YS FLIGHT SIMULATOR Version 20090601
Ready for Download!

YSFLIGHT for Mac OS X Status Update
I have added two more screenshots.  I am planning to release a test version in December.

Bird Photo Gallery
Uploaded "Hummingbirds gone with the summer."

Aircraft Photo Gallery
Uploaded photos from Hill Aerospace Museum.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Upgrading my Flight Recorder."

Planet Attacker 2009 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
Planet Attacker 2009 is available for download.  I made this game looooong time back, in 1991, for a Japanese PC called FM-TOWNS.  I ported it to Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.  It is a simple 3D shooting game.  The goal of the game is just to shoot down all enemy fighters and ground objects.  The game is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Two More Screenshots of YSFLIGHT for Mac OS X
I've enabled mouse-as-joystick.  I flew left-traffic runway 28 from Misawa air base for testing.  Also, I enabled ground texture.  I have a lot more to do like, sub-windows, sound effect, saving configurations in user directory, etc.  But, I'm making progress.

Two Screenshots from YSFLIGHT for Mac OS X
I finally was able to run YSFLIGHT on Mac OS X!  At this time I can run only auto-demos and can use menus and dialogs.  I need to do some more programming to controll an airplane.  Nonetheless, it was a big step forward, I think.

YSFLIGHT Tested on Windows 7
A few PCs in my lab finally had Windows 7 installed, and I tested YSFLIGHT on one of those PCs.  I haven't tested all the functionalities, but I didn't experience any problem.  I believe YSFLIGHT is compatible with Windows 7.

OpenGL was substantially slow.  I didn't figure if it was specific to the PC on which I tested, or if Microsoft deliberately slowed OpenGL in order to promote Direct 3D.  Maybe it is the latter case.  I will not be surprised if Microsoft does such a trick.

But, what bothered me the most was the Start menu.  In Windows Vista, I was able to choose "Classic Start Menu."  But, no such thing seemed to exist in Windows 7.

In my PC, I can start, for example, Internet Explorer by Windows key -> P -> I, just 3 strokes.  I can start Paint Shop Pro by Windows key -> P -> J -> Enter, just 4 strokes.  Windows key -> A -> C -> Enter opens my development-ready command prompt.  I can start almost all programs without moving my hand away from the home position. 

In Windows 7, if I want to start Internet Explorer from the Start menu, I need to go through:

1. Windows key
2. Up arrow key (My right hand moves to the right from the home position)
3. Enter (My right hand comes back to the home position)
4. Up arrow key (My right hand moves to the right from the home position again)
5. I (My right hand comes back to the home position)
6. Enter

these 6 strokes.  The more problem than the number of strokes is that my hand needs to go back and forth between the home position and the arrow keys twice.  Maybe using mouse is better than going through these 6 strokes.  If you are using a PC not for work, it may be acceptable.  But, since I need to use my PC for work, this inefficiency is unacceptable.  The workaround can be creating shortcut icons of the frequently-using programs on the desktop and assigning shortcut keys to all of them.  I am sure it will clatter the desktop.

That "Search" box is evil.  Due to the Search box, I need to press up-arrow key once.  I was not able to find a way to destroy that Search box.  I found a freeware called CSMenu that gives a similar functionality as the classic start menu.  But, Windows 7's inability to customize such a basic setting is a shortcoming of Windows 7.

In fact, I wonder who benefits from this evil Search box.  I don't think a novice user can find a program by typing an appropriate keyword in the Search box.  If the user can imagine an appropriate keyword, he/she is no longer a novice.  An expert user should be able to find a document or a program without relying on such a "Search" box.  Therefore, I conclude that the Search box is as useless (and bothering) as Clippy.  The infamous Clippy bothered only when I was using Microsoft Office, but this "Search" box bothers me whenever I start a program from the Start menu.

Seriously, I would like to continue using Windows XP as long as possible.  I was more than sure that I didn't want to switch to Vista, and now I am almost sure I will hate Windows 7 as well.  I suppose soon many hardware manufacturer will stop providing drivers for XP.  When my PC breaks down, I may have to give up Windows XP.  My PC is already more than five years old and may crash any time.  I may switch my main environment to Linux or Mac then.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Flying over Salt Lake!"

