OpenSim is an appealing open source virtual world platform for hardcore coders and such, but user friendly it is not. Veteran SL/OpenSim developer Fred Beckhusen has a solution for that, and he just made it open source: "It copies the necessary files to disk, sets up Firestorm all ready to log in, and has pre-configured avatars that can log in to a Western town all ready to explore on a horse." Get it here on Github.
"One of these days," adds Fred on FB, "I will find time to set this up for the latest version with Hypergrid and the simplified Onlook viewer. That would make it even simpler for new people to discover our world. If you have the technical knowledge to do so, please consider checking out a copy and consider pushing updates and changes back to the community." Consider this a request for that consideration!
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My teaching days with SL or OS are (often mercifully, considering the effort involved) behind me, but this sort of setup would have been spot-on perfect for classes. Kids didn't want to go through the endless menus to customize the premade avatars we provided.
This type of viewer would have made my last use of SL for teaching, in 2013, far easier. Good work, Fred!
Posted by: Iggy | Monday, August 29, 2016 at 06:30 PM
Attention - The way you start the articles makes it look Opensim is not user friendly for regular users/consumers - The Opensim viewers are the same as for SL, Firestorm, Singularity, etc - OS may be not user friendly for coders but for people that gets inworld and does exactly what others do on SL - play and build - It works EXACTLY the same way with some + advantages - You can Rezz and clone NPCs with animations straightforward, with no need to host anywhere or open accounts and you can save, download and upload you whole Land+builds, just to name 2 of the advatntages - There is no learning curve at all to start using Opensim right now, besides a few functions that the viewers (built for SL) may not perform - The major change in movingo to Ipensim is a massive decrease on the impact on our wallets
Posted by: Carlos Loff | Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 04:39 AM