Sploosh the Water

Vlemmy.net here, loud and clear!

Looks awesome! I swear, modding the Steam Deck is my kryptonite lol.

100% I haven’t been interested in handheld gaming since I was a pre-teen. Steam Deck got me back into it and I love it!

Worth it 100% for me, I love mine. I didn’t think I would use it much, I honestly bought it initially to just support the project and help FOSS friendly hardware and software.

But once I started playing on it, I fell in love. I play lots of indie games and smaller studio games, like Brotato, Hollow Knight, Battle for Wesnoth, Core Keeper. I also installed RetroArch and play all of my favorite Game Boy games. I play Old School Runescape with my friend, some kart racing games, some fighting games.

I also have Jellyfin installed on there, so I use it docked to my TV as a box for streaming from my Jellyfin server to my TV for movie nights. Discord runs pretty well on it in the background, so it works well for group party games like Pummel Party with my friends. Also games like Table Top simulator to play DnD, and virtual board games.

Idk, it’s just a perfect device for me. Super moddable, repair friendly, FOSS friendly, powerful enough to play most games without issue, works with every kind of Bluetooth device I’ve tested it with, controllers, headphones, etc. And now that it’s been out for well over a year, all of the most severe and annoying bugs have been fixed, so the general experience is very smooth and stable.

Brotato, even more now since 1.0 haha. Lots of old GBA games via RetroArch. Battle for Wesnoth is great on there too. A bunch honestly.

I think it’s generational. When I talk to folks about gaming in their early-mid 30’s, the majority of them either also game, or at least don’t think it’s weird. Video games and board games too.

I think once you hit that rough age cutoff for millennials, late 30’s-early 40’s it seems video gaming and board gaming also largely falls off. At least that’s been my experience.

My spouse and I are in our 30’s and most of our peers game. Keep it up and never stop having fun!

Steamy Deck ;)

Sniff the air vent softly while playing an intense game. The heat creates a wonderful sweet, sort of electronic savory smell.

It’s really lovely. I sniff my Steam Deck air vent probably once or twice a week on average. Some weeks much more if it’s cold out.

It feels nice to lightly brush the tip of your nose across the ribs of the went while inhaling too :)

Lol same.

For sure! Yeah FOSS is an endless well of cool stuff, you can go infinitely deep lol.

I actually have a formal methodology for how I engage with software/hardware from a FOSS perspective:

Embrace, Subvert, Accept.

For any task I do currently or want to do, I apply this process:

I first try to find and use any FOSS software/hardware that does that thing well enough to use entirely. (Embrace)

If there isn’t a FOSS solution that exists or does essential things I need, then I use a proprietary technology in a subversive way to do it. So cracked copies, jail broken or otherwise hacked hardware, or using the proprietary service through an unofficial/unapproved 3rd party app. (Subvert)

If I can’t do that either, but the task/need is absolutely critical, only then do I accept using proprietary and unmodified software/hardware. (Accept)

This method has worked pretty great for me. Now about 3 years after starting my FOSS journey, I have almost no software/hardware I use that is in that third category. Basically everything I use is FOSS, hacked, cracked, modded, or runs on platforms that are, and I enjoy tech and computing more than I ever have :)

Yeah. In my experience, you have to be careful in the world of tech privacy/FOSS to not fall off a cliff to the extremes.

You can always find reasons to not trust some piece of tech hardware or software. It’s all too complex and multifaceted to fully vett, and even when you can do that, there isn’t anything that isn’t touched in some way by mega-corps or glowie agencies.

Tor was developed by the US gov, same with the ancestor of the internet. Your network traffic runs on mega-corp wires, through mega-corp servers. Your hardware is developed, built, and distributed by mega-corps, as is most the firmware and microcode in them.

Even Richard Stallman, one of the most hardcore Free Software advocates has concessions he makes for firmware, microcode, and so forth.

The only way to be truly and completely secure tech-wise is to pull a Ted K. And go run into the woods and live in a little cabin, disown any tech built after the turn of the century lol.

It’s “all or something” not, “all or nothing.” Determine your threat model, your ethical bounds, and let those principles guide you. I think fundamentally what all FOSS folks have in common is the idea that the tech you use should serve your needs and desires, not the needs/desires of billion dollar mega-corps farming you as a product.

The basic assumption every privacy-concerned person should have about email is that it’s never secure. Unless you use an offline cryptography program to encrypt your email text and then paste it into the email body before you send it, your emails are insecure.

Email was never designed with that in mind. If you want to communicate securely with somebody, use a medium/method that has been designed from the start for that purpose.

I use ProtonMail because it’s not a massive corpo and it’s open source, but I don’t believe that my emails are significantly more secure than on a service like Exchange or Gmail.

Planning on getting this myself soon, I’ll let you know if and when I do how it is.

The first of many wallet binges! Eh heh hehh >:)

I second Brotato.

At the top levels, they are rich and well-connected enough that they don’t have to worry about failing like regular people.

They can burn millions, billions of dollars and still get out with a fat paycheck, a pat on the back, and another CEO/exec job lined up by one of their many wealthy friends. Either that, or they are “forced” into retirement where they live large for their remaining lives.

I wish somebody would force me into a wealthy retirement…

True, but the big surge in popularity should help with getting more positive pressure on the community devs to improve things rapidly.