Flying over Salt Lake!
My presentation went well.  In fact, I usually enjoy presenting my work.  If you are like me, you are a good candidate to be a researcher.

So, my duty in the conference was over, and I skipped the afternoon session and went for flying.  I rented an airplane from Air Center of Salt Lake.  People were nice.  I'm going to give a best review score in some aviation-related web site.  It was windy.  Wind was 160 at 18 gusting 24.  But, it was almost parallel to the runway.  I was able to take it.  10 miles visibility and clear below 10000ft, temperature 10, dew point -7, altimeter 3013.  Nice flying condition.

I took off and flew over Salt Lake.  I saw a lot of salt below.  Actually, there was a salt plant there.  I wondered around just to get some table salt yesterday.  And, today I saw more than enough salt underneath!  It was a fun flight.  I will upload more details when I am back to Pittsburgh.

Salt plant near the center of the picture.

CaptainYS in Salt Lake City
I'm staying in Salt Lake City for 18th International Meshing Roundtable.  I have arrived about noon and visited Hill Aerospace Museum in the afternoon. 

Hill Aerospace Museum.  I'm going to upload photos when I am back to Pittsburgh.

Then, in the evening, I went out to buy some cooking salt.  I have a problem in my tooth, and I talked with my dentist.  However, my dentist didn't find any cavity.  Instead, he sent me to a root specialist for further check up.  And, the root specialist didn't find any problem.  So, two dentists found no problem, but the tooth irritates me.  It doesn't hurt though.  So, I was following my primary dentist's suggestion: frequently mouse washing with salt water.  I could have carried some cooking salt from home, but in case TSA examiner wanted to see inside my suit case, and found salt, which is a white powder, I may be taken to a different room for further investigation.  My airplane from Pittsburgh, was early morning, and if I were taken to a different room, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have made it.  So, because I have a rental car here, I thought I was going to buy small amount here.  However, virtually all convenience stores and drug stores near my hotel was closed on Sunday.  There was a mall called Gateway Mall in downtown.  I drove there, and I found no drug store there.  I drove farther south along I-15, and finally found Walmart.  But, I had to drive pretty far after I saw Walmart sign before I was able to exit the freeway.  I drove back on a local road for five minutes or so, and finally I was able to buy some salt.  What's the hell I was doing after coming all the way to Salt Lake City!  Well, although I don't know I would ever use it in the future, I marked the location of the Walmart in my GPS.

Speaking of GPS, in the airplane from Pittsburgh (I was flying as a passenger this time), I tried if my aviation GPS was able to tell the location from the passenger cabin.  I was sitting on the window side, and it worked if I hold it close to the window!  So, I was watching the flight path of my airplane on my GPS, and since I was flying United Airlines this time, I could also hear the ATC communications on channel 9.  I was copying (writing down) ATC instructions for my airplane.  So, I was able to do a little bit of IFR training.

My presentation will be tomorrow morning, and I'll leave the conference in the afternoon and fly from Salt Lake City 2 - South Valley Airport (U42) located south of Salt Lake City.  Of course, I asked an instructor to fly with me because I am not familiar with this air space.

Sixth Anniversary of Concorde's Final Commercial Flight
Six years has passed since Concorde made final commercial flight on October 24, 2003.  On the day of the final commercial flight, I was on the Heathrow airport near the approach end of runway 27R taking pictures of the three consecutive landings of Concordes.  I witnessed the moment that the most beautiful airplane ceased flying for passengers.

In 2003, I made three trips to London just to take photos of Concordes.  In one of them, I really went back and forth between Heathrow and the hotel, nowhere else.  I have already uploaded pictures from my August trip.  But, I haven't uploaded pictures from the last trip, pictures from the last commercial flights of Concordes.  I've been thinking to upload them, but haven't done so.  I should upload them soon.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Amelia Earhart and Butler County Airport."  Apparently, I was taking off and land at the airport where Amelia Earhart had her instrument training prior to her solo cross-Atlantic flight.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Flying over Red Carpet".

