Interactive Flash on one prim for v1 and v3 viewers.

Programming in OpenSim can be a struggle, but every once in a while I find some simple solution that really helps. 

We are 'between' times with still lots of educational institutes using a v1 viewer like Imprudence but others allready made the step to a v3 viewer. We have to find ways to show them both the content without having two separate objects showing the same.
In a previous post ( Flash and streaming video on a prim) I allready wrote about the use of Flash interactively on a prim in Imprudence 1.4.0 beta 2. Most schools use this viewer and it works great. having the URL of the parcel set to the flash file that I want them to interact with in-world.

Spanish pronunciation keyboard

But what about the new v3 viewers?
I recently created a keyboard with pronunciations of the Spanish alphabet which I wanted to use for the Imprudence viewer but also for the v3 viewer (Firestorm) that we use in a pilot at the university of Alcalá de Henares in Spain.
So by setting the parcel media to the URL of the flash file gave me the possibility to press the buttons of the Flash keyboard in-world and hear the pronunciation of the letters. The only problem was that in my Firestorm viewer the Flash file shows but I could not press any button.

How can I have both working?

Prim media settings

The solution was quite simple, the settings for Imprudence were fine, so I did not change anything there. So I used the Firestorm viewer to set the extra prim media settings of the prim face where the keyboard was set on, to the same URL.

It works!
So what happens? When I log in with my Imprudence viewer the extra settings of the prim media will not be seen, it will see the settings of the parcel media and show the page on the prim, and I can interact with it.
When I log in with my Firestorm the same happens, the webpage appears but is not interactive, but because of the settings I made for the prim media, after one easy click it will change from parcel url to the prim url, which is interactive again. The problem is solved.

OpenSim on Android (1)

Finally we are getting in the right direction, Opensim and Second Life on an Android phone or tablet.
You got to check that out on http://www.lumiyaviewer.com/
The Lumyia viewer version 2.3.1 now shows the avatars, great news.

Great news. The new Lumyia v 2.3.1 shows the avatar.

Chatterdale in OpenSim on my Samsung Galaxy Ace (v2.0)

Chatterdale - screenshot on a Motorola Defy (by Torrid Luna)

Chatterdale on a Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1 (v2.0)

OpenSim DIY or not?

Have you ever considered running your own OpenSim region? Well I did!
It runs, it works, but it was not easy. What were the steps I had to make? Let me tell you...

After years of building and scripting in SL and on the OpenSim grid at virtyou GmbH, I wanted to experience this installing and running an OpenSimulator server myself. I must say, it looked easy to do..... One of the members of the Dutch Edusim group (Johan Taal) wrote a great DIY on this at eduwiki.opensim.nl, which is in Dutch.

I used one of my old computers and deleted Windows, installed Ubuntu on it. That all went smoothly, even the fixed IP address was easy (I thought). Then I downloaded the latest OpenSim version, compiled it and set it up as a standalone version. It worked. But that is just the start, I wanted to have this sim working on Hypergrid, so more installing had to be done: mysql database system, Robust, ini files had to be worked on, etc.

Torrid Luna (virtyou) visited me via Hypergrid

Finally it worked. It spent many hours to have the basic OpenSim grid running, connected to Hypergrid. But none of the additional modules are working yet, no friends list, no groups, etc. But Vivox voice runs fine, after sending a short email they gave me a free account which was very easy to install. Thanks Vivox.

OpenSim DIY?

OpenSim DIY or not? Well we are still testing, not all steps have been made yet so it is too early to draw any conclusion now, but it looks promising.
Sure, I want a stable environment for my schools and it will take much more editing and time before it all works fine on my personal grid, but it is interesting to find out how things work and how OpenSim has to be set up. I still don't know how to backup this, I have no account creating portal, but that will come, patience is the word in this.
So if you like programming and fiddling with ini files and modules, you should really try this, it works. Having your own grid is the ultimate form of getting yourself started creatively.
Any Dutch users can ask for a free account at edugrid@opensim.nl to have a look around the Edugrid and see what a 3D world offers.

OpenSim rental?

You can also let someone else do all this backups, upgrades and problem solving, saving all the hours you spent on installing and tweeking. For only 40 euro's a month (educational pricing) any educator can have his own region running at virtyou. And it's fast, stable and allways there. Building and scripting Chatterdale - the first virtual language village on OpenSim - was fun to do and now that several schools in Europe are using it I can see that I made the right choice with this grid. Want to have a look on the virtyou grid? Go to http://virtyou.com/en/ and create an account there.

So?
Until now it has been a great experience to install OpenSim for myself (thanks to Edugrid), I am proud that I have a grid running in my own house. It will take some time to tweek all the littile errors out but I will get there. My Linux (Ubuntu) machine is running fast and I can build on my own land. That's Ok for now, but I do want more.

More?

The Virtyou grid can be found at: http://virtyou.com/en/

For all the Dutch users, you should check out http://eduwiki.opensim.nl/ and http://edugrid.opensim.nl/