Monday, October 31, 2011
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the grid
The memory leak is back with a vengeance, and it looks like the same darn thing--the client endlessly trying to load up a WAV file. Once I thought it was a 32 bit issue, but I did run the client on a computer running 32-bit Linux, and the same thing happened. I've commented on the JIRA issue, and attached crash logs--it doesn't look like I can reopen it.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
I suspect it is...
Got a notice from "Rhi's Circle of Philosophical Freinds" [sic] that made me laugh...
"Group Notice: IS TIME REAL?
STARTING NOW!"
"Group Notice: IS TIME REAL?
STARTING NOW!"
Tonight at the H-Bomb Lounge... Trick or Treat!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Funding: we're good for Karl, now what about Kirsten?
The money's been raised for Karl Stiefvater to implement a change to let mesh clothing adapt to shape parameters other than just skeletal ones. Details at NWN.
That leaves the issue of funding further development of Kirsten's client. That may not be as easy, as we're talking nearly five times as much money... but we're also talking about the SL client for people doing serious graphical work in SL--photography, machinima. If we want it to continue, it's time to colocate our $$$ and our mouths.
That leaves the issue of funding further development of Kirsten's client. That may not be as easy, as we're talking nearly five times as much money... but we're also talking about the SL client for people doing serious graphical work in SL--photography, machinima. If we want it to continue, it's time to colocate our $$$ and our mouths.
Progress
The latest LL Linux beta looks like it fixes the memory leak that has been plaguing me for some time. (It also includes some of the UI changes that people have been talking about.) The client was endlessly allocating RAM for a .WAV file!
BUT... it still suffers from SH-2306, i.e. the screen goes to near solid blinding white when you turn on shadows. (I was too overjoyed with the RAM usage staying under about 670 MB in a session of nearly an hour to notice the lack of shadows, I guess.) That bug is now labeled as dependent on the bug of the SL client using deprecated OpenGL calls, so I guess when that's corrected, I will be truly happy. In the meantime, maybe I can plead with the Firestorm people to correct the memory leak, and have the best of both worlds. :)
UPDATE: Sahkolihaa Contepomi kindly suggested I try the testing client linked to from the SH-2240 JIRA entry. Sure enough, it works with shadows turned on, and after the better part of an hour wandering around stores with several SI standard posterior-loads of textures, RAM usage had slowly increased to around 2.2 GB, whereas the memory leak that's been clobbering me would have grabbed over 3 GB in mere minutes. So... I am happy--and even better, there's word on the Phoenix/Firestorm blog that a new Firestorm version is near completion. I hope it will include the memory leak fix!
BUT... it still suffers from SH-2306, i.e. the screen goes to near solid blinding white when you turn on shadows. (I was too overjoyed with the RAM usage staying under about 670 MB in a session of nearly an hour to notice the lack of shadows, I guess.) That bug is now labeled as dependent on the bug of the SL client using deprecated OpenGL calls, so I guess when that's corrected, I will be truly happy. In the meantime, maybe I can plead with the Firestorm people to correct the memory leak, and have the best of both worlds. :)
UPDATE: Sahkolihaa Contepomi kindly suggested I try the testing client linked to from the SH-2240 JIRA entry. Sure enough, it works with shadows turned on, and after the better part of an hour wandering around stores with several SI standard posterior-loads of textures, RAM usage had slowly increased to around 2.2 GB, whereas the memory leak that's been clobbering me would have grabbed over 3 GB in mere minutes. So... I am happy--and even better, there's word on the Phoenix/Firestorm blog that a new Firestorm version is near completion. I hope it will include the memory leak fix!
Monday, October 24, 2011
What we can look forward to...
First, something silly--is this why they call it "enhanced reality"?
OTOH, this is truly amazing. With a little input that a minimally-trained (we're talking five minutes here) user can give, they can insert realistic-looking objects into a photo of a scene and have them move, with illumination changing appropriately for the move and with reflections from the inserted objects appearing on the stuff that's really there.
