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Welcome! 03/05/2016
Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change. If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away. I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
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ChronosCat
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31
Posts posted by ChronosCat
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21 hours ago, Don Edwards said:There are times when I suspect the same thing of my own fiction.
I have access to a multiverse; while this gives me a lot of options it does mean I sometimes when working on a story I have to decide between multiple similar (or not-so-similar) realities.
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https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2022-018
https://www.patreon.com/posts/76265365
I have found my desktop background for the next few days.
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Oh, I forgot another thing about Windows 11 that annoys me: The "Settings" app at first glance seems to offer access to all the settings for Windows, though exploring it, it quickly becomes apparent it's fairly limited. It turns out there's plenty of other settings that you have to go looking for (many of them are still accessed from the old "Control Panel", but that's fairly well hidden now). I wish they had either actually consolidated all the settings in one place, or made it more clear that Settings only has the basics.
4 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:I use one other piece of software by Stardock, called Fences:
https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/
It lets you organize your desktop more efficiently. I would suggest you investigate it as well, if you think it might help.
It looks interesting, but usually if I have enough files on my desktop to need organizing, I figure that's too many and find somewhere else to move them to.
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Early impressions of Windows 11:
I don't know if I'm less flexible these days or the differences are really greater, but it felt much more jarring going from Windows 8.1 to 11 than it did a decade ago going from Mac OSX to Windows 8. That said, after a couple days working with it (mostly setting it up and playing around with settings) I'm starting to get used to it, and it seems decent enough. (On the other hand, most of the other software the laptop came with is disappointing at best, and outright junk in many cases.)
I have two problems with it. One is a bug that might be a problem with drivers or a conflict with the included software rather than Windows itself: when I leave it sleeping for more than a few minutes, when it wakes up all my programs have closed (which rather defeats the purpose of sleep mode). Thankfully this doesn't happen if I tell it to hibernate instead, so until I find a solution I can use that as a workaround.
The other is that I miss how in 8.1's Start Menu you could group pinned items to better organize them. It looks like Start11 adds that functionality back in (thanks for the suggestion, @ProfessorTomoe), so I'll have to check that out.
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6 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:I think we're into "I'd lay money on 'This is Pandora'" territory at this point. I wouldn't bet that with Dan, though, because he could easily change the reveal to win the bet.
Well, only if it was enough money to make redoing his plans worth it. Dan is a perfectionist who likes to plan ahead; changing major story details is no trivial thing for a writer like that.
Also (dropping the question of money), Dan likes to lay out enough clues in advance of story revelations so that people can correctly guess the "twist", and has stated before he wouldn't change the story direction because someone guessed it correctly.
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On 12/18/2022 at 4:22 PM, Zorua said:I keep posting news and observations rather than actual game experiences. Shows you how much gaming I've actually done lately and how I'm really just trying to keep this thread from dying and having to be replaced.
The forums are so quiet these days that I doubt an occasional necro would be an issue.
I've actually played a lot of games this past year, I just rarely think to post about it. Of course, with one exception, they range from "a few years old" to "a few decades old".
This summer, I beat the original Tomb Raider for the first time. The controls were awkward, and I'm not a fan of the combat in it, but when it was focused on puzzle solving and exploration in ancient ruins, it was incredible.
I almost immediately started in on Tomb Raider 2, and was soon quite disappointed. There's a more heavy focus on combat (despite the combat system not having been improved from the first game), and the second stage wasn't even an ancient ruin. I haven't given up on it yet, but (as happened to me many times trying to get through the first game), I got distracted by other games and haven't gotten back to it.
Over the past decade or so I've been slowly playing/replaying through the Castlevania series in story order. This fall, I replayed Dracula X and Rondo of Blood, and played Symphony of the Night for the first time. All of them were fun, but I was a bit disappointed by Symphony - so much of what it did became standard for Metroidvanias that it winds up feeling almost generic.
