OpenSimulator Logo

Second Life is a well-known example for a successful virtual environment implementation. Well-known companies, such as Intel and Microsoft, have their own representations. But owning land and ‘building’ is not free in Second Life. Here, OpenSimulator offers an interesting alternative for conducting research in your own setup. OpenSimulator offers all the features you know from Second Life with on important difference: it is open-source.

Of course, it takes some setup work until you can actually log on and and create your own fancy-looking shirt for your avatar. Here’s what we will do:

• Setup Ubuntu Linux 9.1 (still in Alpha stage, should work with 9.04, too)
• Download and compile the latest (trunk) version of OpenSimulator
• Setup OpenSimulator in ‘grid mode’ using MySQL
• Download, compile and setup FreeSWITCH for voice chat functionality

I came across some difficulties during these steps and I hope to provide some guidance for people willing to try the latest available version of Ubuntu (Mono, MySQL, etc.), OpenSimulator and FreeSWITCH (1.0.4).

The next post will get you started with the Ubuntu Linux and necessary packages.

Human Computer Interaction International 2009 (Website) is hapening between 19-24 July in San Diego. I will be there, presenting the Electronic Glassboard project. This should be an exciting event and I’m looking forward to meeting the HCI community!

More information and some updates from the conference will follow.

This has been a long time coming. I finally got myself to the point to set up a new website. Recent times have been quite busy with my move to the U.S. (Irvine, California).

University of California, Irvine

By now, I’ve almost completed my first year here at UCI at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science in the Informatics department. I’ve fairly enjoyed my time here so far and there will for sure be more posts about life on campus and the surrounding area of Orange County.

The new website now contains a blog (i.e. what you’re reading right now). I debated this for a while, asking myself if people would even be interested in what I think about. I’ll try to keep it interesting! The other sections will give some more detailed information about current projects and about myself. Of course the site is still in an early stage and I’m sure you’ll find some sections not working or looking great. But I definitely hope that some of you will come back once in a while to follow the blog and maybe leave some comments.

What I’m hoping to add soon is a section dedicated to photography. California is a great place for nature and scenery picture safaris.
The header image shows San Francisco bay: In the background you can see Golden Gate Bridge. In the future, the images will rotate and show more of California’s coastline. 

That’s it for now – until the next update!