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    1. Steam Summer Sale 2025: Hidden gems

      Inspired by the recurring topic every Steam sale over at /r/GameDealsMeta: What are some lesser-known Steam games that you recommend? Are there any genres you’d like hidden gem recommendations...

      Inspired by the recurring topic every Steam sale over at /r/GameDealsMeta:

      • What are some lesser-known Steam games that you recommend?

      • Are there any genres you’d like hidden gem recommendations for?

      If you're interested in previous Hidden Gem topics, you can find them here.

      For popular recommendations and general purpose sale discussion, please use the main Steam Sale topic.

      Optional: Feel free to categorize your recommendations by number of reviews (as a proxy for popularity)

      Category Maximum Review Count
      Shockingly Overlooked 20
      Under the Radar 50
      Buried Treasure 150
      Underrated Great 500
      Cult Classic 1000
      Gem Graduate 1000+
      59 votes
    2. New linux user: dual boot Mint install fatal error

      Following this guide (linuxtechi) and got Mint Cinnamon 22.2 (Zara) - yes the iso is verified, created bootable USB with Etcher, and after the screen where I input user details and password, well...

      Following this guide (linuxtechi) and got Mint Cinnamon 22.2 (Zara) - yes the iso is verified, created bootable USB with Etcher, and after the screen where I input user details and password, well along the install process, got a fatal error (screenshot) :
      Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
      Executing 'grub-install/dev/sda' failed
      This is a fatal error
      Here is a screenshot of the GParted, fdisk, df, lsblk and what re-running the install now looks like.

      Restarting (after pulling out USB) , instead of going to Windows 10, goes to a black screen that says

      This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again ...
      Turn it off, back on with USB, at least I can still boot from there into USB-space mint for now.

      I'm guessing this has something to do with some peculiar hardware/BIOS settings than the fault of Mint. Worth mentioning that this is a refurbished 2013 HP box (order excerpt) , with a windows 10 digital key license, and that upon every fresh boot up (first time ever to now) it shows a black-background screen that says

      The preboot authentication application cannot be found.
      Press any key to attempt boot without authenticating.
      so it's very possible something is bork'd from the get go or else it has some very unorthodox settings to begin with.

      Can confirm running Mint off the USB is fine. The screencaps are sent from Firefox within, and I'm super happy with how clean everything is. Just not sure what to do now. If it's complicated, I can try sending the box back for refund and try again with another brand new box. But now I'm shy about trying dual boot on my regular desktop.

      Questions after looking around for help:

      1. am I booting from UEFI or Legacy? I don't know -- how do I check ?
      2. Fatal error installation hard stop: is there a way to access a log of what happened ?
      3. How do I boot back into Windows 10 for now ? use GParted to delete all the "new" partitions and try booting again?

      Edit: gave up . It's now a Mint box. Goodbye Windows you can kiss my dust

      18 votes
    3. Photo digitizing

      Hi all, I've got (probably) a few thousand family photographs that I plan on scanning/digitizing. These photographs are organized into dozens or hundreds of envelopes with month/year and sometimes...

      Hi all,

      I've got (probably) a few thousand family photographs that I plan on scanning/digitizing. These photographs are organized into dozens or hundreds of envelopes with month/year and sometimes event description written on them. I'm on the fence between using a service to do it or DIYing it with a scanning machine.

      The way I see it is -

      Service pros:

      1. I don't have to do it myself

      Service cons:

      1. I may have no control over how the digitized photos are tagged or organized (date tagged, filename)
      2. Risk of photographs being lost/damaged
      3. $$$$

      DIY pros:

      1. I can tag and organize the photos exactly how I want
      2. Much less expensive

      DIY cons:

      1. I have little spare time and this project could be extremely time consuming.

      I would love to hear if anyone here has experience doing this and what techniques or pitfalls you may have discovered along the way.

      7 votes
    4. How do you practice self love?

      I've been having a difficult time recently, which has been leading to my absence here and a lot of crying in my real life. I don't deal with letting go too well. I keep texts and pictures and...

      I've been having a difficult time recently, which has been leading to my absence here and a lot of crying in my real life. I don't deal with letting go too well. I keep texts and pictures and messages and every once in a while I like to look back at them and remember that somebody out there at one point was capable of loving me.

      It's not like I don't have friends that love me either, I've spent days and days at other people's houses just crying, people have taken me out to eat and cry and just feel my feelings, and people have been reminding me about the things they like about me too. I mentioned it to a friend that I've been having trouble letting go and we dug into it a bit more, about why I want to keep these things. My friend asks why I need the love to come from other people first. Where is the self love?

      My core issue has always been needing to be reminded that I am loved. It's really silly sometimes, because on some level I know that I am. But something is missing.

      There's an old saying that we judge other people by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just a bad person. Or if I think I am. Because if I didn't have that, why would I have such a hard time forgiving myself?

      I don't really know how to self love, to be honest. I spent all day today barely working, just mindlessly staring at a screen playing a stupid game and not leaving the house. I dunno. Maybe I just need some ideas. I set up a couple more appointments with my therapist this week, but sometimes when it's 2 in the morning like it is now I just can't sleep and spend more time hurting myself in my own head.

      37 votes
    5. What is a business/org that is great and ethical in so many aspects that everyone should consider using?

      Inspired by https://tildes.net/~life/1q0v/what_is_a_business_org_thats_so_terrible_no_one_should_use_if_possible If you're finding it hard to come up with something, remember that medium, small,...

