Octopus Overlords

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:06 pm If you already have a Logitech Mouse, I believe you don't need a second receiver to add a keyboard.

I have several Bluetooth keyboards, from Anker, from Epomaker, and from Uh... Royal Kludge "RK". They all work fine. The Anker is basically a clone of the Apple keyboard, same layout, IIRC, but works cross-platform. The other two are mechanical and can work as both wired and wireless.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0096M8VR2/ You can find keyboards looking exactly the same for $17, 19, whatever. I believe they do take two AAA batteries.

HOWEVER, if this is for a home media PC, I bought my dad this one: mouse/keyboard combo. Technically a trackpad. But whatever. He had a previous one, but it lasted about 2 years before the trackpad stopped tracking. This one is probably the simplest as it comes with its own battery (just recharge MicroUSB occasionally) and has its own dongle included.

Thanks. It is because I need to move my PC into the other room every now and then, but don't use it for gaming when I do. I was thinking about a very basic wireless keyboard for those times, as the logistics of wired in there are kind of headachey.

So the last suggestion would work for the "occasional" user. It's a full keyboard, albeit with funny shaped keys, and a touchpad included that will scroll with two fingers and right click with a triple-finger tap. It works for small typing tasks... i.e. watching Youtube videos and occasional do search terms and/or "skip ad" button pushes.

I have a couple of these Jelly Comb keyboard and mouse sets for my secondary machines. One dongle runs both. the keyboard is small, about 11x5 and maybe 1/2 inch thick. The mouse is also small and thin, no side button. the battery lasts for a really long time, I've had them plugged in for a couple years now without needing to change the battery. I use them a couple times a week.

They go to sleep when not in use, so if its been 15 minutes or so since the last click, you have to click it to wake it up





I like them because of the very small size, so its easy to tuck away when not in use, and the long battery life. I would not use it for a main machine, but for the side computer, its great.

I appreciate all of the input. I have, however, decided not to stick with the project. It was, by the way, moving my gaming PC into the bedroom during the times when the living room was going to be especially crowded for a few days to give myself some peace and quiet, then moving back the other times. Given how much I have been playing VR lately, and given the fact that I have stand dead center in the living room, I thought having a dedicated space during busy times would give everyone a little more space. I have, after all, managed to punch one kid twice and one Michelle once when they were trying to get past me when I was play Beat Saber. I've suggested they get a pokin' stick to let me know when they need to pass, but they haven't done that yet.

It worked, but there were enough limitations to the setup that it didn't work exceptionally well. There were fewer people to avoid punching, but less space overall. It was great for watching 3d movies or for fairly mundane activities, but there just wasn't enough arm room for swingy games like Asgard's Wrath or Beat Saber without punching the desk or ceiling fan lampshade. I may do it on occasion, but it won't be a regular thing.

On the bright side, I did manage to finally clear out the orphaned and duplicate cords from under my desk in the process.

I also removed my speakers entirely. I always used speakers for PC gaming unless I was doing something with voice chat and needed headphones. Just before Michelle and the boys moved back in full-time my old speakers died and I replaced them with a smaller set (2.1, as I doubted I'd have room for satellite speakers with the family around.) Once they moved in, though, I discovered something: noise. Michelle watching TV, Caiden clicking away on his keyboard and talking to his friends on Discord, Ian wandering through talking to the pigeon, etc. I quickly discovered that headphones that block outside sound are the only way I'd be able to hear a game. I haven't had my speakers turned on in more than two years, so today I finally just removed them. I'm not sure what I'll do with them. Hmm... Maybe I'll swap them out for the super cheap pair I have hooked to an old Android phone as a radio in the bedroom.

Yeah, the only way this will work is you manage to pack your entire PC on a pushcart so you can quickly connect it to stuff with cords clearly labelled and who cart "packaged" so it's movable. Not too difficult, but needs to right card, rigging, power connectors, peripheral storage, and all that.

I wasn't too worried about that aspect. I have an extra HDMI cable in the bedroom (using the TV that's in there as a monitor - I just need to be able to manage files now and then) and an extra power cord, and I wouldn't need speakers or my headset. If I grabbed a Logitech wireless KB/M set, all I'd really have to do in the living room is pull the power and the monitor, unplug three USB cables and the net cable. That's about 20 seconds. It's not so far that I can't just lug it into the bedroom - maybe a 30 foot walk. Then it's one USB dongle (KB/M), the power and HDMI cables, and plug in the WiFi antenna. I can do the entire move in about two minutes.