OTOH, this is truly amazing. With a little input that a minimally-trained (we're talking five minutes here) user can give, they can insert realistic-looking objects into a photo of a scene and have them move, with illumination changing appropriately for the move and with reflections from the inserted objects appearing on the stuff that's really there.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Shoes
Sigh... going back through inventory, I see that I've accumulated a lot of so-so shoes. Worse yet, some shoes that I've counted on over the years don't look good any more. Now, invisiprim-based shoes don't always hide the mutant foot shape, which flashes in and out of existence as you pan the camera. It doesn't look like it will be fixed, if that's even the right term. (See Whirly Fizzle's comments on a pertinent Firestorm JIRA entry.) Invisiprims are a hack that builders were driven to use in the days before alpha layers.
So, I must sadly kiss those shoes goodbye (any chance of an alpha version of those lovely Vintish heels, Aphrodite? *bats eyelashes and tries for the sad-eyed puppy look*) and seek out alpha layer shoes (mesh? Only when they can adapt to my shape, thanks)... but L$ are sparse these days, so I'm liable to be more confined to basic black for a while.
But wait! There are tintable shoes out there. This is Second Life, and in theory, for solid colors and apart from some special textures (e.g. metallic), all one need do is get white shoes, edit, fiddle with the color that is overlaid on the texture, and there you are. (Similarly, one could mostly just get albino hair and tint as desired.) And sure enough, there are some that can use an alpha layer--it's nice to see that some virtual cobblers aren't in the business of selling you almost exactly the same thing over and over. I'm accumulating a list before I set out shopping. (Now if only one could both wear hosiery and shoes with prim feet...)
So, I must sadly kiss those shoes goodbye (any chance of an alpha version of those lovely Vintish heels, Aphrodite? *bats eyelashes and tries for the sad-eyed puppy look*) and seek out alpha layer shoes (mesh? Only when they can adapt to my shape, thanks)... but L$ are sparse these days, so I'm liable to be more confined to basic black for a while.
But wait! There are tintable shoes out there. This is Second Life, and in theory, for solid colors and apart from some special textures (e.g. metallic), all one need do is get white shoes, edit, fiddle with the color that is overlaid on the texture, and there you are. (Similarly, one could mostly just get albino hair and tint as desired.) And sure enough, there are some that can use an alpha layer--it's nice to see that some virtual cobblers aren't in the business of selling you almost exactly the same thing over and over. I'm accumulating a list before I set out shopping. (Now if only one could both wear hosiery and shoes with prim feet...)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Good news on the rendering front
Crap Mariner reports that he's able to run a test build without tripping over some long-vexing graphics issues (vide SH-2240 and SH-2276).
Many thanks to Runitai Linden, and may Bao Linden polish off SH-2526 as readily.
Many thanks to Runitai Linden, and may Bao Linden polish off SH-2526 as readily.
Must-read from the FSF
As I've mentioned before, Microsoft has decided that to get the official "Designed for Windows 8" seal of approval, computers will have to implement UEFI "Secure Boot". Unfortunately, this may end up as a way for Microsoft to prevent you from running the operating system of your choice.
Read more about it here, and please consider signing the FSF's statement on "Secure Boot".
Read more about it here, and please consider signing the FSF's statement on "Secure Boot".
Apology
Apologies for the long delay in posting... I've been dealing with the move to Ubuntu 11.10. In the process I've gained a new appreciation for the beauties of Enlightenment and the austere simplicity of Fluxbox.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Countdown to Oneiric Ocelot
Goodness! Ubuntu 11.10, "Oneiric Ocelot", is closer than I realized.
I'm undecided about what I will do. I don't care much for the "Unity" UI, and I am utterly disgusted with GNOME 3 and the "we know better than you do what you should have" and "letting people change things is bad, because you can't trust them not to do something evil, and because changing things hides the sheer greatness of the GNOME 3 experience" attitude of the people responsible for it. I may switch to another Linux distribution, or I may just upgrade and stick with other window managers/windowing environments. Linux gives me that choice, among many others, and I'm grateful for that.
