#Installing parallel on mac

[pupsmailbox]

ROBOT ID PACK

NAMES ︰ aerobot.　agatha.　ai.　alan.　alethea.　alexia.　algernon.　alistair.　alpha.　amaryllis.　ambrose.　androbot.　androic.　andromeda.　angelica.　antenna.　arabella.　araminta.　arcade.　auto.　automaton.　axel.　axis.　badnik.　bionel.　bolt.　byte.　care.　celline.　cello.　chip.　chipique.　clank.　cloniste.　clonoid.　cobot.　codelle.　cole.　curiosity.　cy.　cyber.　cybette.　cybion.　cypher.　data.　dell.　della.　delpha.　delta.　digi.　dot.　droid.　droidess.　droidis.　dronette.　echo.　elektra.　euna.　eva.　eve.　fritz.　giga.　gizmo.　glitch.　grey.　gynoid.　helix.　holo.　holodir.　hydra.　ida.　jet.　kaput.　kinect.　krudzu.　linion.　mac.　mace.　machibella.　machina.　mal.　malware.　mation.　mech.　mecha.　mechael.　mechan．ace.　metal.　metalia.　metalish.　micro.　motherboard.　motor.　nano.　neo.　nucleus.　nyquist.　orbit.　parallel.　pip.　pixel.　prime.　primus.　proto.　quantum.　radar.　radius.　ram.　ray.　reflect.　reflectette.　robo.　robonaut.　rusty.　satellite.　scrappy.　selsyn.　sentiex.　servo.　shard.　siri.　solar.　sonar.　spark.　sparkie.　sparky.　sputnik.　steele.　sterling.　stochastic.　synchro.　synie.　synthett.　talus.　terra.　tin.　tink.　tobor.　ultramarine.　ultron.　unimate.　unit.　virus.　waldo.　zip.

PRONOUNS︰ ai/ai.　algo/algorithm.　android/android.　app/app.　auto/auto.　auto/automated.　auto/automaton.　axis/axi.　beep/boop.　bio/bionic.　bio/bioplastic.　blast/blast.　bo/bot.　bolt/bolt.　bot/bot.　buffer/buffer.　byte/byte.　cell/cell.　chaos/chaos.　chi/chip.　click/click.　clo/clone.　code/code.　coil/recoil.　command/command.　compute/computer.　core/core.　cyb/cyborg.　cyber/cyber.　data/data.　dev/device.　device/device.　dig/digital.　digi/digital.　droi/droid.　droid/droid.　e/exe.　electric/electric.　entry/entries.　exo/exoskeleton.　gear/gear.　gli/glitch.　glitch/glitch.　hack/hack.　ho/holo.　holo/holo.　hologram/hologram.　in/install.　intra/intranet.　link/link.　machi/machine.　mal/malfunction.　mal/malware.　mech/mech.　mecha/mechanical.　mechanic/mechanic.　metal/metal.　metro/metro.　motor/motor.　neo/neo.　neon/neon.　nuclear/nuclear.　propeller/propeller.　radar/radar.　retro/retro.　robo/robo.　robo/robot.　robot/robot.　rubber/rubber.　satellite/satellite.　sca/scan.　shard/shard.　shine/shiny.　signal/signal.　solar/solar.　steel/steel.　stem/stem.　swi/switch.　syn/synth.　syn/synthetic.　tech/tech.　techno/techno.　test/test.　text/text.　turing/turing.　vi/viru.　web/site.　web/web.　whirr/whirr.　wi/wifi.　wire/wire.　wired/wired.　⚙️/⚙️.　🔧/🔧.　🔩/🔩.　🛠//🛠.　🤖/🤖.

[saltybluffs]

Finally (!!) managed to make The Sims + ReShade work on my iMac. 🙌🏻 🙌🏻 🙌🏻

A few months ago, I switched to Mac because of my photography and image editing fully aware I wasn't gonna be able to install ReShade. I thought I could somehow work around it. I tried Parallels (which acts as a Windows virtual machine on a Mac) and it was lagging like crazy with the lightest of ReShade presets (plus the over sensitive mouse action which made CAS editing hopeless). I would edit in CAS and play the game in Mac system (which runs the game beautifully) and then try to take a reshade screenshot in Parallels. Also, it wouldn't load the game with Build & Buy custom content. I don't recommend it, waste of time and nerves. And money!!

