Messages

1

Living Room / Re: Audio Waveform to Line Drawing (Need help figuring it out)

« on: May 15, 2022, 10:38 PM »

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but can you open it up in Audacity and get a view of the waveform that way?

2

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: May 12, 2022, 10:53 PM »

It's kind of amusing how wraith808 was excited about the Deck and disappointed he wouldn't be getting his in December and I was not at all in a rush about getting one and actually on the fence about whether I even wanted one or not. But now it seems wraith808 is no longer interested or is on the fence and I am super excited to get mine and can't wait until it comes.

Some perspective on the pre-order timeline:

It looks like you have a US 512GB reservation. You reserved your deck 11 hours, 47 minutes, 56 seconds after pre-orders opened. There are 11 hours, 25 minutes, 15 seconds worth of pre-orders before yours remaining. You're 3.20% of the way there.

We're two and a half months in on Decks being shipped out and Valve have only processed the first ~22 minutes of the US 512GB pre-orders. 😭

By contrast, Valve have processed about 2 hours and 47 minutes of US 64GB pre-orders.

It looks like you have a US 64GB reservation. You reserved your deck 12 hours, 6 minutes, 42 seconds after pre-orders opened. There are 9 hours, 19 minutes, 18 seconds worth of pre-orders before yours remaining. You're 23.04% of the way there.

3

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: May 09, 2022, 12:22 AM »

Here's another calculator I found: https://colab.resear...Ad1ceHxABS9FFtFaoyMt

Q3 512GB US with reserve time 1626497276
Sample size: 677
Calculated at Mon May 9, 2022 05:15:56 UTC
Reserve time is in the top 37% of Q3

Distribution of order dates (All Thursdays assumed to be possible):
(alpha = 1)
Aug 22: 0.9%
Aug 25: 26.7%
Aug 29: 68.1%
Sep 1: 4.2%
Sep 5: 0.1%

Q3 64GB US with reserve time 1626498402
Sample size: 82
Calculated at Mon May 9, 2022 05:17:44 UTC
Reserve time is in the bottom 22% of Q3

Distribution of order dates (All Thursdays assumed to be possible):
(alpha = 1)
Jul 7: 0.1%
Jul 11: 1.1%
Jul 14: 5.5%
Jul 18: 28.7%
Jul 21: 19.5%
Jul 25: 33.5%
Jul 28: 9.3%
Aug 1: 1.9%
Aug 4: 0.3%

4

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: May 07, 2022, 10:50 PM »

I reserved a 512GB model using my own account, but also reserved a 64GB model using a family member's account, thinking that neither of us have purchased a new computer in over 10 years, so even the 64GB model might be a nice upgrade for what my family member is currently using.

It was also a Q3 estimate, so I figured it would be available around the same time as my 512GB model, in August. Maybe even a bit later because I reserved the 64GB maybe an hour or two after reserving the 512GB model. Well, I just got around to getting the information needed to look up the estimated shipping date and lo and behold, it is estimated that the email to purchase the 64GB model should be coming around 06 June. That's only 5 Mondays from now! (Hoxeel dataset estimates June 27.)

I'm excited to test it out and see how it performs with various things. Hopefully the docking station will also be available then and I can put it through its paces in all kinds of scenarios to see if I feel it's worth it to spend the full amount on the 512GB model.

EDIT: I just realized that I didn't think critically about the results it showed me and was ignoring the fact that June is not in Q3. The Steam store still shows the estimated date is in Q3 range for the pre-order, which means July at the soonest, so I don't think either of the estimators with the June timeframe are to be trusted. 😭

5

Living Room / Re: Ideas Needed: Tech For New Parents

« on: May 04, 2022, 03:15 PM »

I have a lot of niblings (nephews and nieces) with about 20 years spread between the oldest and the youngest. So I've been around a lot of diaper-wearing littles and I've changed quite a number of diapers over the years. I think that having a diaper pail is the most essential luxury for new parents.

The one I linked supports both major bag refill types. I suggest you try out both types of refills and see which you prefer. I know someone who tried one type, had some complaints about it, then went out and bought a different diaper pail that supported the other type of refill, only to find out they had even more complaints about that one and learned that they preferred the first one. So it's nice that this one supports both types. It also advertises itself as having a "self-sealing system" which twists the bag closed, preventing foul odors from coming back out when you open the lid to put another diaper in. And it has a foot pedal which makes it easy to open with your foot while your hands are full.



