Orbiter on a laptop

[Hoggorm]

Hi,

I tried Orbiter in 2006, but sadly had little time to use the sim. Now I'm back for a second try.

How will Orbiter work on a laptop? I own a Logitech Joystick, but no numpad...

Can I somewhere find a Keyboard layout that will work on a laptop?

I am for now especially interested in the "Enable/Disable RCS" combination that I can use on a laptop as I believe I can use the joystick for most of the other controls.

Thanks for the help!

 

[RisingFury]

In Orbiter root directory, you will find keymap.cfg, You can edit it with any text editor.

Also, you could download Fly-by-wire:
http://www.orbithangar.com/advsearc...uthor=default&category=default&subcat=default

 

[BenSisko]

It works great. I've run the various iterations of Orbiter since 2002 on laptops with no problem. You'll need a fast processor and a robust video card so you're looking at gaming laptop (not cheap).

Ben

 

[Woo482]

my laptop ran it fine before I got Windows Vista on it (it's built for Windows XP)

 

[CigDriver]

The laptop I use for testing is a 1.8GHz with 1G Ram and a built in video card. It was one I purchased so my wife could check email. Orbiter works fine on it (after the 1G RAM upgrade, it was 256M and barely ran windows). I get around 30 fps with the shuttle fleet.

 

[Hoggorm]

Thank you all for quick replies! I have a high end laptop so it should not be any problems. I was more concerned regarding the keyboard layout. In the manual it seems like you need a regular keyboard.

RisinFury - I would like to try using the key to the left of the backspace. In the manual it is shown as the = key. How can I change this in the keymap.cfg? What should I call it?


-----Post Added-----


Also, one more question...
I see that my screen "flickers" quite a bit. It seems like the screen turns bright white for a fraction of a second once every now and then.

I have an nVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video card with the latest drivers as I can see...

Can it be something in the settings that I should try to change?

Thanks again,

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I was more concerned regarding the keyboard layout. In the manual it seems like you need a regular keyboard.

I've always used a laptop with Orbiter. I think you are looking for the numpad on your laptop? On my laptop, <Fn> F11 toggles a numpad that is embedded in the QWERTY keyboard (in my case, U is the numpad '4' key, I is the numpad '5' key, etc..). Look carefully at the keys on your keyboard, you should see a bunch of keys with small numbers also written on them that indicate the numpad. Your particular laptop may have a different means of activating the embedded numpad, some function key combination is likely.

The only wrinkle is that you need to learn to toggle the keyboards with the <Fn> (e.g. if you really need to type the character 'U' which shares the numpad charachter '4'). This becomes second nature with some practice, it's really not hard.

Another alternative - you can get a cheap plug-in USB numpad for Orbiter, which eliminates the problem at a stroke (though at some small detriment to your cash).

Hope this helps.

[EDIT] On my laptop, pressing the <Fn> causes the appropriate numpad function key (F11) to light up. This might help you.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

I really recommend you get an external USB numpad for laptop use. I use one on mine and notice no difference between using my desktop at home and laptop.

 

[Bj]

One thing you have to watch out for while using the [Fn] key is remember to let go when you want to press F1.

I did that a few times, and that was really annoying.

Overall, as long as your willing to buy something, I would recommended a joystick over the num-pad. Much easier and you can control thrusts with a little more fine tuning.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Oh yes, I've been very tempted to disable hibernation due to that. But I never have to use FN very often though as I press the numlock key once whenever I need spacecraft controls and then off again when not needed.

 

[Hoggorm]

Thank you all for good replies. I own a joystick so I'll se how everything work with that before I eventually invest in a USB numpad.

I found a way of using the "Fn" for the RCS commands, thank you!

I'll surely be back for more questions later, hoping for just as good answers.

Best regards,

 

[unknown_orbiter]

While this thread is a day old, I feel compelled to opine you...
I am running Orbiter on an HP Pavilion dv9000 Laptop that comes equipped with a numpad. If you are going to use Orbiter on an LT then I strongly suggest either:
- Making sure you have a configurable joypad
- Just having a numpad built in **
**: There are also some USB numpads that can be plugged into laptops.

 

[fost]

Hi
I use this keyboard layout and it works with most of orbiter vessels, try it

Regards

 

[ar81]

Try [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2848"]Keybinder Wizard 1.0[/ame]

 

[Hoggorm]

Ah! Very good ar81. Thanks!

 

[tgep]

Question:
Can you include control strokes from MFDs into the Keymap ? I would like to add LeftShift-J for the attachment release function instead of using the Release-Shift MFD.

I'm unsure if this will interfear with Orbiters function.

 

[Shadow Addict]

I sometimes run Orbiter on a fairly crappy laptop (1.20GHz Core 2, 1.75GB memory, bad Radeon mobile GPU). I have to turn the resolution down if I don't want it to be choppy (usually to 800x600) but other than the graphics it runs fine.