Second Life Update

Problems, Problems, and More Problems…

I’ve been having a lot of problems running Second Life on my computer. It’s an older iMac, several generations old. It doesn’t have enough memory, it’s got an underpowered graphics card, and the processor is too slow. I can do some basic things, but I can’t walk around and chat without getting into trouble. The system locks up and I have to reboot. I’ve rebooted more times in the last two days than I have in the last year.

I came up with a solution…

At least I thought I did. Today I went over to my dad’s place and installed SL on his much newer and faster computer. I logged in and, voila! I could walk around and chat like a completely normal person except nobody had heads or legs, including me. And the ground and buildings never displayed, just an occasional shrub or tree floating above the ocean. I could zip around like crazy, but kept bumping into buildings and things that I couldn’t see.

I could chat in SL easily enough with other people, and spent a great deal of time with my friend Mike trying to get things working. We also enlisted the aid of the SL support forums. Unfortunately, dad’s computer, while much faster, just wasn’t up to the task. Complicating things was his DSL connection. Just not fast enough, you really need cable or fiber. And, ironically enough, his computer has the same underpowered graphics card that’s in my iMac.

I came up with the ultimate solution…

Get a new computer as soon as possible. I’ve been planning on upgrading this winter, but I may have to push that time from up a bit. Also, I’ll soon be able to get a blazingly fast fiber connection. The last couple of weeks they’ve been busy putting in the new lines in our subdivision.

Life is good.