I have a creative friend who isn't that good at technology but is very good at art and project management, who has been approached by a local nonprofit to help manage their development of their presence on "Second Life", a Virtual 3D world "created by its residents".
Second Life, online since 2003, is a Massively Multiplayer Online World, where you can set up a home, build a business, and buy real stuff (i.e., stuff which could be shipped to your physical address) using "Lindens", the unit of currency inside Second Life (currency exchanges for real U.S. Dollars to Lindens available in many locations inside Second Life). There are online amusement parks, casinos, museums, and other attractions.
Anyway, while I was helping her figure out how to upgrade her computer to the recommended specifications for Second Life (minimum specs PIII-800Mhz with 512MB RAM; recommended P4-1.5Ghz and 1GB RAM for Windows XP, P4-2Ghz and 2GB RAM for Vista), I ran across their software download section, and they have developed a Linux version (beta) of their Second Life software (specs for Linux: PIII-800Mhz, 512MB RAM; recommended P4-1.5Ghz, 1GB RAM). It was originally released in January 2007 so it has undergone considerable development since then.
What is even cooler is that their Second Life Viewer (the client-side software) is open sourced under the GPL.
http://secondlifegrid.net/programs/open_source
My ITEC DemoPC just happens to be a PIII-1Ghz with 512MB RAM and an e-Geforce FX 5200 series video card (compatible with Second Life; in fact back in 2003 they offered a $25 discount on this very card to Second Life members, http://secondlife.com/newsletter/2003_10_22_archive.php).
Makes me wonder if ITEC has wireless Internet on the Exhibitor floor...
Makes me wonder if ITEC has wireless Internet on the Exhibitor floor...
I have a Sprint aircard (on a windows laptop). In theory, it can be setup on linux (ubuntu). The connection would be reasonable, but choppy. Better than a modem, less than dsl.
Thanks,
Ron Geoffrion 913.488.7664
--- On Tue, 9/30/08, Geoffrion, Ron P [IT] [email protected] wrote:
Makes me wonder if ITEC has wireless Internet on the Exhibitor floor...
I have a Sprint aircard (on a windows laptop). In theory, it can be setup on linux (ubuntu). The connection would be reasonable, but choppy. Better than a modem, less than dsl.
Well, it would certainly work for showing people whats out there on the Internet for Linux, but "Second Life", like any MMOW, does require a steady broadband connection to look nice. On a choppy connection people would look at the shoddy quality of "Second Life" on the Linux demo PC, and assume that Linux was the problem, not the bad connection.
I vaguely recall there being a few wireless networks accessible from the Exhibitor hall. I also recall not being able to connect reliably to any of them, but maybe something has changed this year.
On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 10:31 AM, Leo Mauler [email protected] wrote:
Well, it would certainly work for showing people whats out there on the Internet for Linux, but "Second Life", like any MMOW, does require a steady broadband connection to look nice. On a choppy connection people would look at the shoddy quality of "Second Life" on the Linux demo PC, and assume that Linux was the problem, not the bad connection.
I've run SL on Linux and Vista on the same PC and the quality of what is displayed (as in textures and rendering) is vastly better on Windows. The Linux port is quite passable, but there is a very noticeable increase in detail and speed and coherency of objects on the full viewer.
Jon.
-
Geoffrion, Ron P [IT] -
Jon Pruente -
Leo Mauler