But with Crossover, boy, the game runs smooth and I can't tell you how happy I am to be reviving my simblr with all the ReShade benefits.

[softdefault]

as a mac player i'm suffering from not being able to play the sims 1/2 like everyone else 🥲 do you know how to get those games for mac? i'm fine with a 🏴‍☠️ version lmao

hey darlin! so just for the record I am not a mac user so I can't vouch for any of this from direct experience, but I found some verified resources to hopefully help you out! if anyone is a mac user and has first hand info to add please drop in the replies <3

FOR SIMS 2:

so it does seem there is a legitimate version on the mac app store, the "super collection", but the reviews are mixed on if it works or not. it's also $30(usd i assume) and only has half the packs. there is also a site offering the "super collection" for free but there are a lot of reported issues/lack of updates so I won't bother linking it.

the best option for 🏴‍☠️ on mac has a couple steps - you will need to install bootcamp or parallels and then install the sims 2 through those - these programs let you run the windows OS inside your mac. bootcamp is for non-silicon macs and parallels is for silicon macs, so which one you need will depend on the version of your machine.

So those are your BASIC steps:

get windows running on your mac,

install the sims 2 files in the windows OS on your mac.

more info for the process for macs is here at the s2 mac wiki. osab/voicemxil has confirmed their version for PC will work with bootcamp/parallels and it is currently the most recommended port. this feels like maybe a lot of info for anyone new to 🏴‍☠️ so i'll break up the most important/useful links for getting started below:

sims 2 mac wiki <- main source of info: troubleshooting, guides to follow, and for later: how to install mods

how to install bootcamp

how to run sims 2 using parallels (video)

osab/voicemxil easy startup guide <- for once you've got windows running

ts2 community discord <- for help and troubleshooting - but make sure to check the links in this list above first!

FOR SIMS 1:

osab/voicemxil does have a sims 1 starter pack download as well. It seems it'd work much like the above for sims 2 - get windows running, and then get sims 1 running, but again: I can't say for certain. the sims 2 discord linked above has an s1 help channel for installation help in case running it on windows on your mac doesn't work!

I hope that helps! unfortunately I can't help much further than that as a pc user, so if you need any more help definitely hop on their discord above. and good luck!! <3

[illegalbootjeggingoperation]

them: i got a new computer

me: what gender is it

them: ?

me: what gender is it. you know, windows, mac, linux

them: well it’s a macbook but it has parallels installed so it can run windows for work

me: ooh. femboy stuff

[ponett]

If you ever make a Mac port of SLARPG I will acquire one of those huge mining trucks and fill it with praise then deliver it to your house it doesn’t work on Crossover or the Game Porting Toolkit for some reason

it's currently impossible for me to do a mac port because 1) rpg maker vx ace has never supported mac exports and 2) because it's a 32-bit application, and apple (in their endless wisdom) ended all support for 32-bit apps a few years back, meaning that even if you use the wine conversion options that USED to work your computer will just refuse to launch the game. (unless your mac somehow hasn't been updated in three years, or you have a years-old OS installed via parallels, i guess)

given these roadblocks, please don't wait up for a mac port. you'd be better off just trying to borrow a windows laptop from someone or something like that

[16naughts]

Dev Log Mar 14 2025 - What's Taking so Long?

