aleb's recent activity

  1. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I am in the same boat, was not prepared to play probably the best convenient game for the steam deck for me: Trackmania 2020 without at least a very stable 60fps. It was just not possible, so I've...

    I am in the same boat, was not prepared to play probably the best convenient game for the steam deck for me: Trackmania 2020 without at least a very stable 60fps.
    It was just not possible, so I've let it take the dust.

    For the commute argument, I just never understood it.
    I have 1h each way of commute in public transport, but I would never play my steamdeck in public transports. I just can't see it.
    And even the Switch which is in the same ballpark of 'portable' console, I've probably seen it twice in all my life in public transport. And I've had at least 45min of commute for near 20 years.

  2. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Maybe its on me to think they would have offered a genuine alternative to console. Because presented like the niche it is filling, it is actually a price not unheard of. I would still consider it...

    Maybe its on me to think they would have offered a genuine alternative to console.

    Because presented like the niche it is filling, it is actually a price not unheard of.
    I would still consider it a bit unreasonable, but in the shoes of someone it appeals to, I would consider it an okay choice.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I am a Steam Deck buyer, I even payed for the smallest price possible when they did their sale of all models. But my Steam Deck remains largely unplayed on, because the performance is so...

    I am a Steam Deck buyer, I even payed for the smallest price possible when they did their sale of all models.
    But my Steam Deck remains largely unplayed on, because the performance is so lackluster.
    I am convinced we see largely positive sentiment of it online, because the only people discussing it are the ones willing to tinker, sacrifice resolution, or fps, or even buy/print accessories to it.
    And so are so engaged in it that they have online communities dedicated to it.

    But I think my point of view come mostly from the assumption they were willing to compete, or at least propose a better alternative to consoles.
    I would have loved to recommend it to others, but between the ps5 with disc drive and dualsense gamepad at 550€, and the steam machine at 1130€ with the steam controller..
    For the same performance, I just don't see the value.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Around twenty drown in France as French seek relief from heatwave in ~enviro

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I don't know if it's an honest and useful tip, but you could probably find all sort of "temporary" installations rendering the external aesthetic arguments absurd.

    I don't know if it's an honest and useful tip, but you could probably find all sort of "temporary" installations rendering the external aesthetic arguments absurd.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Sure, and the power target seems to match the form factor they have chosen. So they also lose a bit of performance to maintain a good balance of heat and noise with such a small unit. But at some...

    Sure, and the power target seems to match the form factor they have chosen.
    So they also lose a bit of performance to maintain a good balance of heat and noise with such a small unit.

    But at some point, is it a good deal to pay double the ps5 to have the same performance ?

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I would say competitive maybe in this form factor section of the market, but I've found 3 prebuilts (in my other comment) which are at near the same prices (1099€), but are way more powerful to...

    I would say competitive maybe in this form factor section of the market, but I've found 3 prebuilts (in my other comment) which are at near the same prices (1099€), but are way more powerful to run games.
    Like probably 50% more performant.
    So I don't think theses prices are reasonable

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Steam Machine prices revealed, starting at US$1049.00 in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Just to put some comparison, theses prebuilts in France (which are often more expensive than the american counterparts): 1099.99 €: CPU 5700X, GPU RTX 5060 1099.99 €: CPU 5700X, GPU RX 9060 XT...

    Just to put some comparison, theses prebuilts in France (which are often more expensive than the american counterparts):

    All 3 have 16 Go of RAM, prebuilts from reputable builders in France (I bought 3 PCs with their parts picker tool that they assemble themselves before shipping)

    All of these 3 will have in the ballpark of 50% perf more than the Steam Machine.

    So I don't know where this notion of reasonable price comes from

    6 votes

  8. Comment on What are your favorite custom games? in ~games

    aleb
    Link
    Kind of a stretch, but I've been kind of jaded by most style of maps from Trackmania (the 2020 one). The die and retry kind of play-style still works, but I don't have the appeal of launching a...

    Kind of a stretch, but I've been kind of jaded by most style of maps from Trackmania (the 2020 one).
    The die and retry kind of play-style still works, but I don't have the appeal of launching a Track of the Day or Weekly Short anymore, as either the style of blocks or decoration still feels kinda stuck to a certain style.

