Every so often I see someone on plurk ask about what makes a good computer for Second Life. I try to answer when I can but feel like I'm often saying the same things over and over again. So, I figured I'd sit down and write it all down as best I could so I can just link to the post from now on.

General Guidelines

I'm pretty sure that most computers on the market now can run Second Life, since they are better than the minimum requirements listed on the official page. In fact, you can run SL on a netbook -- I've run both Snowglobe and Viewer 2 on mine. But there's a difference between running and running well.

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Update: A year or so later, these don't work very reliably. Just get a username. Upgrade to Viewer 3.

I'm pretty sure that everyone knows about the new username system by now.

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I just released my first opensource project ever, expressRez. It's a tool for builders that allows them to package and re-rez large builds that can't be linked together into a single piece.

I know that products like it exist, but why spend $2 when you can write your own? Actually, I didn't think it'd be very difficult and I really didn't need much functionality, at first. Then I realized I need a little more, and a little more, and two days later expressRez came together.

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Just wanted to point y'all over to my twothreesixfive post over at twothreesixfive.wordpress.com. It was hard to put all my thoughts in 365 words or fewer.

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So it turns out that my last post about Linden Lab viewers has become outdated thanks to updates the Lab. Snowstorm is in, Snowglobe is out.

And now that I have a bit of time on my hands (and some work to blow off), I figured I'd work on an update.

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Linden Lab has rolled out the new username system this week. What does that mean for you? Probably not that much, but I'll tell you what I've found out with the hope that it'll offer some clarity.

What are Usernames?

There are now two types of accounts in Second Life -- new accounts and legacy accounts. Those of us who were on the grid before the new naming system are legacy accounts. We chose two names, and we get to keep them. Our usernames are created by putting our two names together with a period. The new accounts are, well, new. New accounts choose only one name, which is their username.

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I really do. Because we, as a community, treat them like shit.

We want others to treat us like human beings. We remind them that there is a human on the other side of the internet, a real living human being with emotions an want others to treat us with at least some bit of decency as a result.

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I'm not a third party grid fan, I but I do like the ability to have my own sandbox sim. I can build or try to make content here, exporting backups as I work. When I'm done I can just export the final version and import it to Second Life. Figured I'd share how I set this all up for those who want a similar sandbox.

I used a fresh install of the 32bit server edition of Ubuntu 10.04.1. I used 32bit since I am actually running OpenSimulator in a virtual machine with only 2GB of memory. No need for 64bit with that little memory. Also, OpenSimulator has (had?) a few issues with 64bit hardware so I figured I could sidestep those. If you want to install in a VM as well, try using VirtualBox and make sure you set up a VM to use bridged networking or host-only networking so it has its own discrete IP for access.

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I like OpenSimulator but grids running on OpenSimulator aren't for me.

OpenSimulator is Cool

That might seem contradictory at first. If you like OpenSimulator, why wouldn't you like OpenSimulator grids? The answer is quite simple -- I like the ideas and goals of OpenSimulator. I like the potential, and I like the innovation. In fact, I installed OpenSimulator on my desktop within minutes of finding the project and remember grinning like an idiot standing there ruthed on my own standalone sim. In fact, I'll probably make a quick post about how to set up your own standalone OpenSimulator soon.

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Times are a'changing in the world of SL viewers. Many people are searching for a new viewer, desperately trying various ones before throwing their hands up into the air and blaming Linden Lab for everything. Quite a few folks have written guides to help those displaced residents find a new viewer. Hey, I even started one, but then I got bored. So I figured instead of a giant viewer vs viewer post I'd mention something most folks seem to forget: Linden Lab had made and currently supports more than one viewer.

You might be staring slack-jawed wondering why I'm recommending something from Linden Lab. So I'll enumerate my reasons briefly and then expand on them a bit later.

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