Barney's recent activity
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Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney (edited )Link ParentFrom the video: So just having steam running in the background isn't enough.From the video:
If you want to play non-steam games with gamepad controls, you'll need to launch them through steam.
So just having steam running in the background isn't enough.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentThis is the exact Steam / Valve apologism I was talking about. Yes, the developer could change it, but why is Steam getting waved through for encouraging these outrageous prices in the first...This is the exact Steam / Valve apologism I was talking about. Yes, the developer could change it, but why is Steam getting waved through for encouraging these outrageous prices in the first place? Why do you think that they are not responsible for it?
How about indie games? How is an indie developer supposed to know which regional prices are fair and rich aren't? And why would they lower a price for a region, if Steam recommend a higher one?
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentThat sort of supports my point, I think. The things you listed are the bare minimum service expected from an online store. They're doing nothing praise-worthy. As for fairly priced games, I have...That sort of supports my point, I think. The things you listed are the bare minimum service expected from an online store. They're doing nothing praise-worthy.
As for fairly priced games, I have to completely disagree. Let's take a popular AAA game as an example that's available on GOG too, Baldur's Gate 3.
On Steam, the game costs 59.99 USD, which is with current exchange rates 48 CHF. On Steam, Baldur's Gate 3 costs 69.99 CHF, which is 89 USD. Excuse me, what?????
The same game on GOG costs 58 CHF, 17% cheaper, and I actually own the game. This is the exact same for the overwhelming majority of games. Steam is actively scamming Switzerland (the most), among other countries. I know developers can change their regional prices, but pretty much nobody does. 60 USD games are almost always 70 CHF.
I generally support regional pricing for poorer countries, but the opposite is ridiculous. They also do 1 USD = 1 EUR in their pricing, even though the exchange rate is 0.85. Poland sometimes gets prices close to Switzerland, with a significantly lower median income.
Steam's pricing is in no way fair and are absolutely gouging the consumer for all they're worth.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentThis is only tangentially related to the controller, but This is something I personally have never understood. From my personal experience, Steam is just as bad and predatory as every other...This is only tangentially related to the controller, but
people love steam so much they will never bat an eye at being forced to use it.
This is something I personally have never understood. From my personal experience, Steam is just as bad and predatory as every other company out there, yet they seem to get a free pass by the community for some reason?
They take a whopping 30% cut from sales, you still don't own the games you purchase on steam (unlike GoG, for example) and their desktop app is a slow, overall dreadful a resource hog. Their regional pricing is completely unfair and exploitatory and the list goes on.
It really annoys me when people (not meaning you) talk about steam like they're some benevolent, charitable entity. And the positive reception and complete disregard for this controller's shortcomings is an excellent example of that. If Epic Games or EA released this controller, the reception would 100% be different.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentIt needs steam to be running, which is quite annoying.With anything running Steam
Steam Controller works with any PC or device running Steam or the Steam Link app. This includes Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs, as well as tablets and smart phones.
It needs steam to be running, which is quite annoying.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentIt will act like the layout of the thing you pair it to. So there will be a button / sign mismatch on PC, since the version that supports both PC and Switch comes with a Switch layout. I totally...It will act like the layout of the thing you pair it to. So there will be a button / sign mismatch on PC, since the version that supports both PC and Switch comes with a Switch layout.
I totally get where you're coming from though, I found AB stuff difficult to get used to as well.
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Comment on Fits on a floppy - a manifesto for small software in ~tech
Barney Link ParentThanks! For iOS it's a bit easier since there's at least a framework you can rely on. For linux, pretty much nothing is guaranteed to be on the system and there's no real OS-wide standard, so I...Thanks! For iOS it's a bit easier since there's at least a framework you can rely on. For linux, pretty much nothing is guaranteed to be on the system and there's no real OS-wide standard, so I was wondering where the line is drawn.
Really cool idea! Cheers!
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney (edited )Link ParentYou're comparing the old 8bitdo controller with the new Steam controller. 8bitdo released a 2nd version of their wireless one last year called 8bitdo Ultimate 2, which has all of the things you...You're comparing the old 8bitdo controller with the new Steam controller. 8bitdo released a 2nd version of their wireless one last year called 8bitdo Ultimate 2, which has all of the things you listed, and it's the exact same price as the old one. Currently 43 CHF (55 USD) in Switzerland.
- Gyro on pc
- TMR sticks
- Better dpad
- Extra bumper buttons
- 1000 hz polling rate
and it can be remapped very easily.
Pretty much the only thing the steam controller has going for it is having trackpads (and potentially the layout, if you prefer that over the asymmetric sticks).
