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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)WO
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1 yr. ago

  • I have setup and run what are basically HTPC's for decades now. Kodi running on a Debian based Linux distribution or just Debian is a solid recommendation and has lots of support for infrared remotes, but kodi can be very fiddly to setup properly. It will work, but don't expect it to work "out of the box". You'll probably still need a mouse and keyboard for anything outside Kodi. You'll have to read a bunch of documentation and do some customizing to get the most out of Kodi. It's still easier than most other setups, but it will feel very frustrating if it's your introduction to Linux too.

    I've moved to using my HTPC primarily as a server. Once you get comfortable with linux and docker, setting up new server services like Jellyfish, Plex, and and *ARR stack is relatively trivial. The advantage here being that you can serve your media to any device that can connect to your server. For me that means one library of media to share with any TV in my house, any mobile device I own, and any friends and family computer savvy enough to download the right apps and setup an account. If your network (and your Internet connection) isn't reliable this kind of setup may not work very well for you at all. For example, Plex account authentication will fail is you don't have Internet. Jellyfin and Kodi fair better when Internet is only available occasionally or is unreliable.

    My least favorite part of using Kodi was setting up the remote. Even worse was trying to configure controllers for retro gaming. The situation is MUCH better than it was, but is still far from easy. I was kind of able to side step the remote problem because now I can just use the remote for the TV (if it supports the Plex or Jellyfin apps) or another streaming stick like fire stick, Nvidia shield, or Roku. My Nvidia shield can pair with any Bluetooth controller and runs RetroArch so that problem was side stepped too. ROMs can be copied via samba shares or loaded directly by a USB drive.

    TLDR: Kodi has built-in support for IR, but streaming sticks are cheap, and in the long run I found setting up a server was more versatile, more reliable, and less stressful. I know, I also hate it when people ask for a specific solution and others recommend asking a different question. But in this case, my experience is that IR remotes suck, are flaky, and not worth it if there is any other option.

  • Windows is never going to like an NTFS that has been touched by another OS even if it windows was completely shutdown during that time. Reading the NTFS partition might be okay. But, last I checked none of the Linux drivers could write without windows noticing and fouling things up. If that has changed it would be welcome news to me despite my warning use of windows.

    If windows (and to a lesser extent that other OS) came bundled with some ability to mount, read, and write filesystems popular with other operating systems this wouldn't be such a problem. One shouldn't have to involve the network stack or 3rd party drivers just to share a partition on the same hardware or a portable drive with a modern file system.

  • They generally don't breed in large bodies of water where the water is flowing. They moatly breed in the little stagnant pools of water that collect in other spots because of poor drainage or things like tires, empty pots, and other trash being left out in the rain. There exist these little pellets that poison those stagnant puddles for the mosquito, but not your pets. That and proper drainage around your house will do wonders to reduce the excess population. Pointing a fan to blow out at any open window can help too, but proper screens (with a fine enough mesh) would help more. Mosquitoes don't like a stiff breeze.

  • Hollywood has been profiting off of remakes basically from the very beginning. Here's a short list of some of the most popular. And before movies, you might be shocked to learn that stage performers regularly "remade" productions originally performed by other groups. Anyone performing Hamlet or that Scottish play after The Globe burned downed is a fucking hack apparently.

  • You probably know this and were referring to gummies or something, but it needs to be said that smoking is not advised after a tooth extraction or pretty much any dental work. Not a great idea before hand either as the weed (in any form) can make the drugs that the dentist gives you less effective and coming down from a large dose of those can be a worse pain than the stitches in your mouth.

  • Try gaffer tape instead. It blocks all the light. It doesn't reflect much light at all. It generally sticks to anything. You can get it in a variety of colors. It doesn't leave as much sticky residue when removed or repositioned. I've not encountered many surfaces (expect painted surfaces) that it actually damages when carefully removed. I use black gaffer tape on basically all my electronic stuff: one strip to cover the whole light, two strips a razor's edge width apart so that I can still see the indicator if I try but otherwise 99.9% of the light is blocked, or a strip with a folded over tab at one end for the displays I want to block %100 of the light %90 of the time.

    Duct tape, duck tape, electrical tape, masking tape all really suck unless you love that sticky gunky residue they inevitably leave on everything. Gaffer tape isn't perfect, but it's much better for this kind of semi-temporary light blocking without too much surface damage kind of job.

  • Recently ran into this with an artist that did a cover of a song by a popular band from 40ish years ago and the cover artist had the gal to date their song to earlier than the original so it looked like they were the original when you searched for the song. The only clue to their trickery was to drill down into the individual song credits and the fan that they were a no name artist that self-labelled their genre as 80s rock, like no artist from the actual era would. Spotify will outright refuse to fix any of this bad metadata and tells you to contact their label, as if that will ever work.

  • Have you read "South of the Pumphouse" by Les Clay pool? It's not non-fiction, but it was the first book I thought of when I saw NOFX in your comment.

    Does "The Electric Kool aid Acid Test" count as non-fiction?

  • The Revenge of the Nerds technique?

    Yeah, lots of movies from that era are problematic now. I'm not going to apologize for them, trivialize the problematic parts, or forget about them. All of those characters were gross parodies of stereotypes and that type of humor is no longer palatable to many people. But, this particular scene felt relatively devoid of any actual malice.

  • When you wrestle a pig, you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it. Some people aren't worth arguing with. Down voting because a comment adds nothing to the discussion also often gets mistaken for down voting because you disagree, especially if the person being down voted is a troll just looking for ANY response to feed their need to fight.