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I asked what your fave controllers are, now. What is the worst controller you have used?
  • Every madcatz controller I've used has been terrible. Xbox, Dreamcast, and PSone. Just terrible.

  • Speaking of controllers: What's your favorite WEIRD controller?
  • The Dreamcast had a keyboard for Typing of the Dead, but iirc they also had one similar to the pic I posted for Phantasy Star online.

  • Motherboards and systems with China's Loongson CPUs now shipping to US customers — options start from $373 for a DTX board with processor and cooler
  • Yes, and....? Did I claim otherwise anywhere? Privacy isn't a zero sum game. You cant fully protect yourself short of ditching tech and the Internet entirely. And even then, there's already a digital footprint left behind you'll never get rid of. But you can make informed choices like not trusting Google or Microsoft to host your personal data, not buying the smart home devices, keeping data local only/host your own cloud, use Linux instead of Windows, etc.

  • Motherboards and systems with China's Loongson CPUs now shipping to US customers — options start from $373 for a DTX board with processor and cooler
  • 100% agree. I've only just started my privacy/self hosted journey almost exactly 1 year ago. Still learning, but I'm loving the experience so far.

  • FOSS Android app: Loop Habit Tracker
  • Same here. I really like it.

  • Reddit just isn't how it used to be.
  • For me, it was not being able to use a 3rd party app. Accessing reddit through their garbage app is a painful experience. And unless I find the answer to a question via web search that's a reddit thread, I avoid it entirely.

  • Motherboards and systems with China's Loongson CPUs now shipping to US customers — options start from $373 for a DTX board with processor and cooler
  • It's absolutely bad when the US does it. I made no claim otherwise. Cheap tech being used as an entry point for data mining the customers, regardless of country the products are sold in is pretty well documented at this point.

  • How to get good at FPS with a controller, coming from a PC gamer?
  • I tried the first game years ago and couldn't click with it. I should try again.

  • What are some good YouTube channels about the Nintendo 64?
  • N64 Glenn Plant!

    He's criminally underrated but does deep dives on tons of n64 games. Really enjoy his content.

  • [Discussion] Double discussion this month, what games did you buy for your Deck during the Steam Sale, and what are you playing on Deck right now? - July 2024
  • Fallout 76. Got hooked after watching the show and went through the previous 3d games back to back. Also bought Undertale but haven't fully committed to that one yet.

  • Solutions for backups
  • I've been using Duplicacy and like it. Everything backs up to my server via Seafile (files) and Immich (photos). Then Duplicacy has a couple of B2 buckets it backs everything up to. Seems to work pretty well so far.

    I've tried numerous terminal based backups like restic and Borg, but my newb brain still needs a GUI I guess. I've seen various UIs for those last 2 but haven't tried them yet.

  • How to get good at FPS with a controller, coming from a PC gamer?
  • Play all the fallout games. V.A.T.S. doesn't care if you suck at aiming.

    Only half joking. I played all but the 1, 2, and Tactics on steam deck and it worked out decently. Didn't even bother using the touchpad aiming because it felt worse to me than the analog stick.

  • The Force Unleashed I/II was not as fun as I thought
  • It's worth playing just for the Darth Vader slaughtering of Wookies, imo. But yeah, the rest is pretty bad.

  • Are there any games you're planning to pick up during the Steam and GOG sales?
  • From a new fan, I found that 3 had the coolest environment. New Vegas bad much better gun mechanics. And 4 is good, a lot better than reviews I read made it sound. And the Nuka Town DLC was a lot of fun.

  • Obsidian + Zettel Notes
  • 100%. I love obsidian, but it's awful at to-dos and shopping lists.

  • Obsidian + Zettel Notes
  • I've been using Quillpad for quick notes and Obsidian for everything else. I do wish I could point Quillpad to the same local folder on Android where my vault is.

  • Undertale?

    It's stupid cheap on Steam right now and I've never played it. I've been doing 100% of my gaming on the deck, which has me wondering how well this plays on it. Not graphically/performance because it'll clearly run on a toaster. But mechanically. Are there parts that are hard to use controllers vs kb/mouse for?

    Now that I think about it, is there a resource that speaks specifically to this sort of question for games? I know of protondb but that seems to be focused on getting it to run easily and with good performance.

