Virtual World Client Software Developer ~ Kokua : Releases First Open Sim Specific Viewer

By Avatar JayR Cela

     The Kokua Viewer, a virtual world client software program has a new viewer being specifically developed for Open Sim and it's counterpart(s) VW Server projects. Although you can still use this new software fork to enter SecondLife, I'm not sure why you would want to.

 

 
    As stated in their Blog post announcing the new release, developer NickyP hint's that although based on the current Linden Lab SecondLife viewer 3.7.8.x, some features have been cherry picked while others specifically intended to compliment recent enhancements relative to new SL server features are intentionally being left out of the picture for this, and future releases.

    I had a chance to briefly take Kokua 3.7.81.x for a test run, and although you will probably have to take a more indepth look around than myself to uncover any noticeable differences between it and it's SL intended counterpart 3.7.8.x I found it to work flawlessly for accessing a large number of preset Open Sim grid login location options, and with the supplied Grid Manager being extremely easy to use, adding additional grids for exploration is straight forward and simple, probably the best implementation I have seen yet.

    Another welcome feature I personally appreciate is the old keystroke macro Ctrl+Alt+F1 used in most all TPV's and the Labs own SL viewer to hide HUD's and the User Interface has been enhanced with the additional choice of Ctrl+Shift+U instead. If you are a Linux user I am sure this one feature alone could be worth either making a switch in your choice of prefered client software, or at least giving it a test run for the money.

    Ctrl+Alt+F1 in the Linux world of Desktop Environment's ( GUI's  all versions ) is an exit key combo ( macro or key binding shortcut ) for leaving your Graphical User X-screen Interface behind, giving you a straight Full Screen Command Line terminal generally used for troubleshooting purposes. Ctrl+Alt+U as an option is very nice touch and long overdue improvement in my mind. There are other little extra things unique to this viewer making it a great choice for Open Sim exploration. Available for Linux, Mac and Windows, you can read more about it here and grab a download while your at it.
 http://blog.kokuaviewer.org/2014/11/18/opensim-branch-release-kokua-3-7-81-33408/

JayR Cela :_)

Virtual Worlds : Filming Graphics Quality on Linux : Screen Tearing Issues : Doing Battle The Easy Way : 2 Simple Rules

By JayR

    Dealing with screen tear while panning a scene for a Machinima or Presentation shot using Linux as your production ( pre ~ post ) OS environment can either make or break your entire day's worth of work. There is no need to pull your hair out, following 2 simple rules does not require your full understanding of the issues involved, a fairly basic procedure and easy routine to get into the habit of performing will easily do the trick.

     Power Consumption and Composting, that's it ! This may sound funny to people coming from the Windows crowd, both of these issues are usually handled by MicroSoft's DirectX api. and rarley present a problem. Mac's I have only used for audio production, not much experience in the Video department, however both the OSX and Linux api. for graphics system calls is OpenGL, the same as is used in a number of Virtual World Type Enviornments. ( Open Sim, SecondLife client software and cross platform Video Games...... )

    Chances are you will be dealing with either AMD / ATI or Nvidia hardware, and who knows what Linux distribution or desktop enviornment you may be using. This should make little difference, your only concearn is the two basic underlying conditions, power consumption and composting ( or ) PCaC
    
    rule #1 : Allways adjust for Maximum Preformance Mode Power Consumption, in other words turn off all power saving features in the Video Driver(s) Control Panel settings OFF !! ( my current KDE and Nvidia enviornment is displayed below )

    Open your X Server Settings, then adjust the OpenGL Image quality to the maximum performace level allowed, repeat this procedure for your power usage as well.

    rule #2 : Get used to having to fiddle around with the various Composting options available to you. That being said, get to the access point of your System Desktop Settings Control Panel and locate the Desktop Effects area of adjustment.

    Look around for an Advanced tab, and make several adjustments to the Composting Type of OpenGL being used 1.x ~ 2.x ~ 3.x and best suiting your needs ( dissregarding  XRender alltogether )

       Next choose the OS graphic display sub system ( usually GTK ~ QT or X ) at this point, 90% of the time it will be "Native" to the sub system, "Raster" has more specific purposes I will not be discussing here.

   

    Moving right along to your Scaling method adjustment. ( in my case Crisp, Smooth or Accurate ) ~  ( where as Smooth does just what you think it would ).

