I absolutely dig the Steam Deck, but it’s not a console in that regard, it’s not software restricted in any way, it’s just a portable computer with a convenient frontend. But… man, I’m more likely to pick it up than to play on my gaming rig these days, even though both can hook up on the TV. Handhelds are just great.
They’re just undercooked PCs with artificial software restrictions now. Except for the Switch, which is an undercooked TV streamer chip from 2015, also with artificial software limitations.
Hasn’t been anything exciting about consoles in over a decade.
Actually, I’m gonna add another really simple option: Lyrion (Formerly Logitech Media Server). My wife swears by this one, supports local library, integrates with LastFM, and if you use Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, or Spotify, you can integrate your streaming service with your local library for radio mixes.
Can install it right on a laptop or PC and connect to wherever your music is (local on the machine, on a NAS, etc.). After you install it, you can access it directly via a web browser or webapp, which will make it accessible from desktop or phone.
Not necessarily overkill, you can run Plex on almost anything. I used to run it on an old NUC6 I had laying around, then upgraded to a NUC8, and more recently I setup it up as a VM on Proxmox on a Ryzen 5700u mini-PC and just reimported the DB.
Virtualizing it has been good for my purposes since now it’s running alongside AssetUPnP, AudioBookshelf, and a dockerized squeezelite setup, and I’ve another VM on the host running Home Assistant with still plenty of resources to spare. Crazy we can do that now with a “server” that literally fits in my palm.
But virtualizing it makes hardware acceleration for video transcode be I more complicated, just a heads up. I play everything native so don’t use it, but YMMV.
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Edit - Plexamp is an awesome radio/DJ player, though I generally send to a Wiim Mini, as AirPlay quality with Plexamp can be kind of ass compared to direct DLNA.
There are lots of solutions, but as others have noted, Plex with Plexamp is great.
I’d recommend getting a NAS for storage and running mirrored disks. This way you’ve got some redundancy in the event of a disk failure.
You can use ntfsfix on the drive to do a check and remove dirty bit. This isn’t a full check though, and could mask or hide actual issues with the drive if it’s failing.
There’s also chkntfs which is more robust but I’m not sure if that’s open source and I’m not familiar with it.
Using ntfsfix is a good quick fix in my experience, but at the end of the day, NTFS is a Microsoft exclusive format and shared disks should be mounted in a format that both OSes can use, like exFAT, or Btrfs with the WinBtrfs driver (the latter I’m not familiar with, I’ve always used exFAT for shared disks, but I don’t use Windows anymore).
It depends. I’m not saying I never pirate books. I’m not going to just support a publisher milking a book that should belong to the commons.
Also, some publishers have taken to raising ebook prices to as high or higher than hardback costs. For those I might buy one book by an author and pirate another. I won’t justify it other than to say I only ever bought paperbacks anyway and still remember those being like $3.99 to $6.99, so I’m not paying $18+ for an ebook novel because of publisher greed.
But if it’s an author I like, I buy their books, and support them in other ways (like with Sanderson’s Kickstarter for example).
Nah, no need to be a shitheel. I’m cool with paying for books, authors gotta eat. I wouldn’t refund a book I’ve read.
MOBI has been deprecated for a long time. Standard formats now are AZW3 (KF8) and KFX. They’re a bit more advanced than MOBI, and thank goodness, since it was a terrible format. AZW3 is essentially a MOBI/EPUB container, and I believe KFX is equivalent to EPUB2, possibly with some EPUB3 features.
Takes a small effort to set up (install Calibre, install NoDRM plugin, apply Kindle serial to plugin), but once it’s done, the rest is literally drag and drop, it removes DRM from your books automagically.
Like hell I don’t. Calibre plus NoDRM says otherwise.
It’s a monument to human achievement that they work
as well as they doat all.
FTFY.
I’m in my forties and what you’re describing doesn’t sound normal at all. I beat myself up good in my younger years with sports and still do somewhat regular cardio and weightlifting. I have a bum knee and hip problem, shoulder issues from weightlifting injuries, and my back gets stiff and sore on a good day.
None of that stops me from functionally living, and none of its anything the occasional ibuprofen or toke won’t fix in the short term. I can still exercise, do physical labor, open all the jars, and be generally active, and without pain the majority of the time.
What you’re describing sounds more like an inflammatory disease or auto-immune disorder. 110% get a second opinion from a different doc, or a third if needed.
I spend a bunch of time in log reviews in my current role. “Googling the error message” image is literally hanging on my office wall.
Use the latest proton GE and set the following launch options:
PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 PROTON_NO_FSYNC=1 %command%
Oh and the battery can drain out pretty fast too.
Depends if you have the OLED or the LCD model. The OLED has been surprisingly good with battery. For really high end games that max out the deck it’s maybe 2.5 to 3 hours, but for most games I’m getting between 5.5 and 8 hours battery, and for low spec indie games and lower end emulation like GBA it can run for up to 12 hours in some cases.
I bought the 512 GB OLED back in May with no regrets. I’m surprised how quick I am to turn in the Steam Deck now instead of booting up my gaming PC. I wouldn’t say it’s changed how I play, since I already tend to game with a controller, but it’s great fun, and so far I don’t think I’ve encountered a single game in my Steam Library that wouldn’t run. Plus, I love handhelds and portable devices in general.
A few games have needed minor tweaks (proton version, a fix that would also be needed in Windows), but everything has worked. As a disclaimer though, I don’t play online competitive games, just single player and co-op stuff with my wife, so YMMV.
On the other hand, I’ve found some games work that I couldn’t even run decently in Windows. Like Rainbow Six: Vegas. On Windows it would never properly work with a controller but on the Deck it was no problem. And Silent Storm ram out of the box, no tweaks at all. Linux is awesome like that for older titles.
It’s also been great for emulation, at least through PS2 and GameCube, I don’t emulate much above those. Emudeck is nice, and I was already familiar with EmulationStation since I use that on a Powkiddy X55, so that was nice.
One thing I will say is a game changer is the suspend function. Being able to tap the power button and sleep it at any time and then pick up where you left off later is amazing. Reminds me of the old Nintendo DS, just shut the lid and get back to it.
All told, I’m really happy with it.
Don’t be. I’m fortunate to be able to afford it comfortably, and it’s just part of the cost of living to me. In my 40s now and been wearing glasses since I was 10yo.
I’m just happy I’ll be able to read fine print and see stuff close again without needing to take off my glasses.
I recently went for glasses and eye exam. Near sighted with astigmatism, and now I need bifocals on top of it. Bifocals with line aren’t common now so doctor suggested progressives. I’m fine with that.
I’m also a special kid who can’t wear polycarbonate lenses because I’m hypersensitive to chromatic aberration. So need Trivex lenses as well. Throw in an anti-glare coating and my cost (with insurance) is like $460.
The sad part is given my needs and how few carry Trivex in my area, I consider it a decent deal.
Well, with Steam Deck and supposedly upcoming new Steam Machine, that’s a perfectly decent target without restrictive software limitations and closed ecosystems. Plus, PCs are pretty standardized these days in general. Nobody needs to target the high end, and Valve does a hardware survey that’s publicly available to know exactly what hardware range is in use (and it’s generally the lower end, despite enthusiasts).
And I’ll keep ignoring them because there’s no reason for them to exist now, there aren’t architectural differences and unique capabilities that make sense for games to be exclusive anymore. That’s more of the artificial software restrictions I mentioned. Console exclusives can die in a fire. Even Sony has realized they’re leaving money on the table with that crap and releasing to PC.