SrcondLife (R) Imprudence Release Candidate Review on Hold

  Good morning, after some testing and careful thought, I will postpone my review of the Imprudence 1.3.0 RC until the finished product arrives.  My reason for this is, a severe stuttering problem with this viewer, both on Linux and Windows, and on 2 different computers. When walking, my Avatar suddenly freezes up for a second or two, then starts moving again from the position I should have already walked to, same thing when using IM chat. I would Imagine there is a simple fix for this somewhere in the Debug settings menu. So in all fairness to the Imprudence team, I will hold off for now, and I am looking forward to the final 1.3.0 release soon.
 P.S. If any one knows of a debug setting fix for this, please post it here, thanks :_)


JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife (R) The new Imprudence 1.3.0 Release Canidate 1 Teaser

  LOL / I have heard from several friends that the new Imprudence RC really Rock's. It is based on SL Viewer code 1.23.5.xxx, and I know this kinda veers of the Viewer 2 track of this Blog. However I have been following the Imprudence TPV since it's inception, McCabe Maxsted and the other Imprudence team members are extremely devoted to this project. And I honestly believe this viewer is worth high praises. This post is only meant to be a teaser for a full review tomorrow, here are the specs for the review test rig.

Imprudence 1.3.0 RC1 / Second Life 1.23.5 (136262), Aug  2 2010 00:48:08
Release Notes

Grid: Second Life (secondlife)

Built with GCC version 40304

You are at 293329.9, 280717.4, 52.3 in Mena Serena located at sim9830.agni.lindenlab.com (216.82.45.164:13005)
Second Life Server 1.40.4.207155
Release Notes

CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
Memory: 1000 MB
OS Version: Linux 2.6.32-24-generic #38-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jul 5 09:22:14 UTC 2010 i686
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce 8400 GS/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 3.2.0 NVIDIA 195.36.24

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3 c-ares/1.4.0
J2C Decoder Version: OpenJPEG: 1.4.0.565, Runtime: 1.4.0.565
Audio Driver Version: OpenAL, version 1.1 ALSOFT 1.11.753 / OpenAL Community / OpenAL Soft: ALSA Software
GStreamer Version: 0.10.24.0
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.34631 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.18_0000000000)

Stop on back by for a read tomorrow, I'll be taking this baby for a full blown spin around the block tonight :_)

JayR :_)

SecondLife (R) Jira Mess & The Rumered New Jira 4 ?

   Ok breaking news from the front lines of the AWG ( AW Groupies ) Architecture Working Group officially sanctioned by LL as a steering committee for the future of SL.
  As I have noted in my profile, at one Time I was an active member of the AWG, when M linden came aboard as CEO, I threw in the towel, and said the hell with it ! 
  I just had a conversation with one of my former colleagues, from the AWG and he has graciously allowed me to post our conversation in regards to the new upcoming Jira 4. 
  In case you are unfamiliar with the Jira, it is a means of supplying LL with information about Bugs in the SL client and server software. The only problem has been, it is incredibly difficult for the average person to comprehend, or use. Add to the fact of the ridiculous complexity, many valid complaints, items, seem to languish in limbo for a year or more, until they eventually, and conveniently get swept under the rug.
   I'm not able to go into detail on Jira 4, because frankly, this is the first I have heard of it. I am however asking for help from readers of this Blog. If you have information, you would like to share, or would like an Editorial collum on this subject, I will be more that happy to oblige.
  The following is my conversation with Rex Cronon, long time AWG member and contributer.

[12:45 PM]  Rex Cronon: here is a possible topic for u:  what will happen with the existing jiras when jira4 is here:)

