I wish they would too. Dell produced Inspirons laptops with removable "upgradable" video cards, but never produced an upgrade module for it. I'd love to bump up this 7000 from an ATI Rage Pro to the GeForce they put in the 8000, but nooo...
The more Linux engines, the better. Another one to check out is the Nebula Device which is free in both senses of the word (distributed under the Tcl license).
You'll hear a lot about the $$$ cost of spam, but the real cost is attention. Unlike "regular" junk mail, spam appears to us 24x7, throughout the day, while we are working or playing, and often is accompanied by some alert that we've received it (a sound or visual cue). It doesn't take many pointless interruptions of this nature before you start to get irritated, and it only takes a while (say, a few years??) of it before you get homicidal.:-)
Enough spam makes the channel useless. Too much noise, not enough signal. That's one reason why I don't have a land line anymore -- unsolicited sales calls make it useless to me. Now all my voice traffic is over a cell phone, and no one calls that unless I want to hear from them.
Not having seen the demo, but I strongly suspect you *are* downloading content to be stored locally on your HD. You just download it once, not every time to go to a new level...
The reason why I couldn't get behind Blender is because it was free-as-in-beer but *not* free-as-in-freedom. The only hope for a 3D animation tool to catch on enough to challenge 3D Studio Max, Maya, and Lightwave is to be open source.
Even dual licensing (and charge extra for commercial use) would have been better.
Increase service fees, huh? At least that's a behavior I can measure, and can choose to leave one credit card company for another with more reasonable rates. It's harder to find out if one card company is more responsible for spamming me than another.
Hey, thanks for the plug. Here's an open letter to developers about my new project, Netsu. It uses Python, the Nebula Device, *and* Twisted...
Greetings,
I'm a professional game developer who has committed a large portion of his adult life working on virtual worlds of one sort of another. Recently, I worked on Ultima Online 2, which some of you may have been looking forward to playing. I know I was!:-)
I'd like to talk to you a bit about my current project, 'Netsu', which is the culmination of many years of background work. "Netsu", Japanese for "heat" and "fever", is an anime-inspired world which incorporates multiple perspectives of play and a reputation network for players to self-organize. It's going to be fun.
Currently, I'm working on combining a number of existing open source technologies to build the new virtual world system. These include the 'Nebula Device' 3D engine from Radon Labs on the client side, the Twisted framework for server-side and client-server communication, and (as the project moves forward) the OpenCyc knowledge base as server-side archetype repository and artificial intelligence server.
As I develop use cases and other design documentation for Netsu, I intend to keep them as portable as possible between gaming systems, so that they can benefit the most people. I anticipate this work feeding back into Twisted, expanding it to be a more general simulation framework, and into Nebula, adding network support and in-game world editing tools.
So where did this project come from?
The genesis of the project began with my work on virtual reality systems in the early 90's. I developed virtual building walkthroughs for architects, VR games, and created the first hardware accelerated PC-based virtual actor system for Compaq.
This work was all done with C and C++, and it was during this period that I ran up against the need for a dynamic and interactive way to "reach inside" the simulation and manipulate the code and data directly. And that's how I first became acquainted with the language Python.
The next major phase was to build a 3D client engine with Python embedded as a control language. The fruits of that effort are described in the paper I presented at Python 7, "Beyond: A Portable Virtual World Simulation Framework". (This was also the first mention of 'Netsu'.)
In 1998, the path of development took a turn when I was recruited into Origin Systems to work on developing the Python foundation for the Ultima Online 2 project. The focus during the period was on innovation on the server side and on client-server communication. The results of that labor are described in another paper presented at Python 9, "Python for Massively Multiplayer Virtual Worlds".
However, to this point, all the software developed for these projects was closed source. The desire for an open source virtual world system was lurking in my head, but it wasn't until the O'Reilly Open Source conference in 2000 that my plan for the open source virtual world crystallized.
