RLVibe - yet another tack

Well, phooey.  So, I've been trying to do this as a webservice.  It may work for a lot of people who know about firewalls and such.  But it's not working for me, and I *do* know about firewalls.  It's because of my ISP, which is a 3G connection thru Verizon Wireless.  Really, the best way to do this is by making it a  tweak to the client.

XCite does manage to do this, but they've got a back-end server which, given I was recently laid off, I can't afford the monthly fee for.  As it is, I'm afraid I'm going to lose my shop -- but that's a side topic.

So, Marine's worked on adding the upload library for mesh and she's got it working in her pre-release of the next RLV.  I'm trying to get her changes working under Mac.  Once I do that, I'll understand how to tie in a new library to the client build process.

If I can do that, then I'll know how to add libusb to my build of a Second Life client.  Once I can do that, I'll be able to add RLVibe directly into the client.  Then, no IP addresses will be shared anywhere, so no fears of violating the TOS, which I've been a little worried about.  There won't be any strange work anyone would have to do to their firewalls.  Basically, it'll be better and easier to set up.

Now...hopefully, I can pull it off.

Ninetails Pocket Dungeon

I'm releasing my newest product this week.  I expect it to be up for sale by Wednesday.  It's my pocket dungeon and the first release will include two toys: The suspension poles (pictured) and a Saint Andrews Cross.  I was never very good at making ads, so please come by one of my shops and try it out in the holovend machine.

 

More animations and toys are planned in the near future.  And Xcite compatibility is in the works now.

=^.^=

RLVibe - Patterns

I've programmed in a few patterns for fun.  Rather than someone having to constantly change the speed and use up more bandwith, there are now three options

• Random - changes the speed randomly every 10th of a second
• Heartbeat - does a thump-THUMP kind of buzz
• Sine Wave - slowly goes up, then back down, then back up, and back down...

I'm hoping to be able to tie it into a music beat playing on the client, eventually.

Right now, the app still doesn't work from within Second Life, but there's no reason you can't put your page onto a media prim.  The webpage now looks like this:

RLVibe - by Kittin Ninetails

Change the speed by sending in a speed=% value.
For example:  http://localhost:8080/rlvibe?speed=50
 Patterns Understood:
  speed=H Heartbeat pattern
  speed=R Random, speed changes every 1/10th second
  speed=S Sine Wave, slowly increase, then decrease, over and over.

Current speed is set to: HEARTBEAT

The next thing I am going to try to do is provide help information about the external IP.  Most of us have routers and our computers at home don't directly connect to the internet.  I'd like to display that on the main screen so you can cut & paste your URL to friends.  Eventually, I'll get this set up so it'll plug right into Second Life toys.

Following that, I'm going to test this on Linux and Mac.  I've been concentrating on Windows because it's the hardest.  And then I'll set up a Webstart download link for people to start trying out.  I hope to get all this done before the end of March.

Firestorm Bugs - please vote!

Here are Firestorm bugs that really drive me nuts.  Would you please vote for them to get them fixed?  They are:

• FIRE-3674  Firestorm + sl_proxy = mangled links
• FIRE-3228 [OPEN-SIM] Could not add [Non-Linden Grid] to Grid List. Server Provided No Grid Info : 404 Not Found
•  FIRE-2084  Please add sound cache like Phoenix has

I know these probably don't affect the majority of Firestorm users.  Most of you probably have DSL or fiber or, at least 1mb connections without monthly caps.  Some of us aren't so fortunate and have a very limited choice for ISP companies who impose limits on the amount of data that can be downloaded per month.  We can't get Netflix or Hulu or a lot of other nice services because of this.  But with a little bit of caching, Second Life is usable.

These features work fine in Phoenix.  And the first two are a non-issue in *EVERY OTHER VIEWER*.

Please vote!  Thank you.  =^.^=

RLVibe - Speed trials

Yay!  For the first time, I've managed to set the speed on the USB controller with Java and LibUSB 1.0.  I can even change the speed now from a browser.