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Comment on Fits on a floppy - a manifesto for small software in ~tech
Barney LinkI like this a lot! I've long been a proponent of small software. There are 0 reasons for apps to be multiple hundred megabytes! However, this particular line got me thinking: What do we call...I like this a lot! I've long been a proponent of small software. There are 0 reasons for apps to be multiple hundred megabytes!
However, this particular line got me thinking:
Native only. No dependency bloat [...]
What do we call native? What libraries on the system can you rely on? For GUI stuff, I suppose on iOS you can expect the UI libraries to be available everywhere, so I suppose those don't count?
What if I'm targeting the Gnome distribution on Linux, which comes with the Gnome UI framework (GTK/Adwaita), can I omit those in my size calculation, since they're not part of my binary, they're on the system already?
What if I'm using SQLite in my app? The library is available on virtually every system, but its
.sofile is larger than a floppy already.I would like some clarification :P I would love to add the Fits on a floppy label to my apps, but want to be sure that I'm using it correctly.
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Comment on New Steam Controller reportedly $99 in ~games
Barney Link ParentI was about to mention the 8bitdo Ultimate. It's an excellent controller that you can pair with your phone, PC, steam deck, xbox, Switch etc. It's the best controller I've ever used, and even...I was about to mention the 8bitdo Ultimate. It's an excellent controller that you can pair with your phone, PC, steam deck, xbox, Switch etc.
It's the best controller I've ever used, and even assuming the steam controller will be 100 EUR in Europe, which may not be the case, it's a very very tough sell.
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Comment on China calls for ‘concerted’ efforts to tackle excess solar production in ~enviro
Barney Link ParentThat's exactly what's happening, and it's a spiraling out of control. Solar production was very heavily subsidised, was exempt from VAT for a while, and they spent a significant amount of money...That's exactly what's happening, and it's a spiraling out of control. Solar production was very heavily subsidised, was exempt from VAT for a while, and they spent a significant amount of money raising production capacities. They expected an explosion in demand, so many factories were already running at a deficit, hoping to turn a profit when the market equalises. The projected demand didn't materialise and now they have a bunch of factories that are willing to sell at a loss just to sell anything, which keeps prices very low due to competition, meaning pretty much everybody loses.
You're right that it is naturally self limiting, but China is huge, and simply letting the market self limit is a massive economic disaster affecting millions of people.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
Barney Link ParentThis is the wrong way to look at it. The entire notion that we should make something significantly more expensive to promote something else is very misguided. We should not aim to make the average...This is the wrong way to look at it. The entire notion that we should make something significantly more expensive to promote something else is very misguided. We should not aim to make the average person's life even more miserable.
Economically, there are 0 reasons why trains should be as expensive as they are, other than privatised railroads having monopoly. That is where the issue lies. I can take a car, and drive to London for significantly less money than taking a train. If I take my family of 4, it's an order of magnitude cheaper. That is laughable. The solution is not making quite literally everything else more expensive, but working on making trains cheaper, since in theory, they are the cheapest.
Railroads should be nationalised, like every other form of public transport. It's a service for the people, like the post, so it need not turn a profit. Additionally, not having competition drives prices up. That's capitalism for you.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
Barney Link ParentDepends on how you define convenience, I suppose. Going from Switzerland to London takes 9-10 hours. Sitting that much is not particularly comfortable, and usually you arrive / depart at abysmal...Depends on how you define convenience, I suppose. Going from Switzerland to London takes 9-10 hours. Sitting that much is not particularly comfortable, and usually you arrive / depart at abysmal times. Not sure how convenient arriving at St. Pancras at 2 am is.
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Comment on Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains in ~transport
Barney LinkWhile I agree that booking train tickets can be a bit cumbersome, depending on the services your local railroad provides, in my opinion it's prohibitively expensive, first and foremost. (I can...While I agree that booking train tickets can be a bit cumbersome, depending on the services your local railroad provides, in my opinion it's prohibitively expensive, first and foremost. (I can book trains from my local railroad's website easily, so it's a non issue in Switzerland.)
For reference, to go from where I am in Switzerland to London and back, it would cost me between 500 and 800 swiss francs (roughly 640 - 1020 USD) depending on when I go in the next 2 months. For reference, last year around this time, I flew to London from Zurich with Swiss Airlines for 180 CHF, including return.
Flights are already taxed quite heavily, and no amount of taxation will close this gap in price. Nor should it. Making people pay hundreds of percent more to encourage trains is nonsensical. Railways take longer, are less convenient and cost significantly more. Why don't people use them more, I wonder? Truly a mystery!
Cynicism aside, railroads need to do something about the price if they want people to see trains as an alternative to flights. I don't see that happening, since train tickets seem to be getting more expensive with each passing year. Which is a massive shame, since I love trains.