[12:49 PM]  JayR Cela: this is an important issue / the current state of the Jira is a complete joke
[12:50 PM]  JayR Cela: there are items sitting in there from a year ago / and besides that its way to difficult for the average person to use
[12:50 PM]  Rex Cronon: u r right
[12:50 PM]  JayR Cela: I gave up on it 2 years ago
[12:54 PM]  JayR Cela: so what is Jira 4 ?
[12:54 PM]  Rex Cronon: from what i heard the new and improved version of current jira
[12:54 PM]  Rex Cronon: there is one little problem though
[12:55 PM]  Rex Cronon: nobody knows for sure how will the current jiras be transffered
[12:55 PM]  Rex Cronon: either manually or automatically
[12:55 PM]  JayR Cela: ahhhhh ..........
[12:55 PM]  JayR Cela: sweep all the old issue's under the table
[12:56 PM]  Rex Cronon: so is possible that not all existing jiras will make it
[12:56 PM]  Rex Cronon: yes u r right
[12:57 PM]  Rex Cronon: is like comics joke i saw. on panel one u have a suggestion box overfilled, on panel two us see the suggestions being dumped in the trash can:(
[12:57 PM]  JayR Cela: sounds about typical for LL
[12:57 PM]  Rex Cronon: i hope things will be better
[12:58 PM]  JayR Cela: I would just like to be able to go sail boating across sim borders / without loosing my boat or ending up in the drink...........
[12:59 PM]  JayR Cela: how many years people been complaining about this issue
[12:59 PM]  Rex Cronon: i don't think u r the only one:)
[12:59 PM]  JayR Cela: mind if I quote you in this post ?
[01:00 PM]  Rex Cronon: ok
[01:00 PM]  JayR Cela: kool
[01:00 PM]  JayR Cela: check back in about an hour / i'm gonna jump on this
[01:00 PM]  Rex Cronon: please do add that i heard about this at a office hour.

  Well there ya have it folks, is Philips return as CEO, the best thing to happen to SL in the past two years, or will it be more of the same ? 
  I'm a lil busy concentrating on TPV's right  now, but I do intend to follow through on this subject. Any help or information someone can supply, I will be more than happy to give you all the assistance I can.

JayR :_) 

SecondLife (R) Viewer 2 & the StarLight Skin Modd + Debug Settings

  Well I'm back again today, to tell you about a wonderful UI skin available for SL Viewer 2. It's called StarLight, brought to us by " hitomi tiponi " one of this blogs readers. If you have just started reading this resurrected Blog, please refer back to July 31, these post's will be primarily devoted to TPV developers and the new Viewer 2. 
  As soon as I loaded this skin, and fired it up, I immediately  liked it. Gone were the ugly dark murky green on black menu's, replaced with an easy on the eye's light brown. I'm sure this color scheme would be easy enough to change to just about any color someone could wish for, blue, grey.... Also easy access to the draw distance slider function, easy to customize bottom pane menu.I added some buttons I wanted and removed two that I never use.

  I did a little digging around in the Debug menu and managed to tweak a bit further, added location coordinates, animated tree's, and a number of other minor but kool features. The StarLight Skin Mod is incredibly easy to install on both Windows and Linux, and is a great place to use as a starting point for learning how to tweak Viewer 2 to your liking via the Debug menu. If you are the sort of person that enjoys tinkering around with things, and would like to just have some real fun, I highly recommend downloading this file and give it a try. You can download it from this link : http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_Skins/Starlight

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife(R) Viewer 2 Open Source Alternative Kirstens S(20) Build(30)

  Well I have spent the past hour or so, toying around with Kirstens version of Viewer 2, and I can say WOW !!! I've never seen such a well designed layout, having never been very fond of V2, until now, this viewer is defiantly a game changer. I only have 2 minor criticisms, the green and black color scheme, and a smaller camera control like the 1.23.5.xxx viewer, and oh yes, I have not figured out how to get my radio working yet / LOL / I'm sure  its something minor. I'm not sure whether to write about it or just take a bunch of snapshots. What really impresses me the most is the level of customization available. Kirstens version of V2 can truly be Fast, Easy and Fun, or incredibly robust. It has to be seen to be believed.

  LOL / forgive my haphazard photo arraignment I'm still learning how to use this blogging software:_) You really have to experience this viewer to see how well done it is, my long time SL partner Cathy, who is a fashionista absolutely Loves it ! 
  Although I will continue to use Emerald for my building projects this viewer has definitely earned a permanent spot on my hard drive. Using a 10 star rating system I  give it 8-1/2 there is a link to Kirstens Blog here on the right side of this page

SecondLife(R) SnowGlobe Test Build v.2.1.0.3587 / No Comment

Ok , I took a quick look, and this is a test build, so I have nothing to say. However tomorrow I will be giving Kirsten's viewer a close look. My future plans include a head to head comparison of Imprudence and Emerald, I also want to check out the StarLight skin for Viewer 2, and a trip on over to the InWorldz Grid,www.inworldz.com, and a ton of other things. If any one out there wants to use this Blog to write an article, or express opinions, just let me know.


