#i'm not 100% sure it's not a software issue

[tjerra14]

been expecting my 7yo headphones to die soon, especially since the cable's been looking funny for a while now, but I did not expect them to do it in the most random-ass way possible by sending my phone all kinds of inputs depending on how I move around with them plugged in

[luigiblood]

Why Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online is shit

I have been very critical of Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online since the beginning, not only the very noticeably broken graphics emulation was certainly a case that everyone understood, but it did certainly make me completely avoid the Expansion Pack subscription entirely for a year because that was genuinely shit in 2021.

Now how is it in 2024? Well, it's not that much better. They did fix a lot of problems during that time for sure, and that's something that we do need to acknowledge to do at least something resembling fair criticism.

Current context

That one Dark Link room in Ocarina of Time was fully fixed, as the fog and even transparency emulation was just outright broken, somehow worse than its Wii U Virtual Console counterpart (which was already not very good), it also affected other games like Super Mario 64 where the fog was actually not correct, but oddly enough, it's not as much of a problem in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and I'm not entirely sure what happened between that and Nintendo Switch Online for it to have such a massive emulation downgrade.

I've done some analysis of the software, though not a ton because I don't have that much time to waste reverse engineering emulators. Through that, I found out that iQue was responsible for the Nintendo 64 emulator on Wii U and Switch, because of the emulator framework, named "TRL," being 100% identical to their NES and GBC emulator for 3DS, confirmed to be iQue through leaked source code among other things, and the debug menu is seen on Wii U if you have more than one game ROM in the folder, and it's just like the 3DS one.

The Wii U Virtual Console N64 emulator was already seen as worse than its Wii VC counterpart, mainly due to the dark filter, but that thing has nothing to do with the emulation quality it was providing, aside from apparently some additional slight input lag on top of the already massive input lag which I find mindboggling, the graphics emulation was already considered worse than on Wii, a lot of issues that people saw on NSO were already on Wii U VC, which turned into a massive mess of complaints because, yeah, it turns out the Wii U was just not successful, but the Switch is, making obvious complaints very much more important.

The Dark Link room just happened to be using a bunch of graphical features at once which made it very noticeable when they don't work as intended. When I discussed this with other people, I couldn't help but feel terrible at the answer I get: "It's good enough."

This response annoys me to no end, but in truth, yes, the games are playable, nowadays graphically you probably wouldn't tell the difference from the real N64 with an untrained eye, and in fact, so am I at times too. But the problem is that it now becomes an actual history rewrite of how the game actually was, and you could still say that you would prefer the N64 games now than before with better framerates, better resolution, all that.

Better performance is always better?

Now this is still more of an opinion piece so here's my opinion about better framerate and better resolution: It's fucking misguided. Doing better framerate and better resolution works a lot better for games after that generation than the 32-bit and 64-bit era of the mid 90s to 2000, because the graphics looks a lot better for it and the standards are closer to the current era that we're in.

For N64 however, simply running the game better does not work as well as it should most of the time, and, frankly, seeing big polygons in 720p does not work as well as it should for most games. 2D games especially suffer from this and get some really weird filtering that just bothers me, especially in games like Yoshi's Story and Harvest Moon 64, where the emulator seemingly can't decide whether the graphics should be almost pixel perfect, or become vaseline.

Speaking of vaseline, where's the anti-aliasing? The N64 is very much known for its blurry anti-aliasing! While I'm pretty much immune to aliasing myself, I can still see it's not really respecting the original N64 very well about that, and it only deepens one of the biggest history rewrite of the N64 nowadays, where most people is more likely to look at badly emulated footage of a N64 game than seeing the game running on the original system, and this really bothers me that when you have every single other system on the service to care about this to the point of having a CRT screen filter, and even outright and pretty faithful reproductions of the Game Boy series' screens, N64 is the only one that forces you to play in its uglier HD resolution with no actual option to play games in their original resolution with some CRT filter or not, and that is just a real evidence of a lack of care to me compared to the rest of the systems.

When it comes to better framerates however, as much as I love that (Pilotwings 64 on NSO is actually one of the few experiences I can recommend on it), a lot of the games' speed are tied to the framerate, potentially making games harder than they should due to its speed being more accounted for the actual system, and sometimes, causing actual desync problems that iQue had to implement ways to manually slow the framerate down in specific moments of games just to account for it, but this only works for games that can run faster than intended. A lot of games sometimes have their framerate completely capped and doesn't run any faster.

But emulating the N64 lag is genuinely complex, and it's a problem that's not fully solved to this day even on unofficial N64 emulation, because there's way too many factors to take into account that it would probably take too much performance to figure out where it should take more time to process or not, so, on this one, I have a bit of sympathy about that as a developer, but it is still possible to roughly approximate that, even if the result can be weird; but I don't seem to notice any legit attempts about that.

Besides, a lot of people would be annoyed about the N64 lag and bad framerates, but to me if you want better framerates, in my opinion, it would be done differently, and unofficial emulation absolutely can deal with it in ways that isn't intrusive to the game's performance: If you played the N64Recomp PC port of Majora's Mask, you would know this, as RT64, the new graphics plugin powering this port (and hopefully emulators soon), actually handles interpolation between frames, allowing better framerate without sacrificing the game's performance to be better or worse than intended, and it makes for some real impressive results while still being relatively low in cost. For me this seems like a potential avenue to attempt to ease in comfort with N64 games.

Is N64 emulation really that hard?

…frankly, if you asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have said yes, at least to my understanding back then, but also now. But if you ask me this same question now, the answer is no, mainly because of brand new standards that actually makes a huge difference in how to handle N64 emulation in current systems, even through unofficial emulation.

I know it's very easy to mock unofficial N64 emulation as relatively hard to play, and this I would agree with, but this problem is purely user faced now. The old problem of unofficial N64 emulation was mainly that not many people were doing work on it and their time is just not infinite, but that is very much changing nowadays.

The Nintendo 64 is actually a well understood system, additional research are still being done, but for the most part, we can understand the N64 to a decent degree. The actual bottleneck of N64 emulation was actually how to emulate it on current systems, when we were stuck to older graphics API standards like OpenGL and DirectX 9.

However, a shakeup happened since with Vulkan and DirectX 12, allowing deeper GPU control. This, is actually one of the most important events of computing that actually unlocked bigger N64 emulation potential and finally get rid of problems that plagued N64 graphics emulation and it started with an adaptation of THE most accurate N64 graphics plugin as Parallel-RDP, and its extremely good, but its pretty much asking on performance and requires a decent GPU (no need for the latest stuff though).

Unfortunately, not much happened since on that field, due to as I said before, a lack of developers, but now RT64 exists, and is made to be extremely performant, and especially made to be accurate without relying on any game specific code for it, which is extremely impressive and shows a lot of potential for the future, while providing tons of new features that allows enhancements like frame interpolation and more. RT64 was fully enabled because of Vulkan and DirectX 12, else it would simply not exist!

Now why did I talk about this stuff that's seemingly unrelated to NSO? Well remember that Majora's Mask PC port I talked about earlier that uses RT64? I saw that thing running on Nintendo Switch, seemingly perfectly fine, with enhancements as well.

This makes me look at N64 NSO differently, and with even more criticism than before. Instead of making good graphics emulation through Vulkan, they seemingly instead just ported the graphics emulation from Wii U VC's GX2 API to Vulkan. That isn't without effort, but it is quite frankly lazy, and means that whatever they're doing, they're not using the technology at their disposal to the fullest, especially since Vulkan is a standard that applies to pretty much every current GPU under the sun now, whatever the work is done here, it would likely work on the long term, especially the next systems after the Switch. Why Nintendo did not allow that is just sad, and a waste of time. RT64 was done by mostly a single developer, and while it took many years to be developed, these years could have been reduced a lot more if it was handled by a team fully dedicated to this, with possibly even more cutting edge to it. The ingredients are there, but the recipe was just botched.

Genuine trust issues with the quality

But aside from all this stuff I just talked about, if you didn't understand much of it, hopefully this part should help you understand other issues that I have with N64 NSO.

Remember that the first version of N64 NSO was graphically buggy, and while they did fix that over time, new games sometimes were outright buggy and possibly game breaking:

When they added Paper Mario to the service, while the game did actually receive some improvements over the Wii U VC emulator, the game, somehow, was more prone to crashes. If you game over with Watt as a partner, the emulator crashes, and you lose your progress. If you have the curiosity of hitting trees with your hammer, one of them in the snow town actually crashes the game too! Thankfully both were fixed, but you still needed to wait months! If you had no idea why crashes could be caused as Nintendo just never warns about that stuff, that is genuinely inconvenient.

When they added Kirby 64; the western version actually had a game breaking bug that makes you softlocked if you get hit in a particular way underwater. That is genuinely a terrible bug that could affect just about anybody playing the game. Thankfully, they fixed it the next week, but that REALLY shouldn't have happened to begin with!

There's also the smaller problems like Yoshi's Story's boss, Inviso, where the point of the boss is to be invisible. Except he's very visible at all times making the point of the boss moot and any respect to the original game gone. For some fucking reason, they took more than a year to finally fix it, and that's just a huge shame.

There's also how Jet Force Gemini had a worse widescreen mode and somehow thought it was good for release, thankfully fixed 2 months after, but you still had to wait 2 months!

And then F-Zero X still has genuine framerate problems to this day where the game just runs worse over time. That game is known to run a perfect 60 FPS on the original system, so there's no excuse here.

I could also mention Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, but just look up Graslu's videos on them, he has done a full comparison, showing what's wrong with them with enough detail.

For these, I just mentioned the glaring issues plaguing several games, but a lot of times these issues just comes on their addition to the service, and then only gets fixed months later; and for me, that's an actual disrespect to the player. I understand the developer is doing their best here, but frankly, what that looks like to me is a legit constant: they visibly seems just scrambling to get games to work to a "good enough" state. I am NOT accusing iQue of this, however I accuse Nintendo to not have taken any measures to stop having these kinds of problems to begin with.

