Best SL Viewer

[WhisperingPond]

What's the best viewer for SL? I bounce between my Chrome browser and Firestorm. Is there another?

I'm using a PC laptop (Windows 10), but I sometimes use a Chromebook for family video chats. I haven't visited SL on the Chromebook yet, because I know that some software isn't available for it. (And my wife is on it sometimes). Will SL work on a Chromebook? 

[Rolig Loon]

17 minutes ago, WhisperingPond said:

I'm new so you'll see a lot more questions from me.

Welcome aboard.  We were all new once upon a time.  

 

[Lillith Hapmouche]

... Chrome browser for SL? ...

[Rolig Loon]

No, you cannot use a Chromebook for SL.

Your web browser is not a SL viewer.  A viewer is a program, loaded onto your computer, which acts as a local client to connect you to the Linden Lab servers in California.  Together, your viewer and the servers manage your access to Second Life and control your in-world experience.

The standard viewer for SL is the one provided by Linden Lab at https://secondlife.com/support/downloads/ .  You can also find alternate viewers available from Linden Lab (https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer.html) and several third party providers (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory).  Which one is "best"?  That all depends on what you are hoping to use it for and how skilled you (and your machine) are.  For normal in-world experience, I think you'll find that the standard Linden Lab viewer is more than adequate for your purposes.  I use it 90% of the time myself.  If you like a viewer with more bells and whistles, many people would recommend the Firestorm viewer. Other viewers on thsi third party list offer advantages if you are interested in photography or if you simply like the feel of a different user interface.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Rolig Loon

[Coffee Pancake]

41 minutes ago, WhisperingPond said:

Will SL work on a Chromebook? 

Short answer : Never.

Long Answer : Chromebooks vary wildly in specs, from packing quite a punch all the way to down to being manufactured entirely from hopes, dreams and buyers remorse. The one thing they all have in common though is no real GPU. (Even the best can barely run source engine games like portal2 ... SL .. no way). This is probably why stadia exists (just don't ..)

 

[Nalates Urriah]

Now you know Chromebook is not an option. Very simply said Chromebook is designed for video streaming, Internet browsing, and email... possibly Skype, Google Hangouts, and such. It does not have adequate muscle for graphics rendering.

Small laptops 3 to 4 years old will run SL pretty well. You can get refurbished and used machines on eBay for US$100-200.

You can also try Speedlight a commercial monthly service that runs SL on almost anything that can bring up a web page. The 3D is limited but they are improving it.

[WhisperingPond]

Thank you. I guess that I meant that was using the standard SL viewer that I downloaded. It works so seamlessly I forgot it was a separate program. 

Thanks for the Chromebook tip. I didn't think that it would really work. Bought if recently for my wife to Zoom with clients since her laptop was 10+ yrs old but works fine for everything else she does. 

I'm new so you'll see a lot more questions from me.

[Arthur Raleigh]

Firestorm viewer will run in the Linux Beta environment on a Chromebook.