riz's recent activity

  1. Comment on "Layered" music that builds throughout the song? in ~music

    riz
    Link Parent
    Let realized they are all from Australia /shrug/

    Let realized they are all from Australia /shrug/

  2. Comment on Do you always finish games you started? I am overwhelmed with the amount of available games. in ~games

    riz
    (edited )
    Link
    We're definitely talking about single player games right? In that case, I finish the full story mode or the campaign 90% of the time if its a game I actually enjoy. If I don't enjoy the game,...

    We're definitely talking about single player games right? In that case, I finish the full story mode or the campaign 90% of the time if its a game I actually enjoy.

    If I don't enjoy the game, which becomes apparent after a few hours of play, I uninstall it and don't look back to it ever to try and finish it.

    In case of games I enjoy, I might move on to a different game, but I'll have it in my mind that I didn't finish it and I'll eventually get back to. The game deserves it is what my mind keeps telling me. Also, that need to know what happens down the plot is a driving factor too.

    Adding to that, I was brought up with this mentality by my elder brother that I shouldn't buy a game if I haven't finished the ones I'm currently playing (and it's mostly one or two games at a time). If however, I have bought a game due to a running sale or something, I tend to think this way that if the game is not installed, it's almost like I don't have it - since it's not installed yet. I'll install it when I finish the ones I'm playing.

    Edit: expanding a little further. Currently it's hard to find time to finish many games, and I have slid to a phase where I don't buy the recent titles all that often. Usually games I buy are at least a few years old, lol. This gives me a space where I don't have to play the same games my friends and peers are into at that moment. So I take my own time getting to games.

    However, I do play some multiplayer games, namely dota 2 and sometimes CS:Source, and this is where I put drill down my flag and I won't move it elsewhere. Also however, I shift to playing Don't Starve and the F1 titles (if I have bought it). No rush to play other multiplayer titles, I can only afford so many with time, energy, and financial investments.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on "Layered" music that builds throughout the song? in ~music

    riz
    Link Parent
    Woah. I'm not anywhere close to Aus so I woudn't know about it. Which one are you talking about? I thought most of these songs were pretty niche, at least where I live, and I find it very...

    Woah. I'm not anywhere close to Aus so I woudn't know about it. Which one are you talking about? I thought most of these songs were pretty niche, at least where I live, and I find it very interesting that one of these would get a placement in an ad. I'm guessing the QOTSA ones since they are relatively more famous here; Gorillaz is too but I doubt they would make that place; but most chances being Tame Impala since he's an aussie.

  4. Comment on Tildes and comment formatting, markdown: a quick and dirty guide in ~tildes

    riz
    Link Parent
    That looks very cool. Gotta try it for my self. But how do you manage the symbols with that approach? Like: _, [, |? I guess you could setup something like typing zqlink to give you []() and then...

    That looks very cool. Gotta try it for my self.
    But how do you manage the symbols with that approach? Like: _, [, |?

    I guess you could setup something like typing zqlink to give you []() and then move the cursor between the braces.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Tildes and comment formatting, markdown: a quick and dirty guide in ~tildes

    riz
    Link Parent
    I suggest Unexpected Keyboard for this. It's like the full keyboard but with excellent UX for mobile. It can even <Ctrl+v> to paste, <Ctrl+Backspace> to delete a word, and all that. Typing this...

    I suggest Unexpected Keyboard for this. It's like the full keyboard but with excellent UX for mobile.

    It can even <Ctrl+v> to paste, <Ctrl+Backspace> to delete a word, and all that.

    Typing this comment using it too!

    5 votes

  6. Comment on Book writing self-hosted solutions? in ~tech

    riz
    Link Parent
    Do you simply use Google Docs to actually write in or, write the source in plain-text and have it compiled to a book format. If plain text, which markup do you use?

    I write from my phone, tablet and desktop

    Do you simply use Google Docs to actually write in or, write the source in plain-text and have it compiled to a book format. If plain text, which markup do you use?

