2 years ago: This is a quick test of the ARES devlog.
2 years ago: Welcome to the ARES devlog. This page will be used to record work on ARES and related technologies. Previously NS had a tradition of various primitive bug tracking solutions, but with the graduation to deet it's been quite some time since we consistently had a single outlet for reporting on what's been finished rather than simply what needs to be done.
2 years ago: So, without further ado, the story of Beta 1 so far...
2 years ago: '@safeword' and '@runaway' added as special, always-available commands for resolving RLV relay and deadbeat owner problems. '@safeword' only affects the optional 'restraint' program; it does not break system-imposed sources of RLV.
2 years ago: Resolved #3137: Translate filter not working on Alpha 2.2 (Thanks, Arme!)
2 years ago: repair sends damage events to sexuality (unless OOC mode is active)
2 years ago: repair watchdog now monitors sexuality if installed
2 years ago: status daemon now tints hot, warm, and cold overlays slightly red, orange, or blue to make them more distinct
2 years ago: New setting LSD:persona.block is a json array containing fields the persona program should ignore, e.g. '@db persona.block ["marker"]' to prevent changes of speech marker
2 years ago: 'db load <file>' now capable of MERGE (shorthand +=) to load JSON objects via shallow copy
2 years ago: changed the tick rate in status so that the battery's storage level is updated every power cycle (more accurate for degradation accounting)
2 years ago: LSD:id.prefix can now actually be deleted to completely remove it from the unit's name (hitherto there's been a dangling space)
2 years ago: id wasn't actually displaying most settings
2 years ago: 'pkg clean' now cleans up server (LSD:pkg.server) and upgrade (LSD:ax.upgrade) records; this should help with getting out of situations where ax runs out of memory due to too much info downloaded from servers
2 years ago: Added volume controls for controller speaker (0.0 = mute, 1.0 = full). Note that these do not affect sounds generated by the hardware (sparks, TP, repair, etc.), only sounds from the OS. The settings are: hardware.controller.volume.master 1.0 hardware.controller.volume.marker 1.0 hardware.controller.volume.announcer 1.0
2 years ago: Hypervisor now warns when a command is invalid
2 years ago: New default voice markers specified in default.p. These will not be applied after an update unless you remove the defaults first with: @set marker-female %undefined @set marker-male %undefined @set marker-neuter %undefined
2 years ago: Inlined some under-utilized helper functions in 'filter'; this should provide a noticeable improvement in how much data can be crammed into the LSD:filter section (replace keywords, etc.) before it runs out of memory.
2 years ago: Policy progress: the outfit policy and autolock have been implemented. Note that locking does not affect the unit's own command usage, only local command access (/1), remote command access (public bus), and menu usage. The radio policy, distress beacon, and curfew are not yet implemented.
2 years ago: Moved remaining delegate responsibilities (compiling and sending SIGNAL_OVERVIEW_REPORT) for ring 2 from effector daemon to repair daemon. Should slightly improve memory choking in effector daemon.
2 years ago: (the above is the Beta 1 patch notes so far)
2 years ago: Yesterday (Jan 1) was spent reformatting the Setup Wizard's graphical assets for Beta 1. After a bit of market testing, the final look is here. The positioning is slightly different from the last version, so there's still a bit more work to be done on the Wizard before it'll be ready for display.
2 years ago: Went through every source file in the ARES tree to make sure they had proper handling for SIGNAL_UNKNOWN SCRIPT (signal 3850), even if they don't currently have any code that's likely to trigger it. This should demystify a few things. Pretty much every application has had a revision number bump as a result, but actually releasing these updates probably won't happen until there's something more worthwhile to distribute.
2 years ago: More work on memory issues in sexuality. Moved 'deposit' and 'query fluids' responses into the lust front-end utility. Still need to implement 'withdraw' and 'query parts' before sexuality's implementation of the LC protocol is at parity with TESI. It's becoming increasingly common for ARES components to have two pieces—a daemon that houses the actual model and a userland program that contains some or all of the view and controller. The same paradigm shows up in hardware + device, status/effector + power, and soon interface + display. Notably this is inverted with menu + variatype, where variatype is the UI instead. Prior to LinksetData, the plan was to have a database daemon also.
2 years ago: Added very goofy placeholder sounds for sexuality and some filesystem sources under ns1. This is about when I remember that db doesn't officially support web files yet...
