keyringlight (u/keyringlight)

keyringlight commented on How to install TrueNAS on a Raspberry Pi jeffgeerling.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/furkansahin

paulsmith · 16 hours ago

Yeah this is what keeps me from considering old PCs for NAS.

Maybe stating the blindingly obvious but seems like there is a gap in the market for a board or full kit with a high efficiency ~1-10W CPU and a bunch of SATA and PCIe ports.

keyringlight · 15 hours ago

Then you've got to consider what are you optimizing for. Is the power bill going to be offset by the cost of a Pi plus any extras you need, or a cheap second hand PC someone wants to clear out, or free if you can put an old serviceable PC you have already back into use. Is it heat? Noise? Space that it needs to hide away in? Airflow for the location?

keyringlight commented on Windows 7 x64 Extended Support Page trackerninja.codeberg.pag... · Posted by u/spacedrone808

MrRadar · 3 days ago

Seriously. Also less and less software is supporting 7. Importantly, Firefox ESR 115 is the last modern browser to support Windows 7 and it's entering EOL after this month[1]; Chrome dropped Windows 7 support in 2023[2].

[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7... [2] https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7100626

keyringlight · 3 days ago

Right now I wonder if a browser or chrome embedded framework (and then when applications that use it update past the cut-off version) is the 'killer app' that motivates upgrades. The CEF cut-off for win7/8/8.1 was when their extended support periods ended, and presumably they upgraded the underlying SDK they to rely on features not present pre-win10, and presumably oct 2028 (+3 years) is when the same will happen again

keyringlight commented on Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android 9to5google.com/2025/08/25... · Posted by u/kotaKat

SkiFire13 · 3 days ago

That only solves the OS side of things, but doesn't give you a good ecosystem. Unfortunately and increasingly bigger number of apps rely on Google services and attestations, meaning you need a Google approved software to run them.

keyringlight · 3 days ago

I wonder if it'll promote having multiple devices, fragmenting into multiple ecosystems. One for the approved walled garden, another for uses that can exist without relying on those services (anything that doesn't need payments?).

Another approach I wonder about is single task specific hardware, like a GPS unit or media player, what tasks have developed over the past ~18 years within the mobile ecosystem and are mature and not rapidly evolving enough that they can be unbundled to their own devices, and desirable enough to stand alone that there's a market for it.

keyringlight commented on Valve Software handbook for new employees [pdf] (2012) cdn.akamai.steamstatic.co... · Posted by u/Michelangelo11

pjmlp · 5 days ago

PC gaming is what has been since the MS-DOS days and lame beeps, versus the Amiga.

I always find interesting the mention of "rise of PC gaming".

Those of my generation have been playing PC games, and 8 bit home computers before that, since the 1980's.

Game consoles were almost inexistent in most European households for us.

The exception being the Game and Watch from Nintendo series, like Manhole.

keyringlight · 5 days ago

Trying to define "Personal Computer" is another rabbit-hole, it's such a broad concept. I'd argue someone could be right if they called an iPhone a PC as for many that is their computing device, at the same time as someone else's PC being a monstrous workstation that you'd need to load onto a trolley to move.

keyringlight commented on Valve Software handbook for new employees [pdf] (2012) cdn.akamai.steamstatic.co... · Posted by u/Michelangelo11

scrollaway · 5 days ago

Valve is not an ordinary company. They make a ton of money, have no outside investment, reinvest everything internally on R&D and keep very small. On top of that, they run completely flat management.

They're the idealized version of what a small company making a shitton of cash would be. They can afford plenty in terms of work-life balance.

keyringlight · 5 days ago

Even at the start they were unusual as they were funded by Microsoft millionaires, and presumably had little pressure to release before "when it's done", and HL1 being a huge hit started the ball rolling allowing them to acquire the team fortress and counter-strike mod teams, picking up even more momentum.

keyringlight commented on Valve Software handbook for new employees [pdf] (2012) cdn.akamai.steamstatic.co... · Posted by u/Michelangelo11

YesBox · 5 days ago

> Their 30% cut is absolutely justified

That is debatable. For one thing, Steam is partly (mostly?) built off the backs of games marketing their games and providing a Steam link (marketing costs money for the devs). Steam kick started this chicken/egg problem by creating their own great games first.

Second, Steam does not provide your game any marketing (algorithmic visibility) unless it's already successfully marketed outside of Steam (marketing is not free), and again later once it hits a certain number of sales.

Third, per Tim Sweeney, games during the retail era had a bigger margin for the the studios than they do today [1]

[1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/19_NC1ZskeN47LHaYJziotbA0sqL...

edit: So I do feel a little upset that Steam gets free marketing for every game put on the site (important note you can (and should in most cases) place your game up on the site long before its ready to purchase, and steam will advertise other games on your page), doesnt provide any marketing in return (via the discovery queue) unless you bring in tens or hundreds of thousands of clicks, and then turns around and skims 30% of all my work which they are greatly benefiting from (e.g. what if the customer goes to my page, wish lists my game, then purchased a different game in the mean time? At least e.g. amazon has referral links)

keyringlight · 5 days ago

I think there's a lot of weirdness if you try to answer "what is the PC gaming platform?" and how Valve or anyone else fits into it, and because it's PC a lot of answers can be true simultaneously, and many different users want/expect different things.