Red (and yellow) carpet.	I saw this P-51 at Allegheny County airport when I came back from an instrument training.

Mac OS X Programming for Minimalists
Added "Joystick Reader and Calibrator."

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "First Solo in 4 monhts."

Sword Edge for Mac OS X and for Linux updated
There was a problem that the program crashed during the ending message.  The problem has been fixed in the current version.  If you have downloaded the previous version, please download the latest version from here.

Actually, I am also porting another game that I wrote 17 years ago.  In this, I was able to stabilize my joystick reader for Mac OS X.  After I release this one, I will start porting YSFLIGHT to Mac OS X.

Mac OS X Programming for Minimalists
Started.

Sword Edge for Mac OS X and Linux
Sword Edge for Mac OS X and Linux are available for download.  It is an action game program that I made already 16 years ago.  I ported it to Windows in 2005, and then I ported it to Mac OS X and Linux recently.  I think you can enjoy this game when you need to waste 30 minutes or so.  If you like retro-games, you must be able to enjoy it.

Day two of G-20
I was working at CMU as usual while dignitaries were in session in the downtown convention center.  Bigger news for me was that Japanese prime minister threw a pitch in the game-opening ceremony of Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game.

Around 6:40pm, Japanese prime minister and his wife appeared in Pirates dug out.  And, I guess it was around 6:50pm, he walked up to the pitcher's mound.  I was taking his photo with my 500mm telephoto when he threw the ball and I couldn't see where the ball had gone.  But, according to my wife, the ball didn't reach the catcher before bouncing on the ground.

We were somewhat tired, so we left the game after bottom of second.  And we saw the prime minister's motorcade parked outside the ball park.  The prime minister apparently had time to watch the ball game.  The secret service didn't ask us to leave.  So, we waited beside the motorcade.  Around 8:40pm, the prime minister, his wife, staffs, and secret service came out of the ball game and rushed to the cars.  The motorcade immediately left there.  I suppose they headed to the Pittsburgh International airport where Japanese governmental airplane was waiting.  Oh, I should have carried my air-band radio to listen to their ATC communication.

Pennsylvania State Police's N175P.  General Aviation Serves America!	The Japanese prime minister and his wife.
The prime minister heading to the pitcher's mound.	His pitching.
The motorcade.

First day of G-20@Pittsburgh
I went to work early this morning, and then headed to downtown Marriott hotel to serve as a volunteer.  Marriott hotel was use mainly by press and not used by diplomats.  I met with some media people from Japan.  One of them had a problem connecting his laptop to the internet from his room, and I visited his room with the hotel maintenance person to try to get his laptop connected, but the problem apparently was in the wall connector or something beyond that, and I was not able to solve the problem.

Most delegations are staying in Westin, which seemed to be a lot more chaotic.  Some volunteers were not pass the security check points and had to turned back.  There apparently was clash between protestors and police.  But, the city appeared to be well under control.

When I came back home and turned the TV on, I saw Japanese government's B747 parked at the Pittsburgh International airport.  I saw that airplane at Tokyo International airport long time back.  It was a strange feeling because I had never imagined that Japanese government's airplane was going to land at Pittsburgh International.  I wanted to take photos of its landing.

I saw a single-engine airplane circling over downtown Pittsburgh.  I took a picture from my apartment.  The tail number was N1287G.  This airplane belongs to Pennsylvania State police.  It should have been acting as a airborne surveillance and control station, just like OA-10A does.  General Aviation Serves America!

Pittsburgh Welcomes the World!  A banner nearby downtown Marriott hotel.	State Police N1287G.  General Aviation Serves America!

The night before G-20 Summit
It is a big year for Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl, and Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley cup.  And, Pittsburgh was selected to be a host city of the G-20 summit.