2 years ago: Main obstacle to releasing sexuality preview now is getting the installer and setup wizard done. And, of course, that it requires Beta 1 to work...
2 years ago: Warrior status: Weapon switcher done, MSD graphics done, actual damage model and malfunctions still to come.
2 years ago: Preview of Warrior weapon switcher documentation:
Weapon switching To use the WARRIOR weapon switcher, first ensure the gestures that came with WARRIOR are enabled, and that no other gestures are using the same hotkeys. These are `, 1, 2, and 3. If you are not using a US keyboard layout, you should edit the (`) gesture so that it is activated whenever you press the key above Tab. Next, ensure that Shared Wear is enabled under your viewer's RLVa > Debug menu. To add your weapons to the switcher, you will need to create a folder with a shortcut to each one. Create the following folder hierarchy in your SL inventory. `#RLV` (should already exist) `~ARES` (may already exist) `weapon` Inside the `weapon` folder, create one folder for each weapon you wish to add to the switcher. These should be named tersely, ideally one word in lower case letters. WARRIOR will assign special pictures to each one that is in the following list: popgun, revolver, fullstop, tremor, knife, m16, arch, clepsydra, sniper, ak-47, navarch, maxwell, pistol, makarov, hephaestus, javelin, spraypaint, bucket, quadlaser, bfg9000, shampoo, extinguisher, blaster, repair, chancla, tazer, p90, restitutor, virada, archon, ostraka, painter Once the folders are created, copy your weapon (with Ctrl-C or right click -> Copy) from its origin in your inventory, select the matching folder, right-click, and choose Paste as Link. It is considered bad form to paste the actual object into #RLV. You can also put ancillary items related to the weapon in these folders, such as gestures or off-hand items. After all the folders are populated, refresh the order by entering or leaving mouselook. Thereafter you can press 1 and 3 to cycle weapons, ` (or equivalent) to put away weapons, and 2 to select the focused weapon. The first keypress will show the switcher without doing anything; this is to mitigate against accidental inputs. THE SWITCHER CANNOT DETECT EMPTY FOLDERS, so make sure all of your folders are populated before testing them. Adding new weapon images: Instructions for this can be found inside the warrior.db configuration file. Order: The weapons are displayed in alphabetical order. You may add a number at the start followed by a space, e.g. `1 virada`, to enforce another sequence. Add leading zeros to force longer numbers to sort correctly, e.g. `023 bucket`. Syntax: The standard switcher behavior uses the commands `=switch clear`, `=switch previous`, `=switch next`, and `=switch select`. Direct switching: If you prefer not to use the switcher interface, `=switch slot <number>` and `=switch weapon <folder name>` can be used to instantly switch to a specific weapon.
2 years ago: Looked into Xcite! compatibility—their last release was in 2016. Maybe spending resources on interop with something so old is not the way forward. (Not sure we can even get the scripts, to be honest.)
2 years ago: Changed the front page at support.nanite-systems.com from the classic Support portal to the ARES info page. May cause some panic.
2 years ago: More ARES Tutorials are finished. In particular, the extremely dense Configuring ARES for a military unit page is done. (Let's all pretend that there will never, ever be a trashed system caused by that one...)
2 years ago: Sexuality work: 'withdraw' message validated as working correctly. The sexuality version actually sends deposit messages back to the prompter, unlike the more memory-limited TESI implementation that assumed a 'query fluids' had been done first.
2 years ago: 'query parts' done, so now the sexuality software itself can be (generously) described as finished. Of course, there's still all the interop, the bells and whistles, the demo code... installer... setup... Let's focus on that installer.
2 years ago: While working on the installer and patch notes for Sexuality it's become apparent that this will definitely require some of the improvements from ARES Beta 1 in order to function properly—otherwise the unit will be spammed with [_status] unknown message: arousal constantly. (Probably not a great first impression...) Unfortunately this means that Sexuality's release will have to be postponed until Beta 1 has been made available to CX/Supervisor users, at the minimum.
2 years ago: Added 28 different boot/shutdown chime schemes from Windows and moved the chime schemes into their own database section to prevent the id section from becoming difficult to work with. May eventually do the same with color schemes.
2 years ago: Note to self, look into using llGetVisualParams() for some sort of hover height prediction.