Thanks c-ya 2mrw


JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife(R) SnowGlobe Viewer v. 2.0.2.3576 User Interface

  I'm back, after my nauseating dive into the official LL SL V2 cesspool of black and green oblivion. I will now give the latest stable release of the SnowGlobe viewer a try. For those of you unfamiliar with the SnowGlobe project, a brief rundown.
  Shorty before Philip stepped aside as CEO of LL, he started  an officially sanctioned Open Source fork of the viewer code, hence SnowGlobe was born. I'll compare it to the AWG or Advanced Architecture Working Group, another great idea that was supposed to bring wonderful bliss to all of SL. HyperGrid protocol, HTTP textures, C++ scripting capabilities, ( which eventually devolved into Mono scripting ) ( we all know how successful Mono has been ) ( yeah lets take an interpreted computer language, LSL, and run it through another interpreted computer language, Mono, and see what happens )   
  If you have been following my posts on Viewer 2, started July 31, you will know I have only been concerned with performance comparisons so far. I think that the underlying code base for Viewer 2 has fantastic potential, it is just that the UI is a complete joke, and a bad one at that. Yes I have a crass, sarcastic sense of humor, and LL can sue the hell out of me if they like, ( i'm 2 steps away from the poor house as it is now, so they wont get much. ) And I'm gonna speak my mind. I love SL, and I want to see it succeed, and I want Viewer 2 to be kick ass. All V2 needs is a totally awesome UI, 2 or 3 skin levels / beginner / intermediate / power user / Hell, WinAmp ( the most popular music jukebox for Windows computers ) has doing this for at least a decade. ( by the way I suggested this concept 3 years ago at an AWG meeting, I used to be a member ) So now that I have blown off some more steam, I will take a look at this  V2 SnowGlobe  version.
  OK I'm done, nothing new here, just the same old crap, with sluggish performance. See my previous post on FPS. I will now take a look at the the experimental  test build.

Linden Lab(R) SecondLife Viewer 2 User Interface

  Today I will begin exploring the UI of the 4 different SL clients, reviewed in the previous post's beginning on July 31. I am going to start off with the official Second Life Viewer 2 v. 2.1.0.207030

  This will be the first time I have ever attempted to do anything like this, so please bear with me. Since Philip's return to LL as CEO, and his honest admittance, that the UI for Viewer 2 is less than Ideal, and him asking the SL Customer and Developer base for help, I have decided to pitch in as best I can. Now I must admit, I have never been a fan of Viewer 2, so my experience is very limited. However I do recognize the potential possibilities this new platform is capable of with help from the Open Source community. And I am bound and determined to pitch in, with the goal to make Viewer 2 the most robust, easy to use, yet powerful SL client yet. So before I get started, I need to rant a bit.
  I'm going to go back a to the first time I opened up this new client, it was a less than ideal experience. I rezzed as a poof ball, after about 5 minutes and still no change, I activated the Advanced menu ( ctrl+alt+d) and selected Rebake Textures. This did not work, so I opened the Debug dialog box, and navigated down to (renderunloadedavatar) and set the value to True. This solved that problem, but my Avi was all mushed up ( Ruthed ) and I was wearing an outfit from 2 months earlier ( the last time I had tried Viewer 2 ). Now right here I have to say this has been a well known bug since the Alpha development stage of Viewer 2, hardly an ideal environment to thrust upon a new customer. Since this is supposedly what V2 was designed to do, is attract and retain new SL customers, you would think the Lab would have made this a top issue to be fixed. No problem, once my inventory had loaded, I located my shape and skin, and I was back to normal. Next, one of my Hud's,  normally located at the top center of my screen was out of whack. It is now almost dead center in the middle. Another well documented bug from the Alpha stage of development. So far things are not looking so good, but there's more. I notice 960L$ were missing from my account balance, my last log out showed 980L$, now there are only 20L$. Thankfully this is an easy fix. I IM a friend and asked her to pay me 1L$, this brings my account to 981L$, need I mention this is yet another bug LL has been well aware of with Viewer 2 for a long time now. How on earth a company can release a product with so many well documented flaws is beyond me. I guess I will blame it all on former CEO M. Linden ( I am so glad he is gone and Philip is back in charge )  Ok I got that out of my system, ready to start the review :_)

  I log in and, my god this interface is so ugly and crowded, right off the bat I hate it.
I click on the side bar and watch in horror as my screen shifts to the left.  