And these won't come in handy for a while, but once you start transitioning away from formula/bottles to a more standard drinking cup, these silicone membrane-covered cups are nice. They're not 100% spill-proof, but usually the worst that happens when they fall is that a little bit of liquid comes out due to the force of the impact and then nothing else comes out. Very rarely I've seen the silicon membrane pop off completely when the cup was dropped, at which point the liquid is free to flow out of the cup. But even then it still flows more slowly than it would in a regular cup. They also come without handles to be even more like a regular cup.



I know neither of these suggestions are hi-tech gadgets that are super fun for tech-geeks like us, but in my experience and observations, these two items will potentially be useful to you for years, and possibly for multiple children if you have more.

6

Living Room / Re: Bought a color laser printer -- it's a game changer

« on: April 24, 2022, 11:43 PM »

I knew someone who had a fancy color laser printer and it had separate toner cartridges for each of the four colors (CMYK). I believe each toner cartridge cost him something like $160, which seems like a lot when all the inkjet printers I was familiar with at the time needed only 2 ink cartridges (one for black, and one for all of CMY) which were in the $15-$35 range. But as has been stated, laser toner doesn't dry out so it will last much longer than ink, especially if you don't use it much. And also, all of that was probably 10-15 years ago, so the technology and prices may have changed quite a bit since then.

7

Living Room / Re: Bought a color laser printer -- it's a game changer

« on: April 24, 2022, 04:07 AM »

Sounds like a good post for GADGET WEEKENDS.

I'm glad you like your new printer. I hope the toner costs don't bankrupt you.

8

DC Gamer Club / Re: Latest Game Giveaway

« on: April 15, 2022, 03:02 PM »

Iris and the Giant is free on GOG for the next ~48 hours.

https://www.gog.com/...ckbuilding_roguelike

9

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: April 13, 2022, 05:18 PM »

Using various datasets:

-wraith808 (April 06, 2022, 07:31 AM)

I got to thinking that maybe the estimates had changed now that Valve are ramping up production/sales, and I was also curious about what other datasets would estimate for me since I only had tried the one, so I went back and checked the various datasets.

ntReserveTime: 1626497276

The moo dataset still estimates Aug 22 (which makes sense since it hasn't been updated since before the last time I checked). The hoxeel dataset estimates Aug 15. Using the abyzma calculation appears to just select a random date in Q3. It changes wildly each time I click the button.

Aha! It seems I was right. I just read the details a bit more thoroughly and found this:

Abyzma's method randomly selects a date within your quarter

-https://steam-deck-calculator.web.app/

That's useless...

10

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: April 07, 2022, 04:08 AM »

Yep. Definitely need to consider your use-case to determine whether or not the Steam Deck is for you.

I think maybe my situation is the opposite of yours. Initially I was kind of hesitant and unsure of my purchase. I even waited a few hours after learning about it before I finally decided to just pre-order it with the understanding that I would have some time to make up my mind later on whether or not I really wanted it. Even earlier in this thread I had stated that I was in no hurry to to get it. But the more I think about it and the more I hear about it, the more I think that Q3 can't come soon enough for me.

In my case, I don't often go far, or for long, but even if/when I do, the Nintendo Switch (or 3DS before it) only gives me maybe 3-5 hours of battery. So I pretty much always need to have a charging source anyway. That said, I rarely travel by plane, and I usually get carsick if I try to read or play a handheld in the car, so I'd likely only be playing in a hotel (or similar) room, with an adequate power source nearby, rather than while in motion on the road.

Also, it's sometimes fun to have a "LAN" party with Nintendo handhelds, which in the past 15 years or so I've always done somewhere plugged into a power source because the batteries have been so short lived. So I can see myself doing something similar with the Deck. But the Deck has the added advantage that not everyone will need the same console/handheld hardware, or have to lug a huge desktop PC around, or own an expensive gaming laptop. And with Remote Play Together we won't even necessarily need multiple copies of the same game!

And while my PC is still generally decent, I built it in 2011 (2nd Gen Core i7) and it hasn't really been upgraded since then, other than some increased/replaced storage (HDD/SSD) and a few years ago the fan on my aging GPU died (again, after having already been replaced by the manufacturer) so I got a used GPU (GTX 670) which I think made its debut in around 2012.

Basically, given how technology has improved in the past decade, I think the Deck should be at least as powerful as--if not more powerful than--my current computer. So I'm hoping this will be a modest upgrade for me at a minimum. But even if my current PC runs something better than the Deck does, I can still use Remote Play to run the game on my PC in the home office while it streams to the Deck (which could be connected to my TV).