2 years ago: Did a proper shakedown of bans. Found and solved multiple issues, including two that totally compromised the efficacy of bans. Also confirmed that self-bans work correctly, but that runaway and safeword are permitted. Should no longer see repeated consent prompts for trusted or banned guests, either.
2 years ago: A self-banned unit will still be able to start menu sessions (and thus open the main menu or a device menu) but not take any further actions. A slight blemish, but for now it saves us the trouble of having to carve out an exception for starting the menu session on a non-holo controller screen.
2 years ago: Beta 1 version of the ARES setup wizard is finished.
2 years ago: Menu timeout now 300 seconds; adjustable via database setting.
2 years ago: The package management menus are settled, but it seems there are a few ugly little bugs here and there that need squashing—issues are apparent with type, help, and ax info. Pipe madness.
2 years ago: "Problem with type" is now "problem with viewer silently eating any llRegionSayTo() message starting with @, even RLV only uses llOwnerSay() messages starting with @" (this is cursed)
2 years ago: Confirmed that even LL's viewer will censor llRegionSayTo() messages starting with @ if they are sent to an avatar. Objects can receive these messages from each other on channel 0 without any issue. Not sure this is documented anywhere. Cursedness level: 200%.
2 years ago: Workaround for @ silencing: io daemon now prepends a space to affected messages. Compile-time switch has been added to disable or modify this behavior (e.g. changing the space to something else)
2 years ago: After several agonizing adventures in tooth-pulling, the maximum size that _menu can handle has been significantly increased, from around 1400 bytes to more like 1900. This is enough to display an eye-watering 45 chime schemes! Which is how many ARES now has.
2 years ago: Spooky problem with help mentioned previously has silently vanished. Just putting that one off until the underlying issue is clearer.
2 years ago: The io debugging functions ('vox purge', 'vox pipes', 'vox debug', and 'vox restart') have been moved from 'vox' to 'input'. (They are now 'input purge', 'input pipes', 'input debug', and 'input restart', not to be confused with 'input reset'.) This makes life easier for combat-only units who may want to remove vox for performance reasons.
2 years ago: Resolved #3044: vox ignores filter arguments when adding to chain (Thanks, e4tmyl33t, whoever you are)
2 years ago: Spent some time fussing over the impending llGetAspectRatio() function before concluding that, since it evidently only reports mouselook AR, it can't really be used in the current ARES tutorial screen calibration process. Maybe in the future once display is implemented this will be useful, as display will introduce an interactive UI anchor setup mode (as seen in Unity, Godot, Unreal, and... yes, ElvUI)
2 years ago: Resolved #3140: HUD colors reset to old theme when primary color changed through hud. (Thanks, Zael!)
2 years ago: Resolved #3121: When opening the AMLite HUD for ARES, an authorization check is being sent to Companion units nearby. (Thanks, Arme!)
2 years ago: List of devices and their ARES compatibilities: now available.
2 years ago: ARES Beta 1 has been released for the CX/Supervisor. As there is finally something for them to upgrade to, upgrade instructions for units with Alpha 0.2.2 are now available. They're short, simple, and sweet, and not likely to change in future versions, so that's nice.
2 years ago: ARES Beta 1 has been released for the DAX/2 mini and DAX/3 mini. Please get a redelivery, and remember to do the tutorials—for sanity reasons, the autoexec.as notecard must be installed by the unit before the system will function properly.
2 years ago: Posted ARES Controller Retrofit & Differentiation List. (That second part is still TBD.)
2 years ago: Now that ARES is actually rolling out, the hour of the CX/Supervisor's retirement is drawing nearer. For the time being it's still available at the NS main store (the vendor has finally been brought inside), but it won't be there forever! Unlike other limited editions (e.g. the SXDjr) we'll probably bring it back every now and then, particularly after it gets its differentiation kit. Someday.
2 years ago: New expanded syntax for if. Now scripts can contain not directly after if to negate the entire evaluation, and use in to look for a specific key in a JSON object. For example, if [not] needle in haystack then ...
2 years ago: Retrofit roundup: Beta 1 is now available for the NS-120 Mesta, NS-226 Hephaestus, and NS-115 Scout (all variants). As noted on the Controller Info page, a free conversion kit is available for people who got the Hephaestus through a treasure hunt, but it does not include ARES itself. (You'll need to buy a controller to get it.)