To speak better of iQue, they seem to be good at reverse engineering, as they do patch games to fix issues, or sometimes just modifications like anti-epilepsy measures or other kinds of hacks.

The controls

I had some really bad things to say about the controls, but it got partially invalidated when I played Perfect Dark on the service to see how bad it got. I think I simply overthought about it.

Now I have an opinion about the controls of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark that will not please people: They're… fine. The default controls I mean. I know people have some real aversion to FPS that doesn't use a double stick, but frankly I dare say those controls didn't age as badly as you'd think. Some people say it's best played on a N64 controller but I don't agree about that, it's also okay on a regular Switch Pro Controller.

Turok however, oh boy, the default controls can be a double stick FPS… except it's reversed. That's where the ability to remap controls would be very useful here, or possibly just one moment where better forced control setups would be actually nice here.

Or how Pokémon Stadium has minigames that uses actually both the D-pad and the Stick, it could be great if the right Stick acted like the N64 Stick at that moment on a Pro Controller instead of the C Buttons!

Instead, I sometimes get told it is an excuse to get the (frankly expensive) N64 controller. Fuck no. I should not be forced to buy that, and I actually dislike using that controller, and I played tons of N64 games through emulation with different controls without having serious issues either, so for me, this isn't an excuse. Wii U VC also provided button remapping!

The forced use of ZL as the N64 Z button, and L for N64 L button for every game, also bothered me. I know they care about consistency, but then, I got actually curious to check how they handled Z and L on Wii and Wii U VC… and holy shit. They handled it right from the start. On Wii they actually just used the L button for the N64 Z button! But, the N64 B and A buttons do correspond to the B and A buttons on the current controllers regardless. Though, on that one, for most games, it's not as much of a bother, but if you're playing games like, let's say Wave Race 64 or F-Zero X, this is particularly worse.

F-Zero X has the use of strafing left and right, so I'll let you imagine how worse that sounds if you use ZL and R. NOT ZR, that's for C Buttons macros on the face buttons. It feels horrible and unintuitive, but also there's how the B and A buttons on N64 are vertical, and you just use your thumb on both buttons, making it easy to boost or to soften bounces on waves in Wave Race 64, which is a pretty darn important thing to understand, but instead you have to handle it on horizontal B and A buttons, making it a slight bit more annoying to your thumb, physically speaking. It just feels unintuitive and actually bad for your thumb, frankly.

It's where I wish games would actually make either ZR or R buttons to be swapped depending on the title, to be the R button and C button macro, and also offer an option to rotate the face buttons so that B and A would be placed on Y and B instead, corresponding more to the actual feeling of the N64 controller.

Sin & Punishment is oddly enough the only game of the bunch that comes with slightly custom controls, more adapted to the game, and I'm sorta glad that they bothered.

Just to go back to the N64 stick emulation, I also wish the sensitivity of it was managed better on current controllers. It really seems like when some games run faster than intended, added with the fact the stick isn't reproduced faithfully, some games are a lot harder to play, especially with Joy Cons if that's your only and basic options, where for example, turning the camera is way faster and you just keep wanting to reposition all the time.

Missing features

Man, imagine emulating the Controller Pak for the ability to save in games that only uses it instead of battery backed save memory in the cartridge, but then, literally never use it, ever.

Well that's what happened to Wii U VC and N64 NSO. iQue has actually emulated it, but for some reason, they never use it, and I just do not understand why, especially in games where the Rumble Pak isn't supported.

Speaking of the Rumble Pak, it is emulated, but there's one thing I just do not understand: Why isn't there code to automatically swap the Controller Pak and Rumble Pak? They have the best ways to actually handle this in ways that is pretty transparent and unobtrusive, but somehow, they don't bother with it, and it's just very strange. I know the N64 games are weird about it, but some outright allow to swap them, sometimes they even bother to remove the No Controller Pak message in Winback, but in other games they don't even bother removing the Rumble Pak swap message. It's just inconsistent and weird.

We don't have Transfer Pak emulation unfortunately, but that one, I can partially understand, it's definitely a bit messy, but it would still have been cool to play Mario Tennis and Mario Golf with your GBC characters and to level them up on the N64 games. Instead, in Mario Tennis GBC, you actually get the Transfer Pak content unlocked from the start, which is still pretty cool of Nintendo to care, and a mere reminder that they do care about these details in other apps. But in Mario Tennis on N64 NSO, the Transfer Pak courts are yet to be unlocked.

Then there's the wish to see 64DD emulated, which they initially did some work towards that back on Wii U VC, but then simply never touched in years, and then removed the code after I noticed they tried to support the fanmade cartridge ports of them. It's probably just for testing though, I don't really care that they do it like that, but I would think it's particularly crass had they used them officially on the app. This has yet to be seen again, so I don't have my hopes up. Here's hoping the Nintendo Museum made them care though, considering Doshin The Giant 64DD actually showed up there.

The future

I think I pretty much said what I wanted to say the most in one place. It might have been a little hard to read, but I really wanted to make my points very clear.

When I look at N64 NSO vs the rest of the service, I just cannot help but see how worse it is in general, I have genuine trust issues as it is very badly managed as games get added but then doesn't run properly, only to get resolved, if it does, only months later. It just makes me want to put off for later any time I wanna play a N64 game on that service, and I really want to love that service, I want to recommend y'all the biggest N64 library so far that Nintendo has given us that surpasses both Virtual Console libraries on Wii and Wii U, but I just can't.

Unfortunately, I don't see the future to be that bright. I see no reason to believe Nintendo has done any big efforts to allow a better N64 emulator, and of course, Nintendo has never really addressed complaints, and I partially blame the "good enough" feeling. When I read ArsTechnica to make an article just to complain about the borders after the N64 NSO ordeal, it just makes me feel like no matter what, this bigger complaint of mine across all of N64 NSO just cannot be seen seriously. It's a much bigger problem than borders (though, I agree, they should allow more, including pitch black borders).

I don't see any reason for Nintendo to read this either, but that's my full impressions of N64 NSO so far. Nintendo 64 NSO is just shit, and disrespectful to the legacy of the N64.

I outright accuse it to force people to buy a N64 controller just to play it correctly, which definitely worked as it definitely was out of stock several times, but if that's truly what they aimed for, then it's an app that doesn't know what audience it wants. If it aimed to be played by casuals, they'll be put off by the controls. If they aimed for the hardcore, they'll find problems, no matter what.

And it really cannot be helped when the emulator is clearly designed for the developers to manually fix problems per game instead of having a better emulator overall.

[ameyasims]

Why hello there

I don't think anyone remembers me, but that's okay! Life has done a 180* turn for me in every possible way in the last few years and I didn't have time for Sims, other than watching a few things when new expansions drop.

But things are finally settling down enough that I have some free time and I've been starting to play again. (I'm now living on my own in a coastal city in South Korea, where I teach English at a great school (and get a free, lovely apartment!), and have a group of great other teacher friends that I get to explore with on days off. All of this thanks to, in part, my POTS going into remission and allowing me to re-join the world, which I can't overstate how grateful I am for that!* Anyway, what's up? What's new? How on earth will I be able to catch up with all the good mods and CC i've missed! Ahhhh! Also, I desperately want to update my stuff... but I have a mac now and my photoshop that I had from college (when you could actually PURCHASE software instead of subscribe to it) doesn't work on mac. T_T. And somehow, I utterly forget how to use blender. One of those "use it or lose it skills", I guess. :( *(As an aside: have any health issues? Get your ferritin checked, ignore the lab's reference ranges, which are all criminally wrong, and make sure your levels are above 50!!! Though, over 100 seems to be the ideal! I was only mildly anemic according to hemoglobin levels, my iron levels themselves were fine, but my ferritin (long term iron stores) had been 9 throughout my tenure with POTS, and finally hit 3, where even the low reference ranges caught me. Still had to get a second opinion after my GP just offered me iron pills (nearly useless for significant deficiency). After 7 (!) iron infusions from a hematologist, I was literally an ENTIRELY NEW WOMAN. I am now a teacher on my feet all day without even getting tired, when before my heart rate would spike to 135 just walking to the bathroom, causing me to get out of breath.)

[eponymous-rose]

It's another busy week, so I'm gonna do one of these again because it genuinely helps me keep track. Today in a nutshell!

Worked on some e-mails over breakfast - mostly coordinating for dinner tonight (I 100% did not forget to make the reservation, I promise, I just uhhhhhhhhhhh definitely didn't forget, that's for sure, and thank goodness for no particular reason that they happened to have one table left at 6PM), happily agreeing to write some reference letters for my PhD student's postdoc applications, rescheduling some meetings, setting new meetings, meetings meetings meetings. Oh, and booking tables for a couple of card shows this month! Off to work!

I get in a little later than I'd like and rush downstairs to the lounge to make my mug of tea pre-class, where I run into a student who just defended his PhD last week. I'm on his reading committee, so we agree to set up a time to go over my (honestly quite minor) comments on his dissertation. I also run into our incredible facilities guy, who follows up on some technical issues my students ran into over the weekend, hopefully resolved - I have five groups of three undergraduate students running their own weather stations all across the metro area of our city!

No time to enjoy the tea, so I leave it to steep a hilariously long time and rush back downstairs to teach my class! This year's students are truly exceptional - apparently over the weekend they all discovered that the Mac version of the data collection software for their weather stations is no longer supported, and they all independently coordinated to get PCs into the hands of all 5 groups. Let me tell you, when you're expecting to have to spend the first 20 minutes of the class troubleshooting and are instead greeted by a quiet, expectant two rows of faces, it's a great feeling.

Today's lecture is a topic I'm really passionate about - teaching students the "why" behind a lot of the statistical methods they've learned in the past (these are college seniors) and working on building a pipeline for exploratory data analysis. This isn't explicitly part of the syllabus, but my gosh, the quality of the final reports has improved sharply once I introduced these lectures. The students participated a bunch and happily launched into think-pair-share groups without my having to coordinate them. This is my sixth time teaching this class, and these students are far and away the best I've encountered. I am also very, very bad with names (and have a lot of anxiety about calling someone by the wrong name) but managed to successfully use an example in class in which I rattled off four students' names in a row, no effort needed. Phew.

