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Powered Descent
Jul 13, 2008

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

A Real Happy Camper posted:

I have a device at work (Oculus Quest 2) that cannot connect to a hidden SSID or one with a captive portal for the initial setup. My two wifi networks at work are a hidden SSID and a captive portal. Is there an app (pc/mac or mobile, ios or android, i can get access to any of them) I can use to basically make a custom wifi network to use with it? I'd like to avoid tethering it to my mobile data, so something that could do a wifi passthrough or something

If you have a Windows PC with wi-fi (say, a laptop), but it's plugged into the network via a wired Ethernet connection, then yes, it's really straightforward to use that PC as a wireless hotspot.

However, please note that by doing this, you're creating what's called a rogue access point and your company's infosec people might look upon it with some disapproval.

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Boba Pearl
Dec 27, 2019

by Athanatos
I like player.fm because I can pause an episode on my phone, and then pick up exactly where I left off on my computer.

credburn
Jun 22, 2016

If I use a laptop primarily for word processing and audio editing, is there any reason to not just get a gaming laptop?

My father died and left me some cash. It's been six years since I built my gaming rig and it's finally starting to show its age. I was thinking, since I have a laptop and bring it everywhere with me, what is the disadvantage to also using it as my gaming rig? I can just plug an HDMI in if I want a bigger screen. Same for mouse, keyboard, gamepad, whatever, easy peasy. But I feel like there is something really obvious I am overlooking.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

credburn posted:

If I use a laptop primarily for word processing and audio editing, is there any reason to not just get a gaming laptop?

My father died and left me some cash. It's been six years since I built my gaming rig and it's finally starting to show its age. I was thinking, since I have a laptop and bring it everywhere with me, what is the disadvantage to also using it as my gaming rig? I can just plug an HDMI in if I want a bigger screen. Same for mouse, keyboard, gamepad, whatever, easy peasy. But I feel like there is something really obvious I am overlooking.

All of the laptops I've had and used for gaming have had problems dealing with overheating. I've bought cooling pads and they work, but Hoo Boy hope you don't like warm keyboards.

credburn
Jun 22, 2016

Really! Even if I don't overclock it? One would have assumed such things would be like, an obvious thing to... work out?

I actually wondered about that. My little utility laptop gets awful hot sometimes, and I'm never running anything more demanding on it than Rimworld.

Susat
May 31, 2011

Taking it easy, being green
I have a question regarding domestic flying in the US. I'm going to be taking a one way flight back to my home state of Minnesota from my current state of Texas to help my girlfriend move down. I have a state ID for Minnesota still as it hasn't expired. Is that good enough to get me through boarding? This is happening in August, a few months before the new special license requirements go through.

fartknocker
Oct 28, 2012


Damn it, this always happens. I think I'm gonna score, and then I never score. It's not fair.



Wedge Regret

credburn posted:

Really! Even if I don't overclock it? One would have assumed such things would be like, an obvious thing to... work out?

I actually wondered about that. My little utility laptop gets awful hot sometimes, and I'm never running anything more demanding on it than Rimworld.

Yes. Any game that's got halfway decent graphics will get many laptops uncomfortably hot either on your legs or your hands in fairly short order. I got an Acer Predator about two years ago on the recommendations of a bunch of people because at the time I didn't have space for a desktop and wanted something that could handle newer games. It can run them well without any in-game issues, but holy gently caress it feels like it's on fire even with a cooling pad in just a few minutes, with the space above the keyboard getting scary hot. Like, I got Project Wingman on Steam and just getting into the menus I was worried about my computer, the temperature skyrocketed so fast. Older stuff like Star Wars: Empire at War or the C&C Remastered edition last year caused a lot less issues, but still needed a cooling pad if I was playing for any significant length of time. I'm looking to getting a desktop as soon as I have the space for one just for gaming.

fartknocker fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jun 11, 2021

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


On top of all the above, you get a whole lot less computer per dollar when it all has to squeeze into a laptop. I’ve always had laptops and was amazed when I got a really nice desktop a few years ago how much cheaper it was than it’s laptop equivalent.

