granfdad's recent activity
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Comment on iOpenPod: FOSS iPod management software in ~tech
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iOpenPod: FOSS iPod management software
21 votes -
“Rediscovering” the operating system (AKA: the desktop is the killer app)
I feel as though I have lost touch with the idea of the OS as software. I’ve spent a lot of time looking for that all in one solution. Notes, reminders, calendar, etc. in one convenient app....
I feel as though I have lost touch with the idea of the OS as software.
I’ve spent a lot of time looking for that all in one solution. Notes, reminders, calendar, etc. in one convenient app. Notion first, then AI came and fucked it all up. Obsidian was cool, super customisable, but I found that I don’t really need what it offers, stuff like linking and graph view aren’t that useful to me. The idea of a ‘second brain’ has always been interesting to me, but I could never find anything that made sense.
Recently, the thought hit me… “isn’t an OS just an super all-in-one app?”. This sounds stupid, but I haven’t actually considered the power of—in my case—macOS itself. I’ve just been using it as a portal for all these other bits of complex software, when surely it’s all built in?
Obviously finder would be the core of the system, but does anyone have experience with just… using the desktop metaphor as intended? Folders with files in them, that get opened in a program, and when you’re done, get saved back into the folder. Put things you use regularly on the desktop (or shortcuts to them, to maintain organisation) and delete them from the desktop when you don’t need them anymore. Again, it sounds stupid typing it out, surely the answer is “yeah dummy, that’s how you use a computer!!!!!” but… why do I have obsidian, and the photos app, and all this extra junk?
Going back to obsidian, for example. Surely, textedit (which has relatively simple rich-text editing, as well as plaintext) and some well thought out folders can get me where I need to go. It’s also widely compatible, since I can just… copy a file, should I choose to switch to Linux completely at some point.
I suspect this disconnect is a result of the iphoneification of personal computers, there’s a lot of layers between you and the file when you’re on a mobile device.
So, am I just talking nonsense? Or is it time, after these years of searching, for me to finally start using the computer as a computer again?
41 votes -
Comment on Buying a high-end PC for the first time - help me to doublecheck what I'm buying? Is 4k a bad idea with the specs? in ~tech
granfdad Link ParentYeah, arms length at my desk, 40-50cm sounds correct.Yeah, arms length at my desk, 40-50cm sounds correct.
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Comment on Buying a high-end PC for the first time - help me to doublecheck what I'm buying? Is 4k a bad idea with the specs? in ~tech
granfdad LinkThis very similar to my own build (better actually, I've got 12gb VRAM and a worse CPU), which is hooked up to my 4KTV. If you can handle 60fps upscaled (not too much, though) for demanding games...This very similar to my own build (better actually, I've got 12gb VRAM and a worse CPU), which is hooked up to my 4KTV. If you can handle 60fps upscaled (not too much, though) for demanding games (think cyberpunk, oblivion remastered, etc.) then TLDR it's great.
Upscaling will be a requirement for playing modern games at 4k with 60+ FPS. I really don't like how FSR looks, so I end up using XeSS for most things (DLSS is not an option, obviously). Usually "quality" or "balanced" modes get me where I want to be for all but the least optimised games (looking at you, Borderlands 4!). It's also worth noting that AMD cards have significantly worse ray-tracing performance than Nvidia Cards, if that matters to you.
Depending on what software you're running, just scaling is an option if you reallllly want to boost your frames. I'm running a steamdeck-esque gamescope setup, so I can set the scaling mode to "pixel" to get a perfect 2x at 1080p. It's definitely noticeable, especially on a TV the pixels are quite large, but like with a lot of things you'll probably forget once you start playing (especially if you use that extra headroom to really crank graphical settings). This doesn't work as well at 1440 since it's not pixel perfect, but Nvidia Image Scaling is pretty good and straight bilinear is also okay, if a bit blurry.
As far as resolution is concerned, I would say it's probably not that noticeable below 32in. I have a 1440p 27in and I can only barely discern pixels from where I sit. But, and I cannot stress this enough: regardless of 4k or 1440p, BUY A GOOD MONITOR. Getting an OLED with good HDR is going to be way more impactful than the resolution bump. 120fps at medium settings with beautiful colours and a looking monitor is going to feel better than 60fps ultra RT on some crappy VA panel (ask me how I know, lol). Even if you have to spec down your PC, I would say that having budget space to buy a really good monitor is going to be the most bang-for-your-buck.
