Going Solo

 Our second stop this week was on Avirtualworld. Bob Solo and the lovely Shea Butter were on hand to welcome us when we arrived on the region he was showcasing this time, SG1. As usual, the HG Addresses are at the end of the post, simply open your viewer on your home region, open the Map, and copy paste the address into it and go! Avirtualworld is open 24/7 and Bob says he is almost always online so you can go over and say hello to him any time.

Bob Solo

George Equus: SG1  and Atlantis was rather good series

Forest Azure: i have no idea what SG! is

Lavia Lavine: Star Gate

James Atlloud: TV show/Movie named Star Gate

Bob Solo: I built this all in prim, all after the tv show

Thirza Ember: how long did that take?

Bob Solo: several months

George Equus: Got all of SG and watch from time to time, never get tired of it :)

Bob Solo: and really it needs a caretaker to do finish... it could be a fun region to play games on

James Atlloud: Oh, I didn't recognize Atlantis at first!  wow!

Bob Solo: there is a space nebula here, asgardian type, also the saucers fly and fire

James.Atlloud: I know better than to ask, but did you want Atlantis to submerge?

Thirza Ember: oh yessss - submerging is our second favorite activity on safari

Bob Solo: I have been doing opensim for 16 years,

Lavia Lavine: So then you really know the ropes

Shea Butter

The build is so large the easiest way to get around it by flying. Much of the interior is unfurnished, and Bob is happy to share the .oar with anyone who would like to take the build to the next level by filling it with Stargate details. 

Bob took us to the teleport that leads up to the space nebula. Even the TP is a gloriously ethereal element in an otherwise no-nonsense metallic structure, and is the perfect counterpoint between human and alien technology. We all foregathered, and two seconds later there we were, high in the atmosphere, somewhere between the moon and earth. The proportions were awe inspiring.

Lavia Lavine: Very easy to get around

Dorena Bree: oh, this is neat

George reveals his inner Asgard

George Equus: I feel right at home

Dorena Bree: Asgardian George.  That's great

James Atlloud: so that was .. different.  sparkly

Nara Nook: gorgeous

George Equus: Georgeos :)

James Atlloud: I feel like the Earth zoomed in to where it is - is that possible?

Bob Solo: the moon and earth,  its fun to wear a ship and fly around up here

Thirza Ember: I have a question - not related to this build, but about the grid... have you ever regretted having your own personal grid Bob? and not being a resident on one of the bigger grids

Bob Solo: Oh I love independence, I learned the system and took off like a mad man

Forest Azure: it's all in the name .. solo :)

Bob Solo: yupp... very solitary person... 2 years in SL, I had to run away... 

Thirza Ember: there are grid owners here - like Taarna, Nara, Lavia,  they can relate I'm sure

Lavia Lavine: I know I can

Nara Nook: I feel the same as Bob

Bob Solo: a new config I did this past year, in home rack, I split services between servers- does way better

James Atlloud: Oh interesting.

Lavia Lavine: I prize the freedom to build what I like.

Bob Solo: I do have an Osgrid account made at the same time, 16 years ago

Taarna Welles: 16 years ago reminds me of Nebadon also

Bob Solo: Yes,  lot of time with Neb and Dan Banner

George Equus: Dan is a great guy, always helpful

Taarna Welles: those days are gone but good memories about that time

Thirza Ember: having friends who can help out when the tech side off things goes wrong is essential of course

Lavia Lavine: Absolutely Thirza

Bob Solo: Yes, Dan Banner has pulled my fat out of the fire more than once

Lavia Lavine: Bob have you ever wanted to build something but could never figure out where to begin?

Bob Solo:  well sure, I sit and ponder a lot

Lavia Lavine: I hear that.

Bob Solo: have build all my dreams to date, and then some.

Lavia Lavine: That's fantastic.

Bob Solo: my teak forest is on of my best builds, its massive

Thirza Ember: the space to make your dreams come true!

Bob moved from MySpace to Second Life after reading an article about it. Two very expensive years of SL brought him to Opensim

Bob Solo:  Opensim is my life's blood

We jumped down to another region of avirtualworld called Trails, where Bob has an animesh freebie shop. 

Forest Azure: oh george, i tried to buy you!

He explained that accounts on his grid are limited to invited friends, and number only about twenty in total. That's because of a bad experience.

Bob Solo: when I started I had a web site interface, opened accounts up for anyone and - first week I had 1000 accounts made and sure enough, got hacked

Lavia Lavine: Holy Avatars Batman!

Nara Nook: ouch

I was curious about what he considers the most important thing a grid owner can do; what's the most important advice he can give. I wonder if you can guess his answer.

Bob Solo: Really, it's been smooth except for data etc the servers I've used in the past etc... always trying to improve,  so when one driver should fail I have backups, and fail they have. Snd advice for anyone new, try to keep your inventory straight

James Atlloud: I often ask people how they organize their digital things.  They usually say, oh don't ask me that!!

Thirza Ember: all grid owners say the same B A C K U P S  are vital!

Nara Nook: yeah gotta backup the backups of your backups

 Bob Solo: yes, backups are fundamental

Taarna Welles: Don't forget the IAR too to backup.

Nara Nook: so true Taarna

Bob Solo: .iar .oar save them computers get old stuff happens, I had some hard drives that were used for backups fail

A well armed eva Nowicka checks out the animesh

Taarna Welles: Bob, we learned it the hard way when we started with Opensim.

Nara Nook: The nice thing about your own grid is you don't have to worry about someone else losing your stuff for you. back up 3 times in 3 different ways

Lavia Lavine: Thank you Bob for a wonderful tour.  It was quite enjoyable.

Taarna Welles: <<<<<< APPLAUSE>>>>>>

Thirza Ember: Bob you're a legend in opensim

Nara Nook: Yes, thanks so much for showing us around.

 James.Atlloud: Thank you Bob and Shea.

Bob Solo: ahhh thank you - inspired me

George Equus: Thanks a lot!

Forest Azure: thank you, great tour! and ty for all the animesh!

Thirza Ember: haha Forest, your pockets are full

Forest Azure: are they? checks if she has pockets

Bob Solo: bye all

HG Address: 

avirtualworld.org:8002:SG1

avirtualworld.org:8002:Trails