The thing that makes it impractical is just that there isn't enough physical space for a lot of the games I play in VR. I'd be limited to mostly stationary experiences. Nothing that requires a lot of arm movement or roomspace games.

I absolutely believe software designers deserve to be paid for their work. I also understand the legitimate benefits subscription models can potentially provide to consumers. But as someone with limited insight into the specifics, Abobe's move into subscription-only seems so egregious.

I'd heard about it years ago, but few in my personal sphere are into graphic design, etc. The ones who are do so professionally, so can probably justify the cost. If you're someone who would have been buying each new release at full price, it probably makes sense. But Mrs. Nym just wants to make some gifs etc. for her blog. Yes, there are numerous free or one-time-purchase options out there. But the vast majority of tools and tutorials she wants to use are for Photoshop.

Premiere software has never been affordable for casual users. I remember in high school and a young adult in the late 90s and early 2000s, we'd either pirate it, buy an older version, or buy a cheaper alternative (e.g. Paint Shop Pro instead of Photoshop). But while a temporary monthly subscription isn't hard to work into our budget these days, the mental burden that goes along with it is exhausting. OK, I'm going to invest all this time into learning how to use the software... but I'm always going to have to re-sub if I want to use it. Can I justify the cheaper yearly subscription? What if I don't use it? There's a cancellation fee.... It becomes like a gym membership scenario. You can't access it unless you lock in, and then if you fail to use it, it's a weight around your neck.

Subscriptions to music, movie, and game services make sense. They often provide the only legal method of access to huge libraries of content you literally couldn't access otherwise--not on demand. Or they provide access to services and communities that couldn't exist without a constant revenue stream to support them. Sure, we all used to complain about MMO subscriptions, but I think we realized they were necessary in order to bring us the kinds of games we wanted to play. But with design software, office software, etc. (apples and oranges, I know)... most users aren't going to be taking advantage of the majority of features that wouldn't exist in a standalone product. It's the same distasteful choice with Office. $149 for the outdated/barely supported standalone product, what basically amounts to a subscription for life, or using alternatives. And there are many viable alternatives, but because the corporate world runs on Office, they'll never be as convenient.


Yes, this quickly spiraled into a rant. I know it's not quite so simple, but it's just so frustrating.

reddit: GIMP GIFS 101: Start-to-Finish Tutorial on how to make gifs in Linux (or Windows) using 100% FREE software.

Thanks; I'll show that to her, but I think she's trying to do something specific that she claims she'd much rather have Photoshop for. I suggested GIMP initially (not having ever used it much, but knowing that it's the commonly touted alternative), but didn't get a warm reception. I suggested she just go ahead and subscribe for a month to check it out.

Everything I've heard is that the folks in the highqualitygifs sub are very helpful.

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:07 am
I'd heard about it years ago, but few in my personal sphere are into graphic design, etc. The ones who are do so professionally, so can probably justify the cost. If you're someone who would have been buying each new release at full price, it probably makes sense. But Mrs. Nym just wants to make some gifs etc. for her blog. Yes, there are numerous free or one-time-purchase options out there. But the vast majority of tools and tutorials she wants to use are for Photoshop.

Yeah, I hear you. I'm subscribed to the Photography Suite, ie Photoshop and Lightroom, because I've been using Photoshop a lot for with the work I do. But if it weren't for that, I'd probably be using free programs. Adobe at one point still had the non-subscription releases available alongside the subs, but I guess once they figured out they could make more money with subs, they discontinued them.

Thing I've run into in using open-source alternatives that I've been frustrated about is poor documentation and horrendous UI. I'm not dense, but some of these programs, especially when it comes to creative programs, are just not pleasant to use. Inkscape in particular is a god-awful clunker that does things with its UI that make me scratch my head. They just don't seem designed for ease-of-use.

Speaking of alternatives, I was just reading an article on Lifehacker about alternatives.

https://lifehacker.com/13-reasonable-al ... 1846699369

For video editing, I've used Openshot for a bit, but frankly I found it quite limited, unless you were Ok with installing other additional programs, such as Inkscape. And that's another issue I have, that they always seem to rely on external programs instead of doing something internally. For example, with Openshot, you only have access to very basic title editing. Their idea of advanced editing is to throw you into Inkscape without any explanation as to how you're supposed to achieve making a title graphic. I've since moved on to Shotcut which is a lot easier to use.

