text_garden's recent activity
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
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Comment on November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
text_garden Link ParentThanks for the shoutout and I'm glad you like Acid Web! You're right that the music is generated, using a template-based system that generates compositions, and a drum machine and synthesizer that...Thanks for the shoutout and I'm glad you like Acid Web!
You're right that the music is generated, using a template-based system that generates compositions, and a drum machine and synthesizer that plays it back. The sound effects are also all generated. The only thing I'm using recordings for are the individual drum hit samples.
It's quite subtle, especially with some of the built-in synths, but the spider's position on-screen controls the music synthesizer, so the slow modulations you hear are always due to your own movement.
I've been meaing to play NOLF. How are you playing it? Does it work fine on modern operating systems or would I need to patch it? I did enjoy Shogo back in the day, but that's about the only Lithtech shooter I've played outside the Blood 2 demo. I can recommend that if you like the campy mecha anime theme and don't mind a few frustratingly difficult sections (which I'm guessing you don't if you're still enjoying Acid Web :))
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Comment on Suggestions for uses of old computer hardware? in ~comp
text_garden LinkRun a copyparty-based NAS!Run a copyparty-based NAS!
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
text_garden Link ParentThanks! It's only side loading for now, but once development slows down a bit I will try to get Portmaster to accept it. I'll give it maybe one or two more weeks depending on feature requests and...Thanks! It's only side loading for now, but once development slows down a bit I will try to get Portmaster to accept it. I'll give it maybe one or two more weeks depending on feature requests and bug reports. The release package follows all Portmaster convention so it shouldn't be too much work.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
text_garden (edited )LinkI released an initial (fully functional) version of Pocket Acid, my software groovebox for cheap Chinese gaming handhelds (which I last mentioned here). It's all written in Zig and works nicely on...I released an initial (fully functional) version of Pocket Acid, my software groovebox for cheap Chinese gaming handhelds (which I last mentioned here). It's all written in Zig and works nicely on a range of aarch64 devices as well as PCs. There have been some requests for new features, so I've been working through those. Here's a demo and here's the GitHub repository. It seems a success in terms of response and I am happy with the functionality myself, but eventually I want it to support multiple workspaces.
Meanwhile I've also started on my next project: adapting the Rogue clone found in e.g. NetBSD for gamepads and small screens. For those not familiar with the original game, it's a sort of minimal, turn-based, text-graphics dungeon crawler. It's the game which roguelikes are like, if that means anything to you. Verb actions on the environment and inventory are all bound to keyboard keys, making it utterly unsuitable for gamepad control as is. For example, to eat a piece of food, you press 'e' followed by a letter corresponding to an inventory slot. So there's a bunch of stuff that needs to be changed.
The game uses Curses and imperatively presents options and prompts for keyboard input as it goes. Mostly for directions (e.g. when throwing something) or inventory items (like in the eating example above). I'm currently rewriting it so that there is a single
runCmdfunction which accpepts a single command like eat, quaff, wield, move, drop etc. and may or may not return a request for input. It will only perform the action when all prerequisite requests are fulfilled. That way I get a lot of flexibility in terms of how the presentation layer is used to produce commands and fulfill requests, and I can drive the main loop myself instead.The next step is to replace Curses with my own implementation based on a virtual text screen. Rogue only uses some small subset of the full Curses functionality so it shouldn't be too hard.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
text_garden LinkYouTube saw fit to recommend me a live recording of a performance of Frame By Frame by King Crimson, kindling my interest in their 80s stuff with Adrian Belew. So I've been listening a lot to...YouTube saw fit to recommend me a live recording of a performance of Frame By Frame by King Crimson, kindling my interest in their 80s stuff with Adrian Belew. So I've been listening a lot to Discipline and Beat the past few weeks.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
text_garden LinkI played through A Webbing Journey, a physics platformer/puzzler where you control a spider and work through a to-do list of tasks in whichever order you want. The puzzles are with a few...I played through A Webbing Journey, a physics platformer/puzzler where you control a spider and work through a to-do list of tasks in whichever order you want. The puzzles are with a few exceptions very open ended; you don't have to follow some arbitrary sequence of steps along the way towards the end goals but are given great freedom to come up with your own solutions using very satisfying movement and webbing mechanics.
It's in a pre-release state so not all levels have been finished. There are three rooms, in which I've spent 7.8 hours in total, and the developers are planning on implementing a fourth room. Highly recommended if any of that sounds interesting.
