In keeping with statements made in recent user group meetings, Linden Lab has announced changes to the the Second Life minimum system requirements for both Windows and Apple MacOS operating systems which are to take effect from Saturday, July 1st, 2023. Specifically, from that point onwards, Linden Lab / Second Life will no longer support:
- The 32-bit version of the Windows operating system.
- Any version of MacOS below 10.13 High Sierra.
Available stats for Windows suggests that the percentage of users running the 32-bit version is in the low single-digit numbers by percentage – and many who are running it do so on hardware capable of supporting the 64-bit version. The stats for MacOS version below 1013 are less clear, but High Sierra has been generally available since 2017.
With these changes it is further noted that:
- Users running the viewer on the 32-bit Windows will still be able to access Second Life after July 1st, 2023 – however, they will not be supported by the Lab’s support teams if they have viewer difficulties.
- User on versions of the MacOS preceding 10.13 will need to upgrade their operating system to a newer version to access future Second Life viewer updates.
The steps are being taken to allow the Lab to focus on stability, performance and maintaining compatibility with the most up-to-date technologies, as well as viewer security considerations.
To help those users either running Windows 32-bit or an older version of MacOS maintain parity with the SL minimum system requirements from July 1st, 2023 onwards, the Lab provides the following advice:
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Second Life 32-bit Windows Viewer Users:
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Ensure your computer meets the system requirements for the 64-bit Viewer.
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Back up your preferences and settings before making the transition.
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Download and install the 64-bit version of the Second Life Viewer.
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MacOS Users Older than 10.13:
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Check the Apple support website for information on upgrading your operating system.
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Upgrade to a supported version of MacOS that meets Second Life’s minimum requirements.
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Before upgrading, backup your important files and make sure your system is compatible with the newer version of MacOS.
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For full details on the changes, please refer to the official blog post. Concerns / feedback should directed to Linden Lab, as I am unable to address support issues.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
Would that the Lab would support 64 bit Linux builds
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Sadly, LL hasn’t had any official support for Linux for quite a while. At least Firestorm continues to offer Linux builds. (Kokua, the other notable viewer that had Linux builds, discontinued them a while ago because they didn’t have any Linux developers on their team.
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I’ve been using the FS version for Linux, as well as Kokua – wasn’t aware they ceased development – thanks for the head’s up.
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Not really “ceased development”; Kokua for Linux shared the exact code base as Kokua for Windows, but the build system is waaay out of date (Ubuntu 16.04), and there are niggling problems making the build system run on modern Ubuntu.
I was supposed to be the new Linux builder but my new employment has been taking quite a bit of my time. Hopefully next week I can set up — and make run — a new build system based on a more modern Ubuntu release.
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“a tiny (~1.5) percentage”
I can’t believe that as even the number of normies using Linux exceeds 1.5%. And SL is, or at least was, an environment for the more technical, geeky users. Alone the number of Linux related groups is bigger than 1.5%. 😉
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That’s what the stats show. And while SL was once more of an environment for the geeky – is that true now? I’d question that. More to the point, Linux as a home operating system for general use has always been niche – like it or not. Indeed, SL’s figures reflect the global trend; in 2020, and purely in terms of home desktop systems (Linux is obviously a powerhouse on the server side of of things – including LL’s own servers – but that’s not what we’re discussing here), Linux accounted for just 1.69% (and 0.81% of the mobile device market in terms of a “pure” Linux OS and without biasing claims by stating Android “is Linux” as it indirectly uses a Linux kernel).
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I was never a purist – but pure enough to know that Android is not Linux! Will never be Linux.
And I guess SL’s days of wild experimentation and geekyness are over. No matter how mainstream Linux has become now, the young folks wanna have SL on their stupid smartphones. 😦
Otoh I dare to question the numbers, like 1.69%. It is impossible to find reliable figures about the spread of Linux on the desktop. Even if i.e. Manjaro would publish download numbers, they can’t know that the 1 ISO file I downloaded years ago ended up installed on 4 PCs. And since then they get updated, not re-installed.
So I guess what the public’s gotta notice of Linux is just like the visible part of an iceberg. 😉
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Linux is a tough nut for Lab to crack; it represents a tiny (~1.5) percentage of the user base, and there are so many flavours, support at one time became convoluted. In 2015, Oz Linden initiated a project to try to work with TPVs / open source developers to provide a way forward for “official” Linux support (Lab seeks assistance from Linux developers and Lab confirms open source support sought for Linux viewer development), but things didn’t entirely work out, and the approach appears to have been lost in the intervening time span.
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I’m not totally satisfied with Firestorm’s attempt, much preferred Singularity. But that seems to be dead by now. 😦
And how dare the Lab ending support for a Win version and PC hardware that has gone the way of the dodo, like 15 years ago? LØL Even most oldfashioned Linuxes are exclusively developed for 64-bit these days.
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Firestorm isn’t my favorite viewer either. I prefer Kokua because it tracks LL’s releases much more closely and doesn’t make you wait months for updates. But right now Firestorm is really the only game in town for Linux, and I’m glad we still have that option.
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Kokua is V3 or sumfink, right? See, I never made the transition away from V1. In so far Singu was my abso fave, FS a kinda ok-ish replacement with some benefits.
Well, acknowledging I hardly ever log in anymore I’ve dropped my premium acc and will live my days out as homeless hanger. 😐
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Kokua is V6 now, and likely V7 by the end of the year. (V7 will come from LL when the GLTF Materials code is ready for prime time.) Kokua uses the LL user interface mostly straight up, though it has extra options in the menus. Firestorm changes around the UI more, and how much it gets changed depends on which UI skin you use, but none of them look like V1.
If you want a V1-style Linux viewer (or a Windows viewer for that matter), Cool VL is worth a look. I find it hard to use because it’s been so long since I’ve used a V1 viewer as a daily driver, but you might like it. It wasn’t in the TPV directory for a long time because Henri refused to give LL some information that the lab required (and he claims that French law prohibits LL from asking for it), but they finally worked it out one way or another so it’s listed now. You can find it at http://sldev.free.fr/ Cool VL is also the only viewer that has an ARM version available for Linux and Apple Silicon Macs, though it’s considered experimental.
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Oh sorry, forgot to mention I’m using Firestorm in Phoenix mode, and I’m on Linux. Arch to be more exact, so I used to install Singu and Firefuk directly from the AUR. And while Singu was more or less a direct LL viewer 1.2.3 clone FF
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… FF failed in that regard and made some unnecessarily stupid changes to the UI.
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