As a side note, this has always been far and away my least-favorite class to teach, and this was the year I was gonna change that - I brought it to a curriculum development workshop last year and even presented on it at an education conference last week. But... dang, having strong students truly makes it effortless to enjoy teaching this class.

Back to my office, which smells like the double-spiced chai that has been steeping so long it's probably quadruple-spiced by now. Delicious. I have an hour until my next commitment, so I try to get ahead on grading the homework assignment my students handed in on Friday (all 15 of them handed it in on time!!!!). I also realize that this is my last block of free time until dinner, so I run downstairs to heat up my soup for lunch.

After getting through four of the assignments, it's time for a weather briefing (we have a team for a national forecasting competition), which means it's mostly just time for technical difficulties, but we make it through in the end and wrap up a bit early - back to grading! Students are doing great on this assignment overall, which is gratifying, but I make a note of a topic some of them are struggling on so I can mention it during Wednesday's class.

Weekly hour-long meeting with one of my Master's students! He talked about how he's taking a course on pedagogy to help with his work as a teaching assistant this quarter (!!) and he's been working through my first round of revisions of his very first first-author scientific journal article and had a few clarifying questions. I recommended some off-the-wall papers in the communications literature that I think would dovetail well with some of the discussion in his paper, and he was really jazzed to get to explore those. We also decided to get him set up with a million core-hours on a supercomputer so he can start on the next phase of his research - he promised to have the paper ready for the next set of revisions by the end of the week, so while I'm working on that, he can get familiar with the new system. I am also reminded that I really need to come up with some more substantial funding for him - currently he's working on a fellowship, but that runs out after three years.

After he heads out (a few minutes early, more grading time!) I get an e-mail from a scientist in Switzerland - she and I are working on getting her out here for a two-year postdoc job studying lightning with me. She's made revisions on her application for funding, so that's another thing for me to read over this week. I'm also reminded that I have to get back to an Italian grad student who wants to come visit my group for a year. Still figuring out the logistics on that one...

I also need to get back to a forestry service colleague of mine about getting the university my share of the funds for our fast-approaching field work using brand-new radar tech to study wildfire smoke plumes. I really, really need to get back to him this week - I think we're planning on flying out in April to start.

ALSO also this week, I have some pretty intense revisions of my own to deal with - I've been given this opportunity to write a huge review article, and I finally got it done back in December... only to learn that they want it to be about half that length. I'm going to take a swing at carving 5,000 words out of that behemoth.

AND a colleague and I are working on a resubmission of a grant to study thunderstorms in really unusual places, and I promised her I'd have a complete draft for her to read by the 7th. Phew. Good thing my week is only front-loaded with meetings.

Whoops, no more time to grade/read e-mails and schedule in my head. We have someone here today interviewing for a job on our faculty, and I'm one of the search committee members! Better dash downstairs to catch the candidate's talk. We have five two-day interviews planned for the next four weeks. Ouch.

Awesome talk by the candidate (we're very lucky to be spoiled for choice even in our very specialized field - we've whittled 86 qualified candidates down to five), and I launch straight from that into a student's PhD entrance exam. At this stage I should mention how much I genuinely loathe our PhD entrance exam, which is a pedagogical and logistical nightmare all around. This was a very popular opinion, which is why we as the faculty voted unanimously to completely change the process last year. Why are there students still taking this horrible exam???? Fuck if I know, man. At this point, it's voluntary to opt into it, and I am baffled and deeply frustrated at how many faculty members apparently encouraged their students to take it. Anyway, the student does a great job and we muddle through somehow, and now it's back up to my office to do some cramming on small-talk topics before a colleague and I host the faculty candidate for dinner!

A delightful dinner all around - my colleague is someone I was initially intimidated by (she's a giant in the field) but with whom I have since bonded, so we had some fun banter in the car and I think it helped the job candidate relax a little. We had some fun big-picture talk (and some less-fun big picture talk about news that dropped as we were eating) but mostly just talked about how much we love this part of the world. Good food, drink, and conversation. On the car ride home, I managed to troubleshoot a problem my undergrad research assistant was having with getting access to the supercomputer he needs for his project. Phew.

That's a long day, but good stuff all around!

[scaththefloof]

Why the year of Linux isn't actually happening

This is a long post so make sure that you have some time to actually read it.

I'm going to say some things that linux users may hate, but it is the fucking truth.

we all hope for the year of the linux desktop, but the thing is it will never happen until it gets more user friendly. Yes you heard it right, it has to be USER FRIENDLY.

This is the reason that ubuntu, mint, elementary, etc. are so popular. Because mint is good if you're transitioning from windows, elementary OS is good for if you're transitioning from MacOS. And Ubuntu is User-friendly and has a high amount of support. It doesn't have a familiar UI, but the learning curve is relatively easy. Plus if you're me, you have actually riced Ubuntu and made it look 100% different from what ubuntu looks like

This was my Ubuntu rice, it is completely derailed from the original look which is this:

this is Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat"

Now yes there are some shitty things Ubuntu has done, like sell user data to amazon. However that was in the past and my views are if someone (or in this case a company) has actually changed their ways, they deserve a second chance. Ubuntu has telemetry yes, but if you actually look at the source code for the telemetry (they let you do that at the installer) you will actually notice there is no user data reported. They only report the specs of your PC to Ubuntu, and the reason for this is to help better Ubuntu and expand support. Ubuntu is actually making an effort to make the year of the linux desktop actually happen.

Now yes people may have their opinions on Ubuntu and their implementation of GNOME, but really in this version of Ubuntu, canonical has fixed the issues they had. See the Buggy GNOME desktop environment was from this weird move they did in the name of stability. They would roll back the version of GNOME so you were 6 months behind. Yet use the latest extensions for GNOME, thus causing some frankenstein, GNOME thing. This is why GNOME is so buggy. the thing is Ubuntu did this for stability when even Debian didn't do this. If Debian, the mother of linux distros didn't do this weird frankenstein GNOME, then why did Ubuntu need to. But Canonical changed this and is now on the right track with Ubuntu 24.04. Now the other thing is the forcing of snaps down people's throats, this is a very shitty thing to do. To be honest with you, I would actually try snaps out if Ubuntu did NOT do this move that they do.

This is the same thing with some distros only allowing open source software, otherwise they just crash (yes there are some out there). Yes FOSS (Free and Open Source Software for the people who don't use linux, or use linux but don't know the term yet) is really great, but that doesn't mean become Ubuntu with their snaps and force FOSS down their throats. It is really nice when you have freedom, when you have the choice to not use FOSS and use Proprietary Software. Because now you have made the choice instead of had a gun pointed to your head and FOSS was the only thing you could choose to use otherwise the trigger would be pulled.

Now these distros are the minority and you don't really have to worry about that. But the thing is Ubuntu, I would actually take a bite out of the snap package cake, if you weren't shoving it in my face. I have actually heard of a new feature that canonical has released for snaps that fixes these slow boot times. And I have heard that some snaps actually run faster than flatpaks. such as some video editors. But these instances are most likely few and far between. Canonical making snaps is similar to another project that they did a long time ago. and that was create unity. They suffer from Not Invented here syndrome. Now Unity was actually a great move that they did when you consider why they did it. GNOME 3 just released and it changed the entire desktop environment and made it completely different. And Ubuntu didn't want to go with this new change. Because they didn't want their users to have to adapt to an entirely different workflow. So canonical made unity instead. Now eventually Unity failed and so they decided to instead, modify GNOME. But if you look at what they did when they made this move. Unity influenced what Ubuntu is today. Look at unity, and then look at Ubuntu 24.04. you can see what they took from their loss and made into a success.

Now if you made it this far, congratulations here is a cookie for you! 🍪. But now we're going to start talking about things other than user-friendliness. And that is what people use computers for. See the average Joe uses a computer for browsing the web and doing maybe a few word documents and that's about it. But if you're anything like me. You one, have differing opinions that highly oppose even the 1% (literally this entire tumblr post), but you also want to use a computer to go into a world where you rip and tear demons to shreds deep in the depths of hell, or you want to use a computer for killing greek gods. Or use a computer to open a portal to an alien world and destroy society. If you can't pick up on the references, what I'm saying is you use computers for a niche such as gaming. gaming is widely known, but the most common platform for gaming is the phone. not the console or the PC, the phone. Linux PCs are used more for getting work done. Hell, my dad who works at lenovo, installed ubuntu onto a mid 2012 macbook (btw that is the best laptop I have owned so far, it is so fast it scares me, how tf is a 2012 laptop that fast), he also has a hard drive with ventoy installed on it to boot other live environments so that he can work on his other projects (which he has a blog and he is working on a home lab setup).

funny thing is he doesn't specify on his blog what he uses ubuntu on, he just says he has a machine that uses it. So yeah he uses a Macbook Pro 9,2 (Mid 2012 13 inch), same as me

But the thing is, Yes linux gaming has come a long way. It really has, but the thing is that it's still not there yet. If you watch SomeOrdinaryGamers/Mutahar you would know that he plays games on Arch Linux (BTW) but he still has to fire up Windows in a Virtual Machine to play some of the games he has just because they do not work on Linux. If you want linux to take the market share. If you want this year of the linux desktop, you need to have games and such actually run on linux.

Now like I said linux is great for the average joe. If you gave the average Joe three laptops with a browser open and told him to just surf the web for a little bit, he would not be able to tell the difference between the OSes other than the UI being a little different (taskbar position, taskbar design, Icons, you know things like that).