Subscriptions are creeping into many businesses because they are such GOOD sources of revenue generation. It tends to piss off clients (especially if you switch from a non-subscription model to a sub model, like Adobe), but the fact that many companies STILL do it, shows you how strong it is from a sheer profit-making perspective.

I worked for a start-up in 1999, whose sole product was based on a subscription model - initially CD-ROMs, then online. We were bought out in 2014 by a large publicly traded company (who recently got gobbled up by S&P Global FWIW). From 1999 until I left in 2017, probably the single most asked question I got was "Can I just buy this BIT of data? Can I just buy a report? I don't WANT a subscription! Can I buy usage? Like for a day, or a month?"

I fought with that argument for more than a decade.

Once a business (owner/management) knows what their annual renewal rates are, the ability for them to predict income due to a subscription based model is streets ahead of just selling retail copies, or one time licenses, etc. It's also a lot stickier, in terms of keeping clients.

Lots of other advantages, but bottom line is it's SO good for the vendor, that the blowback from customers who hate it is still not enough to move away from it (usually).

Don't get me started on how clients love getting caught by "auto-renew" subscriptions. Whoooo!

Is there any subscription service that doesn't auto-renew? It seems like the company that went that route would get major accolades for consumer-friendliness. It just seems like such a shitty business practice, yet it's the standard. How hard would it be to offer a choice? And for those who don't opt for renewal, you just send an email reminding them, and invite them back later if they don't re-sub. Making money off lazy or forgetful people is so sleazy. Especially when the cancellation process is intentionally challenging.

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:18 pm Is there any subscription service that doesn't auto-renew? It seems like the company that went that route would get major accolades for consumer-friendliness. It just seems like such a shitty business practice, yet it's the standard. How hard would it be to offer a choice? And for those who don't opt for renewal, you just send an email reminding them, and invite them back later if they don't re-sub. Making money off lazy or forgetful people is so sleazy. Especially when the cancellation process is intentionally challenging.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:53 pm It's also a lot stickier, in terms of keeping clients.

it's easier to make money when you're not being ethical

guess i should say i will never support any subscription-based software that's subscription-based 'just because'. i will stay with the free alternatives forever. (i'm the same with with services as well, with the exception of home internet and phone service. i don't even have a mobile phone subscription, but i will have to change that soon... unless i go PAYGO)

Subscription may not make more money, but it makes the income stream MUCH SMOOTHER for the beancounters.

If you sell software with free upgrades from previous versions, people will buy the cheapest older version license they can find and abuse the free upgrade.

If you sell software with discounted upgrade, people will flood your support line and yell at your support staff when told "this was fixed in the current version" because they refuse to "pay for something I already bought".

People may even wait to buy software anticipating the next version's release. Trying to make a company cough up money for MORE licenses or budget for software upgrade? The first reaction will probably be "why?"

Subscription model is designed to disguise the software upgrade revenue cycle to the beancounters.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:54 pmit's easier to make money when you're not being ethical

Lol yes, I'm just eternally surprised something so slimy is ubiquitous. I don't mean to be naive; like most, this has bothered me forever. I'm taking advantage of this opportunity to protest. Please send a link to this thread to the subscription services of the world. I know it will change their minds!

When I start my own service we will be different.

I have been coming around to the aaS (as a Service) model. In some ways, it's no different than amortizing the cost. Take for example the fact that your hot water heater will last 8-10 years, and would cost you roughly 1K with the install. If my plumber wanted to charge me $100 bucks a year (or even $120) and threw in a yearly inspection after 5 years, that might appeal to me over suddenly having to come up with $$ when my hot water heater dies. It also removes the potential hassle of catastrophic failure which could cause more $$.
365 is a good example of this. My mom makes her living working on legal docs. She's been using a copy of word 2007, and iDrive for backups. The most recent windows 10 update borked her Word and she missed a crucial deadline trying to troubleshoot it. Move to 365, and that's not a problem, and you don't need to pay for iDrive. The sticking point comes in what the aaS price is versus what you're used to as an amortization cost. for my Mom, spreading the cost of Word 2007 over 13 years made it pretty cheap, but missing that one deadline blew away any potential financial upside.

I think it's a question of what the subscription model is getting you. Sometimes, access to consistently supported and updated software may be enough. I'm certainly not against the idea on principle. With games for example, I've always preferred paying subscription fees for MMOs rather free-to-play/freemium business models. (Though I believe the client/"box cost" should probably be free.) I also believe they deliver a better experience than one-time-payment games. Though things have gotten blurry in the age of passes, etc. I also appreciate that the production of DLC allows studios to provide more steady work to artists, etc. (or so they tell us).