      Inspired by https://tildes.net/~life/1q0v/what_is_a_business_org_thats_so_terrible_no_one_should_use_if_possible

      If you're finding it hard to come up with something, remember that medium, small, and local businesses do exist ;)

      Also, good deeds are not enough; their product must be awesome too!

      If at all possible, let's keep this positive!

      82 votes
    6. Linux noob question regarding full / partition

      Background: I started daily driving Linux (specifically Mint) several months ago and for the most part it's been great. Some weird hiccups occasionally but nothing I can't handle/deal with. When...

      Background: I started daily driving Linux (specifically Mint) several months ago and for the most part it's been great. Some weird hiccups occasionally but nothing I can't handle/deal with. When doing my research to set the system up for the first time, I decided to go with 30GB for the / partition and ~220GB for the /home partition (the other half of the drive is for Windows 11 and the various essential tiny partitions). For a while this seemed to be fine, but lately I've been starting to get warnings when performing software updates via the Update Manager that the / partition is running out of space. I think it peaked at maybe 90-95% full a few weeks ago, at which point I started doing some research and cleaning up a bit (apt autoremove, deleting old logs and kernels, etc). I was able to claw back ~4GB and kick the can down the road, but now the warnings have returned and I'd like to handle this properly. I'm working from the assumption that I simply made the / partition too small and intend to double it by giving it some of the Windows space.

      My question: How do I know if this is expected or if I've been doing something wrong? Is 30GB indeed too small on modern Mint, or should that have been enough? I know it partially depends on what all I actually do with the computer, but I really don't have very many applications installed (aside from defaults of course) and only four of them are Flatpaks, which I read tend to be larger. If it helps, the Disk Usage Analyzer reports that within /, /usr is taking up 13.2GB (55%), /var accounts for 9.1GB (38%), /opt is 1GB (4%), and everything else is <1% each.

      Thanks in advance!

      23 votes
    7. Sliding scale payment systems

      Wanted to start a conversation to see how this idea lands among the folks of this online community. I am a university-educated, full-stack web developer by vocation. I've put years into building...

      Wanted to start a conversation to see how this idea lands among the folks of this online community.

      I am a university-educated, full-stack web developer by vocation. I've put years into building an integrated understanding of the systems I use and I always opt to use the simplest tool for the job. As far as I know, my skillset is worth a lot of money.

      Part of my trouble is that having a set price for my work means that I would be biasing my services towards people who can afford them. I would much rather work for the type of person who can't afford to pay me - this is why I quit my job at a consulting firm.

      The best answer I've found is to ask for payment on a sliding scale. I think I would be comfortable asking for up to $100/hour, and going as low as $20 (approximate living wage where I am) unless someone legitimately cannot afford what I offer, in which case I can do the work for free if I feel like it.

      I would like to organize payment around various checkpoints & deliverables. That way, my client can choose how much to pay for a given task and then revisit payment based on performance and efficiency.

      What do you think, Tildeans? I bet y'all think I'm crazy and you're right. But would you hire me, if I was a real-life person in your community?

      13 votes
    8. Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of September 7

      Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week! Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle...

      Add awesome game deals to this topic as they come up over the course of the week!

      Alternately, ask about a given game deal if you want the community’s opinions: e.g. “What games from this bundle are most worth my attention?”

      Rules:

      • No grey market sales
      • No affiliate links

      If posting a sale, it is strongly encouraged that you share why you think the available game/games are worthwhile.


      All previous Save Point topics

      If you don’t want to see threads in this series, add save point to your personal tag filters.

      10 votes
    9. I could take over a business, and I really want to, but I have no idea what I'm doing

      I went to a friend's print shop today. We've been friends for a while now, business associates even longer, and it's a small mom-and-pop print shop with two presses that I go to for all my small...

      I went to a friend's print shop today. We've been friends for a while now, business associates even longer, and it's a small mom-and-pop print shop with two presses that I go to for all my small to mid-format printing needs. I'm a graphic designer, and sometimes I need a brochure, business cards or some smaller posters done. The business is well regarded, is cashflow-positive and has a strong local presence within my city.

      However, said friend - the owner and sole employee - is getting tired of the work. They want to retire, in around two or three years, and that would mean closing down the shop. They're running it as the third owner now, and previous owners have been running it since 1970. So, I joked about maybe taking it over one day - and my friend was immediately interested. They said that that would take a load off their mind, and that it would be nice to have someone like me continue the legacy of this established store.

      And, well, I gotta be honest with you, I really want to do it. The work is something I've done before (digital print, prepress, cut and finish printed products, printer maintenance and first and foremost graphic design), and my actual education was in graphic design. I'd be able to do both the craft of print production and offer more services like brand and web design to my prospective clients (which would be a value add to existing and new customers).

      The thing is, I've never run a business. I'm not a business person, and I don't know the first thing about it. I know about how to deal with customers, how to budget my time and money, and how to work in an organised and precise manner, but I've never been a manager or a boss.

      So, I guess, this is my question to the Tildesian hive mind: Is it doable? Is owning a business really that difficult if you know how to do the actual day-to-day operations well? Should I leave the safety of wage labour and try to make something of my own? Has any of you taken over a business or founded one, and if so, what are things I should know?

      PS: I'm 25 years old and am from Central Europe.

      31 votes