djdarren

This Noodle video on how old games were developed with CRT in mind was absolutely mind-blowing to me.

I have a couple of Linux machines, but I also use a MacBook. It’s been a year now, and every time I use the Mac it kinda pisses me off that I have to hit Cmd+Space to bring up a search. It feels like a massive step backwards.

To give a serious answer to this; I love using an iPod because it’s not a multipurpose device. I can put music on and not get distracted by notifications, or tempted to open any socials apps. It’s a far more zen experience.

Not the current gen. Well, it can act as a trackpad, but that’s not the primary input method. The previous gen, however, did have a trackpad. Again, it could be clicked, but it was generally shittier. The current remote is actually pretty nice.

We bought a 60" LG LCD first. It was too big for our living room, so when the backlight went faulty and we were offered a refund we chopped it in for the 55" OLED, which is basically perfect for our room.

Turns out 5" really can make a difference.

Yeah, it’s not great.

Luckily, we do 99% of our viewing through an Apple TV, and we have a soundbar, so the ATV remote covers basically everything we need.

My 55" 4K OLED LG is the single greatest TV panel I’ve ever looked at. I can’t determine any individual pixels, the blacks are black. I have no issues with it in the slightest. And I see absolutely no reason why any TV of that size should need 4x more pixel density (or whatever it is).

The clickwheel ribbon cable on my iPod mini broke a couple of weeks ago, so at the weekend a friend of me very kindly donated his own mini to me, so I’m back on my iPod bullshit.

iPod gang rise up.

Oh, and if you’re using Linux, or don’t want the hassle of installing iTunes, TunesReloaded seems to be a genuinely great tool.

I really should get around to refurbing the 5th and 7th gen Classics I have too. They’re more versatile than the mini. But the mini is by far and away the easiest to flashmod.

My current Macbook (M2 Air from 2022) can sync with my 4th gen iPod over FireWire if I have the right adapters.

Even if paying for the infra was the most important thing, it isn’t needed anymore with broadband internet access available everywhere now.

Not everyone has fast internet. And in a world where internet access is not a public utility, but people can still receive TV and radio over the air, there is still a need for broadcasting infrastructure. The BBC was founded on the promise to educate, entertain, and inform, and has a mandate to be available to as many people as possible. As such, the maintenance of that infrastructure means that people in the most remote areas of the UK can still receive education, entertainment, and information over the airwaves, regardless of the profit motives of private companies.

I will grant that the BBC is not in the best of health currently, after 15 years of Tory misrule, and the positioning of conservative sympathisers in the highest positions. However, suggesting that private organisations would perform any better denies the existence of Fox News, for example. Private organisations are led by private ideals, and will almost always bend towards the greatest income. Which is understandable. The BBC is still able to speak truth to power. Currently.

The same government that will arrest you for a social media post for being deemed offensive by an unelected beaurocrat

I admit that I don’t know the context to this, but I will say that almost every example I can think of of people being arrested for social media posts is because they posted something inflammatory. The one exception off the top of my head was Paul Chambers, who was arrested for posting a joke about blowing up an airport. He was eventually found not guilty, but taken at face value even that could be (and was) considered inflammatory.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the UK would soon require a license to watch any live streams on the internet even without owning a TV just to make up the lost revenue.

This is pure speculation. There is no evidence to support this concern. That said, you do technically need a TV licence to watch programs on the iPlayer. But that’s all BBC content anyway, so it’s functionally no different than watching it via broadcast.

Given how you translated the cost into $, am I correct in assuming that you’re not British?

Because I am, and honestly, £14.50 a month for what the BBC actually offers is, if anything, not enough. Because it’s not just TV.

The income from the licence fee covers TV, radio, broadcasting infrastructure, and R&D into said infrastructure. It also covers a broad range of community initiatives (several orchestras receive much of their funding from the BBC). And let’s not forget the iPlayer. It may have since been surpassed in utility by some of the other streaming companies, but it was one of the first to offer that kind of service, and for a long time, pretty much the gold standard.

On top of that is the intangible benefits of having a state broadcaster that is, according to the rules by which it is bound, absolutely not allowed to run advertising for commercial products. Other broadcasters in the UK are held up in comparison to the BBC, which means that they have yet to fall to the diabolical levels that commercial broadcasters in places like the US have. If they did, people would switch off.

BBC News can piss up a rope though. Sometimes stories don’t need balance.

You need a TV licence because that’s the funding model for the BBC (and wider broadcasting infrastructure), not because the government want to keep tabs on who has a TV.

I once asked on one of the Linux gaming communities on here for tips on how to optimise my Sunshine on my system because it wasn’t streaming well at all

Got a bunch of shit from several people because I didn’t formulate my post like a proper support ticket.

Haven’t asked for help on here since.

No

Cant I be all of them?

I had the Java version of Opera on my Sony W800 back in 2006. Shit was amazing. I got the full internet on my little candybar phone, and iirc, it even formatted (some of) the pages to fit the smaller screen.

I’m going to finally make use of the Mac mini I have currently doing nothing and turn it into my Home Assistant server. Though that’s more of a nice thing for the older mini that’s currently (sort of) doing it, alongside all the other home server stuff I’m asking of it.

As a 10 year old, this was the best movie I’d ever seen. I watched it again a few years ago, and realised I’d somehow failed to clock that the whole thing is one huge, expensive advert for Nintendo.

But it was still great.

The actual playout software is Mixxx on both, but the underlying MIDI controlling is slightly different. Enough that I’m not 100% on how it works on Linux.

I’ve been using my M2 Air to broadcast a radio show for the past couple of years. It’s basically flawless, even using an iPad as a virtual MIDI controller for some of the faders.

I’m currently in the process of replicating the setup on my Linux PC, and fuck me, it’s proving an arsehole by comparison. I’m willing to accept that a good chunk is just me being far less familiar with the OS than with macOS, but it’s considerably less intuitive when it comes to things like hooking up virtual MIDI controllers and the like. I’ll get it sorted, but I won’t be truly happy that it’s broadcast solid for a few weeks yet, I don’t think.