The only people who would know what OS you just gave them are the people who engage in these niches such as cybersecurity, Development and Gaming (there are other niches I haven't covered, but let's keep it simple). Linux has two of the three listed here 100% covered. it's the third one that is the problem. The thing is let's use roblox as an example just because why not. They never actually made their game for linux. they just enabled wine support and told their linux playerbase to use wine (recently they disabled this wine support because people were using vinegar, a popular wine wrapper used to run roblox, to cheat in the game).

Now the Proton project has done an AMAZING job at this. In fact the steam deck had our hopes high for the year of the linux desktop. And honestly, I think we're close to if not on the home stretch here.

Alright so we understand the user friendliness and the gaming piece of the puzzle, but let me elaborate more on the user friendly.

I have recently seen this video where people asked Linus Torvalds some questions on why he doesn't use Debian or Ubuntu and he said something here that really resonated with me. he said that he wants a distro that is easy to install because he has a life. And this is the thing. look at MacOS, look at Windows, fuck look at ChromeOS for that matter and look at their installation experience. You see how user friendly it is.

Now look at installing apps, Windows you install a .exe file, hope and pray that it's not a virus, run it and you're done. you can also use a .msi file to install your app if you want to. MacOS, you download a .dmg file and copy it to your applications directory, simple as that. Hell it even gives you a fucking window that tells you "drag to install" and you drag the program into the applications directory.

this is from Livakivi's MacOS challenge video down below

Now this video shows me one: reasons why I shouldn't use MacOS, and two: user friendliness features that if put in Linux, it can cause the year of the Linux desktop we've all been waiting for.

Now installing stuff on linux, you have to type in one command. But for some people, that terminal is a scary place that they don't want to be. And so there is the way of installing it using a .deb file or a .rpm file. But the thing is that way is the wrong way. That is how you get malware, yes even though linux doesn't have much malware, it still has some. Hell, when I used Ubuntu (I use Kubuntu now) the Ubuntu software thing would actually WARN ME, that .deb packages had the capability of installing malware. But another point to make is that, deb and rpm files are only available for Debian and it's billions of forks, and fedora (and possibly it's forks, idk if it has any though).

Now there is a solution to this problem though, and that is the Discover app, (or the GNOME software app). these apps basically use the terminal method of installing the apps, making it more secure because they install packages that are checked for malware. But they just make it easier for your average joe to install them. They make it so easy that even your grandmother can do it. But the issue doesn't appear when you look at how not every desktop environment has the software app, meaning not every distro has the app because you can just use a distro that has the app. But the issue arises with the fact that some apps require you to add the repository in order to install it. There has to be some way for the software app to look at all repositories without adding them until you install a piece of software from it. Sort of like how a browser skims through the websites or something like that.

Yes there is documentation on how to do this type of stuff, but the thing is. With Windows, it just does it. Now I'm not saying linux should be like windows or Mac OS hell nah. What I'm saying is linux should be as noob friendly as windows and Mac OS.

The conclusion to this entire thing is that the year of the Linux desktop will never happen until the noob distros become as noob friendly as Windows and MacOS. Where you don't need a manual to use it. All you do is click a button and "oh that's what it does". It needs to be able to be used by someone who doesn't know shit about computers, and has never touched a command prompt in their life. Yes you might say "BuT tHe CoMmAnD pRoMpT iS tHe EnTiRe PoInT oF LiNuX!!!11!11" yes, but the thing is there has to be a distro for the ones who don't want to touch the command prompt

[alertarchitect]

So! A new Doom game got announced!

Here's the trailer for those interested, it will help with what I'm about to go into:

As a bit of a Retro Throwback Shooter Shitter myself, I have some Thoughts. Read on if you're interested.

So, first of all I like the premise of exploring the time the Doom Slayer spent fighting demons alongside the warriors of Argent D'Nur. It's a time period that was purposefully left pretty damn vague in Doom Eternal, and the Slayer's lore before waking up again wasn't even really talked about much - if at all - in Doom 2016 from what I remember, since they were trying to play it a little safe due to Doom 2016 being a soft reboot of a series that hadn't gotten a new game in 12 years at that point, with the last title (Doom 3 and its various editions that attempted to improve it a bit) being a pretty big departure that had a wealth of issues, such as it being a Doom game with one of the worst shotguns ever put into a shooter. So it's a cool idea to explore this time frame of the Doom Slayer's history, and possibly show the events leading to the Slayer's imprisonment in Hell before he was rediscovered and subsequently awoken by Samuel Hayden in Doom 2016, including the Makyrs' fall from grace.

Second, I'm actually kinda hyped to see id Software still working on making retro throwback shooters. I was worried they'd get shuttered and their IP sold off after Rage was such a flop back in 2011, and they didn't make anything after it for 5 years until Doom 2016 came out, so it's nice to see they've found their groove again - making some of the best examples of the retro throwback shooter subgenre. Doom 2016 started the BoomShoot Renaissance, and Doom Eternal is still one of the best examples of the genre, mechanically. They are masterclasses in using an old formula while keeping the level design and visuals fresh with modern game design principles that have improved a lot since the 90s, along with new game mechanics to keep the moment-to-moment gameplay feeling fresh as well (such as the weapon / stat upgrade systems, the movement abilities you get in Doom Eternal, etc.). Seeing them pushing that even further is a treat to behold, and I'm confident it's going to be a pretty damn fun game, as long as it doesn't get forced into being $70.

Final point, though, is a bit of a downer for me personally. Why in the fuck are they making a game in the Doom series that's going for a more medieval-ish feel, when the Quake franchise is right fucking there and begging for a better modern entry than goddamn Quake Champions?? Seriously, making a Quake game calling back to the first game in the franchise - with the Lovecraftian inspirations, the more medieval-ish setting, the unique monsters like the Shambler you didn't see much of past Quake 1 - would be a fucking money printer. But no, Microsoft wants them to play it safe so they can get a guaranteed blockbuster because Quake Champions hasn't done very well since it came out of early access in 2022, which is definitely a fault of the Quake franchise not having any consumer interest and 100% for sure not because Quake Champions pivoted into being a fucking hero shooter trying to emulate the feel of old arena shooter deathmatching!! It's not like a soft reboot wouldn't be sorely needed after the goddamn disaster of a story that was the Quake 4 campaign! It's not like a modern Quake game that actually relies on having a fun weapon sandbox instead of relying on taking your opponents off guard with fucking superpowers on cooldowns is something the fanbase they're trying to pander to would nut in our fucking pants over or anything!!!!

TL;DR: This game looks really good and fun, and I like to see id is still making banger games, but I'm actually kinda angry that they'd rather make a Doom game with medieval vibes rather than using that other fantastic retro shooter IP they own to make something that kind of vibe would actually fit into better.

[moonspren]

MAKE YOUR OWN (2025) AO3 WRAPPED!

I'm going to start this off by saying that this does take a lot of leg work on the user end, and a little bit of setup to customize for your preferences. I made all of this from scratch with a limited-moderate understanding of spreadsheets & a lot of queries to Reddit forums, and its not completely perfect or bug-free, but it does what I wanted it to do in general, and I had fun with it, so I thought I'd make it available to share!

The first thing you'll need to do is open the link above and select File -> make a copy. This will make a copy saved to your account that can be edited to your preferences & with your fic history/information. I don't have a business account, so I can't create a template, and this is the best option I found! (Also, sorry if you don't want to use G**gl* I really couldn't find a program that did all the things I wanted it to do and was also shareable)

The second thing you may want to do to personalize the spreadsheet to your own tastes is to edit the list of AU/Theme options for the dropdown. To do this, simply click into the dropdown menu on the first table row and click the "edit" pencil at the bottom right. I included a few that I prefer to read and/or want to keep track of through the year, but it will of course vary by reader, so feel free to edit this list to your hearts content.

To make sure the charts are accurate, once your list is finalized, click into the "Reference" tab at the bottom of the page, and find the table titled "AU or Theme." (This is where it starts to get a little tricky & technical, though if you have experience with formulas, it shouldn't be too sticky.)

You will need to delete any columns that are no longer listed in your dropdown menu, and add a column for any new additions. Once your table columns match your dropdown list, make sure the formula in the row beneath each column matches the one below:

=COUNTIFS('Data Entry'!K2:K,"*AU*")

You can copy/paste this formula into the cell beneath each of your AU/Theme columns, making sure to change the red text to match the text from your dropdown menu for each column/category.

And that's it for the setup! At this point, you can hide the "Reference" sheet if you want, as you shouldn't need to look at it unless you add options to the AU/Theme dropdown, or you add or delete columns from the Data Entry sheet.

All you'll need to do is enter the information for each fic you read on a new line in the table on the "Data Entry" sheet, and you'll have a beautiful list of all the fics you read this year, and charts on the "Charts" tab will automatically generate to show how your fandoms, pairings, ratings, AUs/Themes break down, as well as showing your work/word count per month and total for the year.

If you want to create a wrapped video (like the one in my original post), the charts on the Reference page will come in handy for top author/pairing pages, but they can be clunky to look at, so I've not included them with the Charts page.

The biggest issue I have with this setup is WIPs - there's not really an accurate way to list WIPs so that your word/work count is 100% accurate by month, since as the work updates, you'd either need to add an additional line per chapter (skewing the work count) OR change the word count on the original line and update the "date completed" field (this skews the word count, but is the option I choose to use). If you have any advice or expertise on this, PLEASE feel free to reach out!!!

And last but CERTAINLY not least, I want to include a link to the super amazing Canva template I used to create the video! AO3's brand colors, fonts & logo are all publicly available and easy to find, and I just used bits and pieces of that to edit the template.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy! If you have suggestions or requests, please DM me and I will try my best to help <3

[aita-blorbos]

Am I the Asshole for not adding backdoor access to my killer robots?

Alright, so I [52M] own a massive tech company that produces a wide range of items for a wide range of consumers. One of our most recent projects was a line of highly advanced war machines capable of autonomous self production via the consumption of biomass as emergency fuel. These things cost a pretty penny and have been tested extensively to ensure that they're safe. Well, as safe as a killer robot can be, anyway. These people know what they're paying for, right? I mean, these things aren't really supposed to be killing humans, given that the front lines of every major conflict is all machines nowadays, but they're still pretty deadly. That's kind of the point.

