tomkatt

joined 2 years ago
[–] tomkatt 3 points 48 minutes ago

Don’t forget also that tire pressure increases with temperature. You’re pressure will be higher if the weather is warmer, and will actually increase as you drive. A 30 mile drive could see a 4-5 psi increase.

[–] tomkatt 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This, for sure. Last year I had to get some x-rays and because they weren’t sure insurance would cover it, I saw something like $1600 USD out of pocket. Eventually I got $900 or so back, but it was months later. And this was on top of lab/blood work that only has limited coverage under preventative care, and often costs additional out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of dollars.

Oh and dental coverage being entirely separate, without full coverage, so I pay every few years between $600 and $800 for deep cleaning (periodontal disease, and that cost is with insurance).

And my CPAP stuff being terribly covered only through DMEs that upcharge for hardware and mask equipment to the point since 2017 I’ve paid out of pocket cash or via HSA to get what I need online because that’s cheaper and less hassle.

I can afford it these days and do the needful, but all this stuff is way more complicated and expensive than most can deal with.

[–] tomkatt 3 points 6 days ago

😲😳 That explains so much…

[–] tomkatt 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Consoles are just a consistent standard... Everything is standardized, everything works.

Well, with Steam Deck and supposedly upcoming new Steam Machine, that's a perfectly decent target without restrictive software limitations and closed ecosystems. Plus, PCs are pretty standardized these days in general. Nobody needs to target the high end, and Valve does a hardware survey that's publicly available to know exactly what hardware range is in use (and it's generally the lower end, despite enthusiasts).

That’s ignoring the console support for exclusives

And I'll keep ignoring them because there's no reason for them to exist now, there aren't architectural differences and unique capabilities that make sense for games to be exclusive anymore. That's more of the artificial software restrictions I mentioned. Console exclusives can die in a fire. Even Sony has realized they're leaving money on the table with that crap and releasing to PC.

[–] tomkatt 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I absolutely dig the Steam Deck, but it's not a console in that regard, it's not software restricted in any way, it's just a portable computer with a convenient frontend. But... man, I'm more likely to pick it up than to play on my gaming rig these days, even though both can hook up on the TV. Handhelds are just great.

[–] tomkatt 58 points 1 week ago (6 children)

They’re just undercooked PCs with artificial software restrictions now. Except for the Switch, which is an undercooked TV streamer chip from 2015, also with artificial software limitations.

Hasn’t been anything exciting about consoles in over a decade.

[–] tomkatt 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I have several Ecoflow batteries. Delta, River Pro, and River 3.

No complaints. I’ve used them in power outages. The delta is large enough to power an oil filled heater, and any of them can keep my fridge and network appliances running.

I’ve since gotten solar, but I still keep the portable ones around. The River 3 acts as a UPS and emergency power for my CPAP machine, and the others are still an extra 2kW for whatever I might need.

Asan aside, they also work great for monitoring device power use in lieu of something like a kill-a-watt. I’ve used them intermittently to confirm power draws on devices in my house in order to optimize my power consumption for my solar setup and find inefficiencies in my home.

[–] tomkatt 2 points 3 weeks ago

I’m actually a fan of 100% and no-glitch speedruns. Exploiting the game certainly takes skill, but I enjoy watching people excel within the game’s expected framework.

[–] tomkatt 2 points 3 weeks ago

I love this game so much, can beat it on a single life. Really looking forward to the new Rita’s Rewind game.

[–] tomkatt 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Iku Mizutani was a master for sure. Dude did incredible things with NES and SNES music.

[–] tomkatt 1 points 3 weeks ago

I use the French press and the clever alternating. Recently I’ve used the clever more often though, as I’ve had to cut cholesterol wherever I can, and that includes filtering my coffee.

[–] tomkatt 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Get a french press or clever dripper. Much better coffee, and with the clever, much less mess.

 

New house, was built/finished just under two years ago. I live in a dry climate, have been in my house for two years and only now discovered this. After some recent storms led to water in my window track I found my rear sliding windows have weep holes in the bottom, but they weren't draining.

After a lot of testing (filling the track with water, shop vac'ing it out, blower testing with air gun, suction with vacuum, etc.) I realized the weep holes in the interior of the window track and the weep holes on the exterior have no connection whatsoever. No water goes from inside to outside, and air blowing through exterior hole is felt through other exterior, and likewise with the interior, but nothing is going from interior to exterior. Water in the inside track will drain until the portion underneath fills and then pools up, and likewise, if I spray water in the exterior weep holes, nothing gets to the inside track, but it eventually comes out the exterior weep hole on the other side.