A couple years ago I started playing through the Mario games (including spin-offs) in as close to "story order" as I could determine. (I was surprised to realize when I first looked into it that the Mario timeline is extremely complicated, with a great deal of disagreement between fans as to the order of the games. And unlike the Zelda timeline, Nintendo has never stepped in to clarify things.) I started by playing the Yoshi games as they're prequels (my favorite of them was Yoshi's Woolly World; the original Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Crafted World were also quite good). I then played the old arcade Donkey Kong series & Mario Bros. (via the "Arcade Archives" on the Switch), then the Super Mario Bros. "trilogy" (including the original Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 via the WiiU virtual console), Super Mario World, Super Mario Land 1 & 2, and now I'm playing Super Mario RPG. (The preceding was just a summary of my play-through; there were a bunch of games I didn't bother to mention - a full list would be quite long.) I don't have a lot to say about them, other than it's impressive how such a huge series has managed to have so many great games in it and so few bad games in it.
I started playing Breath of the Wild for the first time early last year, and finished around September of this year, I believe. It was quite an experience. I know there have been games since that imitated its formula, but I've never played them, so I was able to appreciate it for everything new it brought to the table. I loved how much there was to explore, and that you were pretty much free to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. I also loved climbing all over everything. (I wasn't so fond of how easily most of the weapons and shields broke, though. I think it would have been better if most of the proper non-rusty weapons & shields held up longer, and there was a way to repair them. I also think if they wanted lots of weapons in the game, there should have been proper weapon shops.)
This spring I started playing the Kirby series (starting from the beginning, because I always like to go through series in story order, and as far as I can tell story order and release order are the same for the Kirby series, barring remakes). The first Kirby's Dreamland was fun, but too short. I had a hard time getting into Kirby's Adventure (or it's GBA remake) and Kirby's Dreamland 2, but their final boss battles were really cool. I absolutely loved Kirby Super Star Ultra (which I played instead of the original Kirby Super Star); it's my favorite game in the series so far.
This past October & November I played through all the TMNT Cowabunga Collection. Most were really fun, though the first game gets unfairly difficult at time (particularly near the end) and I didn't like the Genesis Tournament Fighters. Of course, the games were all rather average for their era, and probably hardly anyone would remember them if they weren't based on TMNT.
Once finishing all the old Turtles games, I started in on Shredder's Revenge. It lives up to all the hype I heard; it manages to capture all the fun of the old TMNT beat-em-ups while adding in a ton of additional content, depth, and replay value. It's actually in the running for the title of my favorite TMNT game. So far, my favorite part was playing as Splinter; I've always liked him as a character so it was nice to play as him for once.
So that summarizes the games I've played recently; perhaps I'll talk more about the games I play in the future.
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On 12/18/2022 at 3:11 AM, mlooney said:Wait. You are supposed to plan things out ahead of time. Whoa. This changes everything.
Of course! If you don't plan, you miss out on the fun of watching those plans fail! For even more fun, when your plans fail, you can come up with new ones on the fly, which probably won't work either. Also, when everything's over, be sure to make one last plan that incorporates everything that happened, so you can say everything went according to plan.
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So, the laptop is ordered. I went with Windows 11; if after getting the hang of that I'm not satisfied with it or I feel adventurous, I'll try out Linux with the goal of eventually setting up the laptop to dual-boot. (Alternately, if I can get my old laptop running again or otherwise can get my hands on an old-but-functional laptop, I might just set up the older laptop with Linux. But that's a decision for later.)
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5 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:Do you think he's right? I cannot concur. ... Although, basically, almost every Christmas song is either novelty or religious. Hmm. ...
I can't recall ever finding a joke less funny because of repetition (though the rare joke to actually make me laugh generally only can manage it a few times). On the other hand, plenty of songs get old if you listen to them too often.
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I used a Mac a decade ago. Right now I'm borrowing my parents' laptop; it's an HP running Windows 8.1 (I have a suspicion I'm going to have to figure out how they can keep using it relatively safely after Microsoft stops supporting Windows 8.1 next month, as it's too old to run Windows 10 and they don't seem to be in a rush to get a new computer).
My being able to see the panel transition probably has to do with the screen and settings. (Also, I leaned in close and squinted...)
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I'm a firm believer that almost nothing is certain*. If I was a DM, I wonder how long it would take for the players to catch on to the fact that it's quite rare for me to make statements of fact without hedges.
* Pure math and the existence of at least one conscious mind ("I think, therefore somebody is.") being the only exceptions I can think of off the top of my head.
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I'm trying to figure up what's with the background in panel one. Is that a wall in the middle of the room? It actually looks like we're seeing one of the vague backgrounds Dan likes to use when a detailed background isn't necessary, only from the wrong angle - like it was part of a stage set.