    EDIT: thanks for the input! I've purchased it and I'm stoked to give it a playthrough. I WFH, so the thought of sitting at the same desk I was just at for 8+ hrs to game is not at all appealing. Been loving the deck for this exact reason!

    9
    Retro Homebrew ROMS?

    I'm on the hunt for ROMS for old systems. NES, SNES, Genesis, etc.

    I paid for a physical copy of Micro Mages for NES a few years back, and just recently bought the ROM for Dataman, also for NES. But I'm wondering if anyone has a source for several that fit this category.

    Let me be clear, I will gladly support the developers of these games, but I have been bitten by a few stinkers. Where the trailer looked good but the game didn't feel like it was worth the $10+ for the ROM.

    One in partiular that has intrigued me is Courier. I did some searching and can't find a demo or a ROM to try before I buy. And at $10, it's outside of my impulse buy range, if that makes sense.

    8
    What do you use the back buttons for?

    I have really been loving my steam deck lately. I've now played through Fallout 3, New Vegas, all of their respective DLCs, and am about 100hrs into 4 right now.

    Normally I play indie games since that's where my interests are and I grow tired of the AAA jackassery.

    I mention that to illustrate that I do use and live the deck. But I guess I'm not creative enough to use the back buttons at all. So to the title question:

    • What games do you play that make the most use of the back buttons?

    • What functions are mapped to those buttons?

    • Or are you like me and just never use them?

    60
    Launcher with specific features

    I finally gave up on Nova Launcher after watching the various "calls home" its doing now after the acquisition by analytics company Branch. I held out for probably way too long considering the way things were inevitably going to go. I've tried Kvaesitso, KISS, and Neo Launcher so far. There are a couple of features I really miss from Nova that I thought I'd check to see if anyone knows of a workaround or a launcher that has these features:

    > ! App Drawer shortcut

    > ! Ability to remove browser badge from PWA and browser shortcuts added to homescreen

    And lastly, while I don't have a photo example, pull to search in app drawer. This is the same gesture used in most mobile browsers to refresh the current page, if that makes sense.

    I'm aware that the road to degoogle is paved with compromises, and I'm willing to make them if I need to. But if there are options out there, I haven't found them. Thoughts?

    9
    Shared photo library options?

    I'm starting a project along with my siblings to scan all of the family negatives, slides, and photos in an effort to preserve them.

    I currently have Immich as well as Nextcloud Memories internally. That said, neither seem to be ideally suited to this task. I'm looking for a solution that would allow all siblings the option to view and upload scanned pics to the same library as we work through the shoeboxes full of memories. While Immich and Nextcloud both have account support, I can't seem to find a way to share a library amongst all accounts.

    Does anyone have any recommendations for this project? I would then backup the scanned pictures on my server as well as B2 storage for redundancy and each sibling should have the option to download and backup the same library however they see fit.

    I'm running an Unraid server as well as NextcloudPi on a Pi4. I also have two very basic VPSes that I rent.

    I've looked at both ente.io and PiWiGo, but am currently having trouble getting either to work (still learning this selfhost stuff). I'd like to know if anyone has used either in this type of capacity before I spend more time trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

    8
    Multifunction Laser Printer and Linux

    EDIT: I purchased the Brother L2690DW on a Clearance deal from Walmart and so far it has been a breeze using it between my Linux desktop and laptop.

    My faithful Brother laser printer just poo'd itself. And since I've not purchased a new printer with additional features since I switched to full-time Linux, I thought I'd better ask around to make sure the document scanning, copy, fax (maybe once a year if that), and other features will work correctly.

    The printer I have no worked without issue with Pop!_OS. Very straight forward plug in play other than a weird quirk with scaling when printing from Firefox built-in PDF handler vs the Document Viewer that ships with Pop.

    Does anyone have any advice on potential pitfalls to avoid? I'd like to stick with brother because they seem to be the least evil of the printer corps, but I'm open to other suggestions.

    26
    Raspberry PI Retropie or Batocera images?

    Trying to find a ready to go image for a Raspberry Pi 5, either RetroPie or Batocera (or others I'm not aware of) for retro gaming. I know of Arcade Punks, but is there any other resource? Tried downloading a 128GB image from them and its taking forever due to no seeders. I did check megathread but wasn't able to find anything so far.

