u/NuXCOM_90Percent

Yeah.GoL is all about that blogspam. But the real question will be what next month's stats are.

I'm explicitly not going to link to it as I can't personally vet how safe it is or its origins but:

No. Check the various issues related to the subject matter. And hobbyist threads on sites like resetera.

Yeah. If you just want HDR, Cable Matters is the way to go.

If you buy one and flash it with a sketchy firmware, you can get VRR. But my understanding is the HDR is a smaller range. How much that matters when the vast majority of games aren't taking advantage of HDR is up to you.

Personally? I love how much HDR pops. I more or less need VRR to not have to care about frame tearing and the like. And when I am running games on an underpowered glorified AMD NUC (or, in my case, ACTUALLY an AMD NUC)... my framerates are neither high nor stable.

In the sense that we have dongles/docks, sure. In the sense of monitors with native USB-c input? These are still fairly rare as the accepted pattern is that your dock has an HDMI/DP port and you connect via that (which actually is a very good pattern for laptops).

As for TVs? I am not seeing ANYTHING with usb c in for display. In large part because the vast majority of devices are going to rely on HDMI. As I said above.

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I'll also add that many (most?) of those docks don't solve this problem. The good ones are configured such that they can pass the handshake information through. I... genuinely don't know if you can do HDCP over USBC->HDMI as I have never had reason to test it. Regardless, it would require both devices at the end of that chain to be able to resolve the handshakes to enable the right HDMI protocol which gets us back to the exact same problem we started with.

And the less good docks can't even pass those along. Hence why there is a semi-ongoing search for a good Switch dock among users and so forth.

Not that easy.

To get HDMI 2.1 support for the Gabe Cube itself essentially requires kernel level patches. Which on a "normal" Linux device is possible (but ill advised) but on these atomic distros where even something like syncthing involves shenanigans to keep active week to week? Ain't happening. Because HDMI is not just mapping data to pins and using the right codecs. There are a LOT of handshakes involved along the way (which is also the basis for HDCP which essentially all commercial streaming services utilize to some degree).

There ARE methods (that I have personally used) to take a DP->HDMI dongle and flash a super sketchy Chinese (the best source for sketchy tech) firmware to effectively cheat the handshakes. It isn't true HDMI 2.1 but it provides VRR and "good enough for 2025" HDR at 4k/120Hz. But... I would wager money that is violating at least one law or another.

So expect a lot of those "This ini change fixes all of Windows 11. Just give money to my patreon for it" level fixes. And... idiots will believe it since you can use a dongle to already get like HDMI 2.05 or whatever with no extra effort. And there will likely be a LOT of super sketchy dongles on AliExpress that come pre-flashed that get people up to 2.09 (which is genuinely good enough for most people). But it is gonna be a cluster.

And that is why all of us with AMD NUCs already knew what a clusterfuck this was going to be.

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There are also ways to fake the handshake in software. I personally did not try that but from what I have seen on message boards? It is VERY temporary (potentially having to redo every single time you change inputs on your TV/receiver) and it is unclear if the folk who think it works actually tested anything or just said "My script printed out 'Handshake Successful', it works with this game that doesn't even output HDR!"

Ballparking but it will likely take closer to a decade than not for that to actually happen... and I am still not optimistic. And there are actually plenty of reasons to NOT want any kind of bi-directional data transfer between your device and the TV that gets updated to push more and more ads to you every single week.

The reason HDMI is so successful is that the plug itself has not (meaningfully?) changed in closer to 20 years than not. You want to dig out that PS3 and play some Armored Core 4 on the brand new 8k TV you just bought? You can. With no need for extra converters (and that TV will gladly upscale and motion smooth everything...).

Which has added benefits because "enthusiasts" tend to have an AV receiver in between.

The only way USB C becomes a primary for televisions (since display port and usb c are arguably already the joint primary for computer monitors) is if EVERY other device migrates. Otherwise? Your new TV doesn't work with the PS5 that Jimmy is still using to watch NFL every week.

Wooo. Was worried when the icon didn't have "gamepad + touchpads" but the "ai generated render for legal purposes" did.

Time will tell on the ergonomics. But Valve know their shit and the Steam Deck is genuinely pleasant to use so I assume the size and angle should mean the d-pad and face buttons are still fully usable. Rather than the mess of a switch controller where only the tiniest of hands can use them without cramping.

Currently leaning "three steam controllers, maybe a steam frame when we know more" since I already have an HTPC under my TV.

Eww.

The touchpad are amazing but do not replace an analog stick or dpad. If this is legit, it is going to be the steam controller 1 all over again where it really is only good for games without xinput gamepad support

The only companies that can really compete with Valve for scale are MAYBE Asus. And if they just release approximately the same SKU as Valve or one with minor updates they can maybe get some market share but... why would you not buy the Valve one in that case?

So we instead get a case where they leverage something closer to their gaming laptops SKU... and the price goes up a lot. Although, to be clear, 1k for a "gaming laptop" is actually a REALLY good price... which is why gaming laptops are a stupid purchase.

And that mostly just leaves the Aya Neos and GPDs of the world. They more or less paved the way for Valve but they just can't produce (and import) at scale to compete so you mostly get niche SKUs that specifically target a type of gaming (often emulation) or come with keyboards everyone hates and so forth.

Which sucks because I really would like there to be competition to encourage Valve to keep pushing the envelope... and Valve would likely like it so they don't have to release a new gameboy every other year.

