Latest Comments by Ardje
Remember the SMACH Z handheld? It's apparently going to be at E3 this year
5 Jun 2019 at 11:50 pm UTC Likes: 3
5 Jun 2019 at 11:50 pm UTC Likes: 3
For a PC I think the price is what it is: you buy a PC. The price is on par with the GPD WIN2 (or it was for me), but with a better controller,a better GPU, a better CPU, a better heatsink, and hopefully better batteries than anything from GPD.
The PC is primarily made in Europe. I assume the PCB's and shells are printed/molded in China, and that assembly, and pick and place and soldering is done in Spain.
The cpu speed of the Smach Z is probably comparable to my Galaxy Note 9, except that my Galaxy Note 9 doesn't want to run intel architecture, nor does it have any decent linux environment, even in dextop linux.
The GPU is probably way better than an ARM mali, especially since the drivers are open source.
Being open source also means in software it lasts for the next 10 years.
So yeah, I got a good feeling about my Smach Z. In the mean time I am waiting for months to get replacement batteries for my WIN2, and waiting for the cooling mod upgrade kit, that should not have been necessary in the first place.
Let's hope the Smach Z doesn't need new batteries in less than 6 months and when it does, let's hope we can replace them with soldering some 18650's. And let's also hope the heatsink doesn't need a mod.
And yes, the platform cannot be truly open, because that's never the case with intel architecture.
The PC is primarily made in Europe. I assume the PCB's and shells are printed/molded in China, and that assembly, and pick and place and soldering is done in Spain.
The cpu speed of the Smach Z is probably comparable to my Galaxy Note 9, except that my Galaxy Note 9 doesn't want to run intel architecture, nor does it have any decent linux environment, even in dextop linux.
The GPU is probably way better than an ARM mali, especially since the drivers are open source.
Being open source also means in software it lasts for the next 10 years.
So yeah, I got a good feeling about my Smach Z. In the mean time I am waiting for months to get replacement batteries for my WIN2, and waiting for the cooling mod upgrade kit, that should not have been necessary in the first place.
Let's hope the Smach Z doesn't need new batteries in less than 6 months and when it does, let's hope we can replace them with soldering some 18650's. And let's also hope the heatsink doesn't need a mod.
And yes, the platform cannot be truly open, because that's never the case with intel architecture.
Quake II RTX to release June 6th, first 3 levels free for everyone and source code will be up too
27 May 2019 at 1:14 pm UTC
Just do plain pathtracing with AMD, it should perform better.
http://amietia.com/q2pt.html [External Link]
I assume there is probably a generic vulkan version to with a denoiser.
27 May 2019 at 1:14 pm UTC
Quoting: Guest*Cries in AMD*You can't RTX in AMD, but RTX is an NVidia proprietary API.
Just do plain pathtracing with AMD, it should perform better.
http://amietia.com/q2pt.html [External Link]
I assume there is probably a generic vulkan version to with a denoiser.
D9VK sees a first actual release for getting Direct3D 9 games running on Vulkan with Wine
9 May 2019 at 4:03 pm UTC
9 May 2019 at 4:03 pm UTC
Would be interesting to see how well this fares with wine under qemu on an android or other arm platform supporting vulkan.
Planet Nomads has left Early Access and feels like a big missed opportunity
4 May 2019 at 12:47 am UTC Likes: 2
4 May 2019 at 12:47 am UTC Likes: 2
I think I sunk more hours into planet nomads than into GTA V. It is a build game with strange physics. You get to play with all kinds of low level stuff. You kind of lego vehicles together, like a monorail and things like that.
That's how I left it.
That particular thing is pretty unique.
There is planet explorers that does a little bit of everything and is actually pretty good with story and all, and letting bots do the grind for you.
If you are into large scale automation you will have to look at fortresscraft evolved, my biggest time sink.
If you want to fly to different planets, and do some simple base building then no man's sky is your thing.
But none of those will let you use the lego you got and build something the developers did not expect.
If they all could work together and make one game. No man's sky to have and fly to different planets,
fortrescrafts massive automation setups to rain all those planets from their important resources,
use the Planet Nomads tool to create the planet exploring vehicles and rails and whatever. Have the bot management and a story like planet explorers...
And of course in vulkan and VR
That would be great.
That's how I left it.
That particular thing is pretty unique.
There is planet explorers that does a little bit of everything and is actually pretty good with story and all, and letting bots do the grind for you.
If you are into large scale automation you will have to look at fortresscraft evolved, my biggest time sink.
If you want to fly to different planets, and do some simple base building then no man's sky is your thing.
But none of those will let you use the lego you got and build something the developers did not expect.
If they all could work together and make one game. No man's sky to have and fly to different planets,
fortrescrafts massive automation setups to rain all those planets from their important resources,
use the Planet Nomads tool to create the planet exploring vehicles and rails and whatever. Have the bot management and a story like planet explorers...
And of course in vulkan and VR
That would be great.
NVIDIA are continuing to work on PRIME GPU offloading, with a new GLX Extension
29 Apr 2019 at 8:55 am UTC
29 Apr 2019 at 8:55 am UTC
<rant>
I am one of those lucky bastards that got his T430 with HD4000 only swapped with a T430 with optimus.