The Steam Deck version of Crescent Roll is moving along. The full game is playable, most of the audio issues have been resolved, but there's still the very slight teeny-tiny issue of WebKit being abysmally slow and we're sitting at only 10% CPU usage and 20FPS. Joy. We can fix it though. Without having to switch Web Browsers. I explained a bit before that the two options available for Web embedding are either Chromium/Chrome or WebKit/Safari, depending on your platform. Windows, Android and Xbox all have Chromium natively for you to use, Mac, IPhone, PlayStation, and Nintendo have WebKit, and then Linux and therefor Steam Deck don't have a standard one installed. We went with WebKit for Steam Deck because it's 200MB instead of 1.5GB and we have to bundle it with our game. When I said we can fix it, it's not that the actual game part of Crescent Roll isn't optimized - we actually did a pretty good job with all of the movement on-screen every frame - but there's some very specific things large surrounding it that we know are hurting performance considerably. Here a visualization of the call stack of a random average frame on the Main Menu from the Chrome profiling tools from my 10-year old i7-4770k machine:

The grey "Task" bar is the full length of the execution. The brown-yellow underneath are what run during the actual "Animation Frame" portion, then the Blue sections are Crescent Roll code, and Green is Phaser rendering code. So in this frame, it took 4.16ms for the full frame, of which, Crescent Roll used about 1.8ms to do its stuff, then Phaser took 1.5ms to do the render, and the remaining ~0.8ms was system stuff like GC and doing memory transfers to the GPU. 60Hz refresh rate would mean that you need to render in under 16 ms, so about 4ms for Windows Desktop means that I could theoretically get somewhere around 240fps if I let it run free. Which I mean, is pretty respectable. Why doesn't it run well on the deck? Technically, it's running okay, just not displaying okay. The internal game logic does all physics and animation calculations with lag compensation in mind. So whether you're getting 500 fps or 5, the in-game logic always calculates 60Hz. So sorry - no cheesing stage times with slow-mo. One reason the display is having issues is that it's single threaded. Which means we're not doing _anything_ in parallel. All of the game logic, graphics rendering, controller polling, etc. are all being done every frame in order every single time. The kicker is that we actually built the game to be able to do those things in parallel, but Javascript just doesn't have the concept of Threads for you to be able to just run whatever you want however you want. You have to implement Web Workers, which is essentially a completely separate program that you can't share memory with, forcing you to use a message bus, making life difficult. But not impossible, and that's all that really matters. Just splitting it in 2 would already get us a 25% improvement, and we could very likely do better than that. The other, slightly more major performance sink is that green bar for the Phaser rendering - that can be entirely eliminated at this point to cut the time in half. We've been replacing it piece-by-piece with our own code, and now, we're really just leaning on it for WebGL pushes at this point. Unfortunately, since it's an engine, there's quite a bit of extra baggage that it likes to do that we can't just turn off, so we're essentially running a lot of the same types of graphics calculations twice. Phaser is a perfectly good engine - don't get me wrong, but it's just superfluous for our use at this point, specifically for us.

So yeah - it's going to take another week or so to get that 100% sorted out. There's a patch incoming Monday for full Controller support and couple of minor improvements. In the meantime, you can swap to the beta branch on Steam if you absolutely must try the Steam Deck version now. No complaints about the speed though - I warned you.

[daemonhxckergrrl]

Ahrah: @dragongirlcock encouraged us to tell you that we've recently made the permanent jump from Windows to Linux. Your post on the topic on top of the usual Microsoft bullshit was one of the catalysts to just do it now. We did play around with several different distros in 2013 in a dual boot system, so we already had a feel for a few different ones and what we prefer in a DE and whatnot. They were all Debian based, but then we happened to stumble across Garuda KDE Dr460nized, and aside from that we really like KDE Plasma, couldn't possibly pass up on a distro with that name XD Plus it has been nice having most gaming things working out of the box and generally saved us some floundering in figuring out what all we needed, bc things have come a long way since 2013.

We've been having bit of a time trying to learn the terminal and all, and have been running into miscellaneous issues, but it has been comforting to have more expirienced people we know look at them and go, "that problem is Weird wtf???"