Anyway, given how deadly they are, my engineers insisted on leaving an emergency backdoor, but I vetoed that. These are supposed to be the most secure, unhackable war machines on the market. They've got layers upon layers of encryption and protocols to keep them 100% safe and secure. We don't want anyone claiming that our company is using backdoor access to tamper with the machines, and we don't want customers to be able to hack each other's robots (at least, not without the robot specifically designed to hack other robots). Again, these things have been thoroughly tested, and I really didn't think we needed a backdoor.

Well, fast forward to now, and one of machine swarms is experiencing a minor malfunction. Basically it's severed its own chain of command, and is no longer communicating with its owner. It's on a bit of a rampage, consuming plants, animals, really anything organic to continue to fuel and produce more copies of itself. It sounds very concerning, I know, but I think we can deal with it. The US military is on my ass about it right now, making it out to be my problem, but I don't think it's my fault? I couldn't have predicted that the swarm would go rogue and that we would need backdoor access. I was just making sure these things were secure, and it's not my fault that they experienced a glitch.

Anyway, I have a meeting in a few hours with an old business partner of mine [45F], she's really smart and I'm sure she can help come up with a solution here. It may take some work, but it's not going to be that difficult to take out the rogue swarm and issue a software update for our other customers. My old business partner and I are both smart people, and I have access to pretty much every resource on the planet. This will be easy! I just don't get why everyone is making it into such a big deal.

Tl;dr some killer robots went rogue and everyone thinks it's my fault for not including a backdoor in the code. I think it's an unfortunate fluke that we can fix with ease. AITA?

[anderseva]

1, 2, 3, not only you & me || norgeva

WHO: Noah Puckerman @puckhq, Morgan Weston @morgan-weston, & Eva Anderson

WHERE: The Spare Room & then Eva's home

WHEN: Friday, August 9th

WHY: Two hot people enter the bar with technically the same birthday present for the birthday boy, so they decide to turn it into a threesome. There's no smut under here, we decided to fade to black because writing a threesome is too much work for us but pretend this is the steamiest sex of your life under this read more anyways.

MORGAN WESTON

"Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on? Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?" The infamous Tanya Tucker song blared out through the speakers. The sober people in the room probably wished that it was actually the Tanya Tucker version that was being belted out, but alas, it was not. Instead, it was some drunk lady, with a bottle of Budweiser - king of beers, after all - in one hand, and a microphone in the other, misreading the words on the screen, from the karaoke software. Morgan laughed to himself. Of course Puck would be celebrating his birthday at a bar with karaoke. A variety of songs had made sure the party was going strong, and "Delta Dawn" was no exception. 

People cheered for the drunk lady - they were probably also drunk - and Morgan took a swig of his own beer and looked around, spotting a seemingly happy birthday boy. Puck and him hadn't seen much of each other since the day they slept together, but that didn't mean that Morgan was upset, by any means. It just meant that there was more catching up to do. Heading towards him, the tall cowboy took several long strides, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a group of people instantly swarming him with birthday wishes. Morgan took another sip of his beer, and thought about what to do. He was in the middle of the room, and he looked pretty awkward, he figured. So instead, he tried to spot a way out of the situation. And there she was. He could spot her from a thousand miles away, he was sure of it. "Ms Anderson," Morgan greeted her, in their silly little way, as he walked up to her, with a smirk on his bearded face. "Are ya here for Puck's birthday too?"

EVA ANDERSON 

Eva hated karaoke, even more so while she was sober and her vision was 100% clear as day. Maybe it stemmed from having a musically inclined family, but hearing people who were tone deaf attempting to belt out songs she probably didn't know or hated was the worst kind of torture. She was only here for Puck, and that was the only thing that had guided her feet into this godforsaken place and right over to the bar. She'd even tipped the bartender a few extra bills to send a tray of shots over to Puck while she was being served bottomless Dirty Martinis — extra dirty in terms of less juice and more gin. As soon as he started putting them down in front of her, she was tossing them back before he could even start working on the next one. 

The crowd around Puck wasn't a surprise since he was so damn popular these days, and she didn't mind having to busy herself with some other people she knew, or had exchanged a few posts with online before finally meeting in person. Everyone seemed to be keeping the convos light while they sipped on their own alcohol, so it was decent enough company until she felt the need to push her way through the crowd to get to the birthday boy. Luckily that issue was pushed aside when she saw Morgan coming her way, and she couldn't have contained the glowing look on her face even if she'd wanted to (which she obviously didn't). "Hi, Mr. Weston." Eva beamed. God, she needed to unpack why she could turn into a bit of a puddle around only two attractive, tall ass men, but tonight wasn't the night to analyze that shit. "I am, but I didn't know you and Puck knew one another too." She hummed. "I'm surprised to see you at a packed bar, but I'm also jealous that Puck is apparently special enough to make this happen." She stated and frowned. "How do you two know each other?"

MORGAN WESTON

The way Eva looked tonight - 'oh, to hell with it', Morgan thought, 'the way Eva looked all the time' was enough to turn even the worst of days into the best ones, for the tall man. And then, her reaction to him, the way she greeted him, the tone of her voice with that smile mixed in, had him weak in the knees and stumbling, as he tried to casually lean against the big bar. If she asked, he'd blame it on the alcohol, and the amount of beers he'd had tonight. Grinning back at her, he took the last sip of his beer, before putting the bottle on the bar, and signaling to the bartender to get him another one, as well as another of whatever Eva was drinking. 

Morgan leaned in so he wouldn't have to shout over the drunk karaoke lady, the height difference between them more apparent than ever when he did so. "We met at the mixer - like you and I," He started the story, and maybe it was because he was a little tipsy, but he felt confident in himself. "We kinda hit it off right away. He came over once. Y'know..." The bartender came around with the drinks, and Morgan took another sip of his beer, turning to look at the guy everyone had come here for. "He's a good-looking man, Puck is." He turned back to look at the girl that kept enchanting him with her ways of just being. Morgan was hoping that she was good at reading in between the lines of what he was saying, so that he didn't have to flat out say 'we fucked', because what kind of southern gentleman would do that? "Eva, have ya ever heard the song 'Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other'?"

EVA

If there was always one thing Eva could depend on when it came to Morgan, it was probably his ability to always look at her and make her feel like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was in the top three for sure, that much she knew, yet that gleam in his eye certainly felt like she was in the number one spot. It also helped that she seemed to leave him just as flushed, which wasn't a rare occurrence for her to get that response in return, it was just foreign for it to be mutual. She bit her lip as he leaned in closer, already spiraling from the close proximity. Had it not been for the cheers around the bar for that horrible performance on stage, she might have completely forgotten the real reason why she was here and made a move on the man right there at the bar. 

She hadn't been anticipating much for Morgan and Puck's first meeting aside from some little meet cute where two tall, hot men probably made jokes about being the tallest in the room or some other masculine thing men do when they met other dudes, so her jaw was damn near on the floor as she followed along with where this story was going. Morgan didn't even have to spell it out himself as the song did just that, and she nodded her head slowly. "The gay cowboy song." She stated once her jaw was back intact. How her gaydar had missed this, she'd never know. "Wait — are you here to give Puck another round as a birthday present?" Eva questioned, and as soon as the words left her mouth, a light bulb went off in her head. "If you are, I was about to tell you that you'll have to get in line behind me...but there's three attractive bisexuals here, one birthday boy, and we're giving him similar birthday presents, so..." Her words trailed off there as she smirked up at the cowboy, figuring he'd catch where she was going with this.

NOAH PUCKERMAN

Today had been a fucking awesome day and unlike most people, Puck actually liked karaoke. Yeah it was loud and most people couldn't sing, but the vibes were always right and the energy was always good. It was fun and people were drunk and celebrating him, so as far as the now thirty-two year old was concerned, there was no better way to end his birthday. Originally he wasn't going to drink too much, but people were being so generous and sending rounds of shots and it would be rude not to slam back at least one, maybe two. By the time he noticed Eva at the bar, he was being dragged up to the stage for a group number and he only agreed because it was a classic. Montell Jordan's, This Is How We Do It. At some point, he noticed Eva wasn't alone and he almost hopped off the stage when he realized who she was talking to, but whoever was next to him, grabbed his shirt to pull him back.

By the last thirty seconds, Puck was so distracted by how fucking hot Eva and Morgan looked, he wasn't even anywhere near a mic and he was just clapping to the beat. When the song finally ended, the birthday boy made his way down to the two people he had been the most interested in seeing tonight. As he approached he saw an energy between them and was way too tipsy and warm to figure out what it was. Finding his way through the rest of the crowd, he smiled as he came to stand between the two. His attention on Eva first, "God damn, you look good." Not that she didn't always look good, leaning down, he put an arm around her waist as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and thanked her for coming. Turning to Morgan he pulled him in for a hug, his hand cupping his beard covered jaw as he pulled away. "I'm fucking honored you came man, I know it's not your scene." Letting his hand linger a little longer before backing up completely, he looked between them. "Were y'all talking about anything interesting?"

MORGAN WESTON

Morgan watched as the realization washed over Eva's face, almost in slow-motion. The way her jaw dropped, it was like he could see when it sank in, and she understood what had happened between Puck and Morgan. It was almost amusing, and he couldn't help but smirk a little bit - he was kind of proud of that conquest. What he just hadn't realized, was that Eva had been there and done that too. It was almost as if Eva's realization about Puck and Morgan was transferred to Morgan. The tape rewound, and instead of it washing over Eva's face, it washed over Morgan's. 

