Today has not been a great day in House Pey where real life is concerned From a morning filled with opportunities and plans to an evening with not a little frustration and general “Grrrrr-iness”.
I shan’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say the oven completely dying yesterday (after being decidedly wobbly for the last few days) didn’t help, and I’m not even going to mention the toilet seat in the en suite bathroom. No, really. I’m not.
Instead, I’ll bore you with some minor SL trivia, given it is June and the 10th anniversary celebrations are looming closer.
We all know that the very first beta resident on record was Stellar Sunshine. Her name is recorded, along with all those of the beta participants at the Beta Participants wall in Plum. Her account is still active, and she still logs-in from time-to-time.
But do you know the very first “officially recorded” SL account?
The belonged to Phoenix Linden who, Andrew Linden told me (and by “me”, I mean “everyone attending the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday June 4th” :)), was implementing the databases at the time, and so his was the first account to be recorded. Prior to the work Phoenix carried out, SL didn’t have persistent authentication or records.
So there you go! 🙂
Anyone else have snippets of trivia they’d like to share which may be rare or new to others? Feel free to post a comment.
Apologies for the slight delay in getting this update out, real life is proving a little time-consuming at the moment.
Server Deployments, Week 23
As usual, the latest updates, feedback and comments can be found on the deployment discussion thread. Anyone encountering a specific bug is asked to file a JIRA.
Second Life Server (Main) Channel
No rolls are planned for the week 23.
Release Candidate Channels (RC)
On Wednesday June 5th, the Release Candidate channel should receive the following:
BlueSteel and LeTigre should get a new server maintenance project. This project addresses a disconnection issue and also fixes a crash mode – see my notes from week 22, and a fix for a crash mode
Magnum will remain on the same interest list improvement project as originally deployed to LeTigre in week 21, and to Magnum and BlueSteel in week 22, with some updates. Two of these fix what Andrew Linden describes as “two rare crash modes”. The package should also include the same disconnection issue fix.
A further fix had been planned for the RC channels. This relates to people’s inability to download “large” scripts. This relates to the code path used for script uploads / downloads having a bug, such that you can write a lengthy LSL script and save (upload) it, but on trying to edit it once more, the text of the script will not display. The issue is thought to be related to bandwidth use, and while a fix has been developed by Andrew Linden, but it failed to make the QA cut for this week’s RC releases.
Viewer News
There have been reports of issues with the materials beta viewer, including:
Crashing when logging-in to SL on systems using Intel graphics
Issues with transparent alphas showing as white and semi-transparent alphas showing as black, which also appears linked to systems with Intel-based graphics
The Lab is currently working on a fix for the Intel issue, but the alpha issue is apparently providing difficult to consistently reproduce
That the materials beta viewer (3.6.0.275764) installs into a different folder to previous SL beta viewers (SecondLifeBeta rather than SecondLifeBetaViewer), as reported in my overview of the materials beta release, appears to have been an error on the Lab’s part, and it appears likely the additional releases will revert to the SecondLifeBetaViewer folder until such time as the new viewer release process comes on-stream.
Server-side Baking / Appearance
The Lab continues to investigate SUN-74, although there has been no major progress since my last update. The JIRA itself has been updated as a result of further TPV testing.
In terms of any deployment time frames, the Lab still will not be drawn on dates at the moment (again, understandably, even the likes of SUN-74 and the need to try to push more users into updating to viewers which do support SSB/A). Replying to a question on possible deployment beyond the current close beta regions at the Content Creation UG meeting on monday June 3rd, Nyx Linden would only say, “SSA will be deployed slowly and carefully when its ready, we’re working with third-party devs to make sure the last of the bugs are found and hunted down.”
Interest List Update
Andrew Linden – who marked his 11th rezday on June 4th, 2013!
As Andrew has been involved in trying to resolve the “large” script bug described above, he’s not had time to make further progress on the “Meeroo issue”, which can affect other scripted animals, etc., as well, and which he describes as:
If you turn your camera away from a crowd of Meeroos, wait several seconds, then turn back around… the Meeroos will be updated, but not quite in the right order. So sometimes you’ll see a head move to the new position, then a fraction of a second later the rest of the body. So I have a theoretical fix that doesn’t crash the simulator (anymore).
