Dolphin Viewer 2 2.5.0.14583 and Dolphin Viewer 1.5.45.3627 Review

Dolphin Viewers 1 & 2 have new versions out, actually they were out on the 12th and I’m lagging. The Dolphin Viewer 2 (DV2) is based on SLV2.5 code. No new features for it, yet. The Dolphin Viewer 1.5 (DV1) has four new features, which are described on the Dolphin blog. See: Dolphin Viewer

This week Lance announced that the Dolphin Viewers for Linux will be built on openSUSE 11.2… openSUSE announced they were releasing 11.3… so… I’m not sure what Lance is saying. I know some people prefer to be a version behind because the problems and work-arounds are known. So, I can suppose…

Read more

Second Life Clean Install

UPDATED: March 2015.

There are a number of tutorials and “How To’s” for doing a clean install of Second Life Viewers. Several viewers have their own instructions in their wiki or forum. I’ve read through a bunch of them. In general they seem to be written by a one-viewer user with some minor concessions to the possibility one may be using more than one viewer. I’ve had over 15 viewers simultaneously installed and working. I’ve also had things horribly balled up. So, I’ve experimented with several different clean install processes. This is what I’ve learned about Second Life Clean Installs.

Second Life Clean Install
Cleaning – By: Chicago Art Department

Warning: This is Windows oriented. I don’t do Mac, sorry. And I don’t have any running Linux boxes. The difference in how a clean stall is done is mostly in file locations.

Read more

Ascent Viewer Discontinued

Charlotte Wirtanen was chatting with someone and explained they have discontinued development of the Ascent Viewer. The reason given was, “…because of Linden Labs’ plans to effectively kill off the ability for 1x viewers to even connect anymore at some unspecified point in the near future.” Whether that is the official verdict or not is hard to say.

The phrasing of “…Linden Labs’ plans to effectively kill off the ability for 1x viewers to even connect…” seems to suggest that a goal and effort was or is being put into destroying series 1 viewers for some nefarious corporate benefit. That is somewhat like saying Ford is building 2011 models to kill off 2010 models. One can still connect with a series 1 viewer. One can still drive a Model-T Ford too. But try to put air conditioning or air bags in a Model-T.

Read more

KirstenLee Viewer S21(4) Release Review

Kirsten S21(4)
Panel Close Button

Kirsten has release S21(4) as a non-release-candidate viewer. I hesitate to call it a production viewer as it has moved into the version 2.7 code, which is very leading edge. Only Linden Lab’s Development Viewer is using 2.7 code. Whatever one chooses to label it, this is the viewer most of us would consider to be for daily use.

The OMG! aspect of the viewer is Mesh Upload… O.O …but don’t get too excited. While it is there, it isn’t working.

Read more

Matching Skin Colors

Color Matching
Show Color Tool – Image #1

In Second Life many new products require some color matching to look right. The most notable of course is prim feet and shoes. Also, the skin color of genitals, which has led me to wonder if male color blindness includes black and white blindness… If you have been to one of SL’s Chippendales-like places you understand that comment. I suspect part of the problem is the number of different ways devised to match the color in SL. I’ll try to sort those out for you, so Second Life Color Matching and color picking are easier.

Also, if you haven’t bought your first pair of prim feet and shoes yet, I know where you can get a gorgeous pair for L$25. Read on.

Read more