Installed Vista, survived to tell the tale

Yes, never one to hang back from trying the latest technology, warts and all, I have installed Vista Home Premium on a part of my hard drive. I do still have the option of booting into my old XP setup, which allows me to sleep at night. So far, the transition has been surprisingly painless. One big exception: Second Life. I am a virtual exile from SL until my video card manufacturer (Hello ATI) releases drivers that don’t make Second Life crash when you launch it. At least they’ve released Vista drivers for my card (Radeon X1600 for those playing along at home), unlike NVidia who are getting lots of grief because they haven’t. I can sync my ancient Handspring Visor Edge organizer which is a lifesaver - I only found out that there was a Vista compatible version of the Palm Desktop software by consulting this helpful list, the palm site doesn’t make it clear. Anyone else in the same situation wants Palm Desktop version 4.1.4E.

On the graphics front, Photoshop CS and Painter 9 seem to run well. I am working on Page 1 of my comic and should have a b/w version of the first page ready to post in a day or two. Without text yet - I’m going to see how much of the story I can convey in pictures, then add text as needed.

In the garden, some of the 50 Free Bulbs I planted recently are starting to appear which is quite exciting. I’ve also planted three white agapanthus that were starting to grow in the plastic bag they arrived in… I took pity and put them in the ground over the weekend.

Basic building

Basic building
Originally uploaded by bgaloot.

This is a snapshot of me at a building class in Second Life tonight. The instructor was great, and we were levitating wooden boxes all over the place. At least I won’t be without a wastebasket…

My alter ego, Julia Pegler

My alter ego, Julia Pegler
Originally uploaded by bgaloot.

I’m starting to wonder if the recent security breach at Second Life hasn’t actually helped them by bringing them back into the media spotlight. I had tried this “virtual world” application some time ago, but my graphics hardware made it a rather slow and unappealing experience. I decided to try it again with on my new machine (having just logged on to change my password as instructed). All of a sudden, very interesting things seem to be happening there… university courses being taught, politicians giving stump speeches, and today Reuters openend a Second Life bureau with a real reporter… Meanwhile, I am learning to construct humble objects with the tools provided, and avoid inadvertently attaching them to my head. This snapshot shows me on the little plot of land I purchased. It seems to be way out in the hinterland, but since you can teleport everywhere that’s not such a drawback. Now I need to build a house. I do think participating in what seems like a huge 24-hour story could become addictive. I’m finding that, like travel, time spent in Second Life makes you view everything around you in a new way. It’s also nice to spend time in a place where nobody seems to be doing any housework.

I’ve recently upgraded to the latest Painter software, version 9. I had a copy of the first version, way back when, the one that came in a paint can. The performance, while sometimes impressive in its ability to mimic real tools like chalk, paint, etc. never quite lived up to expectations, but I think they’ve nailed it on this version. The brushes are fast and responsive, and the interface is a little easier to understand. The fact that I have a faster processor than before undoubtedly helps, and I’m hoping to use it for the drawing in the calendar this year. Kudos, Corel (the most recent owner, it has been through a few).