bonsai_angel's recent activity

  1. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2025) in ~health.mental

    bonsai_angel
    Link Parent
    Wow you should probably just tell her now huh?

    Wow you should probably just tell her now huh?

    9 votes

  2. Comment on When is the last time you made a new friend? That lasted. in ~life

    bonsai_angel
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    I try not to think about it

    I try not to think about it

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Victories and challenges: An A[u]DHD community and support fortnightly thread #5 in ~health.mental

    bonsai_angel
    Link Parent
    That's basically how I feel about it. I don't find a lot of value in telling people who I am, even when it comes to what I spend my time doing. The "no labels" attitude everyone used to have is...

    what would the label be for, other than as a heuristic for other people to box me into a set of their own prejudiced expectations?

    That's basically how I feel about it. I don't find a lot of value in telling people who I am, even when it comes to what I spend my time doing. The "no labels" attitude everyone used to have is looking pretty appealing again these days. You know, as long as I remember to apply it to myself, and not use it as yet another way to judge the people around me. Or try to control how they think of me. Damn there's really no way out is there.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on What happens when a Windows virus runs on Linux? in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    (edited )
    Link
    The only safe way to install old games is to use retail discs, or verify disc images using redump.org. You can check the hash of your downloaded disc image against the hashes on redump, but you...

    The only safe way to install old games is to use retail discs, or verify disc images using redump.org. You can check the hash of your downloaded disc image against the hashes on redump, but you need a tool to do so. I use teracopy on my windows xp machine. Look on archive.org for disc images with "redump" in the title, and the hashes will usually match what is in the redump database.

    Patches and no-cd cracks are more of a problem. I would love to learn how those cracks actually work, and how to validate them to make sure nothing malicious is going on, but I haven't gotten around to it.

    As for wine, if you run it with user permissions it can access anything on your system that your user can access. A virtual machine is safer, but remember that the guest OS will usually have access to your network by default, which isn't safe at all.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Working on a ~2008 dream gaming computer running Vista (in an old server) in ~comp

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    I don't consider it dangerous running an outdated operating system on my network. You have to be a lot more careful about what you install, and what websites you go to, but being connected to the...

    I don't consider it dangerous running an outdated operating system on my network. You have to be a lot more careful about what you install, and what websites you go to, but being connected to the internet by itself isn't really a problem. Just make sure upnp is disabled on your router, so you're not forwarding any ports to the vista computer. You can also see if your router has a "guest network" feature, where computers on the guest network are allowed internet access, but no access to the other computers on the LAN. Vista would go on the guest network.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Looking for a low-profile desktop gaming PC in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    Link Parent
    I love that they managed to fit a full-width video card in there sideways. Make sure you get all the ram you want, because it only has 2 slots for laptop-sized ram modules.

    I love that they managed to fit a full-width video card in there sideways. Make sure you get all the ram you want, because it only has 2 slots for laptop-sized ram modules.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Looking for a low-profile desktop gaming PC in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    (edited )
    Link
    I bought one of these lenovo slim towers recently. It's the only smaller form-factor machine I could find at that price range that had 32 GB of ram, a 1 TB nvme, and a respectable processor. You...

    I bought one of these lenovo slim towers recently. It's the only smaller form-factor machine I could find at that price range that had 32 GB of ram, a 1 TB nvme, and a respectable processor. You can run it on its side without covering a vent, but there are no rubber feet, so it will slide around if you don't put something under it. I haven't tried gaming on it. And I don't know what the market looks like for low-profile video cards, but they do exist, if you need to upgrade. Fans are quiet when idling but can get loud under heavy load.

    edit: You would need a video card to play a game like killing floor 3. See the game benchmarks at the bottom of this notebookcheck review of the integrated graphics chip. I would probably put one of these in there, but you'd have to make sure the power supply could handle it, and I'm not totally sure every low-profile card will come with a low-profile metal bracket, which is essential.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Trying to fully ditch Windows for streaming. So close, but this audio issue is breaking me. in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    That blog post makes it sound like the nvidia 960 gtx won't work in windows 11, which isn't true. I don't know if you're switching to avoid a hardware upgrade, but win11 apparently requires WDDM...