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Comment on Scientists gave cocaine to salmon and you will absolutely believe what happened next in ~science
granfdad LinkSkimmed the study but couldn’t find any info on this; how are the researchers getting cocaine? I would assume that’s got some huge risks associated with it. Obviously they’re not buying it in the...Skimmed the study but couldn’t find any info on this; how are the researchers getting cocaine? I would assume that’s got some huge risks associated with it. Obviously they’re not buying it in the way a consumer would, but is there a “research cocaine” producer or something?
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Comment on Doomers in love in ~life
granfdad LinkI’m going to try actually finishing and posting this comment instead of deleting it halfway through writing, because these kinds of issues are always a black hole of endless discourse. Anyway: I...- Exemplary
I’m going to try actually finishing and posting this comment instead of deleting it halfway through writing, because these kinds of issues are always a black hole of endless discourse.
Anyway: I did not like this article.
Immediately, anything attempting to analyse gen-z is going to raise some alarms, it does seem like we’ve been designated a worse fate than millennials: our media criticism comes in the form of well-formatted political opinion pieces rather than the “are millennials ruining x!?” listicles that our predecessors were subjected to. Sure we’re getting more “serious” consideration, but the downside is that people might start to believe this is more than one persons experience with - what seems to be - a bunch of very poorly adjusted people who happen to be gen-Zers. Why are we case studies all of a sudden, when is it our turn to ruin… coffee, or something?
Heterosexuality has been deemed dangerous for as long as I can remember. In the 1990s, before I was born, an influential faction of feminists had already declared heterosexual sex and especially marriage to be marred by men’s structural advantage over women.
I nearly put down the article in paragraph one, because I expected this to be a “friendly-fire” situation. But I persisted and the feeling did not go away, I could never quite tell how the author felt about feminism, or the “doge boys” that they interacted with…
it’s become a baseline assumption that heterosexual women are beleaguered, suffering from a condition not entirely of their own choosing but still incriminating for any right-thinking person: being attracted to ever faultful men.
This is perhaps the case but the author (purposefully?) leaves out that this is more or less the same for men, isn’t the whole conceit of traditional sexism that women are inferior? I find it odd that the author spends so much time bemoaning how much feminism has “ruined” heterosexuality.
Sure enough, in 2024, before and after the election, a rash of splashy journalistic dispatches proclaimed that now was the time for women to cut ties with men completely: the New York Times and the Guardian profiled young women going “boysober,” while others counseled “evidence-based” lesbianism, or joining the gender-segregationist 4B movement originating in South Korea. The campaign continued in 2025 with viral essays like Jean Garnett’s “The Trouble with Wanting Men,” for the New York Times Magazine, in which the author and her female friends commiserate about the unsuitability of even the “good men” in their social circles, and fantasize that they could renounce dating those who belong—no matter how apologetically—to the “tainted category of ‘men.’”
Forgive me for continuing to copy and paste large swaths of the article, but re-read these examples. With the exception of 4B, which seems to never have breached Korea (and of which there is the insane 🤏-related counterpart), these are all seemingly minor things. Counting articles about “viral” movements isn’t the greatest way to quantify real change in the real world, it only really proves that gender wars make good ad revenue (what does this say about the author?)
It’s about here in my comment that I consider deleting the whole thing and moving on with my life, but I made a promise to myself and I’m going to keep it.
In my experience with gen-z, of which I am just about in the middle of, my conclusion is: none of this “heteropessimism” is actually present among people who interact with the real world. This is a purely online pseudo-political issue. I’ve known people who are extremely left leaning, and people who are concerningly right leaning (showing my own bias with that statement, sue me) and nobody genuinely thinks like this. Everybody dates and has sex and breaks up and says “I love you” like every other society in history and it’s messy, because obviously it’s going to be messy. The only people I know that have dating experiences like the ones described, are the ones that exclusively use dating apps, and don’t talk to anyone IRL. Everyone needs to put the fucking phones down.
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Comment on GameDate: An anonymous LFG forum for 'dead' games in ~games
granfdad LinkI got recommended a video on youtube showing off this website, and it seems like a really cool idea! I'm not a biggest fan of the UX, but it's certainly got potential. I'm interested in the...I got recommended a video on youtube showing off this website, and it seems like a really cool idea! I'm not a biggest fan of the UX, but it's certainly got potential.