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Book writing self-hosted solutions? in ~tech

    riz
    Link
    I was thinking of writing too and if I would start, I would try AsciiDoc for writing the book, and any cloud provider like Dropbox, Google Drive, Nextcloud, etc. I have a Nextcloud instance set up...

    I was thinking of writing too and if I would start, I would try AsciiDoc for writing the book, and any cloud provider like Dropbox, Google Drive, Nextcloud, etc. I have a Nextcloud instance set up in one of the servers I administer, so I would probably choose that.

    Using AsciiDoc allows me to use any text editor to write the content and that's a big plus for me. I can use a Makefile to compile the text document into almost any format, including ebook, pdf, or a webpage. Paired with the auto-sync feature from the cloud storage providers, I think would check all the boxes for me to start.

  8. Comment on "Layered" music that builds throughout the song? in ~music

    riz
    Link
    Dude, definitely try Tame Impala. Might be a low hanging fruit, I'm sure you will find maany progressive rock songs that have that multiple "layers" in them, but a bit earlier than recently I...

    Dude, definitely try Tame Impala. Might be a low hanging fruit, I'm sure you will find maany progressive rock songs that have that multiple "layers" in them, but a bit earlier than recently I found Tame Impala, Flume and Flight Facilities, among others, that have that "layers" effect excellently. These songs might sound a bit pop-py at first, but they have effect of growing into them.

    1. Start with Tame Imapala - New Person, Same Old Mistakes. This one is a bit easier to listen to.
    2. Then go Tame Impala - Let It Happen and see what it unravels.
    3. Then, Tame Impala - Eventually is quite warm to the mind.
    4. Then try Flight Facilities - Claire De Lune. A bit melancholy this one.
    5. Then start with Flume Rushing Back feat. Vera Blue
    6. Then have Flume - Jewel in the background.

    I remember that Gorillaz songs always have that vibe. One that I would like you to try is Gorillaz - Fireflies. It's a bit melancholy as well, but has them layers. You can also try some earlier Deadmau5 tracks and unpeel the levels and layers.

    The Arctic Monkeys songs have quite some layers in them too but I feel their recent ones have very distinct layers that only the Monkeys are putting out currently (I think). On that note, Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) have more of them I think. Try QOTSA - Villains of Circumstance and QOTSA - Un-Reborn Again.

    Try a few of them and let me know if they were ok to your liking... Prioritize the ones in the numbered list. You have now given me the idea of maintaining a playlist of music with "layers" effect. Thank you!

    10 votes

  9. Comment on Tildes and comment formatting, markdown: a quick and dirty guide in ~tildes

    riz
    Link Parent
    I think you can use a browser extension that enhances the current UI/UX of Tildes, much like what RES was for Reddit. Tildes ReExtended should have what you want:...

    I think you can use a browser extension that enhances the current UI/UX of Tildes, much like what RES was for Reddit. Tildes ReExtended should have what you want: https://tildes.net/~tildes/17kq/tildes_reextended_has_been_updated_and_is_also_back_on_the_chrome_web_store_again

    And for iOS, an app is in the works. Surfboard: https://tildes.net/~tildes/17kq/tildes_reextended_has_been_updated_and_is_also_back_on_the_chrome_web_store_again

    Android users... Might feel left out but not necessarily so. Because...

    For the basics like you have mentioned, I think Markdown's syntax is intuitive enough that bolds, italics, strikethroughs don't very strongly suggest an upgrade to the simple Text Field.

    • Surround with one * to add first level of emphasis: italics
    • Surround with two * for added emphasis, i.e. bold
    • Surround with three * for even more... Italic and bold
    • Strikethrough is just two tildes (~): ~~Cut me~~: Cut me.

    Lists, and smalls are simple enough too.

    But I do admit, the UX could improve, if for example I could highlight the parts of text I want make bold, and just press a button to do so. Right now, I can, select what I want to bold, choose Cut from context menu, add the *s, go between the *s and paste.