E: also things might be better now, but being good at gaming makes laptops not all that great at being laptops, especially if you get a larger screen size. Suddenly they are heavy and too big to be very portable and just live plugged in at your desk like a desktop but they cost 50% more and aren’t as good.

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jun 11, 2021

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

credburn posted:

Really! Even if I don't overclock it? One would have assumed such things would be like, an obvious thing to... work out?

I actually wondered about that. My little utility laptop gets awful hot sometimes, and I'm never running anything more demanding on it than Rimworld.

Yup. You need space for airflow.

Also of note is that parts for laptops will be more expensive due to miniaturization. Though as you can’t buy laptop graphics cards, they haven’t been devoured by the bitcoin hellmaw.

regulargonzalez
Aug 18, 2006
UNGH LET ME LICK THOSE BOOTS DADDY HULU ;-* ;-* ;-* YES YES GIVE ME ALL THE CORPORATE CUMMIES :shepspends: :shepspends: :shepspends: ADBLOCK USERS DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY, DON'T THEY DADDY?
WHEN THE RICH GET RICHER I GET HORNIER :a2m::a2m::a2m::a2m:

credburn posted:

Really! Even if I don't overclock it? One would have assumed such things would be like, an obvious thing to... work out?

I actually wondered about that. My little utility laptop gets awful hot sometimes, and I'm never running anything more demanding on it than Rimworld.

Generally speaking, there are two types of laptop CPUs, one that is more powerful, and thus uses more power and runs hotter and with less battery life, and one that runs at a lower voltage with less power (though still plenty for web browsing and excel), less heat output, and more battery life.

Gaming laptops always use the former. Ultrabooks usually use the latter. Other types of laptop generally use the latter but it can vary.

Gobbeldygook
May 13, 2009
Hates Native American people and tries to justify their genocides.

Put this racist on ignore immediately!

StrixNebulosa posted:

Yup. You need space for airflow.

Also of note is that parts for laptops will be more expensive due to miniaturization. Though as you can’t buy laptop graphics cards, they haven’t been devoured by the bitcoin hellmaw.
This is an important consideration. Gaming laptops are expensive and have trade-offs, but at least you can buy them. If you want to build a gaming desktop you will either get gouged on your video card and/or have to literally camp out at a store like you're a loving hypebeast trying to get the latest Supreme drop.

Taeke
Feb 2, 2010


I bought a decent MSI gaming laptop a couple of years ago and can confirm that it can get a bit hot if I play a graphically intense game. Not enough to be uncomfortable but enough to be noticeable and something that could become an issue when it gets older.

Still, when it's time to upgrade I'll definitely go for a laptop again. I don't have a dedicated space/desk for gaming, which I usually do comfortably on my couch, while watching tv or whatever. Moreover, I work from home and the nature of my job is a bit complicated, but having a laptop allows me to catch an hour of gaming in between work while still being present enough in the living room to keep track of what's going on. I also divide my time between my own house and my mother's, where I spend days at a time, and hauling a desktop over would be a drag. Now that we're all getting vaccinated pretty soon I'll also be spending a lot more time with my friends again, of which a large part is gaming together at one of our houses, and again having a gaming laptop is ideal in those circumstances.

All of that outweighs the heating issue (which is only a minor inconvenience sometimes, at least for now) and the increased pricetag (which I can afford and think is worth it) but that's my situation. Yours might be different.

If I didn't do the work I did and didn't intent to travel as much as I do while still wanting to be able to game at those locations I'd probably set up a proper desk with a desktop instead of a laptop.

Grand Fromage
Jan 30, 2006

L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?


I also had a MSI gaming laptop. It was well built and would definitely get warm when playing games, but it really wasn't a big deal. The cooling worked well and it's not like the keyboard got uncomfortably hot to touch or anything, just warm. A desktop is superior and cheaper, but if you're in a situation where a gaming laptop is the way to go I wouldn't have any qualms with an MSI.

It is true they're big and heavy. Not so much you can't fit it in a backpack, but it's noticeable. And even when brand new it has like, an hour of battery life.