I'm interested in the "anonymous" aspect of the site, since there's optional profiles. It seems like a good way to reduce friction and let people get into using the site more easily, but I worry about spam. Maybe the niche-ness of the site will prevent that from becoming an issue.
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GameDate: An anonymous LFG forum for 'dead' games
27 votes -
Comment on Bethesda X Nintendo Switch 2 | Reveal trailer in ~games
granfdad LinkStarfield curiously not on the list, I wonder why? Presumably something to do with performance, but that would also apply to Oblivion Remastered? Very interested to see benchmarks, provided...Starfield curiously not on the list, I wonder why? Presumably something to do with performance, but that would also apply to Oblivion Remastered? Very interested to see benchmarks, provided they're not "cloud versions".
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Comment on Clicks Communicator: the ultimate communication companion in ~tech
granfdad LinkFinally a good idea coming out of Clicks! I always thought their phone cases were pretty contrived, and I’m glad to see them stand behind the philosophy with a custom product, rather than just...Finally a good idea coming out of Clicks! I always thought their phone cases were pretty contrived, and I’m glad to see them stand behind the philosophy with a custom product, rather than just peddling the gimmick. Hopefully we’ll see some reviews at some point to see how it stacks up against the limited competition. Fingers crossed it supports custom Android ROMs.
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Comment on Volvo’s quest for safety has resulted in this new, ultra-legible in-car typeface, Volvo Centum in ~design
granfdad LinkI like it, feels as though it has the same DNA as IBM Plex but it's a bit more natural. The caps in particular are really nice, I like the very wide (compact?) C, G, and O. Looking at Dalton...I like it, feels as though it has the same DNA as IBM Plex but it's a bit more natural. The caps in particular are really nice, I like the very wide (compact?) C, G, and O. Looking at Dalton Maag's other high-profile type design projects it seems pretty different to what seems like their "go-to" vibe (something about a few of their 'n' designs seem very samey, though I'm not skilled enough to actually formulate what it is.)
I'm skeptical about the "safety" angle. My understanding is that legibility and readability have significantly diminishing returns after a certain point and I'm not convinced that a pretty formulaic sans serif is going to be any more or less readable than the classics, even stuff like OpenDyslexic seem to have no impact (though this is just one study). Like @creesch says, the UX is going to be the key area for safety and big tablets in centre consoles seem like a great way to prevent muscle memory development.
I wish we saw more of the new console design, because the "Hello Liam, Parked" screen does actually seem like a pretty readable design simply because of the sheer lack of info on screen at one time. That has the issue of forcing your driver to poke through menus though, so it seems like buttons stay winning.
My final thought is that the typeface doesn't really pair well with the Volvo wordmark, though I do fear automaker redesigns.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
granfdad Link ParentI'd love to see you expand on this, because 77 is one of my favorite stories in gaming. That opinion is 75% informed by Phantom Liberty which is leagues better than the base game IMO, but I'm...clearly very badly written, inconsistent, or otherwise make no sense
I'd love to see you expand on this, because 77 is one of my favorite stories in gaming. That opinion is 75% informed by Phantom Liberty which is leagues better than the base game IMO, but I'm still curious what issues you've noticed that I haven't.
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Comment on Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options. in ~tech
granfdad Link ParentI have an LG OLED CX and, after developing a bit of muscle memory, it’s pretty much exactly this. The only buttons I press on the remote are the volume, power, and source buttons - it basically...I have an LG OLED CX and, after developing a bit of muscle memory, it’s pretty much exactly this. The only buttons I press on the remote are the volume, power, and source buttons - it basically never interrupts me except for the source menu the odd pixel balancing prompt. The benefit of having an offline smart TV is that some of the smart features are quite useful, in my case having ARC support means I only need one remote, and there’s a few processing features that are actually quite good for older systems with lower resolutions.
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Comment on Games: Your personal year in review for 2025 in ~games
granfdad LinkI've had a pretty bad gaming year, all things considered: only two true game "clears" over the whole year, Yakuza 0 and Shredders. Yakuza 0 Review 4/5 = :) This was my first Yakuza experience, and...I've had a pretty bad gaming year, all things considered: only two true game "clears" over the whole year, Yakuza 0 and Shredders.