  Next I access the camera controls which have an opaque black background. I am about to get ill. I'll play around with preferences, figured out how to stop the screen from shifting to the left when side bar is opened, Wow that's real progress! How many months did it take the Lab to figure that one out ? Oh cool I found the mini map, and it can't be re sized. I have no location coordinates displayed on the top bar, no fly button, no build button, the local chat area is way to small to carry on a conversation, and is not detachable. Oh and now, I am receiving group messages in huge ugly opaque black box on bottom right hand corner of screen. I cant build anything until I clear up the screen and maneuver the way to big camera controls into a better area of my screen, so i can actually see what I am doing.
  I have stepped away from the keyboard for to long and my avatar is now sleeping with the away indicator floating above my head, unable to locate the setting to turn this off feature off. ( have you ever been ejected from a place or logged out of SL because of inactivity ? )      
  Located the search feature, OMG what the hell is this mess? I continue to open menu's and press buttons, seems like most of the features I use on a daily basis are gone, or buried in the debug menu now. Say! This is Fast, Easy and Fun !
  I said this month's ago and I'll say it again, this UI looks like a 10th grade Computers 101, High School Class developed it. I'm done, this is a piece of crap, and totally unusable.
  In all fairness, if you have read my previous post on performance, this viewer is fast, just a tad behind Emerald 1.23.5.136, so I know the potential is there. I'll take a look at the stable Snow Globe viewer next.


  

SecondLife(R) Viewer2 LL vs. Open Source SnowGlobe & Kirsten's S20(29)-(30) FPS spec comparision

Today I will be running a frames per second and various other specs. comparison test between the 4 Viewer2 versions ( please refer to the 3 previous posts beginning July 31 ) Over the next 24 hours each viewer will repeat the prior test, the control viewer will again be Emerald 1.25.36 / ALL 5 Viewers are set to a network bandwith speed of 530mbps. This series of tests will differ slightly from the previous 2. This is Windows only,(Linux is next :_) I will be using IoBit Software's, Freeware Game Booster and Smart Ram to shut down all background process's and insure maximum system Ram is available, my first step will be to check how many inventory items are still in the cache upon startup out of yesterdays 11,533
Official SecondLife Viewer2 v. 2.1.0.207030
Inventory : 10,098 auto loaded the remainder after entering the letter A / test 2 was =
Start Up Ram available before load610mb program log in 370mb program end 285mb/ test2 end 400mb
FPS : 4.5 - 7.1 relatively stable at 5.6 / test2 2.8 - 8.8 stable at 5.5
Bandwith : 30 - 410kphs peak typical average 45kphs / test2 11 - 311kphs typical average 45kphs
Packet Loss 0.0 - 0.1% / test2 0.0 - 1.8%
Ping Sim : 129 -2675msec relatively stable at 160 / test2 149 - 500msec relatively stable at 240
SnowGlobe Viewer2 v. 2.0.2.3576
Inventory : 10,975 auto loaded the remainder after entering the letter A / test 2 11.0800
Start Up Ram available before load610mb program log in 350mb program end 304mb / test2 end 300mb
FPS : 2.2 - 8.9 relatively stable at 6 test 2 1.9 - 7.2 relatively stable at 5.5
Bandwith : 12 - 417kbps test2 17 - 40kbps typical average both tests 27kbps
Packet Loss 0.0 - 1.0% / test2 0.0 - 1.7%
Ping Sim : 129 - 2675msec relatively stable at 145 / test 2 139 - 199msec relatively stable at 135
SnowGlobe Viewer2 v. 2.1.0.3587
Inventory : 4,804 after pressing the letter a then required a force reload / test2 7454
Start Up Ram available before load610mb program log in 370mb program end 296mb / test2 365mb program end
FPS : 1.6 - 6.9 * relatively stable at 2.5 - 3.0 / test2 2.8 - 8.8 relatively stable at 4.5
Bandwith : 33 - 190kbps / test2 / test2 23 - 320kbhs
Packet Loss 0.0 - 0.5% / test2 0.0 - 37%
Ping Sim : 128 - 5620ms / test2 189 - 504ms / average about 180 both tests
Kirsten's S(20) Build(30)
Inventory : 10,975 auto loaded the remainder after entering the letter a / test2 start 11352mb
Start Up Ram available before load 610mb program log in 362mb program end 360mb / test2 end 362mb
FPS : 2.2 - 10.3 / test2 3.1 - 11.7 relatively stable at 5.0 both tests
Bandwith : 25 - 465kbps / test2 17 - 227kbps
Packet Loss 0.0 - 2.3% / test2 0.0 - 4.0%
Ping Sim : 121 - 1104msec / test2 138 - 560 average at about 180 both tests
Emerald 1.25.36
Inventory : 11,110 auto loaded the remainder by it's self / test2 start fully loaded at 11,533
Start Up Ram available before load 610mb program log in 334mb program end 403mb / test2 end 327mb
FPS : 4.6 - 11.3 relatively stable at 6.0 - 6.5 / test2 4.1 - 8.9 relatively stable at 6.0 - 6.5
Bandwith : 25 - 540kbps / test2 23 - 310kbps
Packet Loss : 0.0 - 0.1% / test2 0.0 - 0.1%
Ping Sim : 104 - 383msec / test2 140 - 780msec average about 170