    But I've found a particular creator: Aries__90, and I feel they captured a special appeal of having tracks that are either targeting a somewhat realistic setting, or just unexpected decorations that serves as weird playgrounds that are not already optimized and known from 20 years of trackmania experience.
    In no particular order, some recent tracks that I particularly liked:

    The list could continue for so long, I think I've played all of their maps. And it has been my sole reason to boot the game now

    Special mention to the_random_one with his series of port of old Need For Speed tracks, my favorite would be NFSIII - ROCKY PASS - Stadium, but all are just so fun.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on 'Bloodborne' video game getting R-rated animated movie adaptation in ~movies

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Did not had these issues on latest stable release (v0.15.0). I did all the "fixed" chalice dungeons, finished all game zones except the fishermen village in the DLC. And I did experience crashes,...

    Did not had these issues on latest stable release (v0.15.0).
    I did all the "fixed" chalice dungeons, finished all game zones except the fishermen village in the DLC.
    And I did experience crashes, but not reproducible via a specific attack or combo that me or enemies did.
    Do you run some of the randomly generated chalice ? Maybe I missed a specific enemy.

    The main thing for me is that I have to restart the game once I move into too much different levels of the game.
    I only have 10Gb of VRAM (3080 sigh..) and even though I have enough performance to run the game at 1440p with 90+ fps patch, I have to keep an eye on the task manager running behind the game at all times to watch the VRAM graph and restart the game when I see it would crash my desktop.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on AI was eroding trust in my classroom — so I got rid of typed papers and bought my students notebooks instead in ~life

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Isn't it a problem only when writing absolutely everything ? Like doing a transcript ? I can only speaks from my point of view, but I never encountered a class where I needed to write everything....

    Isn't it a problem only when writing absolutely everything ? Like doing a transcript ?

    I can only speaks from my point of view, but I never encountered a class where I needed to write everything.
    Whenever I handwrote something for my studies, it was always by summarize and rephrase what I've listen to, and choosing actively what was important to take note of, and what was optional to note.
    And I don't remember one time re-reading my notes in details. It was a tool to help my brain re-connect information together.
    The act alone of handwriting became a good way to remember the information I've just learned for way longer.

    5 votes

  11. Comment on Listing for GOG Galaxy developer cites Linux as “next major frontier” in ~games

    aleb
    Link
    If I understand the position description correctly, the windows GOG Galaxy client is a native one ? Like C++ WinAPI client ? Because day to day this doesn't feel like it. Steam is now using mostly...

    If I understand the position description correctly, the windows GOG Galaxy client is a native one ? Like C++ WinAPI client ?
    Because day to day this doesn't feel like it.

    Steam is now using mostly an integrated chromium under the hood to display the Library tab and it still manages to be miles away better in input latency/navigation speed than the GOG Galaxy client.

    It always felt very sluggish to use it, so I wonder what choices made them have this result.
    And while I will appreciate a client on Linux, third party clients will still have a good justification even just for interacting with our gog libraries.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Alternative to Spotify? in ~music

    aleb
    Link
    I'm a user of Deezer and Bandcamp. The later being my principal one, and I've attempted to use Quobuz recently for its streaming service (was using it to buy FLACs 10 years ago, still have them...

    I'm a user of Deezer and Bandcamp.
    The later being my principal one, and I've attempted to use Quobuz recently for its streaming service (was using it to buy FLACs 10 years ago, still have them available to stream/download).

    I can say I vastly prefer Bandcamp to listen and discover new musics, because you can not only follow artists, but labels and users also!
    And you receive one email for each new release of the artists/labels you follow, plus a list of the recent purchases the users you follow made.
    Its a great system to have an automatic recommendation system that doesn't feel like an algorithm and still will propose you music you would never find yourself.

    But the problem is that artists that produce their albums through labels not present on Bandcamp will not have their albums there.
    So you still need to have another service to discover them.

    I use Deezer for this purpose (not much in my case 513/7,823 tracks apparently in 2025, but depending what you listen to, you will have to go there a lot or not at all).
    And also when I want to listen to the same album more than 3 times (6 times if you use the incognito trick) before buying it on bandcamp.

    I want to use another service for it to better remunerate artists in these rare cases, so I've tried Qobuz from this video of Benn Jordan.
    But the problem is smaller artists that want to publish their work on streaming platforms uses online distributors that are supposed to upload them to all streaming platforms, but their "coverage" vary a lot from one to another.

    I have a list of random tracks that I keep in a playlist on Deezer, and when doing a proper search of all artists/tracks names on Qobuz (transfer playlist websites don't work very well).
    I found that ~10% of my tracks were not available on Qobuz.