7 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:The commentary talks about the number of panels. I don't get how the third one might not be counted, it has a background and lettering, and forwards the story, even if there are no drawn figures. I do not see anything that looks like a fourth panel. Maybe Dan is referring to how he produced it or loaded it.
Presumably the reason the third panel might not count is because all it has is a starburst and Diane's name. The fourth panel is even more questionable because all it has in it is the words "D-don't worry! I've got you" and no border, and both it and the previous panel are so washed out it's hard to see that they are separate (I had to look very closely to see the transition, and wouldn't have noticed if Dan hadn't brought up the possibility of a fourth panel).
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On 12/11/2022 at 1:23 PM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:The thing I always looked forward to as a child was the "new" LP that would be released in the grocery store containing about twenty tracks roughly split between;
Studio orchestras playing traditional carols
20+ year old recordings of old singers performing Christmas songs everybody already knew
Recent recordings of "celebrities" performing Christmas songs nobody cared about
For me it was audio cassettes, and I believe the mix was a bit more heavily towards 20-40 year old songs. Also, I believe that for some reason they were through the hardware store (at any rate, they have the "TrueValue" logo on them).
I think those tapes are a big part of the reason why to this day I have a fondness for mid-20th century Christmas music.
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11 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:She wandered into a realm with random boxes in the last panel.
Well, that's a new background! It's nice to see some variety, but it's not entirely clear to me what that background is supposed to mean.
Anyway, yay for random boxes background in panel four!
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5 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:Also, the tall grass is back in panel 3, in panel 5, Noah is shining, and in panel 6, he's shining so bright (off panel) that the background is white.
Yay for fancy lines background in panel three! (As usual I won't be cheering for the starburst in panel five, as in my opinion Dan overuses them.)
3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:And why does it need to be enemy robots? An attack by giant friendly robots is more interesting.
If they're attacking, can they really be called "friendly"?
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I might be more inclined to use the command prompt if I had ever been properly taught how to use it. However my experience with it on Windows and Mac has been entirely "type in these exact characters to do this one thing", and those things have always been things I hardly ever need to do. (On the other hand, once upon a time I had memorized how to access a list of files on a floppy disc and run a program on the Commodore 64, though that was about all I could do.)
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15 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:I found the following in Windows Help for "Set your data limit":
Of course, when you go to a library, you can always force the Windows Update downloads at that time, I'm guessing.
Interesting. I'll have to look into that later (the help base article I found didn't want to open more than the first few steps, perhaps because I'm not on Windows 11).
At any rate a quick search online reveals several different ways of delaying or blocking updates. The simplest one will probably be sufficient for me: "pause updates for X weeks" in settings. I see it's also possible to set connections to "metered" and set Windows to not download updates over a metered connection; I figure I'll do that too for good measure.
Honestly, even before looking it up I knew it could be done; it's just the fact that Microsoft has made it more complicated than it used to be that bugs me.
11 hours ago, mlooney said:It's a much more powerful shell than Windows command line, even with PowerShell taken into account. If you don't spend that much time at the command prompt it's most likely not really needed.
Yeah, I hardly ever use the command prompt. Pretty much the only times I do are when there's no other way to accomplish what I want, and I've only encountered such a situation a handful of times over the years.
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21 hours ago, Don Edwards said:If you're thinking of dual-booting Windows and Linux, I strongly recommend having two separate drives. Leave the Windows install alone, and install Linux on the second drive.
Then if you need to reinstall Windows, disconnect the Linux drive. Don't trust the Windows install process to keep its hands off.
I was planning on getting a laptop (I need the portability), so having multiple drives could be difficult. Certainly none of the laptops I've looked at so far had that option.
How likely is it that I'd need to re-install Windows? In the two decades I've been using computers regularly, I've never had to reinstall an OS before.
8 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:That's my experience on the update side of things: it does you no good to delay updates on a Windows 11 machine, and so far each update has been helpful IMHO.
[...]
All in all, as an end user OS, I recommend Windows 11 for daily use, given the caveats and suggestions that I have outlined above.
My home internet is limited (I pay by the GB and can only afford so much per month), so I need to be able to choose when large downloads happen (preferably when I'm somewhere I don't have to pay for data, like the library). Also, I've heard of people having Windows 10 reboot on them without warning to install updates when they were in the middle of something; I'd like to avoid that sort of situation.