2 years ago: The XPARC installer for Sexuality is finished. It was a bit hairier to implement than expected, but the result is absolutely worth it, and will be trivial to adapt for other extensions. Some minor clean-up remains before TESI can be re-released, mainly devolving the male and female dermal sensors from the master copy (which is configured as a hermaphrodite). To be finished tomorrow!
2 years ago: Sexuality is now available for redelivery with the standard TESI package. Remember to read the patch notes, as they contain important instructions like how to get your voice and dermal sensors. If setup fails to complete, it is probably due to a stale daemon PIN. Run "=ddt reset" to force a kernel restart. (This is an ARES bug that will be fixed in the next patch.)
2 years ago: Implemented LSL-PyOptimizer for kernel, interface, sexuality, and lslisp as an experiment to see how it performs. The benefits of the ShrinkNames option are astonishing—interface shrank by 7 kb. Of course, it's also completely illegible (it repurposes reserved keywords as variable names!) so it's hard to imagine a development workflow that depends on it. Still, for programs that have unavoidable memory issues, it may be a lifesaver.
2 years ago: If you got the fancy new ARES version of the full-sized DAX/2 main controller yesterday, you may have noticed it was rather quiet. This is because there was no designated speaker prim inside the DAX/2 itself. This oversight has now been corrected, and you can get a redelivery to fix the problem. (Or apply the fix yourself by naming link 96 to "speaker" and resetting the _ctrl script.) Please note that this affects no other models. It is not an ARES bug.
2 years ago: The new web layout, twentyfour, is live on all pages that previously used the ARES template. It is mobile-friendly, easier on the eyes, and uses screen space a lot better than the original design. And, yes, it will be rolled out to all NS pages soon. (There are some lingering atavisms on deet pages.)
2 years ago: The iKitten main controller has been updated for ARES. This is a semi-limited edition that is available to owners of the full-sized DAX/2 (or DAX/T) main controller who have also built a Rhapsody Robotics iKitten avatar. As we do not keep records on who has an iKitten system, please contact rhet0rica with a picture of your current iKitten build to get the replacement. (Note that this is a controller kit only; it does not include ARES. You should be able to redeliver your DAX/2 or DAX/T for that!)
2 years ago: The restraint (and restraint-debug) package for ARES has been updated to fix a bug with authorization checks that would misinterpret permanent bans and permanent guests as expired temporary entries, causing incessant prompting. Get the new version by using the standard ax update and ax upgrade commands while in Eisa.
2 years ago: ARES retrofits for the SXDjr and NS-112 Aide have been finished.
2 years ago: During the Aide retrofit it was discovered that the display of the boot screen had become dead code, so some adjustments were made to ARES 0.3.1 (WIP) to display the boot screen during kernel resets and device probes. This involved a change to the screen display code in the Aide, DAX/2, SXD, SXDjr, iKitten, and CX/Supervisor. A group notice about getting a redelivery to receive this update will be sent out when 0.3.1 is released, since there's no benefit to it yet.
2 years ago: Another very minor tweak to the CX/Supervisor—adjusts the screen display routine so all the parts appear and disappear simultaneously.
2 years ago: Small patch to the DAX/2 to address a report that the controller had no way to recover from an expired menu session. This probably affects the other touchscreen systems (Aide, SXD, SXDjr, iKitten); fix for them will be forthcoming once it's been tested. So much for the previous remark about waiting until 0.3.1's release to do another group notice!
2 years ago: Pushed above fix for Aide and SXDjr to redelivery server.
2 years ago: The XSU is now converted to ARES. This involved a surprising amount of bug-chasing inside the ctrl script that will make adapting controllers with screens much easier in the future. Physically, the XSU also now has the riser linked to it, saving customers the inconvenience of juggling an unnecessary extra attachment. Also starting with the XSU, the ctrl script now has four-channel color support, using % to indicate color B, & to indicate color C, and @ to indicate color D. (# is color A and $ is low-brightness color A, for use in gauge backgrounds.)
2 years ago: The ARES Devlog now has a basic RSS feed. This is intended for parsing by the ARES news program. To add it to news, run @news add http://develop.nanite-systems.com/?page=devlog&rss=1
2 years ago: calc 1.2.0 released; adds random number generation. Will be bundled with ARES 0.3.1; for now, download from axtest:0 in Eisa.