After some research, I found it's not uncommon for this to happen, it's a common defect with these sort of windows and I just drilled into the exterior weep hole with a 1/8 bit until it met the interior channel and sure enough, the water drains out as expected now. Put the window track back in, window back on, and tested pouring water in the track, it's draining perfectly now.


My only questions are, do I have anything to be concerned about with this DIY fix? Since the climate here is normally very dry (high desert, Colorado) and moisture evaporates quickly, I'm not worried about mold, but is there anything to keep bugs from getting in through the weep holes? They're not covered in any way. Also, will there be any winter concerns with the cold in sub-zero temperatures or snow/ice build up?

Apologies if these are dumb questions, but I'd literally never heard of weep holes until this week, with discovering the issue. So not sure what potential issues they might have, and honestly no way to know if I fixed this as intended.

 

Really interesting sh'mup and great soundtrack. I especially like the stage 1 and stage 6 themes. It's amazing what the PC-Engine was capable of with the CD add-on.

Sadly, I'm terrible at it, and have never actually been able to play past stage 3, so good thing the first stage is such a banger. 😅

 

Fantastic game. I love the high energy beat here.

 

The current build of Jelos updated the libSDL from v2600.5 to 2800.1 and it broke a few ports. In particular the ones I know of are Panzer Paladin and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Both are fixed with the instructions below.

I saw in some threads people asking about it so here's the fix:


You'll need a copy of the 7/26 JELOS build or before from the github releases page and copy out the libSDL files from /usr/lib. To do this, you'll need to download the tar archive, then use something like 7zip to extract the SYSTEM file to a folder.

Copy off all the the libSDL2 related files that have a file size (ignore the ones that list as 0kb in size, those are symlinks). All told there are something like six files you need, the 2.0.so.02600.5 file, the ttf file, the image file, gfx file, and mixer.

You need to rename the filesaccording to the SDL2-CD.dll.config set in the game folder at /storage/roms/ports//dlls/

If you prefer, I already have all the correct files and renamed as needed. You can download them in zipped format here.


Once you have the correct files, correctly named, copy them into /storage/roms/ports//libs/

Lastly, edit the game's .sh file in /storage/roms/ports/ to add the following lines:

# # # export path for local libSDL
export LD_PRELOAD=$gamedir/libs/libSDL2.so.0

Add that to the script on its own line. I put it at line 29, after the "Loading... Please Wait." echo output line. Anywhere after the get_controls line should be fine.

If you mess up the file, or run into problems, the full file should look like this one.

From there, save it and run the game. And that should be it.

If you gather the files yourself instead of using the ones from the ZIP I linked and the game loads sideways (in portrait), get the libSDL2-2.0.so.0.2600.5 from the SYSTEM folder in the /usr/lib/SDL2-rotated path instead of /usr/lib, and copy it to your game's lib directory on the handheld, and rename it to libSDL2-2.0.so.0 to fix.

8
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by tomkatt to c/vgmusic
 

This is the Japanese version of Simple & Clean, the opening song for Kingdom Hearts.

Great song, been a fan of Hikki's music for over two decades now.

 

Sorry for double post the same song technically, but I love this version and Tiffany Mann's vocals are great.

 

My man on the drums is killing it in this version. Just watch him yo.

3
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by tomkatt to c/vgmusic
 

This song hits hard, I love it. Main theme kicks in around 28 seconds in.

5
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by tomkatt to c/[email protected]
 

I noticed that darker games on my x55 didn’t look good, like dark tones and blacks were almost inverted looking at stock settings. After a bit of tweaking, setting gamma from default (50%) to 67% got everything looking good.

After checking out a few YouTube videos it seems the gamma level on the display varies between units. I’ve seen it look good on default in some and even up to 100% on one video. Play with the setting and dial it in to what looks best for you.

If it helps I’m currently using:

  • brightness 68%
  • gamma 67%
  • contrast 52%
  • saturation 60%
 

Great soundtrack. This one's the battle theme from Ikenfell.

Also great game. The artwork is gorgeous (it was styled to look like a scaled up GBA game) and the combat system kind of feels like a mashup of Super Mario RPG and Mega Man Battle Network what with the tile system and timed attack bonuses.

 

Technically not game music, but nerdcore based on a game. Does this count? 😅

Terrible game from what I've heard (I haven't played it), but inspired a great song IMO. Mods, feel free to remove if this doesn't fit the theme of the community.

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