As implied, my PC is a desktop machine. I don't have a laptop. So having the portability of the Deck, and the (assumed) affordability of the official dock, or at the very least affordable 3rd party USB hub, means I should be able to have multiple docks to easily transition from one room/screen to another as I see fit. And I can even use it as an emulator and get a console-like experience from it to enjoy some "oldies but goldies" by myself or with others.



(I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to have multiple docks for my Nintendo Switch so I could easily move it from one room/screen to another and back again. But Nintendo's official dock is sold for $90(!) and there have been many reports of 3rd party docks bricking (or otherwise damaging) the Switch, so I've never bothered to get a second one. Which means any time I want to connect it to another screen I need to disconnect and reconnect the power source and display cables. And after doing that enough times I just sometimes don't feel like it anymore which means often my Switch remains powered off when otherwise I might be inclined to use it.)

As things stand now, I think it's quite possible that the Deck will be my "daily driver" computer, if I can learn to live without Windows most of the time. That may be a bit of a stretch, but I'm excited to get my hands on one and find out.

11

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: April 06, 2022, 03:10 AM »

Here's a tool you can use to estimate your shipping date. Supposedly people have been reporting that it is accurate to within about a 1 week error of margin.

https://steam-deck-calculator.web.app/

It says my Steam Deck order date will be Aug 22 2022.

I heard about that tool from this video titled Steam Deck Q2 - Before You Buy:

12

Community Giveaways / Re: Humble Bundle leftovers

« on: April 03, 2022, 02:43 AM »

I have some, too:

Steam:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (bundled together)
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
The USB Stick Found in the Grass
GameGuru

GOG:
Wanderlust: Travel Stories

Keys:
Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 7
PDF-Suite
Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook (Redeem by September 30th, 2022) [Paizo]
Complete Unity 3D Developer [GameDev.tv]
Intro to Game Development with Unity [Zenva]
GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months [YoYo]
Music Maker EDM Edition (Redeem by December 31st, 2022) [Magix]

13

Living Room / April Fools!

« on: April 01, 2022, 01:50 AM »

Hey all,

This is just a reminder that it's April 1st, so there will likely be a lot of headlines, announcements, emails, etc., that you shouldn't believe. If something seems off about something you read, keep this in mind.

I'm mentioning it here because I got a silly email from Windscribe VPN saying they were bought out. But it came in the early afternoon on March 31 my local time, so I didn't realize for a while that it was an April Fools joke, and I was really puzzled. I thought this kind of thing from soulless corporations was "cute" and fun ~15 years ago because it made them seem like they were more friendly and had a personality, but I've really grown annoyed by it over the years. I don't want corporations to have a personality. I don't want to be "friends" with a company. I just want them to provide the service they say they provide and otherwise stay out of my way.

But that's just me being a curmudgeon, I suppose.

14

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: March 30, 2022, 06:10 AM »

Now the Steam Deck page is more explicit:

Your expected order availability:
Q3 (July-September) 2022

And for new orders placed today (on the 64GB model):

Expected order availability:
After Q3 (October 2022 or later)

15

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: March 14, 2022, 05:52 PM »

Valve now has a better idea of their production and fulfillment, so if you go to your pre-order page, it might give you more specific details on when you can expect to receive your Deck.

Whereas mine used to say "After Q2 2022" it says "Q3 2022" now. That might not seem more specific than before, but for some people, they see "after Q3 2022" so that tells me I can expect to get mine sometime between July-September.



I'm looking forward to it!

And while I'm posting to this thread, I figure I'd mention that I keep checking my library compatibility with Deck every few days and now it says I'm up to 15% Playable+

VERIFIED: 53 games (6.46%)
PLAYABLE: 72 games (8.77%)
UNSUPPORTED: 46 games (5.6%)
UNKNOWN: 650 games (79.17%)

Interestingly, I see a couple of games have been downgraded from Verified to just Playable now. I'm not sure if that's because the games had an update that made things worse or if Valve is getting more strict in how they rate the games. But considering there's still ~3-6 months before I get my Deck, I'm not too concerned about any of the specifics just yet.

And finally, I'm not sure how long they've had this photo on the site, but I see they have an image of the upcoming Dock:



Anyone know what all those ports are? Going from right to left, it looks to me like 2 USB-A, a sideways ethernet port, USB-C (for power delivery), and for the two on the left, I'm not sure. One is probably HDMI, but I'm not sure which, and I have no idea what the other one is.

16

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: March 02, 2022, 11:50 AM »

With the recent release of the Deck, Valve have also released a free game (tech demo?) called Aperture Desk Job:

Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things.

You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work — your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs.

Designed as a free playable short for Valve’s new Steam Deck, Desk Job walks you through the handheld’s controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds.