Most of the events will take place in the downtown, and the security was not so tight around Carnegie Mellon University campus today.  I came to my office as usual and gave a lecture as scheduled.  But, tomorrow afternoon, the entire campus will be vacated because the G-20 summit dinner will be held at the Phipps Conservatory, next to the campus.  I will go to Marriott hotel in downtown as a volunteer tomorrow afternoon.  And, I will go to Pittsburgh Pirates game to see Japanese prime minister throw the first pitch during the game-opening ceremony.  As an airplane fan, I wanted to take a picture of Japanese government's airplane landing at Pittsburgh International airport.  But, probably I will be arrested if I walk near the airport with my 500mm telephoto.  So, I will stay away.

I will post if I see anything interesting.

By the way, Sword Edge was offline for a while, but I made it back online again.  I'll add Sword Edge for Linux and Sword Edge for MacOS X soon.

Phipps Conservatory next to CMU campus.  I took this picture yesterday.  G-20 summit dinner will be held there tomorrow night (Click to enlarge).

Drawing a String of Characters using OpenGL (Bitmap Version)
I have uploaded C source code for drawing a string of characters using OpenGL bitmap.  It can be used in different platforms, and a simple function call is required to set up font.  If you are having a problem in text drawing using OpenGL, you can try this one.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "300 Flying Hour".

Close Encounter with Mac Programming
Don't be so quick.  I need to learn a lot more before I am able to port YSFLIGHT to Mac.  But, I'm learning Mac programming now little by little.  First thing that shocked me was it is mainly based on Objective-C, which is to me a dead language.  But, I'm getting a small step at a time.  My experience may be useful for someone who is learning Mac programming, especially who is used to Windows and Linux and wants to learn Mac programming.  So, I will occasionally post my progress here.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Piper Warrior."

By the way, following are the pictures from a thunderstorm struck Pittsburgh area on 8/20.

Airplane Photo Gallery
I have uploaded photos from Youngstown Air Show.

By the way, I am going to teach a programming course in Mechanical Engineering department.  I have been very busy for preparation (I had to do it on top of other regular tasks.)  This time, I'm a co-instructor, like a trainee.  It will be a busy semester for me.  Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to this opportunity.

Bird Photo Gallery
I have uploaded recent photos.  I finally took a picture of a Hummingbird!

Airplane Photo Gallery
I have uploaded photos from Dayton Air Show.

YSFLIGHT Linux Executable for Ubuntu
Since I released new version of YSFLIGHT, I have received numerous report that YSFLIGHT crashed with Segmentation Fault.  I had been compiling YSFLIGHT for Linux with Cent OS 5, but the binary for Cent OS 5 apparently is not compatible with Ubuntu.  Ubuntu (Debian descendant) seems to be more popular than Cent OS (or Red Hat descendant), so I decided to switch to Ubuntu.  I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my PC, compiled and briefly tested YSFLIGHT.  You can download the new binary now.  So, if you are using Ubuntu Linux and are having problem with the current version of YSFLIGHT for Linux, please download and try the new binary.

YSFLIGHT receives Editors' Choice Award from PCFreunde.de
http://www.pcfreunde.de/ is a popular German software-download site.  I'm honored!  It was a happy surprise to me :-)

By the way, I have received numerous report that the latest version of YSFLIGHT for Linux does not run on recent versions of Ubuntu.  I have been using CentOS 5 for compiling YSFLIGHT, but maybe it's time to switch to recent version of Ubuntu.  So, I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my PC.  I confirmed the crash, and after compiling exactly the same source code, I was able to run YSFLIGHT with no problem.  I am going to upload the executable compiled on Ubuntu 8.04 here after some testing in a few days.

YSFLIGHT Scenery Editor 20090611 Version Ready for Download!
The new version can utilize new features available in YSFLIGHT 20090601 version.

The Japanese freeware/shareware hosting site, Vector.co.jp, is holding a popularity-vote competition.  If you can read Japanese on your browser, could you give your vote to YSFLIGHT?

To vote for YSFLIGHT, please open the following URL,

http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/win95/game/se121250.html

then click vote button, which will open up ballot window.  Then click vote button again on the ballot window to confirm your vote.