Sometimes we'll go looking for info and the internet is like, "Ubuntu = Linux, especially if you're a newbie, and here's how to do things without having to touch the big scary terminal :) " and anything that might be helpful it feels like there's the expectation that you know everything already if you're on Arch. *angry dragon noises*

We feel like we've somehow happened to slip through the cracks of what people "typically" do or are encouraged to do when it comes to transitioning to Linux, why is this? Bc I feel that us having more of an interest in learning more shouldn't be that odd, it seems stranger to me that there seems to be a Windows vs Mac parallel with Debian vs Arch in terms of the general information available and expectations??? Also any recommentions on ways to just stumble upon things would be helpful. Bc sure we can got to the AUR, but you have to kind of already know what you're looking for.

hell yeah !!! welcome to The Community !! (programmer socks optional d: )

oooooohhh garuda !! recognised the name and is bc it's built atop arch !!

yeag, the ubuntu-as-default assumptions (which, annoyingly, even affects debian users sometimes) are frustrating. also the "commands scawy uwu" attitude (which also seems to include "just paste this magic command in the terminal dw it's totally fine :))))" from time to time) is frustrating as well.

i don't expect every single person to manually install arch, or like gentoo or smth, spend a week configuring it, and fuckign write an emacs port to run it as a full wayland compositor, but treating computers as Magical Boxes and users as Inherently Inept really gets my goat.

idk what good communities look like anymore bc i'm not part of any and solve shit myself or by asking friends/partners, but for arch, the official wiki tends to have most things well-explained. it's not a complete solution but it should help 🩷

in conjunction w/ the arch wiki, we use stackoverflow, man pages (documentation that doesn't require a website 7 months pregnant w/ javascript octuplets ? gooodddsss it feels good), package manager search, chaotic-aur (has most aur packages pre-compiled as an additional repo, so pacman can search and install them), tldr which is simplified man pages (very handy for example commands !!)

linux systems really are a thousand rats in a trench coat, so understanding what rats ya got helps but can take time. the best way round that is have a system you can break.

for like getting from ubuntu-coded to arch-coded, we're planning some GUIDEs that may be handy. wanna cover basic terminal and shell stuff, standard unix commands, what some of the bigger trenchcoat rats are and why.

until then, if there's any specific questions feel free to drop a message here or in DMs or wherever 🩷

[echoweaver]

Hmmm. So the Crossover install of Sims 3 failed again. My first tests were spectacular, but subsequent ones started crashing regularly. I'm not sure what changed or if the first ones were just lucky. Crossover now supports EA App, and Sims 4 is reported to work. I could theoretically attempt to install EA App and see if Sims 3 would work through it.

But, grump, forums indicate that it is still not possible to run games from EA App without an internet connection at startup, even if you switch to offline mode after that. My home internet connection is fine, but I've enjoyed being able to play my games on airplanes and on vacation. The attempt to keep games online that don't need to be online really enrages me. I don't know if the motivation is more data gathering or tracking legally purchased licenses, but they can stick it in their ass.

Do you know if anyone has pirated Sims 4 to function without one of these big brother apps?

OTOH, I'm now comfortable with using Games4TheWorld's pirated download, and it works fine. In fact, just to make myself feel better, I use their installers with my own licenses, since the only reason I'm not installing a legally obtained copy is because I want a standalone offline game. I sat down and spent a couple of days converting my store content to packages as well.

All that means I can probably upgrade my Mac to Apple Silicon and install via Parallels and be fine. It's an expensive proposition if I'm not 100% sure about it. Apple is such a price-gouger. But for all that, they really are great computers. My work computer is a M1 release from the first year of that chip, and I might've installed Crossover and Lord of the Rings Online, and I can testify that those chips are SWEET.

[tedsies]

TS2 on Linux via Parallels - Is it possible?

Has anyone had any luck getting TS2 to work on Linux via Parallels on Mac...?

When I try installing the game on Lutris, I keep facing Wine related errors and it's sending me doolally. I've spent ages trying to go through every fix on Google I can find 🥲

Mint isn't available on Parallels, so I've been trying both Ubuntu and Fedora.

The game runs pretty smoothly on my Windows VM via Parallels, but I want to be rid of pink flashing for good 🫠

[londonsimblr]

OK I'm getting Parallels installed and hopefully get TS3, EPs, CAW, Blender, S3PE, TSR etc etc working on there, so that I can play on my laptop

64 bit mac version is so unbearable and I can't really ever play for more than a few hours before I start wanting to fire up CAW again

I will report back w results in case anyone else is wanting to play PC version/CAW etc on an M1 macbook...

