Hey gang,
I just thought I’d share that I have
gotten OpemSim running on Linux under Mono using MySQL as a backed. For those
of you who don’t know, OpenSim is an open source effort to allow hosting
of virtual worlds compatible with the Second Life viewer. The SL protocol was
reverse engineered under the libsecondlife project, and OpenSim has taken this
a step further by allowing you to host your own virtual grid. They have working
versions of the grid server, user server, asset server, inventory server, and
simulator servers.
It is pretty cool, and will work with
SQLite, MySQL or MS-SQL for storage. There were a few tweaks needed on the
installation, but overall, it went very smoothly under RHEL4. Getting our own
grid up and running might be a cool way to hold future meetings; in fact, using
Darwin Streaming Server and a Mac, we could stream PLUG presentations via video
into the virtual world.
I’m considering doing a presentation
on open source virtual world options at a meeting of the Philadelphia Future
Salon. More information on OpenSim can be found here:
http://www.opensimulator.org
Regards,
-Tim / Flip