    On the other hand, If I do put down my preference, it's on the simple text field.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Tildes and comment formatting, markdown: a quick and dirty guide in ~tildes

    riz
    Link Parent
    With the tables in markdown mentioned, I often also prefer the html way. Like OP has mentioned in case of <details>, tables in html have to start with <table> and end with </table>. Each row...

    With the tables in markdown mentioned, I often also prefer the html way. Like OP has mentioned in case of <details>, tables in html have to start with <table> and end with </table>. Each row starts with a <tr> (and optionally end with a </tr>). Each table cell starts with a <td>, and optionally end with a </td>. So here is an example of a simple table in html:

    <table>
<tr>
<th>Heading Col 1
<th>Heading Col 2
<th>Heading Col 3

<tr>
<td>First item, Col 1
<td>First item, Col 2
<td>First item, Col 3

<tr>
<td>Second item, Col 1
<td>Second item, Col 2
<td>Second item, Col 3

<tr>
<td>Third item, Attr 1
<td>Third item, ...
<td>Third item, ...
</table>

    This is how the table looks rendered:

    Heading Col 1 Heading Col 2 Heading Col 3
    First item, Col 1 First item, Col 2 First item, Col 3
    Second item, Col 1 Second item, Col 2 Second item, Col 3
    Third item, Attr 1 Third item, ... Third item, ...

    To me, this style of table looks readable enough in raw text and since each cell data is in its own line, I have the flexibility to:

    • Break down long text in any cell into multiple lines
    • Not worry about how the table looks un-aligned in raw text, since, nothing to align
    • Easily add other html tags if needed, like adding a <caption> tag

    A little disclaimer: I understand that regular users of html (myself included) might scoff at the idea of not closing the seemingly "dangling" tags that were left opened, but I find it passable in this case, since we're all just users here, writing something in a text field; and not in the source code of an html file. Apart from that, the w3c spec also allows to leave <tr> tags opened if followed by another <tr> tag: https://www.w3.org/html/wg/spec/syntax.html#optional-tags

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Tildes and comment formatting, markdown: a quick and dirty guide in ~tildes

    riz
    (edited )
    Link
    A quick one on tables too. To have a table, just draw (I mean, type) something out that looks like a table but use the pipe character (|) to denote the start and end of a column. | Tables | Are |...
    • Exemplary

    A quick one on tables too.

    To have a table, just draw (I mean, type) something out that looks like a table but use the pipe character (|) to denote the start and end of a column.

    | Tables | Are | Simple |
|--------|-----|--------|
| Some | data | here |
| More | data | for example |
| Some | *light* | **markdown** too |

    The first line will render as a heading row in your table (as it should). The second line, which is also mandatory but easily missed, defines how the data in each of the columns should be aligned, but we discuss more on alignments in the next example. You can use additional spaces before and after the cell data to make the pipe characters look aligned, but it's not important at all. So, this is the table the above markdown yields:

    Tables Are Simple
    Some data here
    More data for example
    Some light markdown too

    Now for the example with alignments specified on the columns. Note, the colon (:) characters that are now there in the second line:

    | Tables           |     Can be    | Optionally Aligned |
|------------------|:-------------:|-------------------:|
| First column is  |  left-aligned |              $1600 |
| Second column is |    centered   |                $12 |
| Third column is  | right-aligned |                 $1 |

    If a colon is present on both ends of the dashes (-), as is on the second column, then all the values in the column will be center aligned. If the colons are present only on the right, or left side of the dashes, then they will be aligned respectively. Note that left alignment is the default so no need to mention colons in that case. This gives us the table:

    Tables Can be Optionally Aligned
    First column is left-aligned $1600
    Second column is centered $12
    Third column is right-aligned $1

    As an aid, I often use this online table generator: https://www.tablesgenerator.com/markdown_tables when I want my raw markdown tables to also look aligned, or when I'm not sure where I might have done something wrong.