[the-firebird69]

There are a few things happening one of them is in the Midwest:

-we have a huge area to work on it's pretty much the whole Midwest and the Delta area is still in turmoil but we need to grab things and we're working on it very diligently we have a lot of people assigned to it it is a huge effort a giant effort it's going on now there's a lot of people involved and it's getting bigger and bigger by the minute we have to tell you it's not going to get smaller right now we're working on the second parallel mostly globally. And we are installing items and reinforcing bunkers and we're going to start installing the caps this weekend and we figured out we should we need them off people locally out there and pretty much all of them are insane they're doing the wrong thing drugs exposing themselves to radiation and not doing anything about it and they're not that much of mutant people. Along with this the first band is being renovated and reinforced underground and the Caps will go on this coming week or after that the same with the third and fourth parallel but all of it were renovating underground. Now the reason this was happening is because we are in need of some security in life we also need of understanding what you're doing because it's a big mess and you made it a big mess now you have to deal with people who like to understand so we have a plan for it and we're not just sitting ducks like to save it you're going to scream it down that's good for you we're going ahead with it now and we're fortifying and we're going to have to take your stashes and caches and the war is started over it because we're actually there people say or is the Mac proper either way they need to do it now we're going to start taking tons of it because of your mouth we can't stand listening to you in any way we don't want to look at your ugly face or your stupid bodies especially this idiot Joe wants he is a slimeball and a loser and he's embarrassed about himself and he's just smelly and hunched over all the time and he's a weakling he doesn't really work out he doesn't really lead he's a scumbag he's a patsy and people let him run things he's running into the ground because he's a loser and he is a scumbag. We don't like people like him we have to stop and get rid of them because you just simply won't stop and nobody has a life at all until you're gone.

That's one thing

Thor Freya

He's an adolescent wimp that he goes around hurting people and people who are valuable to whichever side and he's a loser doesn't do anything with it it's worth anything

Hera

Olympus

[alivah2kinfosys]

What are the advantages of Selenium training?

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced software industry, automation testing has become a necessity. Among the many automation tools available, Selenium stands out as a powerful and widely used framework for web application testing. Learning Selenium through structured training can open doors to high-paying job opportunities and career growth in software testing. But what makes Selenium training so beneficial? Let’s explore the key advantages of enrolling in a Selenium course.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool that supports multiple programming languages, browsers, and operating systems. It enables testers to automate web applications efficiently, reducing manual effort and increasing accuracy. Companies worldwide use Selenium for testing because of its flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

Advantages of Selenium Training

1. High Demand in the Job Market

Automation testing is a crucial part of software development, and Selenium is one of the most sought-after skills. Professionals with Selenium certification have a competitive edge in the job market, with opportunities in top tech companies.

Industry Insight: According to market research, the demand for automation testing professionals is expected to grow by 15% in the next five years. Companies prioritize candidates with Selenium expertise, making training a valuable investment in career growth.

2. Hands-on Experience with Real-World Projects

A structured Selenium course includes practical training with real-world projects. This hands-on approach allows learners to apply theoretical knowledge in real scenarios, preparing them for industry challenges.

Example: A Selenium course online might include tasks such as automating a login page, performing form validations, and testing e-commerce transactions.

3. Comprehensive Learning: From Basics to Advanced Concepts

Selenium training covers everything from the fundamentals to advanced topics like Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, Page Object Model (POM), and integration with frameworks like Jenkins and Maven.

Typical Course Topics:

Introduction to Selenium and its components

Installation and setup

WebDriver commands and locators

Handling alerts, frames, and dropdowns

Data-driven testing with Excel and CSV

Integration with CI/CD tools

Parallel execution and cross-browser testing

4. Flexibility with Selenium Training Online

One of the biggest advantages of Selenium course training is the flexibility of online learning. With self-paced and instructor-led options, professionals can learn Selenium at their convenience without compromising their current job.

Key Benefits of Online Learning:

Access to recorded sessions

Interactive doubt-solving sessions

Real-time project guidance

Certification upon course completion

5. Enhances Test Automation Efficiency

Selenium allows testers to automate repetitive test cases, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency. By learning Selenium, professionals can write scripts to perform functional, regression, and UI testing with precision.