It's ugly, but the webpage looks like this:

RLVibe - by Kittin Ninetails

Change the speed by sending in a speed=% value.  For example:  http://localhost:8080/rlvibe?speed=50

Speed is currently set to 49%

If I suddenly go unresponsive in SL tomorrow, you'll all know why.  =^.^=

RLVibe - Driver download available for Windows

Today, I put up the Windows device driver installation program that RLVibe is going to need.  For Mac and Linux, LibUSB 1.0 is required and I'm expecting to deliver that along with the RLVibe client app.  This app is specifically for Windows (XP, Vista, and Win7) and works in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  You can find that here.

Remember, in order to use RLVibe, you'll ned a Harnett or a drmn or a Rez Trance Vibe which are unavailable now except on EBAY (eww!!).

The source code will now compile and exit gracefully when it doesn't detect the needed libraries.  Tomorrow, I'll work on friendly error messages when the device isn't plugged in.  After that, it's back to the USB library and the call I need to set the speed on the device.

MLPv2 Chains Plugin done!

Yay!  I finished it last night.  Well, maybe "finished" is too strong of a word.  I got all the planned features working and there doesn't appear to be any big problems with it.  I'm sure there are bugs and I'll have to figure those out.  It's a little more chatty than I like and I'm hoping to reduce that.

Next, I'll be adding some RLV support and sounds.  The devPose toys I've seen have a nice little chain sound when poses are changed.  I made one for mine, too.

I might be able to use the RLV plugin for MLPv2, but I haven't really reviewed it yet.  It looks pretty complete at a glance, so that's encouraging.

After that, it's off to spend money on animations and build in a couple of toys.  The first two will be a pair of suspension poles for one and probably a St. Andrews Cross.  Once those are done and I decide how I'm going to handle updates, I'll put my Pocket Dungeon up for sale.

Where's Kittin?

It's been a little bit since I updated this, so I thought I'd leave a quick note saying what I'm up to.

First off, RLVibe.  I'm still working on it and have found a USB for Java library using JNA that I'm really excited about.  It's not 100% there, so I'm going to have to re-write it.  It's going pretty quick and I think I could probably finish it in about 8 uninterrupted hours.  But, when in my life am I going to find that?  Anyway, the work is started and once it's done, RLVibe should get out of the rut I'm in with it and get moving again.  I'll keep the C++ code for whenever it gets integrated into a viewer as a plugin.  But for now, I'm going to stick with my design of a separate application that can be used either within SL or outside of it.

Second, I'm working on a new product and that's taking most of my SL time currently.  I've almost finished a plugin for MLPv2 that will allow builders to use lockguard to chain avatars both to the main prim object (done by Bright CISS and the MLPv2 Lockguard Plugin) and to props.  As far as I know, no one allows chaining to props.  A friend of mine has written a plugin for nPose, but he's not released it yet.  I'm really close to getting this done and hope to have it out within the week -- RealLife(tm) permitting.  As soon as this plugin is done, I can start working on my Pocket Dungeon.  It'll be a great toy for those who've wanted to have a dungeon on their land with lots of toys, but just don't have the prims.  I'm thinking of selling this one at a low price and then keep updating it.  Updates will be free, but each new release will be more expensive because it'll have new features and more animations.  So those early purchasers will get the real savings.  I'll have to see how this works out because I'd like to make it transfer/no-copy, but my update system expects copy/no-transfer.

Restrained Love 2.8.3 for Mac & Linux

I finally was able to get these built and uploaded.  I'm sorry it took me this long, but RealLife(tm) just wasn't cooperating with me.

Enjoy!

=^.^=

Winter Weather

Could whomever ordered all the rain, snow, wind, and flooding please take their weather and go?  I'd like to keep the power on for a bit!

I'm back...again.  Today I hope to get the RLV 2.8.3 built for Linux.  I'm hoping tomorrow I can do the Mac version.  I don't have a Mac here with me at the moment, or I'd do them at the same time.

OUCH!  My Ubuntu VM won't come up anymore, so I'm having to re-build it.  This may take a little longer than I thought.