    That blog post makes it sound like the nvidia 960 gtx won't work in windows 11, which isn't true. I don't know if you're switching to avoid a hardware upgrade, but win11 apparently requires WDDM 2.0 which is associated with the direct3d feature level 11_1 onward, according to the chart on this wikipedia page: Feature levels in Direct3D. The 960 gtx is from the maxwell generation, and they all support feature set 12_1, so they're in the clear.

    I'd recommend keeping the linux machine around as a side project and continuing to use windows until your audio issues clear up. You can bypass the TPM 2.0 check in windows 11 if you create the install media using rufus, and if you still want to avoid win11 altogether, you can install windows 10 iot ltsc and keep getting updates until 2032.

    edit: Sorry, I know these kind of answers are annoying. But I've built a lot of linux machines over the years, and problems like the one you're describing will drive you completely insane. Better to take your time with it if you can.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on The future is Niri in ~comp

    bonsai_angel
    Link Parent
    Let me know if you find a good bare-bones config+style that doesn't need to be dissected and put back together to get it to work. I'd be happy if it just looked like the i3 status bar, but even...

    Let me know if you find a good bare-bones config+style that doesn't need to be dissected and put back together to get it to work. I'd be happy if it just looked like the i3 status bar, but even getting vertical separators between modules requires some css hacking. I guess the buttons are fine as an alternative, but it's crazy that you can't just change all those colors on one line, or even one section of the css file. It looks like it's all styled by separate button IDs, so you have to change the colors for each one individually! I even saw the :hover pseudo-class in there, containing yet another color.

  10. Comment on The future is Niri in ~comp

    bonsai_angel
    (edited )
    Link
    The first thing I noticed, coming from i3, is how easy and intuitive it is to "absorb" a window using the left and right brackets. Niri immediately puts the active window below the window next to...

    The first thing I noticed, coming from i3, is how easy and intuitive it is to "absorb" a window using the left and right brackets. Niri immediately puts the active window below the window next to it, both in the same column, and the other windows flow into place alongside it, at full height. Learning how to create this layout in i3 is like learning vim.

    edit: Niri is great, but the recommended "waybar" (the status bar) is offensive. You either have to deal with an extremely ugly default design, or be immediately tasked with downloading themes and editing custom css.

    2 votes

  11. Comment on Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on 'soft' fascism, AI and the effects of shamelessness in public life in ~humanities

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    He makes a good point about hypocrisy being preferable to the shameless pursuit of every political desire. Though I'm not sure it is preferable. The lie was already so obvious before the...

    He makes a good point about hypocrisy being preferable to the shameless pursuit of every political desire. Though I'm not sure it is preferable. The lie was already so obvious before the politicians realized they don't need to bother coming up with lies anymore.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on Bluetooth receiver with a sane low-battery warning? in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I tried the much cheaper FiiO BTR11 ($20 on amazon) and it got to 10% battery with no warnings, but then it hit me with a "Please charging" every few seconds for another 18 minutes before it died.

    I tried the much cheaper FiiO BTR11 ($20 on amazon) and it got to 10% battery with no warnings, but then it hit me with a "Please charging" every few seconds for another 18 minutes before it died.

  13. Comment on Bluetooth receiver with a sane low-battery warning? in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Confirmed! I ordered the anker soundsync a3352, and ran the battery all the way down without hearing any low-battery warnings. Battery life felt a little short, like you said. No audio problems...

    Confirmed! I ordered the anker soundsync a3352, and ran the battery all the way down without hearing any low-battery warnings. Battery life felt a little short, like you said. No audio problems like I mentioned in another comment.

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Bluetooth receiver with a sane low-battery warning? in ~tech

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    I forgot to mention another totally unadvertised feature on every bluetooth device. I don't know what they call it, but during silences, the audio will cut out, presumably to save battery. On the...