Example: Automating login functionalities across multiple browsers ensures consistent user experience and quicker deployment cycles.

6. Cross-Browser and Cross-Platform Compatibility

Unlike many testing tools, Selenium supports multiple browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. It is also compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, making it highly versatile.

Example: A Selenium automation tester can execute test cases across different environments without modifying scripts, ensuring seamless compatibility.

7. Open-Source and Community Support

Being open-source, Selenium is freely available, making it an economical choice for companies and individuals. Additionally, its strong community support ensures continuous updates, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing.

Example: Many online forums and groups provide solutions for Selenium automation challenges, enabling learners to gain insights from experienced professionals.

8. Prepares You for Selenium Certification

Selenium certification courses provide structured learning paths that prepare professionals for certification exams. Having a Selenium certification validates your expertise and increases your chances of landing high-paying roles.

Certifications Available:

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9. Integration with Other Tools

Selenium integrates well with various test automation tools and frameworks, making it a powerful tool for testers.

Key Integrations:

Jenkins: For continuous integration

Maven: For build management

TestNG: For advanced test execution

GitHub: For version control

10. Better Career Prospects and Salary Growth

Professionals trained in Selenium enjoy better job prospects and higher salaries compared to manual testers. Many organizations prefer Selenium experts for automation roles due to their efficiency in handling large-scale testing.

Salary Insights:

Entry-level Selenium Testers: $60,000 - $80,000 per year

Mid-level Automation Engineers: $90,000 - $110,000 per year

Senior Automation Architects: $120,000+ per year

Conclusion

Selenium training equips professionals with in-demand skills, hands-on experience, and industry-recognized certification, leading to better job opportunities and career growth. Enroll in H2K Infosys’ Selenium course today to master automation testing and advance your career!

[dondadon8]

UBTECH UGOT kit-AI Space Exploration version - ROBOSTEAM

https://robosteam.ro/product/ubtech-ugot-kit-ai-space-exploration-version/

Arduino GIGO R1 WIFI is the moat powerfull Arduino board ever, the GIGA R1 is based on the same microcontroller as thr Portenta H7, the STM32H747. The Arduino I/O pin can handle 40ma as an absolute maximum without damage to the Arduino. The STM32H7x7 lines combine the performance of the Cortex-M7 (with double-precision floating point unit) running up to 480 MHz and the Cortex-M4 core (with single-precision floating point unit)

- PERFORMANCE

480 MHz fCPU on the Cortex-M7, 240 MHz on the Cortex-M4, 3224 CoreMark / 1327 DMIPS executing from Flash memory with 0-wait states thanks to its L1 cache

L1 cache (16 Kbytes of I-cache +16 Kbytes of D-cache) boosting execution performance from external memories

- Security

Crypto/hash hardware acceleration, secure Firmware Install (SFI) embedded, security services to authenticate protect your software IPs while performing initial programming

Secure Boot Secure Firmware Update (SBSFU)

Power efficiency multi-power domain architecture enables different power domains to be set low-power mode to optimize the power efficiency. Embedded SMPS to scale down the supply voltage, supply external circuitry , combined with the LDO for specific use cases. USB regulator to supply the embedded physical layer (PHY).

145 µ/MHz typical @VDD = 3.3 V and 25 °C in Run mode (peripherals off) and SMPS

2.43 µA typical in Standby mode (low-power mode)

460 nA typical in VBAT mode with RTC (low-power mode)

- Graphics

LCD-TFT controller interface with dual-layer support MIPI-DSI interface for driving the DSI display Chrom‑ART Accelerator™. boosts graphical content creation while saving core processing power, thus freeing up the MCU for other application needs JPEG hardware accelerator for fast JPEG encoding and decoding, off-loading the CPU

- Embedded peripherals

Up to 35 communication interfaces including FD-CAN, USB 2.0 high-speed/full-speed. Ethernet MAC, Camera interface

Easily extendable memory range using the flexible memory controller with a 32-bit parallel interface, or the Dual-mode Quad-SPI serial Flash memory interface.

