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Veritable Quandry

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Everything posted by Veritable Quandry

  1. Downloads for Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are here. If you can tell us your model number and system specs we can be more helpful.
  2. If you have problems running SL, let us know what your graphics card and operating system are, and we can talk you through how to set it up. But as said, every modern OS/GPU combination should let you run a high enough version of OpenGL to run SL (except for a few low-end chipsets like the GMA 500, which has poor driver support for OpenGL).
  3. Slow is the best you can hope for on a netbook. Try running Rainbow Viewer, which runs better on low-end systems.
  4. Several universities have had campuses on SecondLife, and there is plenty of rental space that you can use for classes. If you use Moodle for web courses, check out SLoodle, which works between Moodle and SecondLife.
  5. In the text box on the forums, there is a gray button labeled "Spell Check." You might find it useful. It can't fix grammar, however.
  6. Also make sure you have a "naked" skin. The default avatars have underwear drawn onto the skin. You can search for Freebies and find something that will work.
  7. I have the viewer on my 64GB SSD and my cache on a 7200 RPM HDD. Works very well. With all that RAM, you might want to set up a RAM Disc for speed, and then set it to write the contents to your HDD when you shut down. That would give you the fastest possible cache (but would add a short delay to start-up and shut-down to load and then copy the RAM Disc).
  8. If all you have available is Intel graphics, try using a pre-windlight viewer (Raindow is a good option). It will not have nearly the visual quality that you get on a newer browser (and may not be usable once mesh becomes popular) but it will have the lowest impact on system resources. If you are running a laptop, make sure to get a cooler with active fans, asSecondLife will heat up your computer. I run Rainbow on a netbook with Intel 945 graphics, and it is OK but gets low details at short draw distances. Try borrowing something that will render shadows if you want to see what SL is capable of...it's night and day running low-end hardware and medium-high end systems.
  9. You can log in here, so it's not your account. Your laptop should be able to handle SL. The first thing I would try is directly connecting your computer to your router with a cable instead of using wireless. If that does not help, there is more information on network settings and ports in the SecondLife wiki that may be useful.
  10. Can you tell us the model and/or specs of your computer? That will help figure out what to check next. It would also help to know what kind of network you are on (wired/wireless, home/school/business) so we can tell you what setting to check. If you are on Windows Vista or 7, make sure that your internet security settings allow SL to access the internet. It can also help to run the SecondLife viewer in Administrator mode (right-click the shortcut and "Run as Administrator").
  11. Run, don't walk, from Intel HD graphics. You want a mid-range or better discrete graphics card. Try Notebookcheck for detailed specs on mobile graphics. Specs for the HD2000 are here. From the big list, try to get a Class 1 for best results, or a Class 2 for medium quality on a smaller screen. According to the system requirements, SL will run on an Intel GMA 945, which is not as powerful as the HD2000, but it will be very slow and you will not get any better than minimum graphics. It will also be prone to overheating, since SL is very demanding. But while it is technically possible, I personally would not do it. Please note that the system requirements is very badly out of date, but you can compare the listed GPUS to current models on Notebookcheck. If you do get anything integrated, try running Rainbow Viewer.
  12. What Ceera said. They may not go so far as disabling logins with older viewers, but mesh will not render without new code. Not sure if any of the 1.23 based TPVs will be able to back-port mesh support.
  13. What Amras said. SecondLife does not use Physx. For games that use it, a lower powered second card will enable using Physx without slowing down the main graphics unit (download the Batman Arkam Asylum demo to see how it looks). Some programs can also use a second graphics card for processing (CUDA and OpenCL in the Nvidia drivers and DirectCompute in Windows 7). Neither will help in SecondLife, but programs like Photoshop can get a boost as long as it as an 8000 series or later Nvidia card.
  14. I'd go with the 1201pn of those three. The 1201pn uses second generation Ion, which has seperate memory for the GPU. It also has a more advanced CPU than the others. The 1201n uses a first-generation ION GPU, so it has to share memory with the main system, so there is less availalble to each. The advantage that this netbook has over the other two is that it has a dual-core CPU with hyperthreading. The others use a singel core with hyperthreading. The Lenovo is the least powerful of the three. I have an Asus gaming notebook, and my wife and father-in-law both have Asus netbooks. The build quality is good, and we have not had any issues with them.
  15. First, let's talk about netbooks. There are three main graphics options for netbooks. The cheapest is the Intel GMA 500. It is not capable of running SL. Some people have managed with a lot of tweaking, but this chip has horrible 3D support and is not worth the effort. Next up is the Intel GMA 950 (there are a couple of other Intel GMA varieties, as well as ATI options, but performance will be similar in most). It meets the minimum specs for SL, and on a low resolution screen can get OK framerates at lowest settings (Newegg has recertified Asus EE netbooks for $240). The high-end GPUs for netbooks are the Nvidia Ion systems (a scaled-back Nvidia 9400). It will run SL and add a bit more effects than the Intel graphics can handle, but will be hard to get in your price range (cheapest I found was $390). Upgrading your desktop is a good option. There are a few things we need to know to make recommendations. The first is what expansion slots your motherboard has (AGP or PCI) for video (or the model of your computer so we can look it up). The second is the power supply, which is often a limit on what you can install. Given your budget, you can get a GT 9800 for $60 after rebate. That will get high to ultra settings with no problem. You might also want to look at Rainbow Viewer. It runs well on low-end equipment and might get you a smoother framerate than the official viewer.
  16. Updating the driver might help, but most likely not. The driver that was problematic was released for desktops, it had to be modded to run on laptops. Have you tried to use canned air to blow dust out of the vents? If you are willing, opening the bottom and cleaning the fans and vents will improve airflow. Or find a computer shop that can do it for you. I'd also suggest trying a laptop cooler. By the sound of it you may be too far gone, but it' can't hurt to to try.
  17. Red wines go well with ATI cards...not sure what to put on an Nvidia.
  18. Why not get a laptop with a graphics card that meets the system requirements? A dedicated graphics card puts out heat. Period. and the more cores and memory, the more heat. Increased airflow moves heat away from the laptop components. Any laptop will benefit from a cooler when ruinning intensive applications like SecondLife. High performance laptops require it.
  19. Since the USB is just for power, you can pick up a wall adapter USB charger. For a 17" laptop, you might take a look at this type of cooler.
  20. There was a problem with a recent Nvidia driver causing overheating, but they pulled that version from the site. If you get the most recent driver from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx?lang=en-us you should have no trouble.
  21. I found some info on Intel's tech support forum that may help. If you are open to Linux, there is a netbook-specific distro with included OpenGL support for the GMA 500 included.
  22. Read this post for more info. It is the lowest spec card you can get on a netbook at the moment, so do not expect much if it does work.
  23. Asami Imako wrote: Edit: Windows 7 is fine also. 64bit here. Good point...Windows 7 has been no problem for me, I've been running it since the RTM version came out. Just make sure that when you get your laptop, you 1) install security software 2) patch Windows with all of the important updates and 3) get the latest video driver directly from ATI or Nvidia for your system BEFORE you install SecondLife. That seems to avoid most of the driver issues people have had. Also: invest in a good cooler for your laptop, whichever model you end up getting.
  24. Glad to help. Good luck and let us know what you get & how it works.
  25. While they are still developing CUDA, Nvidia is also heavily involved in OpenCL as well, which should also work on ATI cards in all OS's. For Windows 7 users, both will support Directcompute as well, which is MicroSoft's Windows-only version.
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