Thank you for your vote!

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
I have passed Commercial-Pilot Knowledge Test!  I am another one step closer to my commercial certificate!

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
Uploaded "Aerial-Photography Mission II."

YS FLIGHT SIMULATOR Version 20090601 Ready for Download!
It's ready for download!  I sincerely thank all of you helped me debugging the test version!

Also, Japanese Language Pack is available now.  You can look at the content of the language pack and easily customize your menus and dialogs of YSFLIGHT.  And, if you make your own language pack or customized menu/dialog pack, I encourage you to upload to your web site so that other people can benefit from your work.

By the way, it is the 10th anniversary version.  I may make a 10th anniversary banner or something to commemorate 10 years of YSFLIGHT.

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage you to visit the following web site - "General Aviation Serves America".

http://www.gaservesamerica.com/

As a private pilot, I 100% agree with what Harrison Ford says in the movie.

No Plane, No Gain
"Savannah Morning News."  Well said!  Please see also "General Aviation Serves America!"

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
Uploaded "Time for Departure"

YSFLIGHT Celebrates 10th Anniversary!!

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"One step closer to the commercial pilot certificate" has been added.

YSFLIGHT TEST VERSION
Starting a new test phase.  Thank you very much for helping me debugging.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"Aerial Photography Mission" has been added.

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
Uploaded "Baby Robin in a Traffic Light."

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
"Robin in a Traffic Light" has been added.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"Nice Cross-Wind Landing (Almost)" has been added.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"Commercial Training #1" has been added.

YS FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Two screenshots from the coming version has been added.

By the way, I finished the spring season of my bowling league with average of 178, two points short of my goal.  Nonetheless, 178 was way better than my last season average, and my 3-game total, 638, stayed at the 3rd place of year-to-date ranking.  It was a good season, and the next season will start May 9th.

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
Pictures of a Cardinal and Dark Eyed Junco has been added.

YS FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Two screenshots has been added.  These features will be in the next version.  The bad economy gives hell of the tasks, and I haven't been able to spend as much time as I wanted to spend for YSFLIGHT development.  But, it's still on.  I'm working on it.

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
"Revenge!" has been added.  This time, I was able to get nice pictures of Cardinals.

Birds (and Animals) around Carnegie Mellon.
"Birds are smarter than they look" has been added.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"Landing into Black Hole" has been added.

CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.
"Flying in the Super-Bowl night" has been added.

It turned out, our bowling team won the play-off game in the last season.  I didn't know that until last week.  The thing was, since I was not able to be in the play off (because I was in Japan), I rolled-off, meaning that I pre-bowled six games and left my score to be used in the tournament.  I haven't received any E-Mails regarding the result since then, I was assuming our team had lost.  But, one of the team mates was keeping my trophy and prize money, and gave it to me last Saturday.  That was a surprise.

I have been bowling in a league organized by a local bowling alley, which is just 5-minute walk from my apartment.  It's more like a recreational league than a professional or semi-professional league.  I've been bowling for years, and I suppose I am an above-average bowler.  I got 170 average in the summer 2008 season, and 164 in the fall 2008 season.  I was in a slump for a while during fall 2008 season, so the average was not so high.

In the first game of this winter season, I got 183-233-222, which was my career-high of 3-game total.  Maybe I was in a good mood because I found our team won the play-off game.  For the short time until next game, my season average stays above 200.  The bowling alley made the score board accessible on the Internet (http://www.forwardlanes.net/yalstandings.html.)  It doesn't seem to be showing the score from the last weekend yet though.  It should be updated in a few days.

"First Flight of the Year" has been added in CaptainYS's Flight Log Book.

"Japan Tour of an Airplane Fan" has been added in Airplane Photo Gallery.

Below photos are taken from my apartment.  A-10s flying over Pittsburgh.  These A-10s were standing by for fly-by for the NFL Football game opening (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. San Diego Chargers).

Happy New Year!

Click here for 2008 articles.

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