At the 2001 O'Reilly conference, while presenting on the UO2 design work, I took the opportunity to discuss my plans for the future open source virtual world system. The response was extremely positive.
So what are next steps to realizing this goal?
Glyph (the originator of the Twisted project and a fellow ex-Origin colleague) and I have been meeting periodically over the last few months to discuss these issues, which intersect nicely with his long term plans for gaming in Twisted. I've also been meeting with the Cycorp folks (who happen to office just down the road from me) to discuss integrating Cyc and driving Python class generation from Cyc.
I recently integrated Python into the Nebula Device, which allowed me to easily integrate the PB remote object communication protocol and made Nebula the first 3D clients for Twisted. Over the next six months, several major components will come online, including character creation, character motion, the GUI system, basic terrain management, character inventory, and combat.
As I wrap up my current consulting project (porting Python to the Playstation 2 and developing a GUI for designers to build Python logic), I'm devoting 100% of my time to Netsu and open source development.
It is my hope that this collaborative approach for virtual world development grows, spreading outward and providing a foundation to help other developers build their own virtual worlds and enable the sharing of code and art resources between worlds..
If you are interesting in finding out more about the project, drop me a line via email and tell me a bit about your interests and background.
It has come to my attention that Microsoft has recently acquired fundamental patents for 3D graphics technology and techniques from SGI. This is a dangerous situation, as it grants Microsoft significant leverage over the independent 3D hardware manufacturers who are currently supporting the only rival to Microsoft's Direct3D graphics API, OpenGL.
Microsoft has in the past worked to delay and distract advances in 3D graphics technology, such as in the abortive "Fahrenheit" plan with SGI in the 1990s. During that period, SGI was transitioning from selling Unix-only workstations to begin selling workstations running Microsoft's Windows NT. At the same time, OpenGL was gaining on Microsoft's Direct3D in terms of features, hardware support, and developer support. If SGI wanted to sell NT boxes, SGI would have to agree to the Fahrenheit plan. The perfectly timed Fahrenheit deal slowed that advance of OpenGL by, among other things, reducing SGI's active promotion of it, and allowed Microsoft's Direct3D to gain a strong lead.
Yet OpenGL support still survived due to the interest of software developers and the support of third party 3D hardware manufacturers. This latest move by Microsoft to acquire core 3D technology patents would finish the hatchet job, granting Microsoft the power to force third party 3D hardware manufacturers to drop support for OpenGL, and ultimately stifle competition and innovation in the marketplace.
Don't forget -- with Fink you can *also* have rootless X on your desktop and apt-get on your command line (for easy access to ported open source projects). W00t!
This is really cool. However, it seems that not all free software projects *should* be maintained. Four thousand versions of ICQ libraries do not each need homes. How do you decide what gets listed and what doesn't?
Just curious, I've heard of TRON, but I don't what specific products actually use it. How many TRON-based Japanese products are in our homes right now?
Erwin Coumans and I have (independently) ported Python to the PS2, and I'm currently working on a project which allows designers to create game logic in a GUI tool and automatically generate Python code for the control of PS2 agents. I probably *will* be releasing the PS2 patches to Python shortly, and I hope to be able to detail some of the GUI work in a paper at the upcoming Python conference.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait, how are they doing that? Dynamic linking GNUStep apps to the Cocoa frameworks?
I wish they would too. Dell produced Inspirons laptops with removable "upgradable" video cards, but never produced an upgrade module for it. I'd love to bump up this 7000 from an ATI Rage Pro to the GeForce they put in the 8000, but nooo...
Not bitter. Not. Really.
J
The more Linux engines, the better. Another one to check out is the Nebula Device which is free in both senses of the word (distributed under the Tcl license).