2 years ago: The Artifact is now converted to ARES, and has a fancy animated menu background. It also uses a new compile-time switch on ctrl, which displays the boot screen in white (for full-color effects) and the normal screen in color 4. This also adds a bit of lore—the nice and pretty LIYAL boot screen is marred by data corruption and an XTTG jailbreak progress bar. Now you can see what they've been doing for all those years in that tent!
2 years ago: Finished new JSON manipulation features for exec shell scripts; these are described in Operating ARES: Scripting ARES.
2 years ago: Also, new if [not] exists <filename> then ... syntax for checking whether or not local files exist. Unfortunately it's probably too late to use this construct in .pkg files, but it could be very useful.
2 years ago: For dealing with remote files, there's a slower method using fs and xset: xset <variable> fs info <filename> if not <variable> is %undefined then ... All coming in 0.3.1.
2 years ago: Finally for tonight, preset colors in id are now known as swatches, and live in a new database section, LSD:swatch. Unfortunately the harebrained scheme to load all of the X11 colors table into the database did not work out, as it was too much for id to handle, but it's still nice to have the ability to add and remove preset colors without recompiling!
2 years ago: The DAX/3 is now converted to ARES, and is the first of the controllers with curved holoscreens to make the jump. This was a fairly easy conversion, honestly, as there was already curved-screen code from the Supervisor, but it required parameterization to make it more flexible. Next up is the Arecibo...
2 years ago: Also, today is the last day of Mainframe, and the end of our 25% discounts on standard main controllers. We'd planned to launch a new main controller at the event; alas, schedules and the quest for quality did not allow us to see a release during this time window. It'll be out when it's ready.
2 years ago: The NS-119 Arecibo is now converted to ARES, and updates the NS-478's HPCU to work with ARES also. The Arecibo doesn't use menu background images, but instead has a rotomatic effect that extends between the projector and the text.
2 years ago: Added 3 different alphas to the Relic package. Type 3 is just the socket (stretched to fit best on a narrow/female-average torso), Type 2 is the Phase alpha available elsewhere, and Type 1 is the classic socket alpha originally made for the SXD and DAX/2. Note that with the Relic you'll need to hide a prim (link 3) in the controller to actually be able to see down into the socket. These will eventually be added to all other controller packages, possibly with a Type 4 designed for larger/male-average torsos.
2 years ago: New database setting LSD:input.censored allows replacing the message sent to local chat when the unit attempts to speak with the mind off.
2 years ago: ARES 0.3.1 is now available. See the updating page for instructions to upgrade, or here for a detailed changelog.
2 years ago: Some bumpiness with the 0.3.1 patch. Message spam from ax during package list refreshes should now be fixed. If you encounter the message [_io] failed to run '﷐' (kernel could not find the program specified) then run a kernel reset (=ddt reset)
2 years ago: Further reports that a kernel reset is not working to solve the 0.3.1 missing program messages. It seems switching back to the old kernel (Touch ring 2, then type k _psyche in the textbox) is the best solution for now.
2 years ago: By popular demand, here is what the HOOKUP main menu will look like. (Yes, it's a wiz program. What is a phone app, if not a miserable little stack of hypercards?)
2 years ago: The manual chapter Operating ARES: Personas is finished, which explains all you need to know to make your own personalities.
2 years ago: The ARES Roadmap has been updated to reflect the new plans for Beta 2, and reformatted a little.
2 years ago: The Aegis and Revenant have both finally been converted to ARES. This brings the remaining commercial controllers to three (Analyte, Jovian, and Nightfall), after which attention will shift to Beta 2. The planned improvements to effector (announced on Friday in the Roadmap update) are necessary for improvements to keystone devices like the repair beds (ARES doesn't even have malfunctions yet!) and handles (there's no pathway yet for devices to trigger motor locking).
2 years ago: The VAR/I Analyte and NS-860 Jovian have been converted. The Analyte has been changed to use a true planar screen (previously it had a pointlessly almost-flat cylindrical display that just applied barrel distortion to the text). The Jovian has retained its ECM suite (EMP, EMI mitigation), but its custom software will be absent for a few months until the Differentiation upgrade cycle comes back around to it. See ARES Controller Info for more information.
2 years ago: Problems with EMI mitigation in the Jovian have been identified and fixed for the next OS release. No hardware update is necessary, although a bit of extra work will be available addressing collisions with gesture hotkeys and with looping sounds, and in cutting down on the repeated messages when in a stable EM field.