When it comes to cell phones, it would be extremely hard for many to budget for device upgrades without carrier subsidies. Though there's also a ton of bloat in that industry (most people don't actually need $1000 and $2000 phones, if anyone does), and wireless providers squeeze you every way they can.

I guess what irks me is the in-between stuff. No, I don't want to have to pay $150 or whatever for Office every three years. But, most people do need access to a work processor at least once in a while. But if you're not a daily user, a month subscription is a hassle. It's much more convenient to just have what you need whenever you need it. So in my case I've usually tried alternatives. Some are better than others. But I'd always run into a compatibility issue or other frustration eventually. The world runs on Office.

I need access to Office or Photoshop every now and then, but not enough to offset the price. Office at $20 per use isn't reasonable. $20 a month to adjust the color on half a dozen miniature photos every couple of months isn't a good value. If I were still writing professionally? Sure, Office is a bargain. But the #1 product is simply not for casual use.

And that's the core of it. The subscription model works for professionals who constantly need the latest version. But for normal people who would otherwise buy a new copy of Office and use it for ten years (I used 2003 for a long, long time), well... I'm guessing that Microsoft (and others) just wanted them to either get into the market of go away. They weren't making any money off of them, after all. It also makes piracy less viable, pushes people to use actual accounts with the companies (with all the baggage for users and profitability for corps to go with accounts), and pushes people onto current operating systems if they want the latest features. You know how they say that if something's free, the product is you? Well the product is still you if you pay.

In other words, it's worth more money, and the only people who lose out were those who the company saw as cheapskates to begin with.

And that's OK. We cheapskates have come to prefer LibreOffice (and it's non-Office cousins) anyway. Less baggage.

Burning cables and stopping the fan is spam

I face burning cables and fan stoping every. Day.

Had some weirdness today. Yesterday, I installed the new Nvidia drivers and I had realized that the drivers I had were pretty old, so I'm glad I did the update. Even had better performance in-game (ATS), so I was glad. Used to have frequent CTDs, but all seemed good, until one particular CTD. Didn't look any different than the others. But as I go to launch the game tonight, it won't launch. In fact it seemed like DirectX wasn't being initialized at all. That was weird. Wanted to check my video drivers, and couldn't find my Nvidia control panel. So, then I go to check and see if there's a new driver to download, and sure enough it starts downloading the latest driver, same as the one I downloaded yesterday. Was almost like there were no video drivers that existed because it took longer than normal, and when I was finally able to bring up the control panel, the end-user agreement came up as if it were the first time. Thinking something got corrupted, but felt pretty random seeing as I had no other issues.

Well, it looks like my convertible laptop/tablet (a Lenovo Flex 5) has died. It's partially my fault - it had a nasty fall five or six months ago that left the touchscreen inoperable and cracked. I was the one who knocked the table over, but a lot of the cause of the accident was the overcrowded conditions in the house.

Over the past few days it has been flashing and losing the image, sometimes going black, sometimes white,and it has been randomly powering off. I tried all the troubleshooting tips, including checking connections, but no luck. It's not really usable anymore.

I have another laptop, but it isn't exactly portable,and the main reason I picked a convertible with a touchscreen was as a reader for pdfs and comics.

Oh well. Such is the way of things.

At least it has motivated me to do a major purge of the house.

Bah Firefox must have updated or something because I got a welcome to the new FF screen and my classic look and tabs are gone.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 7:19 pm Bah Firefox must have updated or something because I got a welcome to the new FF screen and my classic look and tabs are gone.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/1/22463 ... atier-tabs

Not a big fan of those bigger tabs. It kind of feels like we're heading backwards UI-wise. Reminds me of the look Opera once had, which while nice also felt clunky. The previous UI was clean and compact. Now for whatever reason, the System theme I was using is not at all using system characteristics even though the thumbnail looks like it would. Just functions like the Light theme instead. The major problem I find with this UI is low contrast. And the default themes just aren't very good. I had to go look for a new theme just so that I could have better contrast, ended up choosing Arc Darker., which is a bit more like I had it with the system theme before. Dark tabs and light background. I don't like everything light and I don't like everything dark.

It's this one:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... ox-browser

I've been running ibbis persona for years. It's a grayscale theme with a paisley motif. It pleases me.

I've been using SteelSeries headsets for some time now, and I've always liked the company.

