Maintenance

Written by Thomas Saturday, 20 February 2010 17:06

As you may have noticed, I had to take down the site for some maintenance today. Nothing serious, just the regular security updates and adding some enhancements (?).

Having been assaulted by hackers (or rather, script kiddies) innumerable times has made me very aware of the need of good housekeeping. The main engine of this website (Joomla) is now always updated to the latest version, including all the add-on components. Same thing with the forum (phpbb) which is always kept in vanilla state (no mods).

The major part of this website is either created or modified by me, which means that I usually know the nuts and bolts of the code and can close any security holes that inevitably turn up. However, the fully secure website lives in the same world as the free lunch and the easter bunny, and I don't believe in any of them. Well, maybe the easter bunny.

So, if you experience something odd while browsing this website, please report it to me immediately. If you want to know more about the general security policies regarding this website, please read the Privacy Policy.

Stay safe   /Tom

Sad news

Written by Thomas Sunday, 14 February 2010 20:36

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Stefan Wembrand, a good friend and an important part of this project for several years. Stefan was a Draken pilot as well as instructor at the F10 wing of the Swedish Air Force from 1975 to 2002, which makes him one of the last people to fly the 35. He was also responsible for the superstall training of the Austrian Draken pilots in the eighties, and one of the leading authorities on the subject of superstall in general.

The flight dynamics of my simulation was developed together with Stefan from 2008 and onwards. His immense knowledge of Draken aerodynamics, relentless attention to detail, and constant requests for improvement resulted in the models that you are flying today. His enthusiasm and unwavering support also kept this project alive during a period when I was actually considering to throw in the towel.

Stefan, have a good flight.

/Thomas

Hiatus

Written by Thomas Wednesday, 10 February 2010 22:42

At the moment I am forced by powers greater then me (boss, clients) to spend some time away from this project, doing grown-up stuff and generally being a bore. So please forgive me for not being able to put out a beta this month, which was my original goal. We are very near  the completion of the FSX version though. The radar app was the final missing piece, and that is definitely on its way to completion. Well, sort of. ;)

Since this project is and always has been very end-user driven, I would very much like to know what you feel is the most important features to include in the FSX release. The flight dynamics and the electrical, hydraulic and navigation systems have always been my main priority, while things like radar, ATC, animations, sounds and fx are rather crudely simulated. The canopy looks wrong? Well... who cares as long as the thing stalls at the right alpha... I think you get my point.

Anyhow, I would like to know what you feel is missing or badly implemented. The tracker is a way to suggest improvements. Another way is to post in the forum. As a last resort, PM or mail me.

/Tom

Links in tracker feeds working

Written by Thomas Sunday, 31 January 2010 08:33

The links are now working again in the bug/issue tracker feeds (in the grey area at the bottom of this page). Hovering over the titles will also display a tooltip with the task description.

[ Edited 2010-02-02: Redesigning the feeds module today, so the links may look weird. Nothing wrong with your browser, it's just me. ;)  ]

/Tom