E: The MSI was also very easy to work on. A lot of other laptops have bullshit like you have to remove the keyboard to access the heat sink and clean it or other just wild design choices, but that one didn't. Just pop the bottom panel off and everything's right there. I switched hard drives, replaced the vent fan, cleaned regularly, added RAM, etc without any issues. Again, obviously not as easy to do as a desktop, but for a laptop it was a cinch.

Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Jun 11, 2021

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

The laptop thread is where you want to go asking: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3552651&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

Laptops run real hot because a gpu or cpu under load will get up to 80c and there's only a couple millimetres of clearance in a laptop. Heat is literally the limiting factor in performance.

Pros: hilariously the easiest and cheapest way to get a current gen gpu at the moment, portable

Cons: Can be hard to service, also extremely expensive if its more than a couple years old and the parts aren't made anymore. Shorter lifespan thanks to high temps and stuff like the hinges can break pretty easy on some models.

It's a good idea to research the keyboard and screen. Any given laptop model will have multiple almost identical SKUs with different screens. If you care about brightness or refresh rate you need to look up the specs under the serial number not just the model number. Reviewers always get the nice screens, the best buy specials usually don't.

Keep in mind that laptop gpus are undervolted because of the heat, so if you get one with a 4500 anal annihilator or whatever it will deliver roughly 75% of the performance of a desktop. There are some models that aren't undervolted, but they will still throttle when they reach a certain temperature so....

Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jun 11, 2021

Crankit
Feb 7, 2011

HE WATCHES
I've seen bull running on youtube but there seem to be a couple of different styles, at pamplona they seem to run a set route from one place basically straight to a bullfighting ring, in other videos it just seems like a bull can go mad in a village headbutting whoever it sees, is there a name for that? Are there specific places where they do one kind or another?

AlbieQuirky
Oct 9, 2012

Just me and my 🌊dragon🐉 hanging out

Susat posted:

I have a question regarding domestic flying in the US. I'm going to be taking a one way flight back to my home state of Minnesota from my current state of Texas to help my girlfriend move down. I have a state ID for Minnesota still as it hasn't expired. Is that good enough to get me through boarding? This is happening in August, a few months before the new special license requirements go through.

Yes. The REAL ID requirements don’t start until May of 2023 now, in any case.

Manager Hoyden
Mar 5, 2020

StrixNebulosa posted:

Also of note is that parts for laptops will be more expensive due to miniaturization. Though as you can’t buy laptop graphics cards, they haven’t been devoured by the bitcoin hellmaw.

Yeah if someone absolutely has to have a computer right now, a laptop will be cheaper for a similar setup due to insane speculation.

For instance, an Acer laptop with a 3060, a Ryzen 7 5800, 16gb ram, 144hz IPS screen, and a 1tb ssd goes for $1400 right now.

The desktop versions of the CPU and processor alone go for $1200 together.

Prices are crazy at the moment so I think the best move would be to sit tight until the component market crashes.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
You will get better performance, better value, longer life, and a better experience out of buying a gaming desktop and productivity laptop than you will out of a gaming laptop.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Thanatosian posted:

You will get better performance, better value, longer life, and a better experience out of buying a gaming desktop and productivity laptop than you will out of a gaming laptop.

Usually, yes. But right now poo poo is all hosed up because of supply shortages and cryptocurrency nonsense (chia for storage, the usual suspects for GPUs), so a laptop is a surprisingly good value for current tech.

MisterBibs
Jul 17, 2010

dolla dolla
bill y'all
Fun Shoe
I'm right in assuming a trip to the zoo would be kinda poo poo if it's warm (let's say low 90s) because all the animals would be all "gently caress that, I'm staying in my shelter backstage", right?

Vegetable
Oct 22, 2010

What is an IK on these forums? What does it stand for and what do they do?

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Vegetable posted:

What is an IK on these forums? What does it stand for and what do they do?