 
 
    OK VSync is next, ( Screen Tearing Prevention ) Vertical Sync is important, I can not strees this enough. My advice is to just use common sense here.

 

 
    For that matter, performing all of the above and then running a few short tests by panning with your camera view controls horizontaly back and forth several times, should allow you to see noticeable differences in moving image content quality.

 


    Last but not least of your concerns is your main Control Panel's, Power Management section,
( sometimes referred to as Energy Saving ), never forgetting the goal is not saving electricity, on the contrary we want as much juice as we can get.  You should also take a look at your Rig's BIOS as well, kill all functions that conserve power. My last bit of advice is to use some sort of heat sensor monitoring app during the testing procedure and your actual usage.

    Trail and error, a bit of patience, and within a short period of time you will be a Pro / LOL I just had to toss that in there :_)

    As with most things in the Linux world, you can more than likely automate the process with a few simple scripts. Once you have settled upon your best setting's per usage requirements it's just depends on the user, and what they ( you ) want, and feel comfortable with.

JayR

Virtual World Linux Users : 32bit Support Is Back on Ubuntu =>14.04 Based 64bit Distro's ?

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Ok so according to the title of this post, 32bit compatibility is back in the 64bit Ubuntu Based Linux world of things, so what does that mean ? To a number of people absolutely nothing, unless of course you just so happen to be using one of the SecondLife Third Party Viewers that just so happen to offer both 32 and 64bit flavors for download.

    Well up until just recently if your travels, or adventures in the Linden Lab virtual world of SecondLife, and you are a Linux user, and require the use of physic's ( boating, aircraft flying, auto racing, motor biking, sporting event's etc... ) and are on an Ubuntu or Debian offshoot distribution, and using 64bit, you were SOL trying to take advantage of the built in Havok Physic's engine which currently as licensed and implemented by LL is 32bit only. Forcing you to use the non Havok 64bit version of said TPV(s)

    Ubuntu stopped supporting the old ia32libs in the 64bit release's back around version 12.10 or 13.04, they also switched to a new lib and update structure ( MultiArch & SystemD ) unfortunately things did not work out very well at first, quite a few 32bit programs simply refused to run. To make a long story short, the other night i noticed a rather large number of 32bit libs being added during a routine update procedure, being curious I decided to take another stab at running the UkanDo TPV for SecondLife, ( a 32bit only viewer ) low and behold it actually worked, FireStorm, Singularity, Kokua, CoolVL and LL's official viewer all worked as well, where as the last time I tried ( just a week ago ) nothing, nadda, zip zilch. What really surprised me was I have not read anything about this issue in a while, at least since the initial uproar from within the Ubuntu community forums last year.

    As a side note I should mention that I am not on Pure Ubuntu 14.04, I use KXStudio 14.04 a hybrid that combines both Ubuntu and Debian repositories, ( soon to be a straight Debian distro sometime early next year ) so your results may be different than mine.

JayR Cela

The Virtual World MetaVerse : Stirring Up Controversy Is A Good Thing

By Avatar JayR Cela

   I can not express my feelings any more strongly.

    When I started this blog I had a different outlook on everything.

     I have always tended to upset a few folk's from time to time. And I like doing it. Ya gotta remember something, not everyone can think of everything, there is always another and possibly better idea just right around the corner.

    Stirring up the MetaVerse, and ruffling a few feather's from time to time is ? U Tell Me

JayR Cela

SecondLife1 : No Official 64bit Version Ever ?

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Ya know when I first started to hear the TPV developer NiranV just say the hell with 32bit, it's a 64bit world now. I thought he was a bit off, and kinda crazy. Boy was I wrong.

    So let's take a step back and look at the single reason why.

    The 32bit Havok physics engine, apparently it is now available in a 64bit flavor for Windows and Mac's, perhaps Linux very soon as well. Why not just dump it in favor of something more versatile and without an outrageously expensive licence agreement. ( Bullit Physic's comes to mind )

    I seriously doubt if that is going to happen, ya see there is something very important to take into account, SL is winding down.

    Oz Linden, by far the most engaged person I have had the pleasure to meet in SL, and I do count him as a friend in this Virtual World, has done a tremendous job pushing the existing platform to the max.

    But I gotta say this, if he say's it's not gonna happen, it's not gonna happen.

JayR Cela

Internet Life In The United States : Time To Reel In The Greed Of The Monopolies !

