FM for Netbooks

I travel a lot by train and am seeing more and more of people with netbooks.

I got to thinking (whilst stuck in Chesterfield Station) that these machines can probably not run FM 2009/10 or whatever. But they would probably be fine for the earlier CM games. So SI, here's a free idea for you:

Update the database for CM97/98 (the hard part), fiddle with it so it works on a netbook (DosBox?), sell it for a fiver on download. Or a bit more with a portion going to WarChild. Result = hundreds of commuters tapping away, and probably a few converting to the full price deal.

P.S. I thought of CM97/98 because it's fast and simple, by today's standards and you could probably get through a match or two on a usual 45 minute commute.

I have an nvidia ION desktop pc that *just* runs FM2010. The interface is a bit slow at times and saving and loading takes a lot longer than my other PC but it does run.

The HP / Compaq Mini 311 and Samsung NC510 have are basically the same thing.

I think that they might be slightly less powerful but I would guess that they still run and they have a decent 6 hour battery life.

I might get a Mini 311 so if anyone is interested I will post the results when I've tested it.

Edit: I should say now that most other netbooks have the same processor as the ones I mention but do not have a graphics card so it may not run, especially 3d mode.

I had a look at those - and they seem to fall into the trend of netbooks becoming more like super small sub-notebooks. I was thinking more of kind of older netbooks with Solid State Memory, and the like.

The issue isn't only the processing power - I don't think any of the recent FMs are really suitable for a quick bash on the way home (it's part of their strength, I suppose). 97/98 was. Until you realised it was 6 am the next day, and you have to be at work in 30 minutes.

Oh, and the small issue of not having a DVD/CD drive!

I have two netbooks. Both are HP Mini's. The 1030 series. I have a solid state, 16 GB HD one for the wife when she want to just fart around on it and then the 160 GB HD for myself. I have two other laptops, one for movies, etc. and one for work. The FM series does run on these with some small modifications. I recommend you looking through these threads as I (and others) have offered opinions on how to successfully run this...especially FM09, as there is a netbook based skin for it...

I have an nvidia ION desktop pc that *just* runs FM2010. The interface is a bit slow at times and saving and loading takes a lot longer than my other PC but it does run.

The HP / Compaq Mini 311 and Samsung NC510 have are basically the same thing.

I think that they might be slightly less powerful but I would guess that they still run and they have a decent 6 hour battery life.

I might get a Mini 311 so if anyone is interested I will post the results when I've tested it.

Edit: I should say now that most other netbooks have the same processor as the ones I mention but do not have a graphics card so it may not run, especially 3d mode.

I'm thinking of getting the HP311 so I'd definately be interested in hearing how you get on

You download the software in the same way. Once you have the program loaded, go into the properties tab for the desktop icon. Look at the target line. After the executable command on the target line, type (and save) -small_screen -windowed. This will allow you to see the game on your netbook. From there, it is about setting the preferences to your liking. Some of these will not be visible to you unless you connect your netbook to an external monitor. There is a moderator who says he hopes to be able to make a skin for netbooks for fm10. He made one for fm09. Please search these forums and you will find loads of specific info.

I have an Acer Aspire One ZG5 netbook, how would that cope? 160GB storage, 1GB RAM, Windows XP, Intel Atom.

I have an Acer Aspire One ZG5 netbook, how would that cope? 160GB storage, 1GB RAM, Windows XP, Intel Atom.

It would do fine. Slow during processing...but that is to be expected. For the actual gameplay, I have turned it down to low for graphics, turned off all extras and I watch it in 2D for the gameplay and 3D for the replays. Check these threads for good info on other specifics.