I also played Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor but it wasn't so much for me. The environments are very drab looking, the premise just not very interesting to me, all that collect/upgrade cruft on top never interest me and the combat feels disconnected from player actions. I will not say too much, because I don't think I've gotten very far into the game.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed En Garde! which I think is mechanically quite similar to Shadow of Mordor in terms of combat. Despite that, combat felt much more interactive and also quite challenging. The same basic principles apply: you press buttons to block, dodge or attack in response to very clearly telegraphed enemy actions, but enemies don't wait for their turn so obviously and will easily overwhelm you if you let too many get close, so you have to come up with ways to separate them. To that end, the environment is filled with props that can be used to stun, confuse or hurt enemies, and you rely on moving around between these to fight well. The result is very slapsticky, like Zorro tuned to 11.
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Comment on Microsoft is adding AI facial recognition to OneDrive and users can only turn it off three times a year in ~tech
text_garden Link ParentIt seems dubious that you would be shocked by Apple merely following the same continuing trend it has for the ~25 years OS X has existed. They took a workstation OS (NextStep) and for all the...It seems dubious that you would be shocked by Apple merely following the same continuing trend it has for the ~25 years OS X has existed. They took a workstation OS (NextStep) and for all the cruft they added to make it more palatable to general consumers they've never made it not a workstation OS. It's always been a thing for power users as much as anyone else.
I'm not a fan of OS X for a variety of reasons but it seems clear to me that Apple has nothing to gain from alienating a significant niche it's found among e.g. software developers.
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Comment on What makes a game, a game? in ~games
text_garden LinkI think the language in the survey is sometimes too specific and sometimes too broad to support my view. In my view, a game is participatory entertainment based on activity around an artificial...I think the language in the survey is sometimes too specific and sometimes too broad to support my view.
In my view, a game is participatory entertainment based on activity around an artificial premise. Participatory in the sense that you create the entertainment for yourself by participating in the activity, not merely as a bystander. Artificial in that the premise is something you have created or made up for the purpose of that entertainment, not simply a matter of fact that exists regardless.
The premise isn't necessarily a set of rules. It can be supported by rules, but I think many activities which qualify as games don't really have or aren't primarily based on rules. For examples, kids playing cops and robbers.
To elaborate on the idea of an artificial premise, "I have to jump over a hole to get past it" is a suitable premise for a game if there is no hole. Also if there is a hole, but you don't have to jump to get past it". Also if there is a hole, you'd have to jump to get past it, but don't actually have to get past it. On the other hand, if there actually is a hole, you actually have to get past it and you actually have to jump over it to do that, it's not an artificial premise and jumping over the hole is not a game. I use "have to" very loosely here for any incentive other than immediate, personal entertainment.
I guess the most controversial aspects of this definition is that almost all kinds of child's play are games and that professional sports aren't necessarily.
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Comment on Paid e-mail providers - your experiences, how you use them and how I would use it in ~tech
text_garden LinkI use the €3.00 plan on https://mailbox.org It's cheap, it's German, it works with IMAP/SMTP, they have a guide on how to set it and your domain records up.I use the €3.00 plan on https://mailbox.org
It's cheap, it's German, it works with IMAP/SMTP, they have a guide on how to set it and your domain records up.
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Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of November 2 in ~games
text_garden LinkI picked up two older games yestarday, for <2€ each, that can both be played using modern, cross-platform ports: Arx Fatalis, which can be played using Arx Libertatis. It's an immersive, first...I picked up two older games yestarday, for <2€ each, that can both be played using modern, cross-platform ports:
- Arx Fatalis, which can be played using Arx Libertatis. It's an immersive, first person action RPG set in an underground city of a dying world. Based on first impressions it wears its inspiration from the Ultima Underworld series on its sleeve.
- X-COM: UFO Defense, which can be played using OpenXcom. This is a turn-based tactics game that you have probably already heard of if that genre interests you. Widely recognized as a classic, and I look forward to playing it more.
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Comment on Project N - a fork Daggerfall Unity seeking to add all of Tamriel in to the Daggerfall engine in ~games
text_garden Link ParentI think the manual might have implied that you could walk between cities in Arena, but what actually happens if you leave a city and walk for long enough is that the surrounding countryside wraps...I think the manual might have implied that you could walk between cities in Arena, but what actually happens if you leave a city and walk for long enough is that the surrounding countryside wraps around and repeats over and over again. I'm guessing the designers were hoping that hiking players would give up before they noticed.