It's the biggest crap I've ever seen.
And with al the new systemd enhancements the crap pile even rises... (On ubuntu bionic LTS, you can't turn off optimus anymore once you've touched it, because some PID 1 has an open file descriptor to the DRI).
It would have been acceptable if I could just switch between HD4000 (with *better* support) and the nvidia (to get the minidisplay port working) on reboot basis, but alas, that does not work.
And due to systemd (fixed in a new release of systemd, so I have to wait 2 years or go for something like arch), the laptop has early thermal issues. It just adds 6W of thermal to your CPU (shared heatsink) when not used and not being able to shut it.
</rant>
I would love to own an i7 8809G, and have the freedom to select or turn off the GPU I don't need.
Or even go eGPU and then turn off the eGPU before undocking. Which of course can only be an AMD due to these kind of problems.
I am one of those lucky bastards that got his T430 with HD4000 only swapped with a T430 with optimus.
It's the biggest crap I've ever seen.
And with al the new systemd enhancements the crap pile even rises... (On ubuntu bionic LTS, you can't turn off optimus anymore once you've touched it, because some PID 1 has an open file descriptor to the DRI).
It would have been acceptable if I could just switch between HD4000 (with *better* support) and the nvidia (to get the minidisplay port working) on reboot basis, but alas, that does not work.
And due to systemd (fixed in a new release of systemd, so I have to wait 2 years or go for something like arch), the laptop has early thermal issues. It just adds 6W of thermal to your CPU (shared heatsink) when not used and not being able to shut it.
</rant>
I would love to own an i7 8809G, and have the freedom to select or turn off the GPU I don't need.
Or even go eGPU and then turn off the eGPU before undocking. Which of course can only be an AMD due to these kind of problems.
Valve have confirmed Linux support for their Valve Index VR headset, pre-orders on May 1st
9 Apr 2019 at 2:40 pm UTC
<rant>The experience with USA based assembly is pretty bad. Look for instance at openpandora. Or more near experience, once you sign the contract, the nice guys go away, and you get backstabbed by the real company.
Chinese and Korean companies are so much more reliable in that respect. No niceness facade, if you pay it is ok. They will also say how much, and they will help you.</rant>
So this is yet another surprise: Valve really invests into it's mother country's economy. Respect!
9 Apr 2019 at 2:40 pm UTC
Quoting: kuhpunktAmazing!Quoting: ArdjeI don't know where it is build. Doesn't really matter. The Steam Controller as well as the Steam Link were shipped from the Netherlands when ordered from the Netherlands.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCgnWqoP4MM [External Link]
So there is not extra tax.
<rant>The experience with USA based assembly is pretty bad. Look for instance at openpandora. Or more near experience, once you sign the contract, the nice guys go away, and you get backstabbed by the real company.
Chinese and Korean companies are so much more reliable in that respect. No niceness facade, if you pay it is ok. They will also say how much, and they will help you.</rant>
So this is yet another surprise: Valve really invests into it's mother country's economy. Respect!
Valve have confirmed Linux support for their Valve Index VR headset, pre-orders on May 1st
8 Apr 2019 at 3:52 pm UTC
8 Apr 2019 at 3:52 pm UTC
I don't know where it is build. Doesn't really matter. The Steam Controller as well as the Steam Link were shipped from the Netherlands when ordered from the Netherlands.
So there is not extra tax.
So there is not extra tax.
Woops - Valve accidentally put up the Valve Index, Base Station and Controllers unfinished store pages
2 Apr 2019 at 1:05 pm UTC Likes: 3
Man, I wish I lived with my mom again, so I could just experience the awkward situation.
2 Apr 2019 at 1:05 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: BeamboomI think it is used to show your mom is in the room, so it is time to pull your pants up and stop virtual girlfriend and start beatsaber, all while pretending you don't know she is in the room.Quoting: kuhpunktI would assume it's primarily for AR?Quoting: Hal_KadoThe cameras won't be for inside-out tracking, just for pass-through and maybe handtracking or something.
Man, I wish I lived with my mom again, so I could just experience the awkward situation.
The Linux beta of X4: Foundations has been running nicely, a new update is now out
19 Mar 2019 at 10:13 am UTC
19 Mar 2019 at 10:13 am UTC
Joystick hotplug was the main reason X4 does not run on steamos... When you start the game and the steam controller switches to xbox mode, it crashes, while it starts when you configure the steam controller as an MKB.
So I need to test that \0/
So I need to test that \0/
The Linux beta of X4: Foundations has been running nicely, a new update is now out
19 Mar 2019 at 9:52 am UTC
19 Mar 2019 at 9:52 am UTC
The only thing I remember of the X series is the huge amount of things you have to learn. It's probably the only reason I did not play any of it, although they are all in my collection \0/ .
I remember flying with X2 through a few portals but then I got lost into what my mission actually was, and I think I ended up flying a long time through a red cosmos.
I remember flying with X2 through a few portals but then I got lost into what my mission actually was, and I think I ended up flying a long time through a red cosmos.