    9
    Android app to trace photos that supports SVG export

    I know this might be a bit too specific, but I'll ask anyway.

    Is there any FOSS app for Android that supports tracing photos that can export the trace to SVG? I suppose this means it would have to support layers, and also support the ability to export individual layers instead of the whole project as SVG.

    The intent is to use my Galaxy Tab with S-pen to trace objects in a photo in order create an SVG I can import into an app like Carbide Create (not FOSS either, but it's all I know how to sorta use at the moment) for cutting on a CNC. An example is a photo of one of my chickens. I wanted to turn this photo into a silhouette of said chicken and be able to cut that on a plank of wood. I did try Inkscape, but due to the background elements it would not pick up just the chicken during the "Trace Bitmap" operation. And honestly seems like a shame to not be able to use the S-pen for this type of project.

    I run Linux on my home PC and I'm not sure if it will support using the tablet like a drawing tablet (Wacom type) like Windows can, but I suppose that is an option.

    I looked at Infinite Design (not FOSS) but could not seem to find a free trace tool. There is a "pen" tool, but it wants to constrain it to a line and then you sorta pull the curves out of it. I apologize, I'm not really sure what all of the terms are.

    I also looked at Excalidraw, which while being web app, runs reasonably well on Android. But some of the functions either don't work at all or I'm doing something wrong. I was able to import a photo and trace it, but couldn't find a way to export just the trace outline.

    11
    Facebook Marketplace

    I'm guessing the answer is "no", but thought I'd ask for advice here regardless.

    I don't have FB. Haven't for years. I ditched it long before I started giving a shit about Privacy, it's just so toxic and silly.

    That said, I'm a retro gamer constantly on the hunt for holes in my NES/SNES collection and unfortunately the folks in my area seem to be quite a bit more active on FB Marketplace than Craiglist, Offerup, or Nextdoor For Sale pages. In the past I've asked my spouse to message the seller for me and then show up with cash and buy what they're selling. Increasingly, sellers are scared of scams and seem to be less responsive to this type of inquiry.

    Is there anyway to minimize footprint in FB? Or perhaps a way to use Messenger without an account? You can browse the marketplace pages of your community without an account, but they'll pester you the whole time and you can't save your locale without signing in.

    Or am I out of luck entirely? I thought about posting "In Search Of" type posts on Craiglists to bring the buyers to me, but my area has several of those already and I'm not after bulk lots or other platforms other than the old Nintendo stuff.

    I do check Ebay as well and have found a few gems for decent prices and a local shop occasionally has some stuff that hasn't been completely picked over, or i show up right after someone sells their collection and that's rad, but that's rare.

    24
    CRT RGB modding

    I just picked up my second CRT last night. A free 27" Sony Trinitron. It has composite only, just like my flat tube Toshiba. Both seem to be working well.

    I've been reading up on how to do the RGB mods and which models are supported. As well as the dangers of working in and around the guts of these monsters. I have a good soldering iron, but I'm not so good at it. I've looked around locally to see if there are any folks I could hire to do it for me and I'm having no luck. I'd rather not mail a boat anchor if I can help it.

    Months ago I found a directory of modding services all over the country with a focus on console mods. I cannot for the life of me find that again to check and see if any of those folks are near me and do CRT work at all.

    Failing all that, how hard is it assuming I take all necessary safety precautions? From pics and videos, the components look to be much larger than some I've tried in the past so I'm not sure if that'll help or hurt me if I just YOLO and try it.

    The Sony is for sure a well documented RGB mod and I've found several resources for it. I can't find any info on the specific Toshiba yet and it has a VCR/DVD player built in, if that makes a difference.

    6
    Nextcloud Tasks & Tasks.org?

    Does anyone here use both Tasks.org and have it synced to Nextcloud? I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong of expecting behavior that doesn't exist or what.

    I have Tasks.org installed on Android phone and tablet and signed into my NC instance that I have. If I create a task in NC Tasks, it will sync down to the Android devices in Tasks.org. But it won't go the other way (tasks.org ->NC Tasks). I have a heap of reoccurring tasks in my phone app but it doesn't show up in the web portal of NC Tasks. But if I mark a NC Task complete on my phone, it will reflect that change in NC Tasks.