    The Tildes doc on text formatting does cover most of what is said here but I felt like we could be slightly more wordy here. Tildes doc: https://docs.tildes.net/instructions/text-formatting#tables

    A slight word about the syntax discussed... It's not necessary that this exact syntax, or even tables at all will work in other platforms that also support Markdown . The original Markdown spec is very ambiguous about what it supports (and even how it supports) but it clearly does not support tables. The CommonMark spec (which Tildes uses) gets rid of Markdown's ambiguity and makes the original Markdown spec more standard, but it doesn't support tables as well. Tildes makes tables supported by using at least one CommonMark extension. With that said, this syntax is the most popular one as is used by GitHub, GitLab, Reddit, etc. It's safe to assume that wherever Markdown tables are supported, this syntax should work.

    11 votes

  12. Comment on TIL that you can have a "chiptunes" like music play when GRUB (bootloader) loads in ~comp

    riz
    Link Parent
    Excellently nice! Reminds me of Steam Deck's boot screens. These in the video are all Valve made, but you can definitely have custom ones too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EPSfhkT6qk

    Excellently nice!

    Reminds me of Steam Deck's boot screens.

    These in the video are all Valve made, but you can definitely have custom ones too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EPSfhkT6qk

    1 vote

  13. Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games

    riz
    Link Parent
    Wow, never thought turn-based games could be played by email! That sounds excellent! It seems even the Civilization supports it too! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Play-by-email_video_games

    Wow, never thought turn-based games could be played by email! That sounds excellent! It seems even the Civilization supports it too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Play-by-email_video_games

    2 votes

  14. Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games

    riz
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    You are absolutely right with your difficulty gripes. The hitting a wall on the next level feels all too familiar. To top it off, every single unit under your control feels very valuable, and even...

    You are absolutely right with your difficulty gripes. The hitting a wall on the next level feels all too familiar. To top it off, every single unit under your control feels very valuable, and even more so when you roll back to a previous save and they each now have a role to play. You may choose some to be sacrificial so that some particular units make it to the next episode (with more experience).

    Another edge to leveling up of units is that some can even evolve into either of two or three choices. For example, your regular ranged unit could either evolve into one that has increased damage and range, but also into one that gains a new ability, like stealth, for example. And often times you are not sure which one to select until you have played the next episode...

    The day/night mechanism you point out is excellent and makes the gameplay have more edge. That reminds me, the terrain on which your unit, vs your opponent units stand is also very impactful. Your unit might be standing on the edge of a cliff (a high ground) thus having more damage and awareness over enemy units reaching you. But the enemy has a better chance to surround you from more sides and overwhelm you.

    The gameplay does get quite intense and every single move, especially of the enemy's, feels quite thrilling. Easily makes a free time slot of an hour consume like 4 hours. The thrill, however, is another driving factor to get back into the game every now and then.

    Edit: Just remembered that "range" here is a bit different and that it does not increase.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games

    riz
    Link Parent
    That's quite the testimony for this game! Woah

    iPod touch

    That's quite the testimony for this game! Woah

    3 votes

  16. Comment on TIL that you can have a "chiptunes" like music play when GRUB (bootloader) loads in ~comp

    riz
    Link Parent
    Sorry I'm not being able to offer help on your situation, but in my case it plays through the AUX out speakers without any additional tweaks. If I even unplug the speakers, it plays through the...

    Sorry I'm not being able to offer help on your situation, but in my case it plays through the AUX out speakers without any additional tweaks. If I even unplug the speakers, it plays through the built-in laptop speakers. :/

    2 votes

  17. Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games

    riz
    Link
    I started playing "Battle for Wesnoth" and find it terrific! It's a Turn Based Strategy game based on a fantasy setting. Types of clans include Elves, Humans, Orcs, Undead, and a few others I have...

    I started playing "Battle for Wesnoth" and find it terrific! It's a Turn Based Strategy game based on a fantasy setting. Types of clans include Elves, Humans, Orcs, Undead, and a few others I have not discovered yet. The mechanics is very in depth with very different play styles depending on the clan. The AI is very challenging but the difficulty level can be changed. Note that even on an easy difficulty, first timers will find quite tough situations and this comes from a guy who is quite experienced in strategy games. There are multiple campaigns and each campaign has quite interesting and intriguing stories too. The game also supports user submitted campaigns and stories.