As noted recently, he has developed a partial fix for this problem was deployed as a part of the current interest list updates, and he now hopes he’ll be able to focus on developing a more complete fix, which will mark the final aspect of server-side interest list work for the moment.
Building work continues apace on the SL10B Community Celebration (SL10BCC) regions. To mark progress, we’ve kicked-off the SL10BCC Pictures of the Day. Each day, selected pictures will be posted on the website of the celebration regions and exhibits and people.
All you need to do is join the SL Community Celebration Flickr Group and post your pictures there. Note that by doing so, you give consent for the organisers of the event to use them in publicity and for pictures of the day.
Those who have access to the regions can start posting now – but worry not if you don’t – the group will remain open through the celebrations for everyone to share their pictures!
Photo Contest
There are now just two days remaining in the first of our official SL10BCC Photo Contests. So if you haven’t entered, now’s the time! Honour and glory are the prizes, in addition to having your photo posted on the Community Celebration official blog, and social media (e.g. Facebook, Flickr, Twitter).
We want you to submit a photo which encapsulates all or part of this year’s celebratory theme: Looking Forward, Looking Back. The subject matter is entirely your choice – as long as it’s not of any part of the celebration regions themselves; we hope to have a further competition for that later! Instead, we want you to explore the grid (or your inventories!) and find the perfect picture which fits our theme.
Orientation Station circa 2003: a pat of SL’s history. Perhaps a part of out Photo Contest?
Up to two entries can be submitted per avatar name, and there are two categories for entries:
Category A is for photos taken using only the tools available within the viewer (the snapshot floater, windlight settings, the debug and preferences options for images, etc.)
Category B is for photos which have been processed outside of the viewer using tools such as PhotoShop, GIMP, PaintShop Pro and so on.
Entries must not show the SL10B Community Celebration regions
Photos must be PG – make it family friendly keep it clean and FUN or risk disqualification!
Competitors must indicate whether the photograph is Category A (using only the tools available within the viewer) or Category B (using tools outside the viewer, such as photo editing software)
Descriptive text may accompany entries
The Community Celebration Team reserve the right to use photograph submissions for event advertising
All entires must be uploaded by midnight SLT on Thursday, June 6th, 2013.
A distinguished panel will select the top twenty photos, which will be displayed at the entry point at the celebrations, where visitors will get the opportunity to vote for the one they like best.
Can You Help?
Two Second Life residents, Dizzy Banjo and Arciamay Resident are looking for people to help with their SL10BCC exhibits.
Dizzy Banjo’s Message in a Bottle Take 2
“5 Years ago, along with Lillie Yifu,” Dizzy Banjo says, “I made the Message in a Bottle exhibit at Second Life’s 5th Birthday event. It featured voice contributions from hundreds of Second Life users. Check out this video of it:”
“It was a treasured project – featured on the Linden Lab home page for some time after the event. Some residents and Lindens even told me it made them cry!”
Now Dizzy is looking for volunteers willing to record up to 10 seconds of them answering the question “What does Second Life mean to you in 2013?” The recordings won’t be going into a bottle this year, however. Instead, Dizzy says, “it’s going to use an exciting new trick which I’m sure you will like!”
If you’re willing to do so, send your recording via e-mail to dizzysbottle@gmail.com, together with your avatar name or send Dizzy a link to a downloadable version of the file if you’ve uploaded it to Soundcloud or similar. See Dizzy’s blog for more information and suggestions on suitable recording software.
Be A Part of Gallery Celebrating Second Life’s History
Arciamay Resident says of her exhibit: “I am looking for old photos or art work depicting the history of Second Life. I’ve also have read some of the poetry that people have written describing their feelings and inturrpretations of SL.
“I’m creating a gallery so people can share their art, poetry and photos. There will also be an area where people can relax and hopefully share their experiences in Second Life.”
To find out more and participate, please contact Arciamay in-world.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 