You'll hear a lot about the $$$ cost of spam, but the real cost is attention. Unlike "regular" junk mail, spam appears to us 24x7, throughout the day, while we are working or playing, and often is accompanied by some alert that we've received it (a sound or visual cue). It doesn't take many pointless interruptions of this nature before you start to get irritated, and it only takes a while (say, a few years??) of it before you get homicidal. :-)
Enough spam makes the channel useless. Too much noise, not enough signal. That's one reason why I don't have a land line anymore -- unsolicited sales calls make it useless to me. Now all my voice traffic is over a cell phone, and no one calls that unless I want to hear from them.
Not having seen the demo, but I strongly suspect you *are* downloading content to be stored locally on your HD. You just download it once, not every time to go to a new level...
J
The reason why I couldn't get behind Blender is because it was free-as-in-beer but *not* free-as-in-freedom. The only hope for a 3D animation tool to catch on enough to challenge 3D Studio Max, Maya, and Lightwave is to be open source.
Even dual licensing (and charge extra for commercial use) would have been better.
$0.02.
Get the Titanium. I finally did and I'm so glad!
Right. A year ago, I got five spams a day. Now it's 10 spams a day. What next? 20 spams next year, 40 spams the year after that, 80, 160, 320...
Increase service fees, huh? At least that's a behavior I can measure, and can choose to leave one credit card company for another with more reasonable rates. It's harder to find out if one card company is more responsible for spamming me than another.
Hey, thanks for the plug. Here's an open letter to developers about my new project, Netsu. It uses Python, the Nebula Device, *and* Twisted...
:-)
Greetings,
I'm a professional game developer who has committed a large portion of his adult life working on virtual worlds of one sort of another. Recently, I worked on Ultima Online 2, which some of you may have been looking forward to playing. I know I was!
I'd like to talk to you a bit about my current project, 'Netsu', which is the culmination of many years of background work. "Netsu", Japanese for "heat" and "fever", is an anime-inspired world which incorporates multiple perspectives of play and a reputation network for players to self-organize. It's going to be fun.
Currently, I'm working on combining a number of existing open source technologies to build the new virtual world system. These include the 'Nebula Device' 3D engine from Radon Labs on the client side, the Twisted framework for server-side and client-server communication, and (as the project moves forward) the OpenCyc knowledge base as server-side archetype repository and artificial intelligence server.
As I develop use cases and other design documentation for Netsu, I intend to keep them as portable as possible between gaming systems, so that they can benefit the most people. I anticipate this work feeding back into Twisted, expanding it to be a more general simulation framework, and into Nebula, adding network support and in-game world editing tools.
So where did this project come from?
The genesis of the project began with my work on virtual reality systems in the early 90's. I developed virtual building walkthroughs for architects, VR games, and created the first hardware accelerated PC-based virtual actor system for Compaq.
This work was all done with C and C++, and it was during this period that I ran up against the need for a dynamic and interactive way to "reach inside" the simulation and manipulate the code and data directly. And that's how I first became acquainted with the language Python.
The next major phase was to build a 3D client engine with Python embedded as a control language. The fruits of that effort are described in the paper I presented at Python 7, "Beyond: A Portable Virtual World Simulation Framework". (This was also the first mention of 'Netsu'.)
In 1998, the path of development took a turn when I was recruited into Origin Systems to work on developing the Python foundation for the Ultima Online 2 project. The focus during the period was on innovation on the server side and on client-server communication. The results of that labor are described in another paper presented at Python 9, "Python for Massively Multiplayer Virtual Worlds".
Both papers are here.
However, to this point, all the software developed for these projects was closed source. The desire for an open source virtual world system was lurking in my head, but it wasn't until the O'Reilly Open Source conference in 2000 that my plan for the open source virtual world crystallized.
At the 2001 O'Reilly conference, while presenting on the UO2 design work, I took the opportunity to discuss my plans for the future open source virtual world system. The response was extremely positive.
So what are next steps to realizing this goal?
Glyph (the originator of the Twisted project and a fellow ex-Origin colleague) and I have been meeting periodically over the last few months to discuss these issues, which intersect nicely with his long term plans for gaming in Twisted. I've also been meeting with the Cycorp folks (who happen to office just down the road from me) to discuss integrating Cyc and driving Python class generation from Cyc.