    I forgot to mention another totally unadvertised feature on every bluetooth device. I don't know what they call it, but during silences, the audio will cut out, presumably to save battery. On the bluetooth receiver I currently own, you can hear every time the audio mutes and comes back on. There's a slight hiss while audio is playing, and a slight pop when it cuts in and out. It's only noticeable during podcasts or audio books, when people stop talking for a second.

    You can find other posts online where people complain about the beginning of sentences getting clipped by this feature, which is even worse. A better implementation would only cut audio after a prolonged silence, like 30 seconds or a minute, to save battery when you accidentally leave the device on.

  15. Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2025) in ~health.mental

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    Ah man, I had a long week full of calculus, didn't get a day off, and now it's the next week and there's more work to do. I'm so sad that all the math and physics classes are this boring. It's...

    Ah man, I had a long week full of calculus, didn't get a day off, and now it's the next week and there's more work to do. I'm so sad that all the math and physics classes are this boring. It's weird! There's no reason it should be like this. I love doing all kinds of tedious bullshit, but by the end of it I would usually have some thing that I made, that I can be proud of. In these math and science classes you just go through the motions for somebody else's problems, over and over. Like they designed a maze and you're just running through it. It makes me depressed for real.

    5 votes

  16. Bluetooth receiver with a sane low-battery warning?

    ~tech Ask (recommendations)
    The behavior of a bluetooth device when it reaches low battery is never advertised, and a lot of the time no one even mentions it in the reviews. My experience is that most devices give you an...

    The behavior of a bluetooth device when it reaches low battery is never advertised, and a lot of the time no one even mentions it in the reviews. My experience is that most devices give you an audio warning on repeat until you charge it, which is obviously bad design.

    Can anyone recommend a bluetooth receiver that doesn't do this? I've heard that apple airpods only warn you once or twice, but my preference is for a battery-powered bluetooth receiver that lets me plug in wired headphones. I'm still interested in hearing about other bluetooth headphones though.

    If there's nothing on the market, it might be interesting to try and build something. There must be bluetooth modules you can buy, but I wonder if they would have the same problem. Maybe you can modify the firmware? If anyone out there is hardware-hacking bluetooth devices, let me know.

    14 votes

  17. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    I watched this hour and half long conversation about weight lifting yesterday. It's from an internet/culture/politics podcast, but it's 90% about fitness. Nothing too crazy in there....

    I watched this hour and half long conversation about weight lifting yesterday. It's from an internet/culture/politics podcast, but it's 90% about fitness. Nothing too crazy in there.

    https://youtu.be/Ld2Jr0KUCPw?si=LEGn7g6Z8cHhSCt-

    I never took weight lifting seriously enough to really change my body type, so it was interesting to hear this guy talk about diet, and bulking, and cutting, and also the risks of disordered eating, and drug use. Just kind of a whole world I never got into. But it makes me want to set some higher goals for myself. He sounds like he's doing it right.

    3 votes

  18. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~misc

    bonsai_angel
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    This podcast made me want to go back to being a militant atheist

    This podcast made me want to go back to being a militant atheist

    6 votes

  19. Comment on Joe Biden allows Ukraine to strike Russia with US long-range missiles in ~society

    bonsai_angel
    Link Parent
    Well, no. I didn't vote. But getting my vote isn't meant to be some kind of struggle. You can actually just vote for whoever you want, and it's not a difficult decision for most people. No one...

    Well, no. I didn't vote. But getting my vote isn't meant to be some kind of struggle. You can actually just vote for whoever you want, and it's not a difficult decision for most people. No one needs to feel ashamed or degraded by the process. Democrats mostly voted to protect abortion and immigrants. I would have voted for an end to this war, which I think Ukraine is going to lose anyway.

  20. Comment on Joe Biden allows Ukraine to strike Russia with US long-range missiles in ~society

    bonsai_angel
    Link
    I will vote for the end-of-democracy candidate for the rest of my life if it means no one has to get nuked or fight world war three.

    Trump has criticized the amount of aid given to Ukraine in its fight against Russia and claimed he could end the war in 24 hours, though he has not explained how.

    I will vote for the end-of-democracy candidate for the rest of my life if it means no one has to get nuked or fight world war three.

    2 votes