Opinions are like assholes. Some people's are covered in shit because they are too stupid to clean up after themselves.

Just to be clear: if someone has actively shown growth then I am all for them moving past shit (obviously the amount of growth required depends on the level of shitty before but). James Gunn being kind of the poster child for that where he was an edgelord dipshit when he was younger. But every time that comes up, almost everyone around him makes it clear that he has grown significantly and he owns up to it every time.

Like... look at idubbz. I, and many others, aren't sure if we can ever actually "forgive" him considering how much abuse we received because of people directly quoting his hate. But he also (at least briefly. Not sure what he has done since) made it a big point of actually APOLOGIZING. And... getting a lot of shit and hatred from other youtubers who refuse to apologize for their shittiness for whatever reason (shoutout to moistcritical for breaking his apolitical stance to aggressively insist Ian didn't need to apologize for slurs and bigotry...).

Contrast that with "he said the N word a lot a few years back but hasn't done it recently" with no indication beyond that.

Yup. We see this with StopKillingGames too where it is "Well. So what if asmongold literally advocated for genocide and ethnic cleansing? He is on our side and that is what is most important!".

pewdiepie I think mostly fell off the past few years so no idea if he has shown any sign of growth. But it is still a GREAT message to say "Racism is less important than my OS of choice"

3d printed guns/ghost guns are a whole different mess that can be trivially solved by controlling the barrels. People underestimate how much material science goes into making a gun barrel and can just look at any documentation on The Troubles for how often pipe guns exploded in the hands of those who use it.

Also, people don't like it but that can also be more or less trivially solved through simple (basically computer vision but) AI/ML that can detect if you are printing a glock or if that cavity is the perfect size for an AR-15 fire control group. And companies like Bambu are already doing everything they can to lock down slicers to proprietary software that will make this easy.

but in taking that obvious step, one would create a situation where acquiring guns through less traceable and safe means becomes easier than the ways that can be tracked, which is rarely a good thing if you want rules to actually be followed.

Which sounds like a good thing to me. I would much rather people have to have technical know how (because printing that STL you bought on the fun site is not as easy as you would expect. Old Vice had a great video on this) rather than just buying a gun at walmart or one of the many "untraceable" guns that "fell off the back of a truck" on their way to said walmart.

I am also a fan of controlling ammunition (buy as much as you can shoot at the range but you need to keep it there) but it really doesn't take much ammo to wipe out a kindergarten class.

I think an evaluation is just unreasonable considering how overworked mental health professionals are. I would genuinely hate it if someone who wants to get better and work out some issues can't because there is better money in talking to the gun nuts.

Nah. I am a firm believer in chains of liability. Kid shoots up a school? Whose gun was that? Dad? Dad is now liable for a pretty major charge. Oh? He didn't keep it locked up in a safe? Who sold Dad that gun? Herman? He better have ALL his paperwork in order and he better have followed every single required step to make sure Dad knows how to store a gun properly and has a gun safe and so forth. He didn't? What distributor did he buy that gun from? And so forth.

Obviously US biased, but we put more effort into making sure someone buying a car has insurance than we do making sure someone buying a gun even understands why keeping "one in the chamber" is one of the dumbest things you can do.

So pass that on. Because if that guy who wants a people killer gives bad vibes? That isn't just your license mister gun store man, that is potentially your freedom if he goes after the woman who turned him down for coffee. And if you are a gun company and you sell to sketchy stores that "lose shipments" all the time? You might not be a company the first time a serial number is run. Suddenly EVERYONE starts caring about actually doing due diligence.

And obviously that model is incredibly prone to racism and bias. But that also matters a lot less if the guy who will sell a gun to any white man with a swastika on his neck goes to prison after the first murder.

Again, fuck that.

"Sorry our trans friends. We would love to stop saying you are going to hell and are inhuman but doing so might mean we do even worse stuff in the future. Hey, don't forget the alms basket, You... probably shouldn't be in our churches but you can go to this website and give us money anyway"

You'll understand if I honestly don't care if a fundamentally hateful and harmful org broke up.

If "maybe we should stop supporting transphobia and rape and..." will kill an org... that org probably shouldn't exist at all.

I mean... he spent some of his final hours with jd vance. Doesn't get more hellish than that.

Friendly reminder: Great for a pope is still a transphobe who actively facilitated the rape of children. Not to mention all the horrific colonizer shit.

Rest in piss Frankie boy.

It isn't quite that easy.

The US is a MASSIVE part of basically every luxury industry and isn't insignificant in many others. So while alternate trading partners can be found to handle stuff like lumber, plenty of industries are going to be hit real hard and not have alternative customers. And they aren't going to just want to lower their profits for national pride.

But yeah. I REALLY hope trump is just actively destroying the US either in the name of putin or just out of anger and spite over not winning in 2020. Because the alternative is that we are all going to suffer so fucking much because that piece of shit doesn't understand what tariffs are.

You assume that the republicans and oligarchs actually care about the US being a thriving economy or even country. They don't. They are ripping the copper out of the wall (and the gold out of fort knox...).

Which will basically get it to the same state as Russia and China. The vast majority of the population will be in a really bad way. But those who benefit will likely stick around as they can feel good about being so much better off than everyone around them. And, more importantly the people who CAN consider international travel (temporary or permanent) won't be incentivized to.

Like I said. I can definitely see a path to a North Korea level of lockdown. But we have the template for what "works" and it is Russia and China.