$ less /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 nile.ics.uci.edu nile

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time harassing just about everyone in my University’s Networking Support department because I couldn’t get an OpenSim server to serve clients anywhere. We know that OpenSim networking is hard. But, damn it, I’m one of the core devs of OpenSim, and I have a pretty good idea of what’s involved in the protocols between the server and the client. I’ve had lots of OpenSim servers running successfully in all sorts of networks, including my University’s. Well, the problem turned out to be… Ubuntu!

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Like many of you, I read Maria’s article last December saying that Vivox was giving free voice service to small OpenSim worlds. I thought that was a nice gesture, but I confess I found it hard to believe, so I didn’t act on it. Until yesterday.

I decided to give it shot, because my projects could really use inworld voice, and I had nothing to loose just for asking. Yesterday was Sunday. To my surprise, I got a reply within 1 hour of my request. I filled out the license agreement. This morning an email was waiting for me with the precise instructions, down to the lines that I needed to add to my .ini, and a link to the blog post that Kitely wrote on how to enable voice. I just had to copy-and-paste the config, and I had voice working in 10 minutes! — 9 of which were spent figuring out which buttons to press on the viewer to enable voice all over.

I couldn’t believe it! Someone at Vivox must really like OpenSim! Wow.

D2-ers, don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! See Maria’s article and take it from there. No need for complicated and costly licenses. No need for horribly complicated and fail-ful Freeswitch installations. Small worlds just got as powerful as the big ones — or even more powerful, because big, commercial worlds need to pay for the service, and the small ones don’t. At least for the time being.

Hi everyone! I’m happy to announce the personal Hypergrid Teleporter! Its goal is to make your Hypergrid travels a bit easier and more enjoyable. Get it here as iar.

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Follow me on Twitter!

This is a post-vacation resolution to give some balance to my inherently obsessive personality: I’ll spread the energy among many addictions! Small twits on Twitter, bigger twits here. All this to prevent me from falling into that mental zone where nothing matters but the software.