Today they became the latest company to replace their basic driver/interface software with a bloated, data-collecting, ad-laden, "gaming center." I want my headphone software to let me adjust settings on my headphones. I don't need it to capture video clips, show me my game library, notify me of sales, show me ads, or collect my data.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:57 am I've been using SteelSeries headsets for some time now, and I've always liked the company.

Today they became the latest company to replace their basic driver/interface software with a bloated, data-collecting, ad-laden, "gaming center." I want my headphone software to let me adjust settings on my headphones. I don't need it to capture video clips, show me my game library, notify me of sales, show me ads, or collect my data.

TBH they really don't care what you want. :/

"Be quiet, silly product! We're trying to monetize you!"

I know. I uninstalled, reinstalled the previous version, blocked it in my firewall and disabled the update service. Then I explained to them what I did and why. I also updated my positive Amazon review into something less positive. It's not much, and probably doesn't matter, but it's cathartic.

The SteelSeries Reddit is fuming now.

I didn't even know they had some software. I've just been using mine via default drivers. I guess that's partly why I really like this pair. Everything is conveniently located either on the headset itself or on the soundcard thingy and does exactly what I need it to do. I guess the software would be more important for those lighted devices.

The charging indicator tends to desync on the models I've had without the software.

Yeah, see mine is wired. I guess I don't have that problem. I don't see myself needing a wireless set. Just plug it in and I'm good to go.

Ive got some Youtube and Google Maps weirdness going on. Been this way about a week.

They both load SLOW. Like YT I click and the page opens but wont load or not fully load. After about 15 sec it loads. I clicked a video and again partial load but nothing fully loads or plays for 15 seconds or so then it will play. If I dont want to wait I simply hit refresh and it instantly loads like normal. But then after that all videos load fine...until I shut the browser down and do it again.

With Google Maps it will also sometimes randomly not load and sit there and finally load. Usually its ok. BUT when Id normally click a road a little thumbnail pic will load at the bottom and I click that to go to street view. But now I click the road nothing happens for...you guessed it...about 15 seconds. Then the thumbnail appears and all clicks and stuff work normal.

Theres some reason for the pause but Im not finding it. Its just Google stuff. All the system works normal but their stuff. Ive changed nothing and this started about a week ago.

I've had the same thing intermittently lately (although I don't use Maps that often, so I don't know about that one for sure.)

Is Audacity going the way of CCleaner? Maybe.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:34 pm Ive got some Youtube and Google Maps weirdness going on. Been this way about a week.

They both load SLOW. Like YT I click and the page opens but wont load or not fully load. After about 15 sec it loads. I clicked a video and again partial load but nothing fully loads or plays for 15 seconds or so then it will play. If I dont want to wait I simply hit refresh and it instantly loads like normal. But then after that all videos load fine...until I shut the browser down and do it again.

With Google Maps it will also sometimes randomly not load and sit there and finally load. Usually its ok. BUT when Id normally click a road a little thumbnail pic will load at the bottom and I click that to go to street view. But now I click the road nothing happens for...you guessed it...about 15 seconds. Then the thumbnail appears and all clicks and stuff work normal.

Theres some reason for the pause but Im not finding it. Its just Google stuff. All the system works normal but their stuff. Ive changed nothing and this started about a week ago.

Unless you particularly enjoy Google's tracking and advertising, I'd recommend using an Invidious instance or Freetube instead, which are basically just alternative front-ends that allow you to watch Youtube content free from Google's spying eyes as explained and illustrated below:

Microsoft threatens to bring back Clippy

The funny thing about the passage of time is that it can make things that objectively sucked seem not so bad in hindsight. For instance, I somehow have fond memories of waking up at 5 am so I could dress in a sticky rain suit and pick tobacco from sodden fields as a teenager; and in a similar vein, Clippy appears to be enjoying a nostalgia-powered uptick in popularity. Microsoft recently released some blast-from-the-past backgrounds for Microsoft Teams that included a loving portrait of the mascot, and now it's threatening to bring its jaunty anthropomorphised stationary back for real.

Okay, I did get the "adjustable" bone conduction BT headset off Amazon. It's... better, but still doesn't quite fit right. It seriously needs to be ANOTHER inch or two larger. The actual adjustable portion barely adds 9mm (thought it was 10 mm) on each side. So basically the transducer is sitting on the tragus, not on the bone "ahead" of the ear. I am debating whether I should return this.

I found a different bone conduction set... that separates the two sides so I am NOT limited by this sizing constraint. Maybe I should get that instead.