Analog: 12-bit DACs, fast 16-bit ADCs

Multiple 16- and 32-bit timers running at up to 480 MHz on the 16-bit high-resolution timer

[minimalsizeconspiracy]

No-Google (fan)fic writing, Part 3: LaTeχ

Storytime

Just like I used Zettelkasten for fic parallel to Word for work for a long time, I used LaTeX alongside Zettelkasten for a few years. The reason why I made the switch to LaTeX in the first place was precisely because I’d been forced to use Word at work, and Word is just about the shittiest application you could possibly choose if you have to make text look pretty. As in, print-worthy pretty, not just “this assignment needs to look somewhat good so my professor doesn’t grade me down”.

So I badgered an acquaintance to show me LaTeX, which he did, which is when I started down that road – that I’m still on, although I am fairly certain it leads to hell. There were a number of reasons why I started using LaTeX for writing fanfic as well:

I ditched Dropbox for GIT, which is way better in terms of version control and allows you to directly compare changes between plain text files. With Zettelkasten’s bespoke .zkn3 file format, the direct comparison unfortunately doesn’t work because it’s not plain text, and I became increasingly frustrated with that.

I got into Raspberry Pis, and while it is possible to work with Zettelkasten on the small screens, even that simple interface became a bit much for the screen size.

I fell into the Transformers fandom with its plethora of canon and fanon terms for body parts, time units and even different curse words.

Boiling all of that down, I made the decision to switch to a system that would allow me to write plain text at all times because plain text is great for direct comparisons of files, for working on your stories regardless of which operating system your computer runs on – and because LaTeX has an amazing package called “glossaries” that I’ll talk about later on.

Word/Writer/Google docs versus LaTeX

Hoo boy, where to even start! Because, you see, LaTeX is NOT “What You Get Is What You See”. LaTeX is “What You Get Is What You Want (but that also means that while you’re writing your document, it looks nothing like the finished version will look)”.

Let me be plain and clear from the start: If you’re looking into an easy and convenient replacement for Word/Writer/Google docs, I can almost assure you that LaTeX is not what you’re looking for, at least not plain LaTeX. Learning LaTeX requires you to completely rethink how you approach text, because

where in Word, you’ll have boldface and italics and a mixture of both,

in LaTeX, you must write \textbf{boldface} and \textit{italics} and \textbf{\textit{a mixture of both}} and put \chapter{around every single one of your chapter headings} and never, ever forget to close a curly bracket or you’ll (temporarily) break your document.

It ain’t for the faint of heart or those unwilling to learn how to write plain text with code that is actually instructions to your computer on what you would like pieces of your text to look like in your output file.

And for 99.9% of stories, LaTeX is completely overpowered. Seriously.

But I love LaTeX and use it for writing fanfic, so I’ll include it here.

Cost

On the pro side, LaTeX is free. On Windows, you can either install MiKTeX or TeX Live, on Linux, only the latter.

+1 for being free. Just make sure you have enough bandwidth and time when you install, because it’ll take time. Hours, if your computer is old or you have little bandwidth.

Interface

Here comes the first catch:

You will almost never interact directly with LaTeX, especially if you’re new to it. Becaus LaTeX runs in the background and you need an extra interface to interact with it, unless you’re comfortable using the command line.

Fortunately, there are very good LaTeX editors: TeXstudio and TeXMaker are probably the most popular, and either is good and free. Or you can use any plain text editor, really: Notepad++, KATE, whatever Mac has.

Which I sort of want to give +1 for, because it’s not difficult to find a good LaTeX editor, buuut you actually have to download and install an extra editor to use it.

File formats

Still, there is the +1 I’ll give it for being plain text. You can open a LaTeX document in any editor you like and you’ll be able to read the file contents. The official file extension is .tex, but it’s basically the same as opening a .txt-file.

That is actually great. Genuinely, really great, because regardless of which computer you’re using, every computer, any operating system will come with an editor that can open .tex-files.

Even better, if your documents aren’t too complicated, they can be exported into HTML, which is what I usually do. Write story in LaTeX, export to HTML via make4ht, then copypaste into the AO3 HTML or Rich Text editor.

