Pre-orders that include a Graphics Module with an eligible AMD Radeon™ GPU will receive a free download code for one of the biggest games of the year: Starfield™ Premium Edition. Quantities are limited*, and we’ll be sending out the code prior to the game’s early access launch.
So... I've made a $100 deposit for the pre-order... which is in a batch scheduled for Q4 delivery... but Starfield releases before that. I wonder if they'll send out the Starfield codes before they ship laptops, even though the pre-order deposit is fully refundable?
@[email protected] -- Ooh, saw your post too late this time, but next year check out https://cyclepalooza.ca/event/summer-solstice-overnight-greenway-loop/. It was a blast.
😴
This is a sweet video. Walking through the assembly and QC process is very interesting -- especially details like the DIY model being built by taking apart the built model after QC and removing components. Makes sense, but would have never expected that! Very cool.
One of the concerns I have with the Prime Directive is that it is intended to avoid a "slippery slope" problem, and so it is a very black-and-white rule. Starfleet can't protect a developing civilization from a catastrophic planet-ending disaster... and the core reason is that "interference" can be a bad thing, so we won't ever do it.
There are clearly situations where interference in another civilization would be immoral. There are also clearly situations where it would be moral. We can't possibly figure out those situations and enshrine them into law? We do better today! Homicide is illegal, but there are exceptions like self-defense, and there are mitigating circumstances like causing an accidental death.
The Prime Directive should be much more complex.
Might not make for great TV, though.
Adventuring with Pride -- A aeries of D&D 5e adventures with a focus on LGBT+ themes
A supplement for 5e focused around queer themes and LGBT+ culture. 50% of proceeds go to Stonewall!
I came across these published supplements recently as they one was listed as a winner of the 2023 LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award. They have a series of adventures, as well as pregen characters, and some additional subclasses, monsters, backgrounds, and items.
I'm sure this won't be everyone's jam, but I've been reviewing this content and I'm really intrigued with the settings and culture that it would bring to the right campaign and players. Thought it would be worth a share!
Yeah... yeah, we could. Maybe we should. A couple hesitations -- (a) it makes merges and branches-of-branches difficult, and, (b) on a big PR you'd lose the ability to bisect into it. (b) is probably not a blocker because you'd have to have universally good commit hygiene to get the ability to do a rare thing -- cost vs. value doesn't align well. But (a) is a bit more of a headache.
Thanks for sharing!
I need more RPG material like I need another hole in my head, yet I keep buying it. 😬
Bisecting the Linux Kernel with NixOS
Recently my kernel started to panic every time I awoke my monitors from sleep. This seemed to be a regression; it worked one day, then I received a kernel upgrade from upstream, and the next time I was operating my machine it would crash when I came back to it.
After being annoyed for a bit, I realized this was a great time to learn how to bisect the git kernel, find the problem, and either report it upstream, or, patch it out of my kernel! I thought this would be useful to someone else in the future, so here we are.
Step #1: Clone the Kernel; I grabbed Linus' tree from https://github.com/torvalds/linux with git clone [email protected]:torvalds/linux.git
Step #2: Start a bisect.
If you're not familiar with a bisect, it's a process by which you tell git, "this commit was fine", and "this commit was broken", and it will help you test the commits in-between to find the one that introduced the problem.
You start this by running git bisect start, and then you provide a tag or commit ID for the good and the bad kernel with git bisect good ... and git bisect bad ....
I knew my issue didn't occur on the 5.15 kernel series, but did start with my NixOS upgrade to 6.1. But I didn't know precisely where, so I aimed a little broader... I figured an extra test or two would be better than missing the problem. 😬
git bisect start git bisect good v5.15 git bisect bad master
Step #3: Replace your kernel with that version
In an ideal world, I would have been able to test this in a VM. But it was a graphics problem with my video card and connected monitors, so I went straight for testing this on my desktop to ensure it was easy to reproduce and accurate.
Testing a mid-release kernel with NixOS is pretty easy! All you have to do is override your kernel package, and NixOS will handle building it for you... here's an example from my bisect:
boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackagesFor (pkgs.linux_6_2.override { # (#4) make sure this matches the major version of the kernel as well argsOverride = rec { src = pkgs.fetchFromGitHub { owner = "torvalds"; repo = "linux"; # (#1) -> put the bisect revision here rev = "7484a5bc153e81a1740c06ce037fd55b7638335c"; # (#2) -> clear the sha; run a build, get the sha, populate the sha sha256 = "sha256-nr7CbJO6kQiJHJIh7vypDjmUJ5LA9v9VDz6ayzBh7nI="; }; dontStrip = true; # (#3) `head Makefile` from the kernel and put the right version numbers here version = "6.2.0"; modDirVersion = "6.2.0-rc2"; # (#4) `nixos-rebuild boot`, reboot, test. }; });
Getting this defined requires a couple intermediate steps...
Step #3.1 -- put the version that git bisect asked me to test in (#1)
Step #3.2 -- clear out sha256
Step #3.3 -- run a nixos-rebuild boot
Step #3.4 -- grab the sha256 and put it into the sha256 field (#2)
Step #3.5 -- make sure the major version matches at (#3) and (#4)
Then run nixos-rebuild boot.
Step #4: Test!
Reboot into the new kernel, and test whatever is broken. For me I was able to set up a simple test protocol: xset dpms force off to blank my screens, wait 30 seconds, and then wake them. If my kernel panicked then it was a fail.
Step #5: Repeat the bisect
Go into the linux source tree and run git bisect good or git bisect bad depending on whether the test succeeded. Return to step #3.
Step #6: Revert it!
For my case, I eventually found a single commit that introduced the problem, and I was able to revert it from my local kernel. This involves leaving a kernel patch in my NixOS config like this:
boot.kernelPatches = [ { patch = ./revert-bb2ff6c27b.patch; name = "revert-bb2ff6c27b"; } ];
This probably isn't the greatest long-term solution, but it gets my desktop stable and I'm happy with that for now.
Profit!
I loved Everspace 2. I think if you enjoyed the gameplay of the first one, it's a good bet you'll enjoy it.
I think that the niche communities of reddit work well because of the huge number of people there to find enough niche participants. Lemmy isn't at that point yet.
I'm playing 5e; it's my first RPG. I've wanted to play D&D for most of my life and got a first group together about 6 months ago. Loving it. But I'm very interested in other systems in the future.
PF2e seems great for being similar in style, but having a deep tactical system for combat.
Star Trek Adventurers excites me for giving me a system to be a part of my favourite universe. I've always wanted to be in Starfleet!
And on a very different side of the spectrum, Fate seems to be a game that takes all the tactical RPG elements and throws them out, leaving just the juicy roleplay, characters, and world building. I wonder if the absence of any solid system will leave it a little... "vague"... but I think it would appeal to some players.
I run Wayland on my laptop (a Framework) and it works beautifully. But I still use X11 on my desktop where I'm a heavy Zoom user. The lack of a proper support for screensharing in Zoom is the primary blocker for me.
Wayland is great other than compatibility issues like that.