emSynth

What a pleasant message to read from you, Bennynatural Carter! Although there was some grumpiness on my part being in the hospital this Christmas was joyful and filled with love. I spent a lot of time with online friends and in SL and the best part was being reunited with my brother after two years of complete separation. There are two more points I thought I would mention. First, obviously you can use any viewer you like with this VNC approach, which is really good for all those SL residents who prefer a particular viewer. Second, audio can be transported with standard DJ software such as Nicecast on the Mac and routed to and from the viewer's voice channel with sound flower or Jack. There are probably other audio solutions as well. Peace and joy to all, emSynth

I tried "Remoter VNC" which cost about two bucks IIRC, and I am very happy with it. It has special controls for asserting the various types of mouse auctions required for avatar motion and avatar rotation, and window positioning. The Remoter VNC client, and most likely others like it make SL on an iPad almost playable. Currently I am on a poor hospital wifi so there is a lot of lag involved, but when I get home in a few days or a week or so I will have some decent bandwidth to do a proper evaluation. Oh, and regarding the Apple vs. PC tangent, it does not really matter since VNC clients are available fully cross platform. This means that just about any tablet or smartphone can run SL in this way. Also please note that you do not need have rent a server from a hosting company like I am doing. You can just set up your desktop machine, be it Mac, Linux, or PC with VNC server software (included on Mac and probably Linux, free or cheap on PC) then run a VNC client on your mobile device. Note also that modern desktop systems can handle multiple remote login sessions per machine, so you can set this up as an SL host for your home or neighborhood or business if you like. emSynth

Well, I am no Mac bigot, I don't knock PC's but I have had half a lifetime of bad experiences with PC's. I'm 46 years old now and I remember things like "the network is down", Windows configured as easily hackable by default, and my favorite bad memory: "the blue screen of death". Let's not forget bloat ware caused by empire building and all the typical evil giant corporation stuff. Windows? Maybe someday... When I learn to forgive the worst of my enemies. emSynth

Being a Mac only user by choice, the iPad mini at usd $358 shipped to my door is the only afford able option for me. The cheapest notebook would be over usd $1000 from Apple. Also it is flat tiny and powerful. emSynth --||-

Well, reclining is important to me because I have Congestive Heart Failure and if I sit at the desk too long, blood and other fluids gradually build up in my feet and lower legs. This can (and has) developed into horribly painful medical conditions that I will not describe. So I recline and now that I have an iPad mini, I wanted a way to enjoy second life on it. As far as the bandwidth goes, I pay extra for a decent connection which covers maintenance and upgrade costs for my neighborhood, so my neighbors should love me for that, yes! I hope you feel better soon as you seem a bit grumpy. Life is good so enjoy every moment! EmSynth

Yes it sounds like a joke at first but it's real. if I measured correctly then it takes eight times more bandwidth to stream the video to the iPad than it takes to get it from LL. plus even with super network bandwidth there is latency (which can also be minimized). But I have to tell you it is nice to run SL while reclined and at ease rather than always being at a desk. i am experimenting with different VNC apps and I will say that so far none of the free ones are shall we just politely say "cooperating" with me. There are issues like thto finger gestures being unable to hold and drag, just click only, which severely restricts moving the avatar. plus I refuse to using up four an account just to run an app, or to use an app that requires a server side component Since my rented Mac server does that job just fine. Then there is the question of how to transport audio between the hoist and the iPad, I am uncertain of what to do there. What is needed is a VNC App that deliverers stereo sound both ways. Maybe some custom HUD can help with the motion issue. Anyway, the cat is out of the bag: SL on your iPad, another virtual world innovation brought to you from Designers Coalition! Enjoy!

I am running SL Viewers on my iPad mini now indirectly. it is slow and awkward but with some effort and a very good network connection, it is quite doable. The secret is simple: just run the Viewer on a Mac or PC or Linux and set up VNC so the iPad can serve as a networked user interface for you. in this way you see the graphics and all that jazz on your iPad. I am using a rented Mac mini from MacStadium as viewer host but you can just as easily set up your home machdoorframe that purpose. So there you go, SL on an iPad! Yay! EmSynth

This piece for me was an intriguing insight into an artist's perspective of the scripter's thought process, among many other things. The use of wireframe imagery and real LSL code snippets in monochrome illustrated some of the aspects of scripting in a virtual world well, and the slow pace and gentle feminine curves and realistic motion of the main character alluded to the realism of the result of all this coding. Don't you just hate the "however" part of it? However, for me scripting is about four or eight times faster in my mind most of the time than this video's luxurious speed. Also scripting is colorful, color coded, and full of imagery of data structures, event blocks, interdependencies, and temporarily memorized code snippets. Scripting for me personally tends to be an often caffiene-fueled speed racing event where I push the limits of my ability to code much of the time. Not that there aren't slow and medium times and monochrome wireframe moments also, it's just that scipting for me is more of an exciting adventure than a provocative and thoughtful embrace of the virtual. Now, having said my "however" part, I'll close by saying that this video is way up on my list of excellent videos worth watching and I highly recommend it. I'd like to see more machinima made like this, and perhaps one of them that's more of a speed racer engine throttling zoom zoom blow your mind away scripter's sustained explosion/exertion of creativity video as well. My compliments to the creators of this one - now go watch it! emSynth

Yes, the ease with which such an example can be put together is testimony to the power of this approach. The meeting is not about the text to speech application, but about the myriad of other things that we can do for the disabled by combining AppleScript and LSL. There is a great deal of potential that is untapped at this time and we would like to figure out exactly what is needed by whom so we can address the needs of those individuals. I hope you can attend the meeting, it sounds like your skills could be helpful!

In two days, on Wednesday 11-21-12 at 1pm SLT, we will be holding a Scripter's Meeting at the Virtual Ability Sim to discuss how Mac users can use the powerful combination of AppleScript and LSL bridged by HTTP to help people with disabilities (PWDs). The meeting will be held at the Sojourner auditorium which is located at the following slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/54/172/23 We will have a brief presentation and code walk-thru of the original local chat text-to-Speech application that opened our eyes to the incredible things we can do with the combination of these two languages, followed by the really fun part: a brinstorming session! Come join in on the fun, learn, and be heard! emSynth