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Comment on What is watts, volts and amps? in ~science
Barney (edited )LinkI'm going to try a different analogy, maybe that helps you a bit! You asked about 3 things, watts (power), amps (electric current) and volts (electric potential). Current (amps) I'll start with...I'm going to try a different analogy, maybe that helps you a bit!
You asked about 3 things, watts (power), amps (electric current) and volts (electric potential).
Current (amps)
I'll start with current, since that's the easiest. I'm going to operate under the assumption that you know what electrons are. Current is how many electrons flow / go in a particular direction. Amps is the international unit we use today, but it could be anything, really. It's some factor of "number of electrons / second" going in this direction.
Voltage (volts)
Imagine having a ball on a flat surface. If you just leave the ball there, nothing happens. That's 0 volts, or 0 electric potential. Now if you imagine a hill, if you put a ball anywhere on the slope, that ball will want to roll downhill. By doing some work yourself, you can roll the ball uphill, but it will want to roll downhill normally, and you need to work against that. The steeper the hill, the higher the voltage. You can imagine electric potential like that too, just for electrons and wires instead of a ball and a hill. The wall outlet is generally
230V (or 110V if you're in the US)200-240V in most places, and 100-130 in a select few. This is just a metric for "how strong the electrons want to come out of there". This isn't perfectly accurate, but I hope it gets the idea across.Aparte: here's a handy map for supply voltage if you're interested. Thanks for letting me know @kari and @sparksbet, I actually did not know this!
Power (watts)
This is pretty simple too. It's how much work the given thing is doing per second. A watt is defined as "Joule / second", but it's essentially just "energy / time". A fun little addendum, power is voltage * current, so: watt = volts * amps. :)
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
Barney Link ParentOh yes, absolutely. Should have clarified that I was supporting your statement, since pallas confidently stated: yet it clearly does.Oh yes, absolutely. Should have clarified that I was supporting your statement, since pallas confidently stated:
That does not give an exemption from the GDPR
yet it clearly does.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #1: How old are you? (Results) in ~talk
Barney (edited )Link ParentThe reddit-esque armchair law debate regarding GDPR in this thread is quite sad to see, particularly when it is glaringly wrong:The reddit-esque armchair law debate regarding GDPR in this thread is quite sad to see, particularly when it is glaringly wrong:
When does the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) not apply?
The GDPR does not apply if:
- the data subject is dead
- the data subject is a legal person
- the processing is done by a person acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, or profession
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Comment on How are we all feeling about piracy these days? in ~movies
Barney (edited )Link ParentThat's exactly my biggest issue. If I stopping pirating things, I would be paying for a less convenient experience. Isn't that mental?? For anime (but this goes for western series as well), one...once you've entered the piracy rabbithole, that convienience is as hard to give up as switching from watching live TV to streaming was.
That's exactly my biggest issue. If I stopping pirating things, I would be paying for a less convenient experience. Isn't that mental??
For anime (but this goes for western series as well), one would often need subscriptions to 3-4 or more streaming sites to watch the shows. Even completely disregarding the financial aspect, I simply cannot be bothered to keep a list of "where does show X air? Is it Netflix? Oh no, it doesn't seem to be here. Was it maybe Crunchyroll? Or Amazon Video?". And then you're sat there spending 5+ minutes navigating the awkward UI of multiple different platforms to find the show you wanted, to watch it for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile the alternartive is to set up a torrent client with an RSS feed reader and all my shows appear in the exact directory I want them on my computer. The difference in convenience is truly jarring.
And this is precisely why piracy must exist. It's the only thing that's keeping service quality from falling off a cliff. There was a time, when Netflix first started, when you could find almost everything on it. 1 service, 1 subscription, 1 app, most things you wanted to watch. That was excellent, and people, including me, pirated way less. That is no longer the case, unfortunately.
Another tangentially related issue is the price. A Disney+ subscription that lets you watch more than 1080p costs CHF 23.40 / month. That's almost exactly 30 USD currently. I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.
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Comment on Which Linux distro do you use, and why? in ~tech
Barney Link ParentI'm running Bluefin, an atomic distro based on fedora silverblue. The overwhelming majority of my apps are flatpaks, and those that aren't or the ones that I compile myself are running in a Debian...I'm running Bluefin, an atomic distro based on fedora silverblue. The overwhelming majority of my apps are flatpaks, and those that aren't or the ones that I compile myself are running in a Debian container, so I'm kind of running Debian too? :D
I completely agree with you. Debian is awesome.
Which becomes even more apparent when put this way.
A monotheistic religious person already rejects and doesn't believe in thousands of gods, for no particularly convincing reason, yet they rarely entertain the thought why those gods and that faith can be dismissed as false so easily.