smoothbrain coldtakes

It’s an atomic variant of Fedora that satisfies all necessities for gaming with Linux, like coming with built in drivers and the option to install stuff like Steam and Discord during initial startup.

Atomic varieties of Linux are really cool, they are much less prone to breakage because all updates happen at once or not at all. They are just generally more stable and you can rollback easily if necessary.

Personally I just like Fedora, so my preconfigured options are either Bazzite or Nobara. I also prefer the stability of atomic variants. It’s just a solid base to work with, regardless of if you’re using a desktop or a handheld.

If you use Bazzite anywhere, you need to apply this fix.

I had to fix this on my desktop and laptop.

You betcha. Depending on what the next iteration of the Deck is like, I might just pick up an OLED when they go on sale.

A full install of Windows runs games fine. It doesn’t last long though. Bazzite was not working well when I tried it a few weeks ago. There are a few things that don’t work properly including no control over RGB settings.

I put the stripped down IoT version of Windows on mine. It doesn’t have anything preinstalled. No store, no teams, no xbox, no nothing out of the box. Combine that with a basic telemetry disabling script and you can have better performance. The Armory Crate app handles all of the firmware and drivers. I’m able to stretch the battery almost an hour longer.

Windows actually can run kind of alright when you get rid of all of the bullshit. It’s not going to be as efficient as Linux, and it’s sure as hell not going to be as efficient as a Linux built around a specific set of hardware. It remains to be seen what kind of optimizations MS may introduce when they build a handheld.

Number one reason right here.

I have gotten Your Phone to work maybe a half a dozen times. KDE Connect just works, full stop.

Hello, yes, I’d like to use my fingerprint sensor please.

You can check the md5 hash checksum provided by Microsoft to verify the authenticity. Massgrave gets it from Microsoft, it’s a legit ISO just rehosted.

Yes, I have used modern Macs. They are nice. They are not worth the money.

I have also done Apple support professionally, and I can tell you that it feels disgusting to have to sell somebody a several hundred dollar repair when you know they’ve just maxed their cards buying the device. It’s awful, and it’s how Apple makes most of their money.

I wouldn’t even sell a homeowning millionaire a Mac because of the way Apple operates.

Modern ThinkPads rock. The ultrabooks are aluminum like a Mac without any of the proprietary bullshit and I can buy it for three hundred dollars with an abundance of replacement parts.

Macs are horribly overpriced even used.

I am looking at Best Buy and Intel Macs from 4 generations ago are still going for 500-600 dollars, and that’s on a low-end MacBook Air circa 2012 with an i5.

For reference, I recommend used ThinkPads to anybody looking for a business machine and they are generally under 400 dollars for basically twice as much power.

I am here to also echo Mint being great. I installed it on a pretty old laptop and it’s very snappy.

The migration process was not difficult at all.

Yeah, you know Chrome? It’s this button now, this is the internet.

Your emails? Yeah they’re this button now. Just remember that, okay?

Most people use computers as a means to an end and they are not really particular about what’s happening behind the scenes so long as it functions for their needs.

As an alternative you can try using the streaming service through any Chromium browser.

Whenever I’ve used Linux to stream, it’s always been through the browser, and it’s generally worked fine for me.

Yeah I tried it last night just to fuck around and so much stuff doesn’t work properly.

When you flip into desktop mode it just immediately crashes.

How long ago did you try this?

I’ve been keeping up with Bazzite and Chimera, and it looks like they’ve made some progress.

The ROG Ally is listed at gold level compatibility, denoting it requires a few workarounds and has some caveats. I would not be able to get over having no control over the LEDs, so I’ll keep an eye out for a bit later as well.

The same amount of fools who created the largest civilian surveillance network with Ring doorbells.

Yes.

Again, there are easier ways to do this.

Biometric authentication can be required for some companies. You’d have to opt in to use the system or at least agree to the terms set forth by the employer. This kind of stuff doesn’t just get collected just because; it’s pretty sensitive data.

What you’re talking about is a cyberpunk nightmare; some corporate-assisted mass surveillance designed for like, union busting.

If you’re making vocal and facial profiles of employees you must have some reason to do so, and it can’t just be to burn cash. Like I said before, this stuff costs money, and it’s kind of pointless unless you’re using it in a way that makes money, selling the data somehow.

There are easier ways to spy on your employees. This is not cost-effective.

I use Zoom for work now and each call can be several gigabytes large, depending on resolution of shared materials and a few other factors. If you want to save that kind of stuff long term, you have to pay to keep it somewhere. If you multiply several gigabytes over a few dozen calls a day, you’re going to end up with terabytes of garbage you need to store. Zoom also informs you of when a recording is starting and active, offering for you to leave the call or otherwise implicitly agree to being recorded. You have to pay for all these things because there’s a significant amount of processing power involved. It’s not like it’s free to run facial recognition and speech recognition.

When I did contract work for Apple support, the spying was way more efficient than just listening to my calls. My supervisor could literally always see my monitor through the chat program we had installed. There’s all kinds of remote software for things like this. If an admin wants to see you misuse your equipment, they have easier ways of finding out than sifting through calls to find wrongthink.

There’s a transaction limit on tap payments. Sometimes you need to chip or swipe when it’s over $250 or something.

I’ve heard great things, and I’ve been watching the original run of the X-Men animated series in preparation for watching '97.

Animation tends to get me more hyped than anything else. They always do crazy shit in cartoons that they never really try to do in live action. I’ve been a big fan of all the DC animated stuff since forever, and Marvel is getting back into the game with a really strong entry with '97.

Going after the one person still interested in Marvel content? Bold move, Disney; we’ll see how it pans out.