    I would like to try the Soundcloud paying tier, since I go there sometimes to find mixes and random remixes, but their sound quality for the paying tier is not even 320kbps mp3, so I never dipped into their paying tier.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on US Democrats successfully strip all anti-trans riders from final appropriations bills in ~lgbt

    aleb
    Link
    What does "riders" mean in the phrasing: anti-trans riders ? This is not so clear as a non native english speaker.

    What does "riders" mean in the phrasing: anti-trans riders ?

    This is not so clear as a non native english speaker.

    4 votes

  14. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I'm in the same camp, where Doom (2016) was perfect in the level of attention you have to pay to your munitions/health/armor. Doom Eternal felt like you needed to be on adderall to even follow...

    I'm in the same camp, where Doom (2016) was perfect in the level of attention you have to pay to your munitions/health/armor.
    Doom Eternal felt like you needed to be on adderall to even follow what you need to do at which moment to just get by.
    And for the most part, of what I've seen of the streams and videos, Doom The Dark Ages seems to be different, but still needs this adderall level of attention to get by. So I would worry if I were you.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Japan unveils human washing machine, now you can get washed like laundry in ~tech

    aleb
    Link
    Literally the beginning of Roujin Z! Can't help but think that this would probably be reported differently or not at all if it were not for "Japan do ___"

    Literally the beginning of Roujin Z!

    Can't help but think that this would probably be reported differently or not at all if it were not for "Japan do ___"

    1 vote

  16. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tildes

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I would advise to not use extensions that touch elements on the page if you also use ublock origin: https://nitter.net/gorhill/status/1033706103782170625 There is already good filters built-in...

    I would advise to not use extensions that touch elements on the page if you also use ublock origin: https://nitter.net/gorhill/status/1033706103782170625

    There is already good filters built-in against these cookies notice in the filter-list:

    • in chromiums: chrome-extension://cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm/dashboard.html#3p-filters.html
    • in firefox: moz-extension://95b8f18c-673a-44ab-8068-2b8e47037a03/dashboard.html#3p-filters.html
    6 votes

  17. Comment on How to customise status icons in Android 16? in ~tech

    aleb
    Link Parent
    I had to search for "enable DND" to understand what DND is, do not disturb apparently. There are other nice things with the possibility of reducing the quick actions in the roll down menu to a...

    I had to search for "enable DND" to understand what DND is, do not disturb apparently.

    There are other nice things with the possibility of reducing the quick actions in the roll down menu to a square instead of a big half width button.
    So we can finally have more than 4 buttons in the quick first roll down page.
    I would have prefered the old 3 buttons by rows in the android 13-14 days (can't remember) but better now than before.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Cell phone advice in ~tech

    aleb
    Link
    I you want some really sturdy phone with an extremely large battery with Android basic with no bullshit, you can look into a Doogee phone or Ulefone:...

    I you want some really sturdy phone with an extremely large battery with Android basic with no bullshit, you can look into a Doogee phone or Ulefone:

    I've taken just two random example, and the ulefone is quite pricy, but the enormous capacity of battery justify it a little bit.
    And so it means there are probably less pricy options with less battery, but > 5000mAh should give you at least 1 full day of good usage with remaining battery.

    I did have a friend that had a Doogee one I think, and with its 12000 mAh if I remember correctly it was also used as a battery bank for other phones.

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without an online account in ~tech

    aleb
    Link Parent
    For the online install, I can only see cons: https://www.osnews.com/story/143376/dark-patterns-killed-my-wifes-windows-11-installation/...

    For the online install, I can only see cons:

    And to still install a windows 11 version without MS account requirement:
    Using this tool to generate a certain .xml https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/
    I don't exactly remember the steps remaining, but it should be:

    • Download the official iso from microsoft
    • Usage of a certain tool to put the xml generated by the tool above into the iso
    • Use this modified iso with your bootable usb
    • Get a setup that don't include the online account requirement.
    4 votes

  20. Comment on I need headphone/mic recommendations for gaming before I rip my hair out in ~tech

    aleb
    Link Parent
    Most of the people I've played with used combined headset+mic, and most (including me) have had the change in mic volume happens. Without restarting the computer, just one day a set volume, then...

    Most of the people I've played with used combined headset+mic, and most (including me) have had the change in mic volume happens.
    Without restarting the computer, just one day a set volume, then another day you must change the volume again in windows.
    And its not even consistent in the back and forth. Sometimes I have to use the windows boost to +20db with the other slider at 100%, sometimes I have to set it to +0db, and put the other slider to 75%.
    The only friend I know with a mic setup does not have this problem :/