I recently integrated Python into the Nebula Device, which allowed me to easily integrate the PB remote object communication protocol and made Nebula the first 3D clients for Twisted. Over the next six months, several major components will come online, including character creation, character motion, the GUI system, basic terrain management, character inventory, and combat.
As I wrap up my current consulting project (porting Python to the Playstation 2 and developing a GUI for designers to build Python logic), I'm devoting 100% of my time to Netsu and open source development.
It is my hope that this collaborative approach for virtual world development grows, spreading outward and providing a foundation to help other developers build their own virtual worlds and enable the sharing of code and art resources between worlds..
If you are interesting in finding out more about the project, drop me a line via email and tell me a bit about your interests and background.
Cheers,
Jason Asbahr
jason@asbahr.com
I've just made a patch available today which allows Python to compile for and run on the PS2.
;-)
Python-2.1 for PS2
This should also work on the Sony Linux system, but now I have a great excuse to spend $200 and find out...
The custom hardware story sounds interesting! Can you go into a bit more detail about this point of computer history?
Thanks!
Jason
Honorables,
It has come to my attention that Microsoft has recently acquired fundamental patents for 3D graphics technology and techniques from SGI. This is a dangerous situation, as it grants Microsoft significant leverage over the independent 3D hardware manufacturers who are currently supporting the only rival to Microsoft's Direct3D graphics API, OpenGL.
Microsoft has in the past worked to delay and distract advances in 3D graphics technology, such as in the abortive "Fahrenheit" plan with SGI in the 1990s. During that period, SGI was transitioning from selling Unix-only workstations to begin selling workstations running Microsoft's Windows NT. At the same time, OpenGL was gaining on Microsoft's Direct3D in terms of features, hardware support, and developer support. If SGI wanted to sell NT boxes, SGI would have to agree to the Fahrenheit plan. The perfectly timed Fahrenheit deal slowed that advance of OpenGL by, among other things, reducing SGI's active promotion of it, and allowed Microsoft's Direct3D to gain a strong lead.
Yet OpenGL support still survived due to the interest of software developers and the support of third party 3D hardware manufacturers. This latest move by Microsoft to acquire core 3D technology patents would finish the hatchet job, granting Microsoft the power to force third party 3D hardware manufacturers to drop support for OpenGL, and ultimately stifle competition and innovation in the marketplace.
Please do not let this come to pass.
Thank you,
Jason Asbahr
Game Developer
Wow, this takes me back to the days when you could install a Z80 daughter card in your Apple // and run CP/M. W00t!
Don't forget -- with Fink you can *also* have rootless X on your desktop and apt-get on your command line (for easy access to ported open source projects). W00t!
How did this get moderated as insightful?
This is really cool. However, it seems that not all free software projects *should* be maintained. Four thousand versions of ICQ libraries do not each need homes. How do you decide what gets listed and what doesn't?
Just curious, I've heard of TRON, but I don't what specific products actually use it. How many TRON-based Japanese products are in our homes right now?
Jason
Can you scan these and put them up on the web?
"GNU is the forerunner of the recent open source movement."
;-)
While most of us would probably agree with that statement, FSF would prefer the use of the term "Free Software Movement".
GNOS: GNOS's Not Open Source
Jason
Another great resource for X11 support (and debian install apps) is
http://fink.sourceforge.net/
Erwin Coumans and I have (independently) ported Python to the PS2, and I'm currently working on a project which allows designers to create game logic in a GUI tool and automatically generate Python code for the control of PS2 agents. I probably *will* be releasing the PS2 patches to Python shortly, and I hope to be able to detail some of the GUI work in a paper at the upcoming Python conference.
Next up: Python for the GameCube!
Jason
jason at asbahr dot com
And Windows is open source?
Naughty Dog's 'Crash Bandicoot' for the Playstation uses a variant of LISP, too.
http://www.enterasys.com/technologies/wireless/