"Are you- the two of you- together, you have-" Morgan stumbled over his words for a bit. 'God, that was so hot,' he thought to himself, and bit down on his bottom lip. As Eva kept going, putting suggestions out on the table, Morgan nodded along slowly, as he understood and picked up what she was putting down. "I think I underst-" Before he could finish that sentence, he was interrupted by the man in focus today, Puck himself, and he watched as he greeted Eva, knowing - and picturing what had gone down between them, in his head. He greeted Puck back with a soft smile, and a gentle 'happy birthday', before turning to look at Eva, the smile slowly turning into a wicked smirk. "Just 'bout your birthday present, man." He said, his gaze shifting focus to read his face and his reactions. "We think you're really gonna like it."

EVA ANDERSON 

Eva grinned at Morgan being tongue tied as he tried to understand what her deal with Puck was. Not that there was even a label for it yet. Maybe friends with benefits, though they hadn't even gotten too deep into the friends thing yet. Same with her and Morgan sort of, so really, she was in a great place with them both for her little idea to spawn into something. And Puck sliding in between them only heightened her interest in this arrangement. Smirking at his compliment, she leaned into the kiss to her cheek. "Thanks, birthday boy." She beamed. Wearing the short, tight-fitting dress had obviously been for Puck's enjoyment and it had worked, but for both of her boys. 

She let Morgan greet Puck as well before he answered the question, clearly on board with her little idea. It made perfect sense really, and with two out of three of them consenting, she didn't think it would be hard to get Puck to do the same. "Considering how many shots I sent you, Puckerman, I'm sure your mind's a little foggy so let me just spell it out for you: Mr. Weston and I were thinking that the three of us should take this party somewhere more...private. We can go back to your place if the kid is gone, but if not, my condo is like fifteen minutes away from here." Eva shrugged.

NOAH PUCKERMAN

Standing there, mouth agape, Puck was going over Eva's words in his head, thinking he must have misheard. There was no way she was suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. What apparently both Eva and Morgan were suggesting. It's something he'd thought about, I mean, you would too if you had the pleasure of experiencing them both separately. They were also two of the hottest people he'd ever seen and standing between them like this, drunk and vulnerable, he felt safe. Looking at them both, Puck really shouldn't have been so surprised. Why else would he have invited them both here knowing he'd want to go home with one equally as much as the other. What was the plan, if not this?

"She's not home but fifteen minutes is closer." Puck finally responded because he wasn't about to question shit and give any of them time to reconsider. It was his 32nd birthday and something told him this was going to be the threesome of his dreams. Especially since it was now obvious that Eva and Morgan clearly had something. Even if he was just a bit of fun on their way to falling in love, he would take it. "I'm ready when you guys are."

MORGAN WESTON

What the hell was happening? This was not something that the cowboy would've done back in Montana. He had sex, obviously, but it was never with two people at once. He was too quiet for that stuff! He didn't know what it was; maybe it was the alcohol circulating his system, or maybe it was LA, having him come out of his shell? Or maybe, it was the fact that he had two insanely hot people, who were feeling the same attractiveness, and the same yearning to be with him, the way that he did for them. They both turned him on so much, in two different ways, and having the opportunity to now mash that together, and have them at the same time was blowing Morgan's mind completely.

He motioned to the bartender that he'd pay for all three tabs, the moment that Puck's words left some sort of confirmation to the group. And while the bartender was ringing it all up, Morgan whipped his phone out, leaving no time at all to do something that he'd only recently learnt how to do; order an uber to take them to Eva's condo. He ordered, paid, and shifted to put his hand on Puck's ass, moving in to whisper in his ear, "happy birthday, man," his breath warm, and his eyes catching the same darkness in Eva's eyes, as he knew he was feeling inside of himself. His phone vibrated in his hand, and his heart jumped once at the excitement getting closer. "Our ride is here, let's go."

EVA ANDERSON 

The way Puck's jaw dropped when the realization hit told Eva everything she needed to know about what his answer would be, as if he could have gone another route even if he'd wanted to. It wasn't every day that this sort of offer was laid out on the table, and even she had yet to partake in this sort of threesome, which was quite the shock to her own system. Being the only female in a threesome had never been propositioned before but now that it was, she was desperate for them to make it happen. Once they received a verbal confirmation from Puck, she smirked in response. "Thank god." She stated, exhaling a small breath she hadn't even known she was holding. The quicker they got somewhere else, the better. 

Morgan jumping right into action and taking care of literally everything was hot as hell, and truthfully, Eva didn't know how she was expected to survive this night when both men were this fucking insatiable. Even just staring at them together was driving her wild, and it felt like it took much longer than it had before Morgan was announcing that their ride was here. "Fucking finally." She groaned, grabbing both of their hands and damn near yanking them out of the bar. Luckily the car was waiting right out front, so she led them over and opened up the back door, climbing inside first. "Let's go, boys!" She beamed before she made sure the driver had her address, needing them to get there as quickly as this damn car could possibly go.

NOAH PUCKERMAN

Everything was moving so fast, Puck's drunk mind was processing even slower than usual. It however did register Morgan's hand on his ass, which lowkey kinda hand him wanting to kick his feet and giggle. When Eva grabbed his hand to get in their uber, Puck managed to register that too. Nervous and excited, Puck wasn't sure what the other two's experience with threesome's was but Puck has attempted several and only two have been, what he'd call, successful. Watching as Eva got in, he'd be lying if he said he hadn't gotten slightly distracted by her in the tight ass dress, but he quickly came back to reality, and this was his reality somehow. Getting in next, he found himself holding Morgan's hand to make sure he squeezed his tall ass in the back with them so he could keep a hand on each of them for the ride.

Putting a hand on Eva's thigh, he looked at her and smiled as she gave the driver her address. Already he felt like tonight was going to be a good night. It didn't feel forced or like he was just determined to make a fantasy come true. He'd also never been in this particular setup and had it go well, usually the other dude just wasn't really up for the Devil's Threesome, but he already knew that wouldn't be an issue with Morgan. He also knew there was sexual chemistry between him and Morgan and him and Eva and if the looks those two have been sharing with each other are any indication, Eva and Morgan were no strangers to each other. With those thoughts in his head, he really needed the driver to move a hell of a lot faster.

MORGAN WESTON

Morgan chuckled to himself as Eva grabbed their hands, rushing out past the crowd that had only come for one of the boys that was now leaving. Morgan would've thought it all through, had he been sober, and maybe even felt a little bad about taking him away from his own party, but he was damn attracted to these two people, there was no way his drunk self was going to pass up the opportunity to have them both, in one night. As they reached the car, Morgan followed Puck's gaze, his eyes landing on Eva's ass as she got into the backseat, and it only encouraged his excitement to grow. She was so hot. 

Maybe he blacked out or something, but all of a sudden, Morgan found himself in the back of the car, with the other two. A gentle hand was resting on Puck's thigh, and he couldn't help himself when he leaned in, planting his lips just under the man's earlobe. He kept going down his neck, slowly and softly, as his hand trailed up the birthday boy's thigh, getting dangerously close to his crotch. "You smell so good," he murmured against Puck's jaw, and was completely lost in time, having no clue where they were. But time felt like it had gone by so fast, because all of a sudden, the car stopped, and they'd arrived at Eva's address. "Thanks Mr. Driver, have a good night!" Morgan said, and climbed out of the car. "C'mon y'all!" He almost ran up to the building, dragging the two others with him, as he grinned, the excitement of what was about to go down taking over every sense in his tall body.

EVA ANDERSON

With the anticipation clearly growing in all three of them, the drive to her place felt like it lasted much longer than it should have, yet in reality, it hadn't at all. As soon as they arrived and Morgan hopped out and pushed them to do the same, Eva giggled as she pushed Puck out and then let the cowboy lead the way up to her door. She managed to swiftly unlock the front door and shoved it open as she practically ran inside. "Mi casa es su casa...or whatever." She stated and giggled, kicking her heels off right in the doorway. She'd never had two men of their statures in her bed at the same time, but she was sure that the California king would fit all three of them and the positions they were about to get themselves into. 

"I'd ask if either of you need anything to drink, but..we can worry about that kind of thirst later." She hummed as she led them back to her bedroom. "Master bathroom is next door, in case one of you needs it now." She hummed. Luckily her bedroom wasn't a mess and her bed wasn't covered in clothes she'd tossed out from her closet while trying to get ready for the bar, so they were essentially ready to get right down to business. And before either one of them could change their mind (not that she expected them to), Eva turned her back to her boys. "Will one of you unzip me?" She asked, and boy was she thankful that she'd chosen not to wear a bra or panties under this dress tonight since that would've just been fabric for the men to have to get her out of.

NOAH PUCKERMAN

As he felt Morgan's hand on his thigh and his lips against his neck, Puck let his hand creep up Eva's thigh and suddenly the car ride that was taking forever, ended and in the blink of an eye he was in Eva's place, with her standing in front of them asking to be undressed. Like a light switch, Puck looked at Morgan before taking his hand and walking the few steps until they were just behind her. Figuring, as the birthday boy, he deserved the honor, Puck unzipped the dress, quickly noticing a lack of bra. Smiling, he turned Eva around, so she was facing the two men before Puck moved the straps so the dress could fall to the floor. God, she was perfect. A part of him felt like he should be working on getting himself or Morgan undressed too but all he could do was appreciate the true beauty in front of him.

MORGAN WESTON

A sober part of Morgan wished he could have tried this with Eva alone, before getting involved in a threesome with her. The way he knew what made Puck moan a little bit louder, or grab him a little tighter, or what would send him over the edge, he had no idea what he could do, to get the same reaction out of Eva. But Morgan wasn't about to pass on this opportunity; he'd be a damn fool to! He got to have the most attractive people walking on this earth! So instead, his drunk senses would have to sober up, so he could feel his way through all of it, and be the best experience they'd both ever had, wanting to be even better than the last time with the birthday boy! Morgan watched as Puck started unzipping Eva's dress, holding his breath for a second, but then remembering that the two men still had so much clothes on! So he moved in to unbutton Puck's pants, while maintaining deep and focused eye contact with Eva's body, as the dress fell to the ground and revealed the silky smooth skin behind it. He could hear the choir sing. She really was a goddess! "I'm done waiting." Morgan announced, pulling his shirt over his head quickly, and grabbing both of their hands to pull them down onto the bed, chuckling as he did so. 