2 years ago: HUDware progress: Protocol 1.0 is fully implemented, along with minimizing application windows, but not yet PlughText (or equivalent). HUDware is a key requirement for the ARES HCS, the Supervisor SCADA system, and a wide range of other upcoming NS experiences that peripherally interact with ARES.
2 years ago: Beta 2 progress: simulator updates this week have finally made llGetCameraAspect(), llGetCameraFOV(), and llGetNotecardLineSync() available on the main grid. The first two are now monitored by the ARES _interface daemon and automatically updated in LSD:interface. Filed a bug regarding llGetCameraAspect()—the value is not updated when the viewer enters mouselook.
2 years ago: Beta 2 progress: The _display module has been laid out and code for displaying warnings and devices has been moved there, alleviating congestion in _interface. The llWorldPosToHUD() wünder-funktion has also been implemented in _interface, eliminating old LaserLine code used for nav destinations and target locks.
a year ago: Fixed the "All Colors" button in the Bismuth HUD. New version 1.3.1 will ship with Beta 2.
a year ago: Now available: draft memo on CAPS, the hardware & avatar capabilities protocol. CAPS is designed to assist in identification of devices and provide rez-free activation of HUDs. Read it here.
a year ago: Work on Facet is nearly done; this is a prerequisite for releasing the AX server, which needs it to function as a configuration tool.
a year ago: Restored 'charge start' and 'charge stop' passive light bus messages used by OSL. Implemented limited multicolor support for OSL (switch to color 3 while charging; looks pretty slick) which will need a product line refresh soon.
a year ago: Handles compatibility progress: Added 'freeze', 'unfreeze', 'restrict <name> <rule>' and 'release <name|*>' messages for implementing controller-tracked RLV restrictions from devices. 'freeze' applies 'move=?'. See API/effector.h.lsl for <rule> definitions.
a year ago: Added backslash operator ('\') in _exec, meaning "divide and then cast to integer" (also found in some late BASIC dialects)
a year ago: As mentioned during the last @beacon, page 2 of the Setup Wizard in Beta 2 will ask for screen width and height from Help > About, rather than any calibration process.
a year ago: Page 3 of the Beta 2 Setup Wizard will be the layout/theme select screen, with twelve different options ranging from standard ARES to some really traumatizing aesthetic options.
a year ago: Implemented the long-awaited corrado application, which allows for sending Corrade commands from ARES. Coming soon to a server near you.
a year ago: Implemented an HTTP server solution in _proc. Incoming page requests are dispatched to user applications as specially-formatted NOTIFY signals, which then respond via pipe_write() and a follow-up NOTIFY. The API for this is pretty good—it's more lucid and practical than setting up an LSL HTTP server by hand, partly because _proc auto-renews reserved URLs on region change and reattach.
a year ago: _proc's HTTP listens were implemented for corrado, but as it seems Corrade would rather receive messages via its own HTTP server, this feature probably won't get much use until myNanite Uplink.
a year ago: A bundle of screensavers is now available for ARES. To obtain, visit Eisa and run: @ax update @ax install saver @db interface.width 1920 (or whatever your screen width is) @saver random Details on how to run them automatically can be found from: @type saver.info Happy April First!
a year ago: Updated saver to version 1.0.1, fixing texture loading in the 'bounce' screensaver. If you're one of the handful of units who already installed saver-1.0.0, use @ax update and @ax upgrade to get the new version.
a year ago: Resolved bug report 3383 ('device' announcements don't play).
a year ago: Moved interference and damage outfit switching to _repair. Interference will be a little less responsive this way, but it leaves more room for _effector.
a year ago: Blocked commands over LCA and remote access while power is off (bug 3379)
a year ago: Resolved bug 3380 (@power zap <amount> does not respect <amount>)
a year ago: Big effector changes finished; now correctly manages multiple rules that include the same restrictions, as well as a new class of pseudo-rules that extends movement restrictions to a continuum (i.e., 0% additional friction to 100% friction = no movement.) The result is not unmagical.
a year ago: Very basic anchor movement now implemented; it's a little clunky as you need to hit an "apply" button after every adjustment to see the results, but it's a million miles ahead of any pre-existing system for customizing multi-component HUDs.