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Comment on Project N - a fork Daggerfall Unity seeking to add all of Tamriel in to the Daggerfall engine in ~games
text_garden LinkInteresting project, although a lack of land to explore isn't exactly among my chief criticisms of the original game. My main gripe with it is rather that it doesn't use its size very effectively....Interesting project, although a lack of land to explore isn't exactly among my chief criticisms of the original game. My main gripe with it is rather that it doesn't use its size very effectively. I can travel hundreds of kilometers in it, but the ways in which it makes a difference are either very obscure, subtle or skin deep.
That said, I still like that it doesn't shy away from its scale. Towns in later games in the series feel like wild west movie prop towns by comparison: very game-like and oriented towards advancing the various narratives of the game. In Daggerfall they feel more realistic in a way: massive population living in hundreds of houses, most of which are absolutely uninteresting to you because not every NPC and location in the game is there to serve as the subject of some questline. It's just that the quest and dialogue systems don't quite support that level of ambition. NPCs give canned/template responses to every question, the quests are all from a handful of "go to x, get y and bring it to z" type templates. Everything is the same.
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Comment on Wikipedia:Signs of AI writing in ~tech
text_garden LinkIt seems practical that many of the signs of AI writing are also just bad writing, poor communication, non-NPOV, speculation, misattributed statements and so on. Almost all of the examples are...It seems practical that many of the signs of AI writing are also just bad writing, poor communication, non-NPOV, speculation, misattributed statements and so on. Almost all of the examples are already frowned upon on Wikipedia for other reasons.
Having used large language models I also doubt that we're in a "well, that's just the LLM generated text you notice" type situation where there is a significant amount of it without glaring red flags. ChatGPT for example seems utterly incapable of some of the qualities that Wikipedia demand, like not attributing its own speculation to sources that may or may not exist. People are bad at this, too, but not as consistently bad as ChatGPT.
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Comment on Scripts I wrote that I use all the time in ~comp
text_garden LinkGood article, and good thread to keep an eye on! I use the following oneliner to open a document of notes for the day: #!/bin/bash exec $EDITOR $HOME/docs/notes/$(date --iso-8601).txt I'll warn...Good article, and good thread to keep an eye on!
I use the following oneliner to open a document of notes for the day:
#!/bin/bash exec $EDITOR $HOME/docs/notes/$(date --iso-8601).txtI'll warn that it's for GNU date and I don't know that *BSD or busybox implement
--iso-8601.I use this to browse and search my music library with fzf and play back albums using audacious:
#!/bin/bash cd $HOME/storage/musik/shared case "$1" in "") exec fzf --walker=dir --bind "enter:execute($0 play {})" ;; play) audacious "$2" & disown ;; esacThe library is organized in an <artist name>/<album name> hierarchy, and I tend to listen to music in units of albums. Consequently I don't use the library features of audacious.
I also use the following script to synchronize the music library to VLC on my phone (an Iphone) using ifuse and rsync:
#!/bin/bash set -e mkdir ~/iphone-syncmusic trap "rmdir ~/iphone-syncmusic" EXIT idevicepair pair ifuse --documents "org.videolan.vlc-ios" ~/iphone-syncmusic rsync -Lrvu --progress --delete ~/storage/musik/shared/ ~/iphone-syncmusic/shared/ umount ~/iphone-syncmusic -
Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
text_garden Link ParentI challenge you to eat the sea like a soup! Most people can't stomach it; the sea is not food and is generally not edible at all. Even if the ocean had a soup-like quality, that should not extend...I challenge you to eat the sea like a soup! Most people can't stomach it; the sea is not food and is generally not edible at all.
Even if the ocean had a soup-like quality, that should not extend to the things you take out of it, and the arthropods within are only considered food once you take them out of and wash off the "broth" of the sea and turn them into non-soup.
If it were the case that crustaceans are edible because they were once of a soup that is the sea, the non-hypocritical arthropod connoisseur should accept tarantulas and king crickets once they've been sufficiently soaked in ocean water.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
text_garden LinkI think there are too many serious, sensible, and very elaborate takes here. The subway take should be short and inane. The comment section has reduced the concept of "subway takes" to just...I think there are too many serious, sensible, and very elaborate takes here. The subway take should be short and inane. The comment section has reduced the concept of "subway takes" to just "takes".