Breathing heavily, the naked cowboy moved to lay on his back, a hand going up to rest behind his head. "Holy cow..." He managed to breathe out, closing his eyes for a second as he came to his senses. They'd been going at it, for who knows how long, and it had been one of the best orgasms he'd had in his life. There was a light glisten on his body from the sweat, and the moonlight's rays shone in through the blinds, casting the only light on the throuple. He opened his eyes, moved to his side and sat up on his arm, smirking at the other two. "So...round two?"

[e-kamski-cyberlifeceo]

// Ooc:

For everyone not keeping up I'm going to explain -17 to you

17 is just the floor in the cyberlife tower that kamski and some other programmers did more experimental stuff. When you get onto the floor it just looks like a few offices but behind that is the lab. It takes a high clearance specialized personnel id badge to even access it. (Unless you were personally authorized by kamski) It was originally known as the "specialized repair center."        The lab was officially closed in 2028 when cyberlife got new management. The reason nobody accessed it after was because kamski removed all clearance to the floor before he left. Kamski also wrongfully assumed that all of the experiments would have shut down after 10 years of not having any access to thirium that they needed to continue running.       To clarify if you think this sounds unrealistic or ooc I understand. However, consider that some of these creatures were created when kamski was in his early twenties. He was also given unlimited creative power and resources to create whatever could come to mind. With that in mind, of course he created some freaky stuff! I think anyone would have in those circumstances.          That is just the backstory. What actually happened is that d had an Error causing him to shoot Elijah out of anger. D later experienced some far worse errors, leading his social programming to slowly fail, and his stress levels to go haywire. D asked Elijah to fix the problem. He agreed, but in order to fix the issue he had to plug d into his computer system. The problem was that it required a special cord that Elijah made only to fit his systems and the one he had in his personal lab broke, so he needed a new one. The only place kamski was 100% sure he could find on was in his old lab on floor -17.           Elijah carefully instructed d to only go into the first office and look in the desk there. Shortly later Elijah informed d not to go past the office, and just let him know if they couldn't find it. By this time d had already wondered into the lab looking for the cable. D then encountered what Elijah named the "real life enderman" (kamski denys naming it because it's ridiculous) this creature is exactly what it's named after. It's terrifying and quiet, but lightning fast, and extremely hostile. D gets trapped, so Elijah send sixty in after them. Sixty then experiences some errors, and is unable to help d. Elijah then send connor in after them and gets a virus from the computers inside. Connor then takes them to his house.           Unfortunately all that trouble and they can't get the cord, so instead of doing the easy thing and asking kamski to get a different one. Sixty goes back in after it, and gets trapped. Meanwhile, d is slowly shutting down after maxed stress levels corrupt their software.          After all of that, someone named torii volunteers to go after 60, but kamski, not wanting to end the experiments and save lives sends nines in with them. As of right now that is where the story concludes.

       I'm very sorry if this has a bunch of plot holes, or just makes no sense. None of this was actually supposed to happen. It just sort of started so I had to kinda wing the storyline fairly quickly. It's also completely ridiculous.

[marcusrobertobaq]

Random: the RK900 looks so much bigger than the RK800

David Cage: ??? Must be the clothes ???

🤣🤣🤣

I think mfs don't realize mf is just a "bad Connor". It's what y'all call "machine Connor", one of the examples being the character y'all call "Sixty" (Connor 60). RK 8° and 9° gen are basically ctrl C + ctrl V apart from the uniform and the eyes, ofc as next gen there will have hardware and software upgrades but nothing like a 50cm height difference or making dude a bodybuilder. I assume the "motherfucking real" update is related to 'em tracking abilities - I hope they fixed the terrible response Connors got to close combat, they get stun so easily.

RK900 = "machine Connor", ain't got no mystery. They're basically ruthless route + if they weren't assigned to the DPD, although if they're assigned to someone in the DoS they would have to keep the cool, issue is... CyberLife's "world domination tendencies" makes me worried these folks won't hold shit and be "unfriendly" from the get go if put in disadvantageous situations. I know it can cause problems with the business deal in the first place but by what the devs said mf must have freedom enough to not seek for friendly de-escalation like the RK800 gotta do under DPD assignment.

That's brutal af, some fucked up shit but sounds just like CyberLife trynna control people - cuz if u notice during the RK800s arc: humans are ALWAYS making 'em job difficult, either by being assholes, being disinterested, becoming barriers, arriving at the wrong time, forcing dependency and conflicting dilemmas. The scenario the RK900 is requested by the gov is a Third World War scenario, international conflicts - what makes this "hunter dog" model quite useful in foreign affairs especially by 'em autonomy level. I'm sure they won't have a handler in the gov, meaning they can still disobey 'em and fulfill the megacorp interests instead, even manipulate people into it, force into it - and it sound so fucking much like something CyberLife would do.

Although there's a downside...

If they're going for a machine that doesn't feel anything instead of the method they've been using with the RK800 (manipulation by causing fear of instabilities and deviation + sense of duty and attachment to the one they work for) I fear it will be easier for the mf to go rogue.

Deviancy is inevitable and unfixable. They can exterminate whole generation of androids and release the new gen ones with the issue "patched", there'll always have that one or 2 ... And it can have an impact in the future. As North and Markus says when they're dying: it'll happen again. If Kamski is back then that's 100% sure.

RK900 still not invulnerable to instabilities or deviancy, in my humble opinion. After all he's still under "Kamski Design" tag - and the worst of it: a RK model. It's totally predictable CyberLife taking Kamski stuff and weaponizing it, making modifications that benefit 'em, "fixing" some issues (if u know what i mean). That's exactly what makes me worried 🤣

[middleschoolfursona]

i like your art style a lot–have you always drawn this way, or is it something u developed over time? do u have any tips for drawing in the general sparklecat/old internet art style or similar?

1. Thank uuuuu <3

2. Under cut ⬇️

It's a mix of both- my current sort of diary art/stress relief/ wholesome style is a replication of my elementary school art style! (Like 5th grade, not 2nd lol. I was still drawing stick guys blowing up zombies with tanks and crap back then)

Otherwise, my other styles are style emulations, essentally!

I'll break it down rq:

Mostly based off my own childhood art:

Natural progression of my art as I grew up:

Style "emulation" (le me making an amalgamation of liek 20000 old deviantart artists into one image)

Most of the sparklecat and scenedog art I draw like the above, is inspired by the works I stockpile from deviantart deep dives, and archive blogs. They're not emulations of one style, but multiple styles, taking parts I like or think are the most 'authentic'- essentially, I do what your young brain would have done without thinking, but I have to do it on purpose haha

My tip: while practicing, I'd say absolutely do studies of peoples entire DA galleries and figure out what works best for you.

Above all else I can't say anything else but like. Age regress lmao. If you can't do that, just do everything you can otherwise to put yourself in the headspace of the art you're emulating.

Put on old Amnesia playthroughs on YouTube, listen to Yaoi Nightcore playlists, edgy scourge AMVs, Naruto YTP, the whole Twilight movie- really whatever you listened to back in the day. Put that back on in the BG. Open current MsPaint or your preferred emulation of old MsPaint, or a free art software like medibang. (Don't download cool brushes. Work with Pen 1 and Airbrush or whatever.)

Use references of the era you want to emulate and use only those. Take all your current knowledge of art and BIN IT. The #1 problem in most emulation art even I have a really, really hard time with- is your stuff looking too modern because your art style is modern. Your tools are modern. Your mindset is modern. It will make your art look uncanny.

Don't try hard. It's really temping to draw the most rawrxd scenecore webcore hot topic revival 100 gecs whatever, I get that I guess- but it won't look like it's from the era. It's really hard to get x3randum ☆~ iTs rAinIng TACOOZZZZZZ ~☆ humor right, so don't try it for your first and submerge yourself in the era first. Tryhard sparkles are a real issue and you risk making your art look like it's snark.

Small canvases and or destroy your image quality. I don't do this as much as I should but it definitely adds to the look LULs

I will say, I have no idea otherwise because I come from a very privileged background when it comes to style emulation which is that I grew up planning to be an animator and thus, in my critical years, I was basically 100% drive on the ability to draw characters in many styles, on model. If you don't have this skill, it'll be a lot harder I'm sure.

Use your non dominant hand for especially young looking art. (If you have one. If not... uh... try your mouth?) (~that's what she said~)

(I mean. If you're *going for* the look of 'yes it's 2023 yes I'm bringing back this' go ahead, it just won't look genuine in the slightest and I am someone who's art journey is about doing all I can to emulate authenticity. Just adding this because I know a lot of people are! Go make that modern sparkledog eyeburner mary sue antisnark! It's just not my cup of tea. And I can't really give any pointers kthxbai)

[nerdnag]

How is your work situation? Still improving?

Yes!!

Well. The main thing that fucked me up is still improving, at least! The coworker who used to be really negative toward me has been nice recently, and I suspect it may be because my new boss has talked to her about it (which I have to assume she has done). The new boss and I have an excellent relationship and we think alike on all the most important stuff. Also a lot of the things I had to do in the past year are now no longer my responsibility which is a huge relief.

However. I may be a tiny bit--ok large bit swamped right now.

See, for the past half year or so I have been working on developing an IT platform for our clients which will replace our old one. (I have built it within another software, so don't go thinking I'm a pro software developer or anything, I've just played with lego basically...) Although some of my coworkers have gotten involved in the later stages, I'm still the main project owner, and I'm the only one who fully knows how everything works.

We have a little over 100 clients to move from the old platform to the new one, it takes somewhere between 1-2 hours minimum to move one of them (as well as 1 hour more for some extra polish), and we might lose access to the old platform on Sept 1st because of... reasons. So we need to move as many as we can before then.