    Best part of it, imo, is that it does not require much of a modern or a decently configured PC. Any PC should be able to run it. Next best thing is that it's Open Source and in the Arch repos.

    I must admit though, I completed only one campaign so far (they can be quite lengthy) and 20% my way through another.

    Before this I have played strategy games like: Civ 4, Warcraft III, Diablo II, CnC Tiberium Wars, Red Alert and Valkyria Chronicles.

    Recently, it got added to Steam as well: https://store.steampowered.com/app/599390/battle_for_wesnoth/

    Official page: https://wesnoth.org/

    31 votes

  18. TIL that you can have a "chiptunes" like music play when GRUB (bootloader) loads

    ~comp Text 177 words
    I had to use the Arch Linux live boot usb today and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a short beepy music play when it got booted. It felt quite welcoming! In my particular case, it served quite...

    I had to use the Arch Linux live boot usb today and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a short beepy music play when it got booted. It felt quite welcoming!

    In my particular case, it served quite useful too as my laptop currently does not have an internal display, and nothing shows up on the external HDMI monitor until after the OS boots up, so it was quite reassuring as well.

    I have now configured my GRUB to play a small sound as well (since I have multiple bootloaders installed).

    How To

    1. You need to edit the config file /etc/default/grub.
    2. If you simply un-comment the line starting with GRUB_INIT_TUNE, it will enable the default tune which is a single and very short "beep" sound.
    3. Or, you can edit that line to have it how you want. Some suggestions: https://jdnash.com/api-makers/grub_init_tune-necropolis/
    4. Then update the grub config (requires root): grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

    And you're done.

    Relevant Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Play_a_tune

    30 votes

  19. Comment on TIL that in vim, you can press <C-Tab> (or g<Tab>) to jump to the last accessed tab page in ~comp

    riz
    Link Parent
    I am on swaywm (i3 alternative that supports wayland) and actively use vim's tabs as well. I mostly write backend code using the Django Framework and using the same vim instance but with multiple...

    I am on swaywm (i3 alternative that supports wayland) and actively use vim's tabs as well. I mostly write backend code using the Django Framework and using the same vim instance but with multiple tabs allows me to maintain the same project's overall context but also have divisions based on the program logic.

    Note that Django allows for multiple apps running in the same project (more about that at the bottom). So down the years, this is how I have now come to use Vim's tabs:

    1. Have the first tab open the main project's settings and url config files.
    2. Have another tab open an app's view logics and url configs (that are written in python)
    3. Also have separate a tab for template files that will be processed by the views (which are mostly html and javascript).
    4. Sometimes, I also have ReactJS code that are in the same Django project, so a separate tab for them too.

    Since they are all of the same project, but varying logic and even language, I do find vim's tabs very useful. Having said that, I do use my WM's windowing to manage other vim instances that are used for other, separate. editing tasks.

    More on "apps" and "project" in the Django Framework:

    A project is the whole webapp/website basically. This project can have smaller functional parts, like a live chat service; a payment gateway; user profiles, etc. These can be separate "apps" of the same project in Django speak.

    1 vote

  20. TIL that in vim, you can press <C-Tab> (or g<Tab>) to jump to the last accessed tab page

    ~comp Text 71 words
    Previously I used to have this in my .vimrc: if !exists('g:lasttab') let g:lasttab = 1 endif nmap <C-Tab> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<CR> au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr() Courtesy of:...

    Previously I used to have this in my .vimrc:

    if !exists('g:lasttab')
  let g:lasttab = 1
endif
nmap <C-Tab> :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<CR>
au TabLeave * let g:lasttab = tabpagenr()

    Courtesy of: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2120168

    But while going through the help docs today, I stumbled across this mapping and am glad to find that this now exists by default. When it got added, however, I don't know.

    18 votes