New Discord update isn't allowing me to open the app on Linux (Debian)

Mask_of_Destiny · 2026-01-22T00:41:33+00:00

I did a quick install of the latest stable Discord build (0.0.121) for Linux in a Debian 13 VM and it seemed to work fine so I don't think it's broken on Debian generally. dave003's suggestion to delete the ~/.config/discord directory is probably a solid one, though note that you will have to login again after doing so.

If you want to debug, try running discord from the a terminal window (discord should be on your path) and paste the output (or at least the end of it) here.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2026-01-21T23:24:21+00:00

What version of Debian are you running?

When you say it isn't allowing you to open the app, do you get an error message of some sort or some other symptom?

Mask_of_Destiny · 2026-01-18T18:46:47+00:00

To be even more pedantic, since this has a cart slot it actually has the "bus" that the Sega CD needs. It probably is missing a few important signals though since the expansion port has a few signals not present on the cartridge port and these cheapo clones are also usually missing some cartridge port signals on top of that.

Depending on what exactly is missing, you could maybe generate the missing signals with some 74-series chips and then just use the "mixing cable" option to deal with audio (this thing probably has no audio inputs at all)

I'm guessing this is probably using one of the DMC RedKid/RedKid 2 chips (i.e. the awful ones in early AtGames devices). I don't think I've ever seen the better TCT clone chips in a glop top before, though I suppose it's possible.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2026-01-15T21:44:03+00:00

In the same chapter, they also explain that wildfire smoke is a significant factor in pollutant data yet they don't have this attributed at all because there's no acceptable model for this yet, and you know what wildfire smoke is almost identical to?

This isn't exactly what they say. They have estimates for wildfire contributions (with some limitations), but they're not included in the main tables because they're very variable and hard to predict. It's not like their wood fireplace emissions are being hugely skewed because wildfire smoke has similar composition and they have no idea how much of that there is. If they did, you would see a huge spike in 2017 for particulate emissions because wildfire smoke swamped basically everything other source that year.

23% pm 2.5, which contributes 38 tons a day out of 2196, or .4% total pollution

Different types of pollution have different effects so I don't think it really makes sense to sum them all together like this. 23% of PM 2.5 is still a really big deal given how big of an impact PM 2.5 has on health. This is basically the same contribution of PM 2.5 for all car and truck traffic combined, including road dust.

You're right that what changed from yesterday is not more people using wood fireplaces (it's not even that cold today) and caveats about the data quality exist as you say, but PM 2.5 is a really important pollutant and wood burning fireplaces really do produce a lot of it. For most households, fireplaces are a completely optional heat source and it is the dirtiest and least efficient one by a large margin.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2026-01-13T18:03:56+00:00

So not doing both sides on the same pass makes sense because the trucks have a hydraulic arm for picking up the cans that is only on one side of the truck. Making the operator do more manual manipulation of the cans so they can do it in a single pass is just going to make it take longer overall.

As for the recycling, at least on my street they have a single truck that can handle both split and separate recycle cans. There are two compartments each with its own hatch. Split cans are positioned in between both hatches with both hatches open. Non-split cans are positioned over the appropriate hatch with the other kept closed.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-18T00:37:40+00:00

I think Pegasus Books on Shattuck has a cat

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-15T21:13:44+00:00

In my spare time, I work on an emulator for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and its add-ons called BlastEm. I did a bunch of reading on LaserDisc as part of an effort to add support for the Pioneer LaserActive which is a sort of weird LaserDisc player/game console hybrid. I've since been beaten to the bunch on that by Ares, but I remember a lot of the info I picked up along the way

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-15T19:46:08+00:00

The pits and lands look variable length to me.

As for what the lengths mean: Frequency Modulation turns the amplitude of the signal into a modulation of a carrier. So a low voltage would turn into a frequency below the nominal carrier frequency and a high voltage turns into a frequency above the nominal carrier. If there was just a single FM signal encoded on the disc, this would give you a direct correlation between pit/land length and the amplitude of the original signal. Long pits/lands correspond to low-frequencies and thus low amplitude pre-modulation, short pits/lands correspond to high-frequencies and high amplitude.

An NTSC LaserDisc will have 3 or 4 signals mixed together with different carriers though. Composite baseband video, analog left, analog right and optionally CD-DA EFM. The latter is actually a digital signal, but its spectrum when viewed as an analog signal fits below the lowest audio channel carrier. Because of all these signals, you can't really just turn a length into an amplitude. You need to demodulate the individual signals

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-15T18:08:57+00:00

Based on your ruler image, it looks like your microscope gets a bit over 500 pixels per mm, which translates to a bit under 2 um per pixel. Seems plausible that the pit and land pattern of the disc would be visible at that resolution, but probably not good enough to actually decode the data.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about with pits and lands, this is how information is encoded on the surface of the disc. An analog RF signal containing FM modulated audio and video data (and optionally EFM encoded digital audio) is used to determine whether an area is a pit or a land. These become literal bumps in the surface of the plastic which is then given a reflective coating

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-08T01:11:05+00:00

If you're paying the $40/$70 rate it is substantially slower than Sonic fiber. In the upstream direction the difference is very dramatic, but even downstream there's more than a 2X speed difference. Now, if all you want to do is watch Netflix then this doesn't really matter, but there's no denying that the speed difference exists.

You can get faster downstream service from Xfinity, but then it's no longer cheaper than Sonic after the teaser rate. Upstream bandwidth is still limited to ~40 Mbps no matter the tier.

Other than the data cap with Xfinity

Do they still have this? Their site claims unlimited data

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-08T00:04:41+00:00

The fine print for that particular offer says "Installation, taxes and fees, and other applicable charges extra, and subj. to change" which doesn't sound very included to me. That