Yakuza 0 Review
4/5 = :)This was my first Yakuza experience, and I'm by no means a 100% player. The game is super easy to get into, even though there's some quirks that hurt the experience.
Narrative
This is a prequel to the first Yakuza game. Prequels aren't always the best way for a newbie to get into a story, but the writers seemed very intentional about making this accessible without knowing anything. You have to make a few assumptions about characters and how the world works, but that's mostly because the story trusts you to get the hang of it without explicit exposition, which is nice. You play as two separate characters, and while their stories do eventually line up, it takes a long time before you get that payoff... it works very well though. The tone of the main story is very intense, teetering on over-the-top without ever dipping too hard into it.The main story is basically all serious, with the comedic elements being confined to the sub-stories. They're a lot of fun, but I never quite felt like I had time to slow down and really chew on some of the side content, it rarely made sense in the context of the main story. Luckily, there's a post-story free roam mode to explore, so this isn't that big of a deal. The side-stories are also the only place for player choice, the main story is on rails. This isn't a bad thing, the story is carefully crafted, but be warned that the characters will make dumb decisions and you will have to sit there and watch.
Overall, the plot is great; it's an emotional power struggle and political mystery told through two badass characters.
Yakuza 0 is unbelievably horny. Just about every sub-story I came across during the main story was sexual in some way, and a decent chunk of the minigames and NPC interactions have some level of horniness (if they're not outright softcore porn). This is mostly side content that you can ignore if you don't care, but it can get tiring. This is mostly a symptom of the fact that this is a beat 'em up gangster game set in the 80's, because the other problem with the story is that there's exactly one female character with any amount of depth. It makes sense since the game is a power fantasy, but it's disappointing that most of the women in the game are some combination of helpless, dumb, and eye-candy (typically all three at once). Also, If you're sensitive to themes of sexual assault, don't play this game because that card gets played a lot. Sure, it's always bad guys doing it, and you generally get the chance to pummel them, but still.
Gameplay
I played this game on easy, since it was labelled as being "for people new to the Yakuza series" and I'm not that interested in gameplay challenge in narrative games. I died a few times, but by the mid game you're so rich that healing items become trivial, and you can tank any fight with a full inventory of them. I was never bored, however, because the combat is super engaging. You've got 3 fighting styles per character for a total of 6 (there's secret fighting styles, apparently, but I did not use them). You're encouraged to switch them around depending on the situation, and they each have unique animations and battle music. Filling your 'heat' gauges and doing special moves is very fun every time, and you upgrade your character with cash you get from fighting (literally 'investing in yourself'), which is super cool. I'm sure that there's plenty of depth if you want to learn all the movesets and strategies, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game as a button-masher. There's quicktime events during combat, with a heavy emphasis on 'quick'. This isn't Heavy Rain, you should be ready to miss a lot of them. There's also has a ton of minigames (bowling, claw machines, disco, karaoke, etc.), and they are all very, very detailed. I would absolutely pay for a Wii Sports style Yakuza minigame compilation.There's a few mechanics that I didn't like, particularly a persistent overworld enemy that... encourages you to spend your money before you encounter him, but the gameplay is super solid overall.
Audiovisual
While not graphically impressive, Yakuza 0 looks great. The warm glow of 80s japan is fun to run around in, and cutscenes are nice to watch. The game has a bad case of NPC-face, though, which adds to the goofiness of the side missions. It runs well, my Steam Deck never broke a sweat on 1080p high, 60fps the whole time.The soundscape is very immersive, all kinds of details that add to the bustling city vibe. Fighting is punchy too, impacts feel good and it's satisfying to hear the health bar shatter when you defeat an enemy.
The soundtrack is good, mostly serving as an emotional aid. There's certainly some bangers in there (the title theme especially), along with some nice mood-music, but not every game can have a god-tier soundtrack, and that's okay.
Final Thoughts
I'm definitely going to keep chipping away at side missions when I'm bored, and I have the subsequent games wishlisted. I'm excited to see where these two characters go. My recommendation is to watch the trailer for the game, then watch a few out-of context clips of your favourite streamer/youtuber playing it. If you like both sides of Yakuza 0's tonal coin, you'll get your money's worth.Shredders Review
5/5 = :DI don't know anything about snowboarding, I have not seen snow in my adult life. With that said, everything about this game is almost perfect.
