zaarn's recent activity
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Comment on Decidedly Bad - War Of The Spark: The Forsaken - A Magic: The Gathering Novel by Greg Weisman in ~books
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Comment on Decidedly Bad - War Of The Spark: The Forsaken - A Magic: The Gathering Novel by Greg Weisman in ~books
zaarn Link ParentI suspect this is coming from higher up; Hasbro. Hasbro has prevented any sort of non-straight relationships in quite a few of their products, even having a studio retroactively edit out a VA from...I suspect this is coming from higher up; Hasbro. Hasbro has prevented any sort of non-straight relationships in quite a few of their products, even having a studio retroactively edit out a VA from an episode of a show because they received a few complaints.
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Comment on There is no “Linux” platform in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentLinux already has an "app store" in form of package managers. They just suck at delivery apps to average end users (ie people who want to install word and don't care about libaio-perl being...Linux already has an "app store" in form of package managers. They just suck at delivery apps to average end users (ie people who want to install word and don't care about libaio-perl being installed or not).
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Comment on Dungeons & Dragons has made a surprising return to mainstream culture in ~games.tabletop
zaarn Link ParentI have a notebook where I write down interesting ideas from other games. I discuss it with my party if it affects them majorly, otherwise I do it on my own time. For example, I copied over the...I have a notebook where I write down interesting ideas from other games. I discuss it with my party if it affects them majorly, otherwise I do it on my own time. For example, I copied over the weather system from 3.5e since I didn't like how 5e did it. It largely requires just thinking about what the stats in the source game mean and how you could represent them in the target game. Balancing is hard but trial-and-error starting at an easier endpoint is possible.
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Comment on Dungeons & Dragons has made a surprising return to mainstream culture in ~games.tabletop
zaarn LinkAnd I just started to DM my first campaign a few months ago too. Though one shouldn't reduce TTRPG's to DnD, you can pull stuff from a lot of other systems (I borrow some rules from Overlight,...And I just started to DM my first campaign a few months ago too. Though one shouldn't reduce TTRPG's to DnD, you can pull stuff from a lot of other systems (I borrow some rules from Overlight, 13th Age and TDE for my campaign). It's all quite fun.
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Comment on What does PewDiePie really believe? The biggest YouTuber in the world has been accused of being a closet white nationalist and even inspiring mass shootings. He says it’s all a misunderstanding in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentDidn't he do that after media backlash when he donated to that specific organization? And IIRC he wanted to find a different organization to donate to...he's pulling donations from anti-defamation league.
Didn't he do that after media backlash when he donated to that specific organization? And IIRC he wanted to find a different organization to donate to...
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Comment on What do you prefer diesel or petrol? in ~transport
zaarn Link ParentIt's quite a lot worse yes, hence why Diesel has much stronger filters and catalysators on the exhaust, to bind most of the bad parts. Diesel is a very different compound to Gasoline and reacts...It's quite a lot worse yes, hence why Diesel has much stronger filters and catalysators on the exhaust, to bind most of the bad parts. Diesel is a very different compound to Gasoline and reacts differently, in part it's also caused by Diesel engines running lean most of the time (oxygen rich) while gasoline engines can run closer to optimal fuel ratio.
In short, the amount of NOx and PM material a diesel spews out is much higher than a gasoline engine. And that is with the filters, some of which diesel owners just love to remove because they clog up at times.
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Comment on Please recommend me a Linux distribution that is super-stable and never make me install again, but at the same time allows me to have some newer packages with ease (xpost /r/FindMeADistro) in ~comp
zaarn LinkIf you want super stable but also new, I can recommend to take a look at Alpine Linux. But be aware that it is definitely not a distro for the average desktop user as many things not compatible...If you want super stable but also new, I can recommend to take a look at Alpine Linux. But be aware that it is definitely not a distro for the average desktop user as many things not compatible with musl libc won't work.
Otherwise you can also take a look at CentOS Streams or Ubuntu LTS, the later is somewhat more up-to-date but also fairly stable and compatible with lots of software.
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Comment on 'Joker' director Todd Phillips pushes back against 'outrage,' 'far left' criticism in ~movies
zaarn Link ParentJoker already had something like this in form of the Killing Joke, which argues that a horrible villain character and a good hero character are just separated by a single bad day.Joker already had something like this in form of the Killing Joke, which argues that a horrible villain character and a good hero character are just separated by a single bad day.
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Comment on Call me crazy, but Windows 11 could run on Linux in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentYou can't receive faxes from a read-only file because it requires negotiation of the image format and metadata. Sending faxes is also quite the dance to dial the phone number and push the data...You can't receive faxes from a read-only file because it requires negotiation of the image format and metadata. Sending faxes is also quite the dance to dial the phone number and push the data through.
Job Control isn't handled by a computer unless you use a print server, which doesn't handle job control on the printer but on the server itself.
Any of those will require developing a protocol for interacting with the file, which kind of makes the entire thing have at least three times as much overhead as necessary if it just had the appropriate API.
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Comment on Call me crazy, but Windows 11 could run on Linux in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentYeah but a printer is not a file, it's a machine. A teletyper behaves like a file, a printer does not. Modern printers have many more functions than "print text to file".Yeah but a printer is not a file, it's a machine.
A teletyper behaves like a file, a printer does not.
Modern printers have many more functions than "print text to file".
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Comment on Call me crazy, but Windows 11 could run on Linux in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentThe unix process model is overloaded IMO, it could be much much simpler (only tasks, making them lightweight enough that they can double-duty as threads or process), then you can build more...The unix process model is overloaded IMO, it could be much much simpler (only tasks, making them lightweight enough that they can double-duty as threads or process), then you can build more complex models on top that suit your needs. In that model, fork() would be a heavy handed function with no purpose other than sugaring much more low level process creation (in Linux, the fork() syscall simply runs the appropriate proper syscalls in the background. There is no native fork() in the Linux process model).
