GNU/Linux Aviation HOWTO (2006)

In practice most pilots use an iPad app for flight planning and navigation. No technical reason why open source hardware/software could be used for that if it had good UX (which is pretty uncommon in the Linux desktop space)

Do you have a reference for the G1000 running Linux? Thanks.

I would love to have something like this accessible and hackable just for my simming.

The new octavia device looks really nice but it is pricey for what it is.

Not really. It’s a very complicated, highly sophisticated piece of software written for native iOS. And the market is small. By rewriting it for Android, the only market share they could expect to get would be what they can steal from Garmin’s Android install base - which the Play store notes as “100K+” downloads. And we haven’t begun to consider the explosion of the hardware/software testing matrix.

Since FlightGear only comes with one aircraft by default, here are some suggestions for very high-quality aircraft to download:

- TL96. Great little ultralight which will get blown around with the slightest gust (be careful on approach!)

- Piper J-3 Cub. Lots of things to customize on this one, with 'no doors' being an option for those who like the view!

- Cessna 182. Just as good as the default 172 but with some more horsepower.

- Piper PA28. Basically as good as the C172 and C182, but with a low wing to distinguish its performance (it has a tendency to roll into the turn).

- Cessna 337G. Really fun to listen to!

- Lockheed Super Constellation. Beautiful late-50s propeller airliner. The autopilot is touchy, the landing speed envelope is small and the engines are wont to burst into flames, but it's so rewarding to get it right!

- Cessna 208B. One of my favourites - turboprop, high-wing, lots of cargo space. You can fly FedEx up and down California in style with this one :)

- Boeing 707. Very fast early jetliner which is a pleasure to fly. The flight engineer's panel is well simulated.

- Tupolev TU-154b. Amazingly detailed, just like the 707 is. Hope you can read Russian ;)

- McDonnell Douglas MD-11. There are two variants of this available for download, so make sure to get the one with the higher rating. The simulation has some weird glitches but it's a good aircraft overall.

- Boeing 777. Strong contender if you like the 'heavy iron'.

- Airbus A320. Excellently simulated, probably the best there is for FlightGear. Almost every switch and button works exactly as described in the real-life manual. Trust me, I have the real-life manual and I've tried :)

Thanks, I'd love to use it but my graphics card wouldn't be happy :/

On the combat side the top games are War Thunder (which I don't recommend due to it's microtransaction model), DCS World (flawed and expensive but still fun), IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad (good WW2 game) and Falcon BMS (excellent, but focused on the F-16 and has a small community)