Well I managed to use Linux from January through to October, but now I’m back running Windows XP, although I’ve kept Linux install just in case. The transition back to Windows is a little more bearable knowing that iPodder, Lyx and Openoffice are available for Windows as well as Cygwin for all those handy unix commands and rsync scripts I have

Anyhow, iPodder is up and running in windows with my current set of favorite feeds happily downloading in the background. I’ve been pointed to Allway Sync as a useful app for us iRiver users. The way I’m now setup is that iPodder downloads new podcasts automatically to D:\PodCasts meanwhile Allway Sync is setup to sync this folder with my iRiver (automatically when connected). I also have a smart playlist on winamp that monitors the PodCast folder.

The advantage to this setup is that I can listen to any downloaded podcasts using my PC and delete them after I’ve listened to them as normal. However podcasts are ideal for use with portable devices, and as such I just have to plug in my iRiver, give it a short time to sync and everythings ready to listen to where/whenever I want. Once I’ve done with a podcast on the iRiver I can delete it knowning the next time I sync it will also be removed from my PC in addition to new podcasts been copied over.

WinAmp playlists automatically update depending upon your prefs, or you can simply click “remove all dead files” and your lists are back in sync This isn’t ideal, but it’s a good start.

What I would like to see is an update to the RockBox firmware (or a plugin if one doesn’t exist already) to mark podcasts as “listened to” after playing them. Likewise when winamp plays a podcast it tags it as “listened to”. Then whenever you do a sync, all “listened to” files in the iRiver PodCast folder are automatically removed and the “listened to” flag transfered to the local PC versions. The local versions are left in-tact (aside from the flag) so that you have the oppertunity to archive off interesting PodCasts for the future. With the addition of an option in winamp to remove all local PodCasts that are “listened to” we’d have all bases covered

This way your portable device only contains podcasts you havn’t heard yet. Also since the iRiver supports deletion of files we can go one step further and assume that any files manually deleted on the iRiver should automatically be removed from the local pc on sync (which is already possible if you use AllSync mentioned above).

Whether something like this will ever happen, who knows. It would require rockbox and winamp to add support for a new media tag. It would also require some form of sync software that recognises the new tag, maybe a winamp plugin or iPodder extention. But it would be nice to see podcasts automatically downloaded and automatically transfered/deleted from the iRiver based on whether you’ve listened to them or not (plus automatically deleted from you pc if you manually delete them from your iRiver)

Anyhow, my current PodCast list hasn’t changed much over the past couple of month. I still listen to the daily source code and Off the hook/off the wall as well as the recent addition of pcgamers podcast. which I added today to listen to the Jay Moore interview.

Over the years I’ve played a lots and lots of flightsims, the first I remember playing in any depth was F-117 Stealth Fighter and Chuck Yeagers Advanced Flight Trainer back on the Amiga, not to mention F29 Retaliator. I remember repeated attempts at breaking the altitude and speed records in Chuck Yeagers, a great sim with great graphics, well for the time

I think the first flightsim I really played on the PC was called TFX, the graphics were a vast improvement over the Amiga, it wasn’t until Janes F/A-18 and digital integrations F/A-18E SuperHornet that the Sim was really put into simulation. You could spend hours playing around with the flight model or sitting on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier watching the intricate takeoff and landing operations take place around you.

However, most will agree that despite its dated graphics and many bugs nothing pushed the envelope more than the 1998 release of Falcon 4.0. Imagine my suprise last night to notice a review of Falcon 4 Allied Force, how I managed to avoid reading anything about this game including that it was even been developed, until shortly after its release, I’ll never know.

Although the graphics arn’t bad, they’re not really up to the same level of detail as Lock on modern air combat, but they’re certainly good enough. Where Falcon 4.0 excelled was the realism of the simulation, and Allied Forces doesn’t look like it will dissapoint.

I’ve only been playing it for a few hours doing little more than taxiing, take-offs and some basic flight maneuvers including stalls and recovery. I’ve yet to test out the difficulty level of the AI in dogfights and campaigns having yet to figure out how the radar works Fair enough you could use the “easy” flight model, and play it more like an arcade game than a sim but wheres the fun in that? Whats the point of having and reading that 700 page pdf manual if you’re not going to learn to play the game on its most accurate realism level.

Theres a nice review of the game over on SimHQ a site that I’ve cleary not been paying enough attention to over the past year or two, otherwise the development of a new Falcon 4 wouldn’t have passed under my radar.

I’m sure the depth of this flight sim will provide many months if not years of gameplay, especially if it gains as good a community following as the original Falcon 4.0 did. Anyhow, I’m off to work my way through the whopping 700 page manual (I really wish there was an option to purchase a bound/printed version as you could with LO-Mac) , so I’ll leave you with a few screenshots.

Oh, one last thing, having played battlefield 2 for just over a week now, I can honestly say it’s great fun Hopefully the next patch will resolve a few of the more irratiting gameplay elements though, such as the constant respawn killing via air attacks on your one and only starting flag. If you havn’t bought it yet, what are you waiting for, Quake4?? me too