IKs, "Idiot Kings", are mini-mods who have limited mod powers, cannot access the mod forum, have a grey star, and who are trusted with assisting the mods. They're fantastic for discussing things with, asking to handle specific threads, and other similar tasks. Also, it's a great way to see if someone would be suited to become a moderator (though this isn't always used, and some IKs never ever want to become full mods)

Note that some subforums, such as FYAD, will make people IKs randomly because it's funny to see what they'll do with the power of slapping people with sixers.

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


MisterBibs posted:

I'm right in assuming a trip to the zoo would be kinda poo poo if it's warm (let's say low 90s) because all the animals would be all "gently caress that, I'm staying in my shelter backstage", right?

Yep pretty much in my experience. I went recently when it was like low-mid 20s C and it was much better than previous trips in summer.

Kaiser Schnitzel
Mar 29, 2006

Schnitzel mit uns


Vegetable posted:

What is an IK on these forums? What does it stand for and what do they do?
An IK is an Idiot King. We have grey stars instead of blue (for moderators) or red (for admins). IK's don't have access to the mod forum, and they can't see reports. They can change thread titles, edit posts, sticky threads, goldmine threads, and give out 6hr probations in the forum they are an IK of. They can que longer probations, but they have to be approved by an admin.

There's 2 kinds of IKs. Chaos/joke IKs in FYAD/BYOB/maybe C-SPAM? that are usually temporary and mini-mod IK's that are usually longer term, but not always. The FYAD-lite IKs are there to give out comedy probations, goldmine threads, and sticky threads they like. The grey-forum, mini-mod IKs are basically miniature moderators that usually watch over a thread or a few threads that maybe the mod of that forum don't really keep up with, or just to provide another set of eyes on fast-moving threads like in the politics forums. In some forums, IKs are expected to only use their buttons in the threads they're supposed to keep an eye on, whereas in others they are general, forum-wide IK.

E;fb

Tiggum
Oct 24, 2007

Your life and your quest end here.


Windows recently added a weather notification to the taskbar. There's a little icon representing the current weather conditions, the temperature, and then a word - usually something like "sunny" or whatever the weather happens to be. Sometimes though it says "warning". Clicking it just brings up news headlines. What is it trying to warn me about?

Ornery and Hornery
Oct 22, 2020

For how long does NSA/PRISM keep data on Americans?

Are there kids who will have their entire phone/email/search/browsing data for their entire lives collected by the NSA/PRISM?

Do they just keep permanent ongoing collections of data on individuals?

Douche4Sale
May 8, 2003

...and then God said, "Let there be douche!"

Tiggum posted:

Windows recently added a weather notification to the taskbar. There's a little icon representing the current weather conditions, the temperature, and then a word - usually something like "sunny" or whatever the weather happens to be. Sometimes though it says "warning". Clicking it just brings up news headlines. What is it trying to warn me about?

Some sort of weather alert or notification?

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


Tiggum posted:

Windows recently added a weather notification to the taskbar. There's a little icon representing the current weather conditions, the temperature, and then a word - usually something like "sunny" or whatever the weather happens to be. Sometimes though it says "warning". Clicking it just brings up news headlines. What is it trying to warn me about?

Sorry, you're the protagonist of a techno-horror movie now.

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

Tiggum posted:

Windows recently added a weather notification to the taskbar. There's a little icon representing the current weather conditions, the temperature, and then a word - usually something like "sunny" or whatever the weather happens to be. Sometimes though it says "warning". Clicking it just brings up news headlines. What is it trying to warn me about?

It's a weather/news "bug", trying to funnel more people into Bing mainly. If it says "Warning" it's usually a weather advisory like wind or snow.

You can turn it off by right clicking on the taskbar and choosing Disable on the News/Weather option.

Methanar
Sep 26, 2013

by the sex ghost

Ornery and Hornery posted:

For how long does NSA/PRISM keep data on Americans?

Are there kids who will have their entire phone/email/search/browsing data for their entire lives collected by the NSA/PRISM?

Do they just keep permanent ongoing collections of data on individuals?

Sure why not hard drives are cheap

Tiggum
Oct 24, 2007

Your life and your quest end here.