a year ago: Thanks to a miracle or two and some elbow grease, AX package servers can now list their contents via HTTP. They can also announce their existence to a master server, making packages easier to discover than ever before. See here for examples. Release coming very soon!
a year ago: Fixed problems with sourcing qubit titler substitutions on ARES. Required a patch to the hardware daemon to fix handling of the conf-get message; will release qubit update along with next ARES update.
a year ago: In light of a brief internet outage today we'll be moving the standard personas and the command help file into local storage on ARES during Beta 3. This should cut down on the grief caused by future network problems, and be enough time for LL to finish this feature, which will make it a lot less painful to browse huge object inventories.
a year ago: The stand-alone AV-CAPS host implementation is finished, and is robust, although CAPS-aware services have not been tested yet. It's smart enough to deal with a wide range of situations involving differing version numbers, including situations where the user has a newer version of a HUD than AV-CAPS does.
a year ago: New version of the ARES Setup Wizard for Beta 2 is finished. Dealing with bugs in ax and updating some documentation and we'll be ready to ship. Note that AV-CAPS will not be part of 0.4.0, but work on it is ongoing.
a year ago: Very close to shipping Beta 2; a small hiccup with one of the menus not upgrading correctly and we'll be good to go!
a year ago: A hotfix for ARES 0.4.0 was shipped yesterday that addresses the overheat alarm getting stuck after rapid sim-hopping. To grab it, run the command @ax install ARES-hotfix-20240504.pkg while in Eisa.
a year ago: Handles update: most of the broken system calls have been fixed. It required some work in a daemon, unfortunately, so this won't be hotfixable, and we'll need to go to 0.4.1. The remaining internal calls with no direct ARES equivalent yet are 602 (externally-powered teleport) and 57 (restore hover height and animations). Coming up with sensible light bus message names for these esoteric activities is a tad tricky.
a year ago: All of the broken system calls have been fixed, or at least provided as stubs in the OS that can be filled out later. 0.4.2 should take care of these stragglers as it will once more be all about surgery in the effector daemon. Handle support in 0.4.1 will be good but not perfect; the main shortcoming is in restoring hover height, which is already a bit of a weak area in ARES.
a year ago: In other news, all the bugs that cause NanAO to not animate immediately after state change (unfreezing motors, switching AOs) are now sorted, and this can be released presently also.
a year ago: The DAX/3 mini has been updated to fix the missing repair and reclamation effects; affected customers can get a redelivery. The linkset simply didn't have enough prims—repair effects use link 8, but the dax/3m only had 5 parts.
a year ago: The next version of ARES includes a shell script that provides uname facilities, uname.as. ARES rhet0rica 0.4.2 _psyche.lpo beta 2 May 16 2024 21:27:44 ppc64 ppc64 SXD,A9 Psyche/CX ...This is one regard in which ARES is closer to being POSIX-compliant than NeXTSTEP.
a year ago: Coming in 0.4.2: _fs now computes a hash of LSD:fs:root and LSD:fs.view before updating filesystem views. (This is the slowest part of filesystem refreshes.) If these values haven't changed since their last calculation, the update is skipped. (_fs doesn't save the hashes yet, so this is at least once every kernel reset.) This greatly speeds up the apparent time it takes to perform a filesystem refresh.
a year ago: ARES 0.4.2 has been released. See patch notes at wiki.nanite-systems.com/changes.
a year ago: ARES 0.4.3 will have more than double the amount of free kernel memory of 0.4.2, thanks to moving timer and event tracking into a new daemon, _scheduler. This will greatly improve both stability and extensibility!
a year ago: ARES 0.4.3 has been released for early download ahead of the official group notice. See patch notes at wiki.nanite-systems.com/changes.
a year ago: Huge work on the new storage system today; when it's done, ARES will be able to combine files from not only multiple websites but also multiple prims.
a year ago: The ARES SDK is now on GitHub: https://github.com/rhetorica/ares-sdk
a year ago: Resolved source of recent issues with installing packages (described in bug #3483 and others); XPARC-based hotfix coming soon.
a year ago: New static web file sources implemented; this brings the 0.4.4 filesystem to feature parity with the old version
a year ago: New help system implemented; help pages are just indexed by name (how Unix man works) rather than cramming multiple pages into one file. The system manual is still rather large, though, so it is now hosted using an auxiliary minimal static filesystem implementation... and it's crazy fast.