Ok, so what do these numbers mean ? First of all this is by no means intended to be looked upon as a controlled scientific test, it represents the real world, everyday average users experience, but in a controlled static setting, a private estate island. In a crowded mall or club I am sure the results would be different, please keep in mind the age of the hardware I am using for the test as well, a 9 year old PC and 4 or 5 year old video card ( this card was considered to be top notch when it was new, so I am guessing that helps a lot )

What these numbers say to me is that both the official LL V2 and Kirstens S20 Build(30) are for the most part in a neck and neck race, neither one is better than the other performance wise. And both of them are just slightly behind the Emerald control viewer. Thats pretty good, when you consider that the 1.23.5.xxx code base has been around for a very long time. :_)

I believe I will bypass any further Linux testing, as the majority of users are running Windows. Later today I will begin usability testing the UI (user interface ) of each individual viewer. Please feel free to post any comments.

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife Viewer2 LL vs. Open Source SnowGlobe & Kirsten S20(29)-(30) Inventory Load Times

Hello / welcome back :_)
I will be comparing the installation and inventory load times between the official LL SL Viewer2 and the Open Source SnowGlobe and Kirsten's version's(S20)build(29) &(30) / my control standard will be Emerald Viewer 1.23.5.136
Please note these are for initial inventory loading times only, I will get further into performance specs. within the next several days
The following installation specs will remain constant / Network Bandwith 530kbps / Disk Cache size 990MB / Graphics set to Mid - Antialiasing x2 / Sim Objects 12588 / Active Objects 565 / active Scripts 4087 / My Avatar ARC score 6936 / Avatar inventory count 11,533 items
SecondLife Viewer2 v.2.1.0.20730
Inventory Load Time (ILT)
Windows : 70 minutes 6 relogs
Ubuntu : 110 minutes 11 relogs
SnowGlobe v.2.0.2.357 ILT
Windows : 50 minutes 5 relogs
Ubuntu : 70 minutes 6 relogs
SnowGlobe v.2.1.0.3587 ILT
Windows : 35 minutes 4 relogs
Ubuntu : 45 minutes 5 relogs
Kirsten's v.S(20) Build(30)Windows Build(29)Linux
Windows : 30 minutes 3 relogs
Ubuntu : 30 minutes 3 relogs
Emerald v.1.23.5.136
Windows: 10 minutes 3 relogs
Ubuntu : 10 minutes 3 relogs
Well there you have it, the specs you have just read are how long it took me to do a complete clean installation and inventory load, including the number of times I needed to relog the viewer in order to complete the inventory load, for further information please read the 2 previous posts dated July 31 2010

JayR Cela :_)