Gameplay
Gameplay is kinda the only thing that matters in a game like this, and it's extremely satisfying. The easiest way to describe it is this: I have a lot of fun being bad at Shredders. Flicking your analogue sticks to pull off grabs and spins is satisfying every time, and my only gripe is a slightly degraded sense of "precision" in some cases, rails particularly have some trouble with detection. Or maybe that's just a skill issue...There's a whole bunch of missions to conquer, and they're all pretty well designed, though they also lack precision with some of the mission triggers failing to clear. It can be frustrating on occasion, but it's mostly fine and a good way to learn the game.
Narrative
The Shredders campaign is awesome. It's completely silly and has zero stakes, voice acting and dialogue is bad across the board and I love it, it's very very charming (love you little scotty!). The only thing that would make it better is if there was more of it, and more back and forth between the characters.Audiovisual
Shredders looks great, it's not photorealistic but it's more than good enough. Performance is pretty mid, which is a bummer but I can get a solid 40fps on my steam deck and 60+ on my PC. I wish there was a night-time mode.The UI is where the art direction of the game shines, it's the perfect modern evolution of the pro-skater-esque edginess. Super clean, bright, contrasts great against white snow and blue skies.
The soundtrack to this game is "Nowhere, now here" by Jennifur. It's got a clean-ness that matches the visuals perfectly, but there's not much of it so it gets a liiiiittle repetitive.
Final Thoughts
If Shredders 2 is this game with more polish, more meat, and better performance I will be a happy happy camper. It's worth full price if you like these kinds of sports games, and it's worth sale price for just about everyone.I'm also working on the Ace Attorney Trilogy on 3DS at the moment, having recently started Justice for All.
This year I've tried to cut out mindless entertainment from my life to varying degrees of success, but I'm still struggling with actually putting focus and effort into my non-creative downtime, which sucks because I feel like I'm missing out on all kinds of awesome games/films/shows etc. I picked up a PS3 recently hoping it could get me over my graphics/performance/optimization obsession which seems to take over my gaming time, so I'm hoping to work on that until the Steam Controller comes out, after which I'll switch back to gaming on my HTPC. That and a few games from the 3DS library are my goals going into 2026. If anyone has any tips for just shutting up and playing games I'd love to hear them.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
granfdad Link ParentI think that’s part of the reason I’m worried. Going free is a tactic that means they’re going to have to make up that cash somewhere else (or some other time), rather than just providing a...their intentions read pure to me. They want to compete with Adobe.
I think that’s part of the reason I’m worried. Going free is a tactic that means they’re going to have to make up that cash somewhere else (or some other time), rather than just providing a product that is genuinely better than adobe and charging for major updates. I’ve seen too much enshittification of freemium software to be optimistic about this.
Plus, you can turn off telemetry, and it doesn't phone home on startup, I checked.
That’s pretty awesome, certainly a selling point for me compared to the adobe suite.
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Comment on Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model in ~design
granfdad LinkFree software this advanced, owned by Canva, is too good to be true. This is step one in Affinity's enshittification.Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.
Free software this advanced, owned by Canva, is too good to be true. This is step one in Affinity's enshittification.
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Affinity V3 is here with a new freemium model
30 votes -
Comment on Millennials: How do you feel about nostalgia pandering? in ~talk
granfdad Link ParentI cant tell if this is an uplifting statement or a very grim one… two things can be true at once, I suppose.I cant tell if this is an uplifting statement or a very grim one… two things can be true at once, I suppose.
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Comment on Supermarket rewards card- yes or no? in ~finance
granfdad Link ParentThat makes sense, and I suppose the last few years has shown that supermarkets don't really care about finding an excuse to raise prices...That makes sense, and I suppose the last few years has shown that supermarkets don't really care about finding an excuse to raise prices...
Found this awesome tool, I've been using it to to sync podcasts since the itunes implementation simply does not work. One of the final problems with using iPods in the modern day is the reliance on iTunes, since you're either macOS or Windows bound (and windows has a lot of problems), hopefully this gains traction! Rockbox already exists, but I find that the apple firmware is much more intuitive and simple.
I figured this might spark some more interest in iPods for the tildes users that try to maximise FOSS usage :]