Many 80s games have an amusing hybrid design. Galaga has its game code and sprites in ROM, but has an entire custom chip that is a dedicated circuit for generating the ship explosion sound, another custom chip that only makes the scrolling starfield, etc.

D’oh, it should say “another target Cleric” to avoid confusion.

You have the best list here, but you forgot Wipeout series. Futuristic racing with weapons, set to electronic music.

We had tons of pirated Commodore 64 games. Some single-player games became two-player with my little brother; “OK, I’ll drive the car while you try every key on the keyboard.”

Do you even poop-lift, bro?

I’m thinking of old text adventure games where it would repeat your invalid command back to you.

>eat pussy

I can't "eat" a "pussy" right now!

>fuck yourself

I can't "fuck" a "yourself" right now!

GoldenEye has the dual controller schemes too. A bit awkward in that you still have to be able to access the A & B buttons from the center grip; “2.1 Plenty” and switch the camera control off of inverted, personally. Hold the right controller at a slight angle to reach A & B and it’s not horrible… 😅

Can you tell my family’s been getting back into N64 lately? Some are experiencing the turn-of-the-century gaming for the first time. Although I’m spoiled from playing the recompiled Perfect Dark on Steam Deck and having total “control of the controls” including gyro aim.

That’s so good! Minibosses have a badass medley of Mega Man II as well.

They might have to eschew morals and start gaslighting the populace to regain influence.

Wait…

Try booting with the HDD disconnected. Try disconnecting the battery and BIOS battery (where is it on this model?!) for a few minutes.

You would still need good RAM to get into the BIOS update…

GPU failure, since a text-mode boots but not much else?

That’s completely accurate.

He loves to dish out insults but can’t handle it being done to him even in jest. What a strong man.

Sorry, I was not trying to put words in your mouth. I just usually hear, “Linux not good for me because it doesn’t support my setup well enough” when it should be “Linux not good for me because the manufacturers of my hardware don’t support Linux well enough”. Trying to put blame where it belongs in hopes of raising awareness to both users and manufacturers.

I also mistakenly thought you mentioned a newer Nvidia card when you are considering AMD. 🤦‍♂️ Good luck in your computing future!

Privacy Breacher hasn’t been updated in four years and still seems to be able to list all the apps on an Android device without any permissions.

PrivacyBreacher is an Android app built as a proof of concept for a research article describing the privacy issues in Android. This app can access the following information from your phone without requesting any permissions: Figure out at what time your phone screen turned on/off. Figure out at what time you plugged in or removed your phone charger and wired headphones. Figure out at what time you switched on/off your phone (i.e., it captures the device uptime and ACTION_SHUTDOWN broadcasts). Access most of your device related information like your phone model, manufacturer etc. Keep track of your WiFi/Mobile data usage. Get a list of all the apps installed on your phone. Construct a 3D visualization of your body movements.

Edit: A knowledgable user says this app can still do this because it’s built for pre-Android 11 (when the privacy fix was implemented).

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/17677309

checked the code and it just queries the package manager as usual. it works because the system tries to maintain compatibility with apps made for older android versions (targetsdk). this app was built for api 29 (android 10), and the query apps permission gating was introduced in api 30 (android 11) https://web.archive.org/web/20250331021341/https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10158779?hl=en the play store is strict about the min targetsdk allowed for new apps and updates, and while that is also a negative thing, api 29 cannot be targeted anymore for apps: https://web.archive.org/web/20250331021653/https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk

It’s not the fault of the creators of an operating system that Nvidia refuses to write comparable drivers. Nvidia are the only ones with the technical knowledge of the GPU’s internals that is necessary to write the 100% functional driver. Open-source Nouveau drivers exist but are less functional because of this, its programmers have to try to reverse-engineer and do a lot of guesswork and testing, and for free.

Basically: If you value FOSS software at all, buy from manufacturers that are friendlier to FOSS software, or you may unknowingly lock yourself out of it.

Edit: Buying newer (especially of Nvidia) is probably a bad idea if you intend to run Linux. Older cards have had more time for them to fix the inevitable bugs. I run a GTX980Ti 😅 with the closed-source drivers on an Arch-based system and I’m honestly surprised a video driver update hasn’t seriously broken anything yet.

You’re right. I got a “Timex Sinclair 1000” at a garage sale, it’s a 2KB modified ZX81. The other manufacturers you mention had more software available, and Commodore often played dirty.

I’m tempted to replace the TS1000’s failing keyboard with one of those new ones with tact switches, but that’s a bit of an investment for what would sit on the shelf anyway. My C64 at least still gets played and demoscene stuff showed off!

I maintain dozens of the black & silver Optiplexes, they’re used in Raw Thrills arcade games like The Fast and the Furious, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Guitar Hero Arcade… They are workhorses; usually clean it and recap the power supply (which are kind of a bitch to disassemble) and they’re good for another few years.

I still run into the blue/grey ones like your picture, but not in use. Usually stored in the basement of a bar.

My personal collection includes a couple of first-generation Optiplexes, the beige GX1. Dell is a bigger part of my life than I ever imagined or hoped. 😅

How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days - The Atlantic

Hitler had campaigned on the promise of draining the “parliamentarian swamp”—den parlamentarischen Sumpf—only to find himself now foundering in a quagmire of partisan politics and banging up against constitutional guardrails.

Shameless Snopes plugs:

Did Trump echo Hitler with remark about migrants ‘poisoning the blood of our country’?

Yes, Trump posted link that included Nazi symbol for gay men in concentration camps

Did Musk give ‘Nazi salute’ at Trump’s 2025 inauguration rally? Here’s what we know

Did Trump once say, “I need the kind of generals Hitler had”?

Musk reposted post that said, “Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people”

I’m not sure, but there may be a pattern here.

Agreed, cheap DB-9 used for all kinds of different connections. I used this site for info: https://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/DB9-Joystick

In the US, Sinclair and Amstrad seem to be rare. We do have the problem where Master System was uncommon but Genesis was massively popular, so many people refer to the Genesis as “the Sega”. You can’t say, “Sega controllers are OK for C64” with Master System implied, because someone will use a Genesis pad and blow up the CIA when pad buttons and keyboard keys are pressed at the same time.