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Although the US is considered to be a very advanced country within the high technology industry. Why and the HELL IS IT, we have Bottom of the Barrel and Sky High Prices for internet access ?
    It is because the entire country has been subdivided into regional monopolistic mini internet access portal kingdoms. If our so called Leaders, Congressional or otherwise are so ignorant as to not realize this simple fact, they are either bought off, or just plain stupid and should not be holding even a burger flipping job. I am continuing to be dumbfounded by the total lack of interest or concern.

    I guess that just goes to show you the, the majority of people in a position of power, already have theirs and screw everyone else. So they don't give a Rat's Ass about anything besides getting re-elected and retaining cushy jobs requiring very little intelligence, just wide open pocket books, and no concept of empathy, morality, nor desire to actually change things for the betterment of anyone besides the largest corporate contributors to their re-election campaigns.

JayR Cela

Virtual Worlds : Open Sim and SecondLife : To Mesh ~or not to~ Mesh : Your Builds or Fashion Designs ?

By Avatar JayR Cela

   This is a question without a direct answer, it really depends upon who has done the design intended to be imported into the desired virtual world. My math skills and graphic art's capabilities are almost nonexistent so I wont even go there. However during some recent investigative research I seem to be running across the same issue's.

    It is a lack of proper training required in order to obtain the optimal effect along with low resource consumption. Obviously this is fairly math intensive, and requires a keen understanding of the involved skill set.

    My personal advice would be to read up on the numerous post's by Inara Pey, and Natales Urriah's outstanding exploration's into dealing with many of the in's and out's of advanced Virtual World Content Creation. You will have to do a bit of searching on these site's, but the information you may need is probably there, check em out @

http://modemworld.wordpress.com/

http://blog.nalates.net/

JayR Cela :_)

Virtual Worlds & Linux : The Importance Of STEAM OS : and : Video Hardware Driver Support

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Do not underestimate Linux as a desktop replacement contender, although the Desk Top Environment ~ User Interface at this current time is extremely splintered. ( and always has been ) It seems as if the Graphic Chip Manufacturers, the 3 major players are finally waking up to the fact that Linux is not going to go away. There is not a day goes by without a Mesa, Intel's open source Video Driver, AMD's  Open Source Gallium, or  Nouveau, the Nvidia open source equivalent are not updated.  Add on the fact the OS community offering's are currently making head over heals accomplishment's of an unprecedented  level completely unheard of or even imagined just a few years ago.

    What's driving this monumental push forward ? Video Gaming ! Plain and Simple, the constant push for greater realism and depth of perception allowing one to immerse themselves within the selected Virtual Environment seems to be the current Darling Gal everyone want's a Hot Date with, Developer's goal. Hey that's fine by me. ( actually I'm still playing a modified version of the original Zelda )  So be it.

    STEAM is the best thing that has ever happened for people like myself that really enjoy using Linux.

    Currently the Linux Operating System is not for everyone, nor was it meant to be, it does however seem to defy logic in a consumer oriented, give me everything I want now playing field of consumerism statistical metric's.

    So how does all of this tie into virtual worlds like Open Sim, or SecondLife ? STEAM is Huge, so is GOG, and toss in the fact Microsoft really pissed off a lot of folk's with Window's 8, Apple who know's.

    The Machinima field of creative art's ( I predict ) will see a large upswing in product's available for use from within the Open Source community very soon.

    The biggest conflict I can see is the X-Org standard, it is very outdated. There is a relatively new replacement that has been getting a significant amount of attention lately, and it seems to be vastly superior to X-Org's approach. That project is called Wayland, this new standard replacement should pretty much do away with the requirement of all video driver's support needing to recompile the Linux kernel.

    And STEAM is leading the way forward.

JayR Cela

Virtual Worlds : Linden Lab Shed's More Dead Weight : Desura Sold Off

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Good news in Linden Lab land today, seems as if they finally shed themselves of another dead end anchor weight. Not that there is anything wrong with Desura, quite the contrary the company has grown into a respectable outlet for many independent game developers, however I never did quite understand the initial fit or lack there of into the lab's overall portfolio.

   Never mind all that, it's in the past now, and with all the current enhancement's to the existing SecondLife platform materializing faster than I would have ever perdicted. Who knows what will happen next, mabye SL 2 and SL 1 will end up being able to merge after-all.

JayR Cela