I'm undecided about what I will do. I don't care much for the "Unity" UI, and I am utterly disgusted with GNOME 3 and the "we know better than you do what you should have" and "letting people change things is bad, because you can't trust them not to do something evil, and because changing things hides the sheer greatness of the GNOME 3 experience" attitude of the people responsible for it. I may switch to another Linux distribution, or I may just upgrade and stick with other window managers/windowing environments. Linux gives me that choice, among many others, and I'm grateful for that.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Godwin's Law
Long ago in the days of USENET, one Mike Godwin stated what has come to be known as Godwin's Law: as a discussion goes on, it becomes certain that someone will draw a comparison with Hitler or the Nazi party.
If you'd asked me before I came back from a trip for the weekend, I'd have said I hope that we in the Second Life prim breast community could avoid Godwin's Law, though I'd never actually considered it. Silly me; SL is a virtual world, but we bring our real selves to it.
Look: playing the Nazi card is like playing the race card. It's an attempt to end or preclude discussion and irreparably tar an opponent. Anyone who had a valid argument in support of a position or claim would use it, so frankly, I consider the use of fallacious arguments, such as drawing comparisons with Hitler ("reductio ad Hitlerum"), evidence that the user has no valid argument.
If you'd asked me before I came back from a trip for the weekend, I'd have said I hope that we in the Second Life prim breast community could avoid Godwin's Law, though I'd never actually considered it. Silly me; SL is a virtual world, but we bring our real selves to it.
Look: playing the Nazi card is like playing the race card. It's an attempt to end or preclude discussion and irreparably tar an opponent. Anyone who had a valid argument in support of a position or claim would use it, so frankly, I consider the use of fallacious arguments, such as drawing comparisons with Hitler ("reductio ad Hitlerum"), evidence that the user has no valid argument.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
By golly, if LL won't do it...
...hire someone to do it!
There's a proposal on indiegogo.com that people can contribute to. The proposal: hire Karl Stiefvater, formerly Qarl Linden, to implement the software proposed in SH-2374. As I write, $1,501 of $5,400 needed has been raised.
Also as I type, 827 have voted for the proposal. If they all forked over $6.53 (US dollars), it would be paid for. Sounds reasonable to me.
There's a proposal on indiegogo.com that people can contribute to. The proposal: hire Karl Stiefvater, formerly Qarl Linden, to implement the software proposed in SH-2374. As I write, $1,501 of $5,400 needed has been raised.
Also as I type, 827 have voted for the proposal. If they all forked over $6.53 (US dollars), it would be paid for. Sounds reasonable to me.
"I hate when that happens..."
Some things make me really feel guilty. Among them is one that just happened--I clicked on the "yes, I really do want to sign off" button and immediately thereafter noticed an IM. I hope it comes to me in email, and I hope that the sender forgives my oversight.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Goddess Misty
I was up way too early when SuperBelinda Ametza invited me over to chat. I met some wonderful people there, and was amazed to see how a friend, Misty, had grown; she's now officially a "goddess" in Laurana's Cuties:
BoobieThon 2011
My sincere apologies to all. I should remember by now, or set some kind of annual popup to nudge me. As I type, we're close to halfway through BoobieThon 2011, the fourth such event in Second Life.
For details, check out The Realm of the Red Rose's post "Once Again We Work to Save Second Base - BoobieThon 2011", and give them your support. Breast cancer is a terrible thing; may we find a way to defeat it soon.
UPDATE: Do not miss the art up for auction for BoobieThon at the RoHaus Art Collection and Sculpture Garden. It is by turns amusing, beautiful, and heartbreaking.
For details, check out The Realm of the Red Rose's post "Once Again We Work to Save Second Base - BoobieThon 2011", and give them your support. Breast cancer is a terrible thing; may we find a way to defeat it soon.
UPDATE: Do not miss the art up for auction for BoobieThon at the RoHaus Art Collection and Sculpture Garden. It is by turns amusing, beautiful, and heartbreaking.
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