Is it processor architecture? Is it the OS? Is it the store and whatever facilities they provide? Is it the mode of physical interaction with the device (desk, couch+TV, etc)? Is it being able to assemble any random collection of hardware and expecting it to work? Does that discount set builds? Is it mandatory that the user is free to screw around with the software any way they please or can you lock stuff down?

At least on the commerce side, it's been the case since steam was opened up to third parties that they were the gatekeeper for success unless you were already huge (and now very few companies want to go it alone). Going back to Introversion's Darwinia they were just scraping by until they got on steam, developers have long been complaining that the varied methods Valve has used to get on the store (manual review, greenlight, etc) showed the vast majority of gamers only purchase through it or that you'll get a large wave of new business when you release on it. Now it seems like a 'tragedy of the commons' situation unless you've got your own marketing or it's a hobby project.

It seems like you've now got to do mental gymnastics to say Valve doesn't own the PC gaming platform

keyringlight commented on Valve Software handbook for new employees [pdf] (2012) cdn.akamai.steamstatic.co... · Posted by u/Michelangelo11

scheeseman486 · 5 days ago

What management? Gabe doesn't have any direct involvement in the running of the company at this point, in spite of being the majority owner. It's an open question what happens if he leaves or dies but it doesn't seem likely that he'd do anything to intentionally sabotage the company, like sell it off. It's more likely that ownership will transfer to a trusted party or to the employees.

keyringlight · 5 days ago

At this point I think Valve is more likely to be disrupted from an outside influence rather than within, I think a lot of their actions are about keeping the ship steady. If someone does come along as an upstart in a new market as valve did with digital distribution versus retail/physical, the old is unlikely to be instantly irrelevant and obsoleted, and even then you get new markets like mobile appearing over their lifespan where both are healthy side-by-side.

keyringlight commented on Why you can’t grow cool-climate plants in hot climates crimepaysbutbotanydoesnt.... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

Arainach · 6 days ago

We could start by banning things that explicitly waste resources such as proof of work cryptocurrency and adjust tax incentives to punish huge energy consumers for things like AI. Make the energy cost factor in the long-term externalities and maybe companies will hesitate before burning the world for things that aren't necessary.

Things don't have to be perfect - you start with the biggest polluters/consumers and use trade incentives to convince other nations to join. We've seen this work under Democratic administrations (China's outputs are dropping) before Trump etc. threw it all away.

keyringlight · 6 days ago

I think a cap on what consumption you're allowed until you can prove utility to society would be beneficial. That said, with crypto it was distributed so it'd be extremely hard to enforce, and using the example of how AI has played out there's companies willing and able to dump money speculating on it just so they don't lose out if it does bear fruit. I expect for anything in future that shows potential they can organize themselves around regulations faster than new rules and enforcement could adapt.

keyringlight commented on Why you can’t grow cool-climate plants in hot climates crimepaysbutbotanydoesnt.... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

ethanpailes · 6 days ago

China turning the corner on emissions has far more to do with their desire to get out from under the possibility of an oil blockade locking up their economy than green pressure from the west. They also organically have an environmental movement, though not one that they are willing to kowtow to at the cost of growth.

keyringlight · 6 days ago

Another factor for China was their cities choking on smog. One of the anecdotes I remember from Covid was that mask wearing in Asian cities was just another thing you did depending on that aspect of the weather, except in 2020 it had another reason behind it.

keyringlight commented on Copilot broke audit logs, but Microsoft won't tell customers pistachioapp.com/blog/cop... · Posted by u/Sayrus

ocdtrekkie · 9 days ago

I really need to emphasize winget is way, way different than a Linux software repository. Debian's repository is carefully maintained and packages have to reach a level of notability for inclusion. Even the Microsoft Store uses overseas reviewers paid by Microsoft to review if store apps meet their guidelines.

winget has none of that. winget is run by one Microsoft dude who when pressed about reviewing submissions gave some random GitHub users who have not been vetted moderator powers. There is no criteria for inclusion, if you can pack it and get it by the automated scanner, it ships. And anyone can submit changes to any winget package: They built a feature to let a developer restrict a package be only updated by a trusted user but never implemented it. (Doing so requires a "business process" but being a one-man sideshow that winget is, setting that up is beyond Microsoft's ability.)

winget is a complete joke that no professional could stand for if they understand how amateur hour it is, and the fact it is now baked into every Windows install is absolutely embarrassing. But I bet shipping it got that Microsoft engineer a promotion!

keyringlight · 9 days ago

What stands out to me is that winget has the appearance and is often perceived as a package manager, yet it's more of a CLI front end to an index, and that index seems to either point to the windows store or a URL to download a regular setup file which it'll run silently (adobe acrobat is the example that springs to mind).