magico13's recent activity

  1. Comment on Recommendation request: Computer monitor with built-in speakers/soundbar in ~tech

    magico13
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    Honestly I'd look at something like PCPartPicker and just filter to the things you care about. Built in speakers probably aren't going to sound the best but I'm not personally that picky about...

    Honestly I'd look at something like PCPartPicker and just filter to the things you care about. Built in speakers probably aren't going to sound the best but I'm not personally that picky about them myself.

    If your computer is struggling with the current display resolution then going higher won't be of any use, you can reduce the resolution in the game but you may as well stick to a 1080p display or 1440p if you want a bit higher. You might not be able to push a faster refresh rate either but 144Hz is still a nice option and 77Hz at half VSync is still more than 60. Personally I wish I had gone 1440p 144Hz instead of the 4K 60Hz that I did last upgrade.

    Look through this list maybe and consider some of the better rated ones. https://pcpartpicker.com/products/monitor/#F=558800000,685800000&r=192001080&S=1

    1 vote

  2. Comment on The Murderbot Diaries Book 7 - System Collapse just got released in ~books

    magico13
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    Excellent, I was needing a new book to pickup and I'm a fan of this series. Though I should probably get Fugitive Telemetry back from my friends and actually read that one first, then read this...

    Excellent, I was needing a new book to pickup and I'm a fan of this series. Though I should probably get Fugitive Telemetry back from my friends and actually read that one first, then read this afterwards.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on Smart home automation - tip, tricks, advice? in ~life.home_improvement

    magico13
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    Lots of other people here with great advice. I can also strongly recommend Home Assistant. I wish I knew about it when I started with home automation because I would have chosen more local...

    Lots of other people here with great advice. I can also strongly recommend Home Assistant. I wish I knew about it when I started with home automation because I would have chosen more local options.

    For thermostat I can recommend the Ecobee line, I've had three now in different homes and been happy with them. But instead of using the cloud integration to connect them into Home Assistant, use the Homekit integration. That will get you fully local access and way faster updates and you don't actually need any Apple devices for it to work, Home Assistant can emulate a Homekit hub. I still use their cloud in case Home Assistant isn't running for some reason but I use it just as a backup.

    Everything at our cabin is being set up to be local, so it's all zigbee (check out the Home Assistant Sky Connect for a zigbee/matter compatible dongle) or ESPHome. I'm trying to keep Wi-Fi devices down but that's more preference than requirement. Also any Hue compatible bulbs are zigbee and don't need any Hue bridge if you have a zigbee dongle, so that gives you a ton of options for smart bulbs.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Framework Laptop 16 pre-orders are live in ~tech

    magico13
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    Is the 13 inch too big? That seems like a good compromise between size and portability to me. I'd probably get that one if I didn't already have a Surface and a 16 inch laptop available to me.

    Is the 13 inch too big? That seems like a good compromise between size and portability to me. I'd probably get that one if I didn't already have a Surface and a 16 inch laptop available to me.

  5. Comment on City services | Feature highlights #5 | Cities: Skylines II in ~games

    magico13
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    I'm so excited for Cities Skylines 2. I played the first one for a little while at release, then forgot about it for a long time, came back to it around Industries and was amazed at how much had...

    I'm so excited for Cities Skylines 2. I played the first one for a little while at release, then forgot about it for a long time, came back to it around Industries and was amazed at how much had been added to the base game. Then I played it a bunch and bought all the main expansions and it's one of those games where I cycle through playing it nonstop for a while and then taking a break and coming back later to a bunch of new stuff.

    All the talk of the sequel has me wanting to play it again but there's so many things that look improved over the first one that I just want to play the new one instead of trying to replicate it with mods. Plus I have a bunch of other games on my backlog... I haven't tried playing it on my steam deck yet and if the controls aren't too rough I might end up getting pulled back into it.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on How bisexuality changed video games in ~games

    magico13
    Link Parent
    The issue I had with Cyberpunk was that, at least playing as a woman and trying to romance Panam, it wasn't until the end of the "track" that you find out she's straight despite the fact that...

    The issue I had with Cyberpunk was that, at least playing as a woman and trying to romance Panam, it wasn't until the end of the "track" that you find out she's straight despite the fact that she's been flirty with you the whole time. I think the dialog is the same for male vs female PC basically the whole time until the very end. I wish she had different dialog sooner and I didn't have to look up a guide to figure out what I messed up. I'm fine with her being straight but at least be consistent about it.

    17 votes

  7. Comment on The Password Game in ~tech

    magico13
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    I made it to the YouTube video, found one that was close enough to 33:34 to count, but that screwed up my Roman Numerals and elements because of C and W. Then Paul didn't make it. Poor Paul :(...

    I made it to the YouTube video, found one that was close enough to 33:34 to count, but that screwed up my Roman Numerals and elements because of C and W. Then Paul didn't make it. Poor Paul :( Definitely don't recommend playing on your phone like I did. Thankfully when you bold your vowels it doesn't care if you bold everything.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Any people who do not consider themselves part of the "community"? in ~lgbt

    magico13
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    Not to try to assign labels to you or anything, but that sounds more aromantic than asexual to me, in case you do find yourself trying to find like-minded people. I think it's pretty common for...

    Not to try to assign labels to you or anything, but that sounds more aromantic than asexual to me, in case you do find yourself trying to find like-minded people.

    I think it's pretty common for aro and ace people to not really feel included in the LGBTQ+ umbrella since they don't really experience much in the way of discrimination and it doesn't often become a big part of how they identify themselves. I think it is important to have them be recognized because they can have the need to talk with others "like them" in a safe way. For instance, my wife is ace and I'm a cis male (or maybe a transfem, that's a whole other can of worms at the moment) so it puts a strain on our relationship in a unique way that can be more comfortable to discuss with other people who are ace, or she can talk to people who are just discovering for themselves that they're ace and explain how that's affected things for herself.

    Long story short, in general I think the community should be welcoming of just about everybody but not everybody who might fit the labels needs to become a part of the community. If people are happy doing their own thing then that's cool with me.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Purchase a Chromebook or "regular" laptop? in ~tech

    magico13
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    You probably can but I'm not sure what effects that will have on the battery life and stylus support. I'm happy enough with it as a little Windows machine personally and I'm not sure my wife would...

    You probably can but I'm not sure what effects that will have on the battery life and stylus support. I'm happy enough with it as a little Windows machine personally and I'm not sure my wife would appreciate me messing with it that much since she uses it quite a bit as well.

    1 vote

  10. Comment on Purchase a Chromebook or "regular" laptop? in ~tech

    magico13
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    I second the Surface. I got a used one (mine is a 7 that I got when the 8 came out) for relatively cheap with the keyboard cover and stylus and it's my go-to for any situations where I'm either...

    I second the Surface. I got a used one (mine is a 7 that I got when the 8 came out) for relatively cheap with the keyboard cover and stylus and it's my go-to for any situations where I'm either traveling or just doing some light use. And it's more than enough for light development work with VS Code. Way more freedom than a Chromebook, can run "real" applications rather than apps, but you're stuck with Microsoft.