    To further muddy the waters: I found a Linux app called Errands that I signed into NC in order to Sync. If I create a task in Errands, it does indeed show up in the NC Tasks list. It's like Tasks.org has a weird one way sync or something. I've scoured the settings and looked through open issues on Github but I'm not seeing anything that would 'fix' this, so I'm reaching out to my homies on Lemmy to see if anyone has suggestions.

    Side NOTE: Errands is pretty neat, if you want a minimalist Tasks/Todo list app for Linux desktop.

    5
    VPN to home network options

    I currently have a server running Unraid as the OS, which has some WireGuard integration built in. Which I've enabled and been using to remotely access services hosted on that server. But as I've expanded to include things like Octopi running on a Pi3 and NextcloudPi running on a Pi4 (along with AdGuardHome), I'm trying to determine the best way to VPN to my home network with the goal of reaching services I'm hosting, and do it safely of course.

    I have a Netgear Nighthawk that has some VPN functionality built in that uses a OpenVPN account. Is that ok or would it be advisable to come in a different way?

    26
    Habit tracking with ability to mark past success easily?

    I've been using HabitNow since February and it's a nice app. But I'd much prefer a FOSS alternative. The problem is that I'd like to keep my streak from HabitNow and apps either don't let you mark in the past or they require multiple clicks.

    So far I've tried Loop Habit and Habit builder. These both fall in the "multiple clicks" camp.

    Are there any other options to consider or should I just start clicking away at the 250+ days I've succeeded?

    EDIT: habit builder does have a reasonably easy way to tap previous days that I missed. But has no reminders or notifications that I can find.

    8
    Cross platform terminal emulator?

    Is Termius the only cross platform emulator that includes Android as one of the platforms? It is quite good, in my limited experience, but too expensive for a hobbiest. I like that I can use my Linux desktop, MacOS laptop, and Android tablet/phone and the UX is the same across them all. The sync (trial for free, then charge) is great. But I'd be fine if it was something where I could DIY a sync method with something like Syncthing.

    I'm aware of the likes of Alacritty, but no mobile app. And of course Termux is great for mobile, but no desktop versions.

    It all boils down to wanting some sort of sync function either DIY or otherwise that includes hosts and SSH keys and while not as important, I do like the consistent UX between platforms. Is there something else to consider?

    28
    Thoughts on selfprivacy.org?

    SelfPrivacy is in "Open beta" and promises to make setup and use of email, messager, password management, video chat and other services simple by leveraging the likes of Hetzner, Cloudflare, and Backblaze.

    I stumbled on the app while browsing the F-droid app "store" and had never heard of them. I think the proposition is neat and while I'm comfortable hosting most of these services myself, my curiosity has been piqued. Searching for it elsewhere on the web as far as privacy rating, reviews, etc has left me empty handed. I dont' know if they're just too new or not. So I'm curious if anyone has tried them out or looked into it further.

    10
    Third party apps that sync with Nextcloud

    I searched quite a bit and wasn't able to find a conclusive list of available third party apps that can sync with Nextcloud. So I thought I'd start one for folks who might be interested. Feel free to chime in with any you've used!

    Notes

    --- macOS:

    Linux:

    • Iotas - minimalist markdown notes app in the same vein as IA Writer.

    Android:

    • Quillpad - Google Keep clone that supports Markdown. Fork of Quillnotes. There are some quirks with this one. For example, if you create a task list from NC WebUI version of Notes, the checkboxes will show up in Quillnotes, but you cannot check them off as complete. Has a promising roadmap.

    • Carnet - another Google Keep clone. This one has an app in the NC app store, so it has a web based counterpart unlike Quillpad. The Android app is weirdly slow to open. I'll need to test this one more.

    Tasks/ToDo

    --- Android:

    • Tasks.org - excellent Task app. Supports subtasks, categories, reminders, recurring events. It can also sync with Google but ewwww.

    Handwritten Notes:

    --- All:

    • Saber - Cross platform notes app. Akin to Samsung notes. This one is rough in my experience so far. But it has potential and I will be following to watch how it updates.

    2FA:

    --- Android:

    • Aegis - excellent 2FA app. I just recently migrated out of Google and Microsoft's versions and am very happy. To be honest though, I'm not exactly sure how the NC integration works on this one, but it is mentioned on their site:

    > If your cloud provider supports the Storage Access Framework of Android (like Nextcloud does), it can even create automatic backups to the cloud.

    There are others I've tested, but not long enough to make any comments on. Les Pas being one of them. I'm happy with Immich, so didn't give this one a fair shake.

    20
    Raspberry Pi 1 B projects?

    I have an old Pi hanging around doing nothing. When I originally got it it had the latest Pi OS with desktop loaded and ran like garbage, not surprisingly. So I messed with it headless for a bit, then found RISCOS as an option in Pi imager utility and that is just a neat OS. Fun to play around with for sure. But now I'm wondering what else I could use the old thing for. I see folks run Pihole on it, but I've already got 2 instances of Adguard Home running.

    Could this handle Syncthing? Or would the data transfer be so bad it's not worth it? Wouldn't mind having an off-site backup device at my parents house if it would work.

    Anyone else got one in their homelab?

    54
    Samsung Notes alternative?

    Key features:

    • PDF annotation
    • S-pen/stylus support
    • Sync (preferably NOT just via Nextcloud...looking at you, Saber)
    • Handwriting recognition is a plus, but not required

    As mention above, Saber fits the criteria well, but I don't use Nextcloud and that is the only sync available in that app (unless something has changed in the last couple of weeks). I have a Galaxy phone and tablet that both support S-pen and Samsung Notes is excellent, and free, but they're not exactly privacy concious, so I'm looking elsewhere. I had considered the Excalidraw plugin for Obsidian, but I'm not sure if that works on the Android version of the app.

    19
    Syncthing instead of Steam Cloud saves?

    I have seen several mentions and articles about using this app to sync game saves for non-steam games. But I have yet to see anyone mention using it instead of Steam's own cloud based save game solution.

    The reason I ask is I've been having so many sync errors between the deck and my Linux gaming PC and it's driving me crazy. For example, I just started Cyberpunk2077 for the first time now that 2.0 and Phantom Liberty are out. Put a few hours in from the desktop, then later wanted to play on the couch so I grabbed the SD and fired it up. Only one save had synchronized and it was very early in the prologue. So i went back to the desktop and tried the resync and same thing, will not sync. I read about how too many saves can cause a problem, but I literally just installed and started this game. Maybe 3 or 4 at the time? Up to 6 I think now. So this should be well within any arbitrary sync limits I would think. It's not just this game either. Starfield and Dave the Diver are two others having repeated issues with cloud saving.

    Does anyone else use this instead of or in conjunction with steam cloud saves?

    EDIT: I already replied to @Molecular0079 below, but behold my shame!

    ---

    So....you're gonna love this.... It was my effin' AdguardHome instances blocking some domain required for the Cloud backup to work. Found that by accident while having my Linux desktop connected via NordVPN, which as you may know has no UI so I just plan forgot to disconnect. Played the game, realized it saved, but went to try to play on SD, but nope. Still won't pull the latest save. So i disabled my primary and secondary AGH instances, tried again, and everything is sunshine and lollypops.

    So I added the following to AGH custom filtering rules in order to allow all of these: @@||steampowered.com^ @@||steamcommunity.com^ @@||steamgames.com^ @@||steamusercontent.com^ @@||steamcontent.com^ @@||steamstatic.com^ @@||akamaihd.net^ I feel a bit dumb now....

    17
    [Question] Am I the only dummy who likes Seafile?

    Its stupid fast, reliable, and rarely has any conflicts. If it does it seems to work them out without intervention. I've tried Nextcloud including the AIO image and its just so clunky and slow. I was getting sync errors just on the simple Notes apps. Repeatedly. I mean I get why people like it, it can do way more than Seafile. But for a pure Dropbox replacement, I love it.

    The fact I can reach any file on any device from any other device without syncing EVERYTHING is fantastic. I know Syncthing is also popular, but seems to require more manual settings if you want to be selective on what syncs.

    I will say, I've tried and failed numerous times to get Collabora CODE and S3 storage integration to work with Seafile and that is a nightmare, at least for me. I cannot get my head around it. But standing Seafile up itself was fairly easy.

    Does anyone else use it? If so, have you tried the CODE and/or multiple storage backend integrations?

    28
    Father_Redbeard Father_Redbeard @lemmy.ml
    Posts 39
    Comments 436