Chris's Random Ramblings
The Second Life client code was released under an open source license early this year. There were some really cool immediate benefits, such as a linux ppc build being available only a few days later. Linden Labs have stated a few times that they plan on also releasing the server code under an open source licence, but this has not yet occurred.
In the meantime, there has been considerable amount of work done on Open Sim which is an independently developed, Open Source implementation which uses the same protocol as the Linden Labs server (and thus you can use the same client).
In functionality terms, compared to the Linden Labs grid it only supports very basic functionality, but there is enough there that you can host your own server, connect to it, walk around and build some objects. As far as I can tell there is no support for scripting yet, but there is some support for physics modelling using a third party library.
One of the more exciting aspects is the Deep Grid, where anyone can connect a sim which they host to this grid. So far I've had no luck in finding a server on this grid that I could connect to, but this is basic infrastructure which is required for an open grid to thrive.
We've been looking around for a black and white network multifunction laser printer for a while, and finally got around to getting the Brother MFC 7820N a couple of weeks ago.
Importantly, it has really good Linux support with drivers available for download from the website. And even has packages in rpm as well as deb format. Setting up network printing was very easy and faxing direct from the desktop was pretty straightforward as well. There's a little program you can run on your machines so that they register with printer. So when you want to scan something you can then choose whilst at the printer which machine/account you want to send it to.
The only oddity is that for some strange reason the phones all ring in the house when sending a fax. Probably something to do with a wierd interaction between the printer and the voip box, though I haven't found the source of the problem yet.
What do you do if:
- You love water
- You're a cat
- You love watching air bubbles in your automated water bowl
- but can't drink or splash the water out fast enough?
If you're a little leopard you might jump into the clothes hamper, drag out a sock and leave half of it in and half of it out of the bowl so the water drains out by itself.
I don't remember teaching her about capillary action....