And I hate to be that guy, but plan9 might be functional and have some good ideas, but it's terrible and writing drivers for plan9 is even more terrible because files are simply not a good abstraction for anything but actual files in a filesystem on a disk. Even networked filesystems like NFS start to creak the model of "everything is a file".
Similar LISP might be powerful and one of the most beautiful languages concepted but the reality is simply that most people don't use it, even after they grasp the concept because other languages provide better models out of the box.
The reason the GPU is access with ioctl's and memory mapping is becase the performance of read()+write() is not nearly sufficient to shovel multiple gigabytes per second to the GPU, as is necessary to drive modern GPUs. A GPU is not a printer, it's an entirely self-contained computer that must be entirely controlled by the driver to work properly. It doesn't even remotely work like a normal CPU, hence a simple file operation already doesn't cover what is necessary.
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Comment on Call me crazy, but Windows 11 could run on Linux in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentYou can do that properly by blocking syscalls like seek() or open() (optionally only blocking non-appending modes) or remove() so that you can only write to the end of the file.You can do that properly by blocking syscalls like seek() or open() (optionally only blocking non-appending modes) or remove() so that you can only write to the end of the file.
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Comment on 'Terrifying' New Climate Models Warn of 6-7°C of Warming by 2100 If Emissions Not Slashed in ~enviro
zaarn Link ParentI didn't say it was good for us or the planet, just that life will pull through even in a worst case scenario.I didn't say it was good for us or the planet, just that life will pull through even in a worst case scenario.
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Comment on Who is "John Smith" in your country? in ~talk
zaarn Link Parent"N. N." is sometimes used. "N. N." is short for "Nomen nominandum", latin for "name to be specified" or "insert name here". Mostly in contexts where the name is not currently specified but will be..."N. N." is sometimes used. "N. N." is short for "Nomen nominandum", latin for "name to be specified" or "insert name here". Mostly in contexts where the name is not currently specified but will be later.
There is no equivalent for bodies in forensics like John Smith/Doe in the US, our forms have a checkbox for "unknown identity".
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Comment on Call me crazy, but Windows 11 could run on Linux in ~tech
zaarn Link Parentfork() is quite a terrible primitive; it does a lot of work under the hood that's almost perfectly contrary to the KISS principle. Ideally you'd use posix_spawn or other calls that let you adjust...fork() is quite a terrible primitive; it does a lot of work under the hood that's almost perfectly contrary to the KISS principle. Ideally you'd use posix_spawn or other calls that let you adjust how memory, resources and everything else is handled. Because 99.99% of the time the defaults that fork uses are bad for performance or security and only in 0.01% of cases (being shell scripts being run by a shell spawning a subshell), you want what fork() does.
"Everything is a file" has also turned out to be not quite that useful. The modern Linux driver stack uses a file to access the GPU, but only really to get the resource handle, then everything moves to special ioctl() calls and memory mapping because files are terrible at being able to do what a GPU does.
Even a simple printer already has different primitives to a file (can't read, can't seek, only write), so IMO Windows isn#t entirely wrong in making these things a separate API that can be more clear and powerful without having to to haggle yourself through the filesystem.
Of course, not to detract, some parts of Windows OS are fairly terrible, yes.
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Comment on 'Terrifying' New Climate Models Warn of 6-7°C of Warming by 2100 If Emissions Not Slashed in ~enviro
zaarn Link ParentEh, oxygen dependent life will pull through, microbes are resilient and extremophiles are the most likely survivors of even the worst outcomes. edit: Most microbes depending on oxygen can also...Eh, oxygen dependent life will pull through, microbes are resilient and extremophiles are the most likely survivors of even the worst outcomes.
edit: Most microbes depending on oxygen can also survive much greater CO2 concentrations, complex oxygen-breathing life is fairly sensitive to a little bit of Co2.
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Comment on 'Terrifying' New Climate Models Warn of 6-7°C of Warming by 2100 If Emissions Not Slashed in ~enviro
zaarn Link ParentWell at least that will solve the source of the problem, doesn't it? Looking at the bright side...basically extinction.
Well at least that will solve the source of the problem, doesn't it? Looking at the bright side...
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Comment on New Wi-Fi 6 certification is officially released, up to 3x faster than 802.11ac in ~tech
zaarn Link ParentWifi has problems other than Speed. It can get very decent throughput but the latency and loss rates are usually less than ideal. A copper cable between two computer will have a fairly good...Wifi has problems other than Speed. It can get very decent throughput but the latency and loss rates are usually less than ideal. A copper cable between two computer will have a fairly good latency with little deviation from average. A wifi connection will at times generate hundred if not thousand times the latency average or drop packages outright. Of course most modern protocols and applications can handle this, so you don't notice.
In part this is something you can't really fix with current Wifi since detecting collisions is impossible. At the moment, Wifi uses CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense multiple access/Collision Avoidance), which means while sending you can't detect collisions and when you're not sending you try to guess the best time for sending without collision. Wifi 6 uses OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), which removes the problem entirely because devices get a frequency slot to send in (and possibly a time slot), a collision isn't a problem for devices on the same network anymore. It is more complex but wifi chips are a lot more complex now so it's not an issue to deal with the vastly increased complexity of OFDMA.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
zaarn Link ParentDoH can be OS-wide too, though tbf, most browsers already ignore the system resolver outright (Chrome/Firefox on Linux/Windows do this) and have their own DNS cache too.DoH can be OS-wide too, though tbf, most browsers already ignore the system resolver outright (Chrome/Firefox on Linux/Windows do this) and have their own DNS cache too.
Suits at Hasbro I bet.