

At work we also have 32" LCDs mounted flat which have touch panel overlays over them. Would be awesome for fleet command.

Hey grover.

Sorry for the very late reply I've busy. :cry:

Are you using a Nvidia GPU? :salute:

Hey grover.

Looks like you have got a cool little machine their niceone. :rock::rock::rock:
Have you tried Fleet Command on your new toy? :salute: