HP Envy and iMAC compatible?

[DennisRN]

I am about to receive RF Evolution with an InterLink DX controller as a gift, which will be my first flight simulator. I am trying to determine if my two computers will be compatible with the product.

HP Envy has: Windows 11; with capacity 476GB; NVIDIA GeForce MX330 dedicated graphics; Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz, 1498 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s); Installed physical RAM 12 GB; total virtual memory 13.6 GB;

My iMAC is very standard and had been erased last year and reinstalled the current software. It has, if I recall correctly: a 1TB hard drive; 16GB memory; 256GB flash storage, 4.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with AMD Radeon R9 M295X graphics processor with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.

Do I need a DVD player for this to work?

I would hate to open the package and not be able to return it if not compatible. Or does this give me a reason to purchase a new laptop? HAHA!

Thanks for help and advice!

Dennis

 

[flightengr]

The HP Envy should work fine. nVidia graphics work with no problem.

RF isn't designed to work on a Mac. You would need another program such as Parallels to create a virtual Windows-based computer within the Mac environment.

You don't need a DVD player. RealFlight Evolution is delivered though Steam, an online PC gaming store. You will need to create a Steam account if you don't have one already, and then you need to install Steam's software on your computer. The box will contain an activation code for Steam. Using the Steam software (not the Web site), you can activate that code to add RF Evo to your game library, and then Steam will proceed to install it for you. Steam manages the licensing, so you will need Internet access from this computer even after the installation.

If the box is relatively new, it should contain a USB hub. There are issues between the InterLink DX controller and computers with USB-C ports. The InterLink DX doesn't use USB-C (it's a normal USB connection), but there's some kind of communication issue between the older chips in the InterLink and the newer chips in the computer. Simply plugging in a hub solves that problem. If you plug in the InterLink DX and Windows doesn't recognize it properly (wait a minute or two first before giving up), then you need the hub. If there isn't one in the box, any inexpensive USB 2.0 or 3.0 hub will work.

 

[DennisRN]

The HP Envy should work fine. nVidia graphics work with no problem.

RF isn't designed to work on a Mac. You would need another program such as Parallels to create a virtual Windows-based computer within the Mac environment.

You don't need a DVD player. RealFlight Evolution is delivered though Steam, an online PC gaming store. You will need to create a Steam account if you don't have one already, and then you need to install Steam's software on your computer. The box will contain an activation code for Steam. Using the Steam software (not the Web site), you can activate that code to add RF Evo to your game library, and then Steam will proceed to install it for you. Steam manages the licensing, so you will need Internet access from this computer even after the installation.

If the box is relatively new, it should contain a USB hub. There are issues between the InterLink DX controller and computers with USB-C ports. The InterLink DX doesn't use USB-C (it's a normal USB connection), but there's some kind of communication issue between the older chips in the InterLink and the newer chips in the computer. Simply plugging in a hub solves that problem. If you plug in the InterLink DX and Windows doesn't recognize it properly (wait a minute or two first before giving up), then you need the hub. If there isn't one in the box, any inexpensive USB 2.0 or 3.0 hub will work.

That is a huge help and relief! Thanks for the info.

The laptop has USB hubs. Last question, is it worth trying the USB dongle as well?

Again, thanks FlightEngr.

 

[Bill Stuntz]

1) Your laptop has USB ports, not USB hubs. Many laptops have problems with the RF InterLink-DX controller if you don't plug a hub into the laptop's port and plug the interlink into the hub. It might work, and it might not without the hub.

2) I recommend using the controller that can be purchased with RF instead of trying to use your existing transmitter with a USB dongle. It just works with all the aircraft with no messing around. There are dozens (hundreds?) of "How do I get (insert a function here) to work with my transmitter & a dongle" questions & answers here. IMHO, it's more trouble than it's worth. And it's less wear & tear on your expensive transmitter. Break the controller & you can't use the sim. Break your transmitter, you can't fly any of your real aircraft.

 

[DennisRN]

1) Your laptop has USB ports, not USB hubs. Many laptops have problems with the RF InterLink-DX controller if you don't plug a hub into the laptop's port and plug the interlink into the hub. It might work, and it might not without the hub.

2) I recommend using the controller that can be purchased with RF instead of trying to use your existing transmitter with a USB dongle. It just works with all the aircraft with no messing around. There are dozens (hundreds?) of "How do I get (insert a function here) to work with my transmitter & a dongle" questions & answers here. IMHO, it's more trouble than it's worth. And it's less wear & tear on your expensive transmitter. Break the controller & you can't use the sim. Break your transmitter, you can't fly any of your real aircraft.

Thanks Bill

I misused the term. Yes, my laptop has a USB port. I am getting Real Flight with their controller.

I wasn’t sure what the dongle was for. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Bill Stuntz]

I am getting Real Flight with their controller.

I realized that after I posted. Another point about a dongle: you get only 8 channels. No matter how many channels your Tx has, the dongle only supports 8 of them. I have an InterLink-X from RF8 with 10 channels. I think the newer Interlink-DX has 16, but I'm not SURE about that - but some of the newer more complex sim aircraft require more than 8 channels to be fully functional - and my X controller will probably not be enough for some of them.

 

[DennisRN]

Good to know. This is all new to me. My first flight simulator. I’m getting this so I can get experience for flying RC planes.

I welcome all advice!