My subway take is that crustaceans are just the bugs of the sea and that you are a hypocrite if you won't as eagerly slurp on large, land-based arthropod like a tarantula or a king cricket as you would a crab or a lobster.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
text_garden (edited )Link ParentIn English, the base form of a verb (in this case "use" and "utilize") can serve as both the simple present tense (what you call "direct present") and as the bare infinitive (what you call...To "use" or "be using" is normally a present tense activity, whereas "to utilize" means to either be in direct present use or to generally use an item at another point in the past or future. Utilize is timeless, whereas use or using is present... well, use.
In English, the base form of a verb (in this case "use" and "utilize") can serve as both the simple present tense (what you call "direct present") and as the bare infinitive (what you call "timeless"), which is tenseless. Both verbs have that quality, contrary to the distinction you insist on here.
I utilize examples in my arguments.
I am, have, and will, be using examples in my arguments.You can also just say "I use examples in my arguments" to imply, infinitively, that you use examples, just as you did in the sentence before.
Your example also doesn't really make much sense grammatically. You should probably rather write "I am, have been and will be using examples in my argument" since the auxilary verb is different depending on tense.
The difference between use and utilize is as ibuprofen pointed out in a sibling comment to yours.
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Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
text_garden LinkDo you want suggestions or do you want to hear what editors we use? Because I use Vim or other Vi clones for everything text editing related, which answers your question, but per your instruction...So what text editors, or IDEs do you swear by (and please don't suggest VIM- it's overwhelming ;])?
Do you want suggestions or do you want to hear what editors we use? Because I use Vim or other Vi clones for everything text editing related, which answers your question, but per your instruction I won't suggest it :)
I've written about it here before:
I don't regret getting started with Vim and using it for the past 15 years, but I am also wary of recommending it to anyone already content with the way they write code. Especially when motivated by what the "long beards" think.
For me, the most important gain is in ergonomics. The mouse is extremely powerful as a kind of generalized interface for pointing at things precisely, and editors I'd used before leaned heavily on this. You can click and pull a selection precisely over the text you want to select or place the cursor exactly where you want it with relative ease and basically no cognitive load because it's so intuitively analogous to the exact motion of your hand. Vim was the first editor I'd used that felt like it offered a viable alternative to the precision and expressiveness of mouse motions using just the keyboard. That means less reliance on the mouse which is a great thing in terms of ergonomics, especially in the context of typing.
The cost is that I had to build an intuition around the Vim commands, but since I write code several hours a day and intend to do that until I retire, it would easily pay off even if I spent weeks figuring it out to a comfortable level of understanding. Once it's there is there: I now speak a language of motions and commands that apply to motions confidently and without much thought.
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Comment on Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s – PM Mette Frederiksen links social media use to anxiety, depression and lack of concentration in ~tech
text_garden Link ParentHopefully it will only be enacted once EU's zero knowledge proof solution for age verification has been implemented.While I think I agree with banning social media for kids, I still want to know how they're going to enforce this, while also doing it securely. And without further tying my real name to an account, permanently. Discord, or a "support vendor" of Discord that was involved in age verification with govt IDs, just had a breach, including some of those govt IDs.
Hopefully it will only be enacted once EU's zero knowledge proof solution for age verification has been implemented.
Worked some more on my Rogue port for gaming handhelds, but not much. I'm restructuring it all so that you can evaluate a single turn by passing a player command to a function. The function may return a prompt for more input, in which case you call it again with the original command but with the required input data as well. This means that all the keyboard input function calls and internal input-feedback loops using e.g.
getcharneed to be removed.Most of that is actually done now, and I have my own main loop with commands bound to buttons. There are a few y/n confirmation prompts in the game that I need to deal with, but other than that the input functions are gone from the code.
I also removed quite a few commands. For example, in my version you can't rename items, nor can you quick-fight with
forF, The former because I think it's rather pointless given that the game auto-renames items as you discover what they do, and the latter because it's a convenience function that would be less convenient when such things would only be accessible through menus.I've also wrapped all the Curses terminal output functions so I can eventually implement my own subset of Curses tailored for the game. The device I'm targeting (R36S) has a 640x480 screen which should fit the entire game screen nicely, but it's rather small, so I'd like to implement zooming and scrolling.
Most of the stuff I add on top of the game are written in Zig, and the main loop is written in Zig now as well. I've used Zig-C interop before, but this is a nice battle test for me. The ergonomics of that setup so far is great. I also replaced the original Makefile with the Zig build system.