It works in Europe too. It uses LoRa (A Long Range radio protocol) to be able to send messages out to other nodes, which can bounce them out to further nodes. A node can be configured to relay through the Internet to reach people in other areas.
I ordered the radio shown below from a kit on Amazon (it’s a Heltec v4 and came with a battery that isn’t pictured) and it took about 5 minutes to setup. Attaching the antenna to the board was the hardest part.
Great points, and there’s some amazing discussions going on here!
One thing I’d like to add is EVERYONE needs to start setting up some meshtastic nodes. It’s really easy to setup (just hook up a USB cable from your computer to a esp32 board, visit a website to get the configuration, and that’s pretty much it), it’s cheap (as little as $30) and it is secure. Build 2 nodes (one to leave at home, and another for your backpack). This way you’ll be able to communicate should the Internet become unavailable or unsafe. You can also use this at a protest so that you still have a means of communication without needing to bring your phone that the Feds will be able to track.
I was going to just downvote and move on, but you seem unable to properly understand that a lack of a reply can mean different things, and you just assume that the person not replying to you agrees with you and is just too afraid to say so. Let me be clear… you are moving the goalposts and I see no point in having a discussion with someone who is not just dishonest in the conversation, but insists that it’s others who are acting dishonestly.
Steam does not have a monopoly on gaming. If you want to narrow that down to PC gaming then you’re changing the subject, but even then, they do not have a monopoly on PC gaming because they are not the only sellers. They don’t even have a monopoly on Linux gaming because they have put their resources there into open source projects which others have also benefited from, which is how I’m able to play Rocket League (yet another wildly successful game not available on Steam) on my Linux computer. Bringing other ‘classic monopolies’ into the conversation makes no difference on the discussion we’re having. And those other monopolies were not taken down because they were monopolies, they were taken down due to their anti-competitive practices - something that Valve has actively and successfully tried to avoid.
And no, I don’t think that because you feel that one number is ‘quite close’ to another number that they should be equal. I think that’s just another sign of you being dishonest and moving the goalposts and then assuming that you’ve made a valid point.
And finally, respond to this or not, I don’t care, but I said, multiple times, all that I need to say on this subject and to you.
The gaming market is much larger than PC gaming.
And Steam does not have an 80% market share on PC gaming, so who’s lying?
And finally, who the fuck do you think you are that I owe you a response?
You are equating “monopoly” with “abusive monopoly.”
No, I’m not. I’m saying they aren’t a monopoly by the simple fact that they aren’t the only providers of the service they sell. And while they are currently in a position to use their power to make themselves a monopoly, they are not doing that and instead are playing fair with their competition.
I know! There’s this great game called Fortnite that no one has ever heard of because you can’t get it on Steam. /s
Treat customers right and you get rewarded. They are the majority market shareholder because they have earned it, not through deceptive business practices but through being a great company.
If they were a monopoly they wouldn’t allow other game catalogs on their systems, yet I have GOG and Epic on my Steam Deck. In fact, there isn’t even a requirement for me to have Steam on my Steam Deck. Just because a company is the market leader doesn’t mean they got there through unethical means.
And Steam controls 80%-90% of the video game market?
Mono=one poly=seller… and last I checked Steam is not the only seller of video games. They aren’t even the only seller of digital video games. They aren’t even the only seller of digital video games for SteamOS.
They are the largest because they do what’s right by their customers and employees. As a ‘for instance’, I bought Portal 2 for the PS3 many years ago. I no longer have my PS3 but I can still play Portal 2 (as well as Portal which was just thrown in for me) on any PC.
But… that costs money.
I’m not who you were replying to, and I’m by no means a beginner… but I just got the Framework Desktop with the AMD Strix Halo APU and I initially installed Fedora and could not get games to run through Steam. I eventually installed Nobara, and overall I don’t like it, but it played every game I tried without any fuss.
The kid is 1.5 months old and you don’t have time? Once that kid gets mobile you’ll really not have time! And I don’t mean crawling or walking, I mean rolling and scooting.
When my kid figured out how to get places by rolling I had gotten up with her early on a Saturday morning and was letting my wife sleep in… I went to the basement and turned on the Xbox to pay some Rocket League and in the middle of a game she started to roll out of the room. I put the controller down and went to pick her up… 4 years later that controller was exactly where I had put it. She’s now almost 9 and is a great gaming partner, and is getting into robotics, 3D printing, and is interested in programming, so I get to jump right back into my old hobbies, and pick up some new ones.
All that to say, Linux is only going to get better and Windows will continue to get worse, but there’s more important things for you to have to worry about in the very near future than troubleshooting an OS that you’re not familiar with, stick with Win 10 for as long as you can and some day you’ll sit down at your desk and realize you have time to look back in at Linux and you’ll find that it isn’t nearly as difficult to use as you remember. Congratulations on the kid, it can be an incredible journey watching, and helping, a person emerge.
Oooh, I’ll have to keep that in mind. I had to go on the hunt for a USB dock with Ethernet and my phone was right there the whole time.
I just installed Pop!OS on my 2012 MacBook Pro and it’s amazing. No matter which distro you go with, you will likely need to manually update and install the WiFi drivers. You’ll need an Ethernet connection, which might mean you’ll need an adapter.
Oh, it’ll be more than that!
I have had touchscreen laptops at work, and I’ve had touchscreen chromebooks for personal use and I love the option of the touchscreen, but it isn’t something I use exclusively. Sometimes, while typing it’s much easier and faster to ‘click’ on a link, or new field, by tapping my screen rather than grabbing my mouse or going to a touchpad. I agree that trying to use the screen on a laptop while it is in ‘laptop mode’ is difficult, but there is a use case where it’s preferred, and I end up with fingerprints on my non-touchscreen screens when I forget which computer I’m on.
I agree… I love my Macbooks for how well the hardware works, and I love how I can open up terminal and do pretty much anything I want. What I don’t like is how consumer hostile it is when it comes to being able to upgrade or repair. I also don’t like Apple’s insistence on telling me what I do and do not want in a product. According to Steve Jobs no one wants a touchscreen on their laptop, and even though he’s been dead for over a decade and the market has shown otherwise, they still don’t have a touchscreen Macbook (and if they ever do release one they’ll fawn over how innovative they are for doing so).
Same. I bought the lifetime pass on sale many years ago, my setup is still working fine without me having to have touched it for at least the past 3 years outside of applying an update from time to time. I don’t stream their free shows or movies and have those setup so that they don’t even show up as an option on my tv.
Do I wish it was still the same company it was a decade ago? Of course… but so far they haven’t impacted my experience to the point that I feel the need to replace it with something else. The second that happens I will be spinning up Jellyfin.
This is very much the case. I have a local LLM that does a fairly good job of writing code for quick and easy apps that I might need - for instance, last week I wanted to create a simple floor plan of my house and couldn’t find exactly what I wanted online, so I had my machine create a web based app to do it. But, when I tried to use it to create a fairly large and complex text based adventure game when it reached a certain size my LLM just couldn’t handle it any longer. That project stalled for a bit until a couple of weeks ago when Fable 5 was released… as a test I pointed Fable at that code base and in about 45 minutes it had completed the entire game engine.
I really don’t like the idea of corporate owned LLMs, but I am very impressed with Fable and can’t wait until the Local LLM community is able to replicate its functionality.