a year ago: ARES 0.5.0 has been released, with the upgrader included as part of the redelivery bundle. Follow the instructions on the ARES upgrade page to get it installed.
a year ago: Sexuality 0.9.2 has been released, which is a stopgap compatibility update for ARES 0.5+. See patch notes for more information.
a year ago: ARES 0.5.1 will introduce a very fancy group tag policy, allowing use of the extended RLVa @setgroup rule to force a group and role on the unit; it'll even wait out the throttle window for you, automatically.
a year ago: The upcoming ARES 0.5.2 features working LL Combat 2 support, including LL regenerating health and NS OOC/DQD.
a year ago: The roadmap has been updated to reserve specific version numbers for compatibility patches with upcoming add-ons (Warrior R1, Sexuality P3, Diag R1) and also to delay responsibility for the policies system yet again.
a year ago: ARES version 0.5.2 is complete and will be made available during @beacon tomorrow. See you there!
a year ago: Horrifying reminder: llAtan2() takes arguments in the wrong order. THIS IS WHY YOUR ROTATION CODE DOESN'T WORK.
a year ago: Fixed most of the bugs in _storage. Phew. It's dusty in here!
a year ago: _sexuality no longer crashes the kernel constantly! It might be time for an informal TESI release.
11 months ago: Today's catastrophically annoying LSL bug: llResetOtherScript() does not work if the target script has been manually set to not running. This might be at the heart of many cases of ARES scripts hanging unexpectedly such as db and Setup.
11 months ago: Boot-without-battery bug should now be fixed. Rejoice?
11 months ago: Holy hell, neither of those problems are solved at all.
9 months ago: Boot-without-battery is now fixed, along with the implementation of the new standard never-hibernate behavior—huge improvements across the board! 0.5.4 will be out very soon after a few more pork-barrel bugfixes.
9 months ago: The Callipygian and all Devotion collars are now updated to work properly with ARES. That leaves a total of 19 products with known significant compatibility issues, including 9 known not to work at all. Most of them are tough cases, but the Fukushu is probably a quick job.
9 months ago: The NSX Fukushu has been updated for ARES compatibility.
9 months ago: Putting ARES 0.5.4 through preliminary installation tests now; true masochists are welcome to ruin a copy of ARES by attempting to install it from axcentral:0 with '@ax update' followed by '@ax upgrade'.
8 months ago: Updated the Jovian to reduce instances of the ECM failure noise getting stuck looping; this is not a complete fix, since it is a problem inside ARES, but will help.
8 months ago: Today's fixes: teleportation is now chilly (to prevent overheats); ammo display works again; _hardware less crashy.
8 months ago: It seems 0.5.5 will not be a rolling release as planned, as _hardware was not ready to support passing arbitrary new messages to _device; 0.5.6 will get this treatment instead.
8 months ago: Also removed slave.p from online listings for versions 0.5.0 through 0.5.5 since it does nothing but crash!
8 months ago: Released TESI 0.9.5, another small fix that solves crashing and nonresponsiveness; more contentful updates for TESI still to come.
8 months ago: The upcoming dispatch app has been added to the ARES SDK as a preview; see https://github.com/rhetorica/ARES-SDK/ to take a look at the source code or compile it yourself—but be warned that you should also recompile _power and _security (included in SDK) for the boot/shutdown and guest access triggers.
7 months ago: Added collected examples of device code to ARES SDK; see https://github.com/rhetorica/ARES-SDK/tree/main/ARES/hardware/examples
2 months ago: Coming in ARES 0.5.6: Added new /capture and /release gestures to the redelivery box, which automatically resolve to /1capture and /7770!release, making it easier to remember how to enable and disable the chat redirect.
2 months ago: Updated news to 0.2.4: prevents accidental ingestion of huge headlines, causing database section to become unmanageable
2 months ago: Finally fixed Kushinam's auth-compare bug; after nav stuff is done, 0.5.6 will be ready for release.
a month ago: ARES SDK updated to 0.5.6.1, including new instructor and salvage programs, and protocol spec for PATH
6 days ago: Added 'touch' message to CAPS; see http://nanite-systems.com/reports/caps.txt
6 days ago: Added pipet demo for teaching how pipes work to the ARES SDK: https://github.com/rhetorica/ARES-SDK/commit/e995644683b3159863d1acde3df93e78a71dc5d4