-https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902490/Aperture_Desk_Job/

https://store.steamp...0/Aperture_Desk_Job/

17

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Inspire Writer

« on: February 24, 2022, 10:56 PM »

Thanks for this. And very good timing! I've started thinking recently that I would like to find a decent WYSIWYG Markdown editor, so it's nice to see more of what the options are.

18

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: February 23, 2022, 03:53 PM »

Nice! Doesn't seem to pull all of your library though...

-wraith808 (February 23, 2022, 01:01 PM)

Yeah, I'm seeing slightly different results between that page and Check My Deck. I'm not sure how often Check My Deck updates their database. But almost every day the number of playable (or verified) games is growing higher and higher for me.

Check My Deck says:
8% playable
VERIFIED: 31 games (3.79%)
PLAYABLE: 34 games (4.16%)
UNSUPPORTED: 12 games (1.47%)
UNKNOWN: 741 games (90.59%)

Valve says:
Verified: 29 games
Playable: 35
Unsupported: 10
Unknown: 782

19

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: February 23, 2022, 04:22 AM »

It seems Valve have released an official library compatibility checking page here:

https://store.steamp...om/steamdeck/mygames

20

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: February 18, 2022, 04:33 PM »

For those curious, here's the current status of my Steam library, according to CheckMyDeck.

6% Playable+
VERIFIED: 21 games (2.57%)
PLAYABLE: 24 games (2.93%)
UNSUPPORTED: 9 games (1.1%)
UNKNOWN: 764 games (93.4%)

Looking at the actual list of playable/verified games from my library, the majority of them are games that I have never played or never intend to play again. . . But to be fair, almost all of the unsupported games are either VR games or have some kind of anti-cheat (and also are things I will probably never play (again)). Only two of the unsupported games have a generic "Valve is still working on adding support for this game on Steam Deck" message, which gives no indication as to why or in what way(s) it doesn't work.

21

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Nintendo Switch-like PC

« on: February 17, 2022, 01:44 PM »

With just a week until the launch of the Steam Deck, iFixit has a more thorough teardown of an actual production model:

https://www.ifixit.c.../steam-deck-teardown

Additionally, there's a website you can enter in your Steam ID to see your library's compatibility with the Deck:

https://www.gamingon...ompatibility-easily/

22

Living Room / Re: Opinions requested on my new YouTube Video Series

« on: February 16, 2022, 04:28 PM »

I'm probably not going to watch the whole series because it's not really my area of expertise or interest really, but I've watched the first three so far and they seem fine. I can't really vouch for the accuracy of the content, but everything else seems technically sound from my amateur/layman perspective. So with that in mind I have only a couple of nitpicks, which are not super important to change.

In the first video (VC1), you've phrased something in a way that feels very awkward to me. You put text on the screen and say out loud "what is this video not?" But it seems more natural to phrase it as "what this video is not" instead.

At the end of the third video (VC3a), when showing webcam quality issues, you have some text on the screen which says something like "when focus is on person, mic is in frame." You were probably trying to be succinct due to lack of space on screen for all that text, but "on person" came across as odd to me and I had to read it twice before my brain processed it correctly. I think it would instantly be clearer if it said "on a person" or "on the person" to sound more natural. Or maybe you can just change it to "on people" instead.

EDIT: I'm partway through the 4th video (VC3b) and you were showing off different focal points of the camera. There was a part where you made yourself a bit blurry and focused on the board and said something to the effect of "you'd need to ask yourself if the person is too blurry." Then there was a hard cut to black and a change of topic. That felt a little abrupt to me, and seemed like it was going somewhere but then suddenly changed direction. I think a simple closing remark to wrap up that segment might help it feel a little more natural. Something like, "this is something you'll have to experiment with and decide for yourself what works best for your purposes." Then it can fade to black and fade back in to the next topic.

Again, these are just nitpicks. I think the videos are fine how they are even if you don't change anything.

23

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« on: February 11, 2022, 06:51 AM »

That's cool. I didn't know about that.

24

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« on: February 11, 2022, 03:01 AM »

What makes you think there is such a thing as "WSL graphics"? As far as I'm aware there is no "display" connected to the WSL Linux VM. It's for terminal/console use only.

25

Living Room / Re: Wordle: simple web word game

« on: January 20, 2022, 08:17 PM »

I don't know how this was determined, but here's my source:

On average, "roate" will cut down the word list to 2.61%.

-https://twitter.com/ArthurB/status/1480089929627623424

See also https://twitter.com/.../1479604835343343617 for additional context.