Still, most of what you said makes me hopeful I'll be able to put up with Windows 11. (Who knows, I might even grow to like it. I did with Windows 8.1, much to my surprise.)
8 hours ago, mlooney said:If you are going to run Windows, look into Cygwin so you can have BASH as your shell.
As someone who has never used Linux and is still in the process of researching it, I'm afraid I have to ask: What is the advantage of that?
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I'm hoping to get a new computer soon, but there's one big detail I'm having a hard time deciding on: which OS to get/use.
I'm leaning towards Windows 10 or 11 since Windows is compatible with the most software (& hardware). However, the most recent version of Windows I've used is 8.1, and I've heard some things about 10 & 11 I don't like the sound of, such as it being difficult to reliably delay updates until you're ready to install them, Windows 11 in particular making it hard to create accounts that aren't linked to Microsoft Accounts, and advertisements built into the OS. I don't know how annoying such things would be, but stuff like that makes it hard for me to trust that the Windows experience won't continue to get worse, and makes me seriously consider getting something else.
I've used a Mac before (my computer for most of the 00s was an iBook), and really liked it - but that was over a decade ago. I'm not sure how much has changed, and I'm not looking forward to going back to having the majority of software not be compatible with my computer's OS. I have heard that there's a lot more software compatible with Macs these days, and WINE to help with some that otherwise aren't (and there's always virtual machines if I'm willing to put up with a drop in performance), but I'm sure it'll still be an issue. There's also the problem that Macs tend to be more expensive than the equivalent PC, and I'm trying to get the most computer for my money.
I'm also a bit tempted by Linux. I've never used Linux before, but I've heard a lot of things I like about it (such as it having a high degree of customizability, and being more stable and secure than Windows); I also like the fact that it isn't created and maintained by some big corporation. Of course, there would be similar issues with software compatibility as with Apple, and if I wanted a computer with Linux pre-installed my options would be rather limited. And then of course there's the question of "Which distribution?" (from what I've read, probably Ubuntu or something based on it, but that only narrows things down so much).
I'm not interested in Chrome, and I don't think I'm tech savvy enough to handle an OS more obscure than Linux (and even if I could learn I don't think I'd want to take the time).
One additional option I'm considering is to get a computer with Windows on it, test out a few Linux distributions in a virtual machine, and then set the computer up to dual boot Windows and Linux. My biggest concern with this option is that I've never actually done something like it before, and I don't want to risk messing up a computer I will have just recently bought.
So, anyone have any thoughts or advice to share on the matter?
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On 12/3/2022 at 0:39 AM, Darth Fluffy said:I guess "za?' means "Oh, my, this is taking an unexpected turn. I am sooo surprised.", because, face it, that never happens when running an RPG.
On 12/3/2022 at 9:35 AM, mlooney said:Yeah, the Za indicates that the PC are doing something really off the rails. Having a full on logical theory that doesn't match up with the established by the book story line is something that happens all the time.
Keep in mind that Ellen's experience as a GM is extremely limited - just memories of Elliot playing with Tedd and Sarah. While I'm sure those two presented their challenges (based on the pre-2002 comics shown in those early sketchbooks, just getting the two of them to get along was a challenge), it's entirely possible neither of them was in the habit of creating elaborate theories with little relation to the planned quest.
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Yay for fancy lines background in panel one!
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Fun fact: Rudolf started out as the title character in a children's book, ten years before the song was written.
I think the fact that Rudolf was created by a known individual (Robert L. May) who published his work recently enough for it to still be in copyright may be part of the reason Rudolph's legend is relatively limited. If/when Rudolph becomes public domain, if he's still popular, we'll probably see him fully integrated into the Santa Claus mythology.
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Ashley's look here does nothing for me, but I love Liz's outfit.
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3 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:If no one played Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer ever again, he would likely be nearly forgotten; only the song keeps him alive.
I'd say the Rankin-Bass special helps too (I don't know how popular it is these days, but they do still play it on TV, and I'm sure there are plenty of parents who grew up with it who show it to their kids). Though on the other hand the song is in the special, so you can't really play the special without playing the song...
Picking an Operating System
in Off Topic Discussion
Posted
I seem to have figured out what triggers that bug: a setting (on by default) that causes the keyboard backlight to flash when in sleep mode. I didn't like that feature anyway, so no loss there.