FCKGW posted:

If it says "Warning" it's usually a weather advisory like wind or snow.
I guess it's broken then? Because that "warning" message is there right now, and the worst that could be said of the weather here right now is that it's a bit cloudy? It's not even raining. :confused:

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

I thought PRISM wasn't about collecting data, just metadata? Like they didn't keep phone calls but just collected and number, date and time of the call, stuff like that?

Methanar
Sep 26, 2013

by the sex ghost

FCKGW posted:

I thought PRISM wasn't about collecting data, just metadata? Like they didn't keep phone calls but just collected and number, date and time of the call, stuff like that?

metadata is data btw.

The actual carriers maintain the content of the messages indefinitely and can be subpeona'd by the NSA at any moment for any reason forever.

Powered Descent
Jul 13, 2008

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Ornery and Hornery posted:

For how long does NSA/PRISM keep data on Americans?

Are there kids who will have their entire phone/email/search/browsing data for their entire lives collected by the NSA/PRISM?

Do they just keep permanent ongoing collections of data on individuals?

The sheer scale of the information dragnet by the NSA and other agencies is nothing short of astounding. They're hoovering up everything they can possibly get their hands on, and keeping it forever.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded

Please consider throwing a few bucks to the EFF -- they're one of the few organizations even attempting the long-shot court cases to try and get this curtailed.
https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

Methanar posted:

metadata is data btw.

Basically what the intel agencies do is keep track of who interacts with whom. They build up a map of all of the social connections people have (you might call it a "social network" :v:), and then when they decide that a particular person is Of Interest, they know all of the other people to also keep tabs on, and which conversations are likely to be fruitful to subpoena.

Actually tracking and analyzing all of the conversations of everyone in the country is still a sufficiently big job that, so far as I've heard, they aren't actually doing that yet. But you can bet they've done the analysis on how they would do that, and what the legal and technical prerequisites would be.

Powered Descent
Jul 13, 2008

We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Basically what the intel agencies do is keep track of who interacts with whom. They build up a map of all of the social connections people have (you might call it a "social network" :v:), and then when they decide that a particular person is Of Interest, they know all of the other people to also keep tabs on, and which conversations are likely to be fruitful to subpoena.

Actually tracking and analyzing all of the conversations of everyone in the country is still a sufficiently big job that, so far as I've heard, they aren't actually doing that yet. But you can bet they've done the analysis on how they would do that, and what the legal and technical prerequisites would be.

They try to justify this by saying they only watch people who are three "hops" away from a person who's already of national security interest.

So if your old college roommate once bought a used car from a guy whose aunt once visited Syria, congratulations, you're officially in scope!

BonHair
Apr 28, 2007

Ornery and Hornery posted:

Do they just keep permanent ongoing collections of data on individuals?

No, of course not! yes

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

FCKGW posted:

It's a weather/news "bug", trying to funnel more people into Bing mainly. If it says "Warning" it's usually a weather advisory like wind or snow.

You can turn it off by right clicking on the taskbar and choosing Disable on the News/Weather option.

When I saw that thing yesterday. I thought I had picked up some malware.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe

Mister Kingdom posted:

When I saw that thing yesterday. I thought I had picked up some malware.

Yeah gave me serious loving bonzi buddy vibes.

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Inceltown
Aug 6, 2019

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

There's 2 kinds of IKs. Chaos/joke IKs in FYAD/BYOB/maybe C-SPAM?

cspam is kind of a limbo deal with who IK's are. You are not asked about it, just given buttons. Then you are not told how to use them, just figure it out yourself.

You are told that you have no restrictions on how you use the buttons. There have been IK's that never used them until they found out powers were getting stripped and then gone hog wild. There are some of us who go the more traditional route and 6 themselves as their first offering.

I'm not sure anyone has gone rogue with buttons yet as you're likely to burn your account if you're poo poo with the buttons. Goons have done stupider things with less though.

There is a cspam / d&d discord thing for the mods and ik's but I can't read so not sure what gets posted there. It does have a bunch of pet photos though so I stick around.

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