But the main output format for LaTeX is actually PDF. To use make4ht, you need to use the command line, so it’s actually a bit more complicated than with Zettelkasten or LibreOffice Writer to get your story out of LaTeX and into AO3.

Features

As far as features are concerned, there are an insane number of things you can do with LaTeX, layout-wise. I could spend a whole year writing an entry every day on something LaTeX can do and I still wouldn’t have covered even half of it.

LaTeX requires you to have proper document structures, meaning chapters, sections etc. It lets you outcomment text that you want to keep, but don’t want printed in the final version. It lets you load entire chapters or scenes from other .tex-files if you want to keep them separated like the “notes” in Zettelkasten. There’s a package that allows you to include fancy coloured To-Do notes just to annoy your beta with whiny comments about how you’re struggling with a particular scene. (I do that a lot.)

In other words, it is extensive. So I’m going to just focus on what was my main reason to move to LaTeX to write fanfic: the “glossaries” package. Remember what I said above about all the different terms in Transformers? Canon and fanon terminology is, in fact, so diverse and extensive that people write whole lexica for it.

Hands can be servos. Feet can be pedes or peds. And the time units in different continuities (there’s at least seven) make you want to break down, hit the floor with your fists and scream “why?!?” as your neighbours call 112.

The glossaries package in combination with what are called “conditional switches” in LaTeX allows me to create a sort of “dictionary” including all of those different time units while using the same “keyword” for the same concept.

Let’s pick “year” as an example. The entry for that looks approximately like this:

\ifDreamwave \newglossaryentry{year}{name={ano-cycle},description={probably meanting a year in the Dreamwave continuity}} \fi

\ifEnergon \newglossaryentry{year}{name={cycle}, description={year in the Energon continuity}} \fi

\ifIDWTwo \newglossaryentry{year}{name={kilocycle}, description={year in IDW 2019}} \fi

I could go on, but I think the principle has become clear. All of these have in common that I “call” them by entering \gls{year} in the actual text. What the \if does is switch between the different versions, depending on which I enable by adding, for example, \Energontrue.

Every time \gls{year} appears in the text, LaTeX will now automatically replace it with “cycle”, and I can stop trying to remember which word the particular continuity I’m writing for uses.

Does this blow the whole issue of different terminology entirely out of proportion?

Yes, yes, it does. But if you think that will dissuade me, you can’t have met many fanfiction authors. I do not care in the slightest that it is entirely bonkers to go to all that effort just to make sure I’m using the right terminology for the continuity I’m writing in. You’re missing the point.

Syncing

Unless you’re using Overleaf (I’m going to laugh my arse off if any of you tells me you’re using your university-sponsored Overleaf licence to write fanfiction), syncing your .tex-files across machines requires the use of another service – Dropbox, OneDrive, but actually, GIT is the best, either online via GitHub or GitLab or with a USB. I will get to the differences between those services in due time.

Ease of use for Word/Google doc-users

XD

I said it above already, but if you’re coming straight from Word or Google docs to LaTeX, you’re going to have to invest time into understanding how LaTeX works. You’ll have to get used to writing code in your document and being unable to immediately see what your text looks like in the output, unless you use LyX, which is a LaTeX-editor that was built specifically to make it easier for Word-users to switch to using LaTeX. But even so, you’ll need to learn how to structure documents.

If you’re thinking of using LaTeX for other purposes as well – uni, publishing actual books, anything where it’s useful to be able to layout your documents professionally yourself, absolutely. At least give it a try.

In order to just write fanfic? In franchises that haven’t decided to come up with new time units every time they create a new continuity?

It’s probably not worth it. The only reason I’m using it to write fanfic is because I already knew all of that stuff. I didn’t have to invest time in learning LaTeX in the first place, I just started using LaTeX for writing fanfic as well.

Don’t get me wrong. I love LaTeX. It is just a huge time investment if you can’t also use those skills somewhere else, and if it’s the plain text you’re after, the next part will feature Markdown – which has by and large the same benefits as LaTeX, but takes about half an hour to learn.