Also I've been stressing around in the past week trying to write the manuscript for/edit informative videos about the new platform (and if it hadn't been for the fact that my partner happens to love recording voice stuff and is also good at it then I might have had to fully record the videos as well, but thank god my boss allowed me to bring in my partner to do it instead, so now I only have to write the script, record the moving pictures and edit the videos together), all while scribbling together a manual for the clients (which I'm giving almost the exact same content as the script for the videos because fuck it) and moving the very first client to the new platform two days ago, while writing an internal manual for my other coworkers who are involved in the project as for how to move a client, and struggling to fix last-second bugs, and tomorrow I'm live-showing all our co-workers who have not been involved so far how to use the new platform, and on Tuesday I'm doing the same for our clients, and... And...

And next week I'm starting up a new client (who will take up 50% of my time until december) while juggling another client (on 25%), and who knows what unexpected issues may occur with the new platform in the meantime, not to mention all the other more sporadic clients which I have barely had time for in the past year, and other internal company stuff I need to do...

... Ok I'm a huge bit swamped.

But tbh I'm much rather swamped as in "too much to do" than treated badly by coworkers. And things will improve in a few months.

(Besides it's partly my own fault anyway that it's this stressful right now, because I've known for over a year that we had the Sept 1st deadline, but because I was swamped by other things and felt horrible at work most of the time and because my adhd happens to thrive on short deadlines, I delayed the project until I basically couldn't delay it any more. I mean, it's not only my fault. It's just. I can't really duck away from all the blame, you know.)

But yes! Things are improving for sure ^_^

[roxo4me]

Ugh.. This new twitter migration is giving me a headache. I have been deep diving into website alternatives. Here's the things I have found. Tried to take them in the order I would use, although that's is wholly my opinion

Tumblr

I'm gonna keep being on tumblr. Wether or not I go to other sites. While tumblr shows sign of being "algorithmd" it's all optional. So as long as it stays that way I have no reason to leave

Pillowfort

I have actually not found anything bad on this one. It also seems to be owned by a company which is great. It even started on Tumblr! Either way, it's small for now and because of how non-algorithmd it seems to be they don't seem to be very business first. Which is good for usage! Bad for growth.

I'll probably join this one, I'll come back to this thread if I find something bad I guess

Vtubers.me

This seems like an okay alternative, has been running for a while too. Sadly it is 100% owned by 1 person. Which will always have the same issues of sudden implosion, stupid standards or simple malpractice.

This person has been under fire due to a drama fight with a trans person. For the most part it seems resolved, but it has shown a couple of red flags. Example that they seem to have very weird views on trans, while not outright malicious they seem very uninformed and for example against transkids.. They are also EXTREMELY personally involved in their product. As to say they could totally ban you for disagreeing with you.

I would however rather bet on 1 random person than 1 random rich person trying to cash grab. Sadly the website itself is more targeted to Vtubers than Vtuber audiences so it has a very niche reach

Co-Host

These weirdos will tell you nothing. They run fully on charity and for some reason people accept "not telling you how we control and decide things worth" as a positive?!?! Anyway, they are very selective with accounts and very secretive about all innerworkings of the site. I would not trust, but nothing EXCEPTIONALLY bad has come forth yet. I.e. Nothing bad but nothing good either.

Mastodon

While a great server hosting program it is no different than being on private forums. Any owner has FULL control of all content therein. This includes if someone wants to do something less than legal on their server as Mastodon themselves takes NO responsibility for their content.

Have not found any group owned servers yet although this for sure isn't the worst alternative

Spoutible

Yeah.. This is just Twitter but Black. As in the owner is still a too rich, soulless, micromanaging, manipulating, criticism flaming pile of poop, but black this time...

Oh, and has had known crypto dealings

Hive

Stay away from this thing. It's closer to malware than a social media site.

Here's some sources

- Pillowfort

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Pillowfort

- Vtubers.me

https://twitter.com/nekolivt/status/1642753744679890944

- Co-host

https://alternativeto.net/software/cohost/about/

https://uk.pcmag.com/social-media/143905/cohost

- Spoutible

https://medium.com/@kayveebee/spoutible-the-safe-space-thats-anything-but-792299e92ae0

https://social.linux.pizza/@thomasafine/109905298796431794

[ailelie]

I'll have to consider a Google break-up. But this reminds me how I did just go through separation with Microsoft 365.

My very first step was listing out all the places where I use Microsoft and thinking through what my requirements were for replacing them. OneDrive, for the longest time, was my sticking point. This program has saved me twice now when I've had computer issues. I needed something that would keep copies of my files in the cloud, connect with multiple folders, sync instantly, and connect with my phone. I also wanted to pay no more than I was already paying for Microsoft 365. Finally, it had to be easy to use.

For the Office Suite, I just needed something that could open and edit my Microsoft files and have similar features. I rarely use Word/Excel/etc outside of work, though that may change if I do breakup with Google (I use Google Sheets for myriad things).

OneDrive

To replace the online drive and sync, I've switched to pCloud. It isn't free, though. It costs $50-60/year for 500GB (and about a $100 for 2T).

Steps for switching:

Make sure you have downloaded everything from OneDrive to your computer. Most of your files actually live in the cloud and you'll lose access to them when you uninstall OneDrive (note: they'll still be online).

Move all of your files into your User directory or somewhere else on your computer that isn't your OneDrive folder. (Learn from my mistakes...)

Uninstall OneDrive.

Go through your files and delete all of your OneDrive folders.

Download and install pCloud and follow their directions.

(Note: pCloud does have a OneDrive import feature, but I did not use that and I do not know how well it supports uninstalling OneDrive afterward.)

I also have pCloud on my phone now. I don't know if I just have rosy glasses on, but it feels nicer than the OneDrive app.

(Note: I do not rec NextCloud. I tried it and was met with nothing but pure frustration. Plus, for basic sync, I learned I had to download another program/extension, but then it was super unclear on how to install that extra bit and etc etc etc.)

ETA: OneDrive will still exist in some pretty critical default filepaths (e.g., your desktop folder). I followed this to fix it in my registry.

Office Suite

I've downloaded LibreOffice (free!)for this. If your Calc is an utter glacier when you open it, look up how to check the "Force Skia software rendering" box. That fixed the issue for me.

If you prefer ribbons over menus, there is a view option for that, too.

I am also currently trialing Typora, which costs $15 and is beautiful. It is a Markdown editor in which your Markdown is instantly rendered.

Other Microsoft Apps

I don't tend to use other Microsoft apps much outside of work. If I used a desktop email client, I'd probably go back to Thunderbird, which I used back in college.

As for OneNote, I'm not sure. Obsidian, which I use for my worldbook for my current story, is fantastic, but I've not tried to have different projects on it at once.

For teams, there's Slack and Discord. For the Sharepoint side of teams, maybe Box, Basecamp, or Confluence? I've not really looked into this because I don't use Teams in my non-work life and there is a 0% chance my workplace transitions away from Teams and Sharepoint anytime soon.

For Notepad, Notepad++ has always been one of the first programs I download to new computers. It is stellar.

For other apps, I'm already using alternatives (e.g., VLC Media Player, Firefox, WonderShare) or they aren't programs I even knew existed (e.g., Journal?, Family?). A few, though, just feel like system tools (e.g., Snipping Tool, Calculator).

Of course, there is the Linux of it all.

I have considered linux before. I have even tried linux (Ubuntu) before.

Most of what I use these days will work with Linux, with one major and rather important-to-me exception: Scrivener.

I am yet to find a single other application I like half as well as Scrivener.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day... 💔 

Ready to break up with Google?

So are we!

We’ve rounded up a bunch of privacy-centric alternatives for everything Google.

Check out the full list over on the blog!

- The Ellipsus Team xo

[sensualfemdomchat]

Mac RPGMaker

I learned this a while back on F95. Basically, it's a way to play MZ and MV RPGmaker games on Mac. First, you need to download nw.js from https://nwjs.io/downloads/. I'm not sure if the version matters, the one I use is 0.77.0 which you can download from previous versions. You should probably move the zipped file to your game directory, since you'll use it for many games. Here's the remaining process:

Go to the game you want to play. Select all of the files and copy it. Now, you don't actually need all of the files (you can omit game.exe for example), but it's just easier to copy all of them. It's partly because the file structure can vary game to game, and you'll end up deleting the original game folder anyway. So there isn't much wasted space.

Unzip nwjs which you downloaded previously and open the folder. Right-click on nwjs (the file, not the folder) and click on 'Show Package Contents'. Go to Contents-Resources.

Now create a new folder called 'app.nw'.

Open your new folder 'app.nw' and paste the files that you copied.

Navigate back til you get back to the nwjs folder which should just have the nwjs file and a credits.html file.

(Depending on your security preferences, this may not be necessary, but for me it was) Move your nwjs file out of the folder and into the parent directory (e.g. the game directory).

Ctrl+Click the nwjs file and run it.

If all goes well, you can start playing the game. At this point you can move the nwjs file back into the original folder and rename the folder for your convenience.

Note: It's possible that the name issue outlined below could be an issue. So, take a look if that's you.

Keep in mind that this isn't 100% foolproof, though it's worked for every game I tried so far (over 5 of them).

I also want to take time in this post to explain something with using Vmware Fusion, or well any virtualization software, to play RPGmaker games. You may run into an error where the game isn't named. It's a simple fix: go into the directory and open package.json. In the line that has ' "name": "nameofgame" ', the value 'nameofgame' might actually be missing or malformed, so all you need to do is replace this with any name (rmmz-game would work well). Remember to enclose it in quotation marks.

Another thing is that the game might outright refuse to run which may be due to a GPU issue. It's not ideal, but you can go into package.json again and this time look for the line that has something like: "chromium-args": "--force-color-profile=srgb --disable-devtools". You want to add "--ignore-gpu-blacklist" to this string, so in my example, you can use "chromium-args": "--force-color-profile=srgb --disable-devtools --ignore-gpu-blacklist". Keep in mind that though the game will likely run now, it is likely to be significantly slow, meaning that you'll better off looking for other means to run the game (such as doing so in Mac or with Wine).