Category: Viewers

2016 viewer release summaries: week 9

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, March 6th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

V1-style

  • No updates.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Kokua 4.0.1.37934

Posted on by Inara Pey

kokua-logoNicky Perian announced the release of Kokua 4.0.1.37934 on Tuesday, March 1st 2016.

The update sees Kokua gain parity with the latest release version of the viewer from Linden Lab (version 4.0.1.310054 (Maintenance release) at the time of writing), and also with the February 26th release of RLV version 2.9.16 from Marine Kelley.

Not that if you are currently still using a test version of the viewer, the automatic update feature will not function. A separate download and install is required.

CEF Updates

This release incorporates the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) updates for media from the Lab, as well as the assorted crash and bug fixes from the Maintenance release. Also included for CEF are a series of contributed updates for Linux, coming by way of Drakeo and including work by Nicky Dasmijn of Firestorm and Henri Beauchamp of CoolVL. Commenting on this, Nicky points out:

Drakeo’s development focus is media and providing Slackware viewer packages. Upstream CEF frequently issues security updates and Drakeo puts those into his own Slackware packaged viewers and contributes updates to Kokua. These security updates from CEF come more often than the Kokua release cycle, however, our Test viewers can be used to maintain a level of currency. Please remember that Linux viewers are Alpha and that is even more the case now that we no longer have the benefit of Linden Lab’s Quality Assurance run through of new features added to Linux viewers. We do our best to provide stable Linux viewers, but with the vast number of Linux distributions problems will occur that may not have timely solutions.

Inventory Updates

Transferable Items Filter

Kokua 4.0.1 includes a new Transferable Items Only inventory search filter. When active, this will limit the main inventory display to transfer enabled items only.

To prevent possible confusion / worry about inventory loss, the option does not persist between log-in sessions when enabled.

The new Transferable Items Only filter for inventory searches
The new Transferable Items Only filter will display only those items which are transfer enabled in your inventory

OpenSim Exportable Parameter

Kokua 4.0.1 adds an Exportable parameter to the Item Profile floater for OpenSim grids, allowing content creators to easily mark items they build as being exportable to other grids. The option is not displayed by the floater when logged-in to Second Life.

The OpenSim only Exportable parameter
The OpenSim only Exportable parameter

Do Not Let Me Fly

A new option added to Preferences  > Kokua and to the Commands menu is Do Not Let Me Fly. As the name suggests, when checked, it prevents your avatar from flying even where flying is enabled.  The option is specifically intended for use in combat zones where flying within the region may still be enabled, to prevent any risk of accidentally flying (such as when jumping an obstacle) and interrupting the combat flow.

The Do Not Fly option will prevent you avatar for accidentally flying whilst still allowing Page Up to be used for jumping
The Do Not Let Me Fly option will prevent you avatar for accidentally flying whilst still allowing Page Up to be used for jumping

Under the Hood

In addition to the above, the release includes numerous under the hood improvements and updates, all of which are listed in the downloadable change log for those interested.

Related Links

2016 viewer release summaries: week 8

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, February 28th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, January 15 – no change download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Maintenance RC viewer version updated to 4.0.2.311655 on February 26 – 38 updates, fixes and tweaks for memory leaks (download and release notes)
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.311302 on February 22 – combines the Project Azumarill RC and Vivox Voice RC updates into a single viewer  (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.14 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.12, both on February 27th (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Group Tools updated to version 2.2.37 on February 28 – no release notes

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Alchemy 4.0.0

Posted on by Inara Pey

Alchemy-logoOn Tuesday, February 16th, the Alchemy team announced the release of Alchemy 4.0.0.37374 Beta.

The release  – as indicated by the version number shifting to 4, incorporates code for the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) for media handling. Already in the official release viewer on some TPVs, CEF replaces the ageing QTWebkit framework, and supports all modern web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, and WebGL.

This release also implements the Lab’s auto update feature, which means that when a new version of Alchemy is release, users well get a notification prompting them to allow the updater to run and install the latest update when they log into an older version.

Perhaps a more visible change to the viewer is the ability to initiate nearby chat through a local chat bar, rather than either through the Conversations floater or having the detached Nearby Chat bar always open either full-sized or minimised.

As with similar local chat bar options found in other TPVs, this will only work if you set the viewer so that pressing letter keys starts local chat (Preferences > General).  You also need to ensure that Preferences > Chat > Open Conversations When Initiating Nearby Chat  is unchecked. Once done, starting to type within the viewer window will open a compact chat bar, which will close automatically upon pressing Enter.

The new local chat bar offers a convenient means of typing local chat, complete with gear icon options, and can be enabled by ensuring pressing the letter keys on your keyboard initiates typing (rather than movement), and that the option to Open Conversations when Initiating Nearby Chat (shown above) is unchecked (leaving it checked will open the Conversations floater in full or the Nearby Chat floater, is detached from it)
The new local chat bar offers a convenient means of typing local chat, complete with gear icon options, and can be enabled by ensuring pressing the letter keys on your keyboard initiates typing (rather than movement), and that the option to Open Conversations when Initiating Nearby Chat (shown above) is unchecked (leaving it checked will open the Conversations floater in full or the Nearby Chat floater, is detached from it)

Removed from this version of Alchemy is  media pop-ups, which aren’t supported by CEF.  Other updates are reported to be directed at OpenSim use, together with a few “hidden gems” and also under-the-hood updates intended to improve performance.  There are also a number of fixes implemented, as indicated in the release notes.

Related Links

2016 viewer release summaries: week 7

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, February 21st

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, January 15 – no change download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.311103 on February 17 – provides the new Avatar Complexity options and the new graphics preset capabilities for setting, saving and restoring graphic settings for use in difference environments / circumstances (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

  • Alchemy updated to version 4.0.0.37374 Beta on February 16th – core updates: CEF, automatic updater, chat bar (release notes)

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.13 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.11, both on February 20th (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2016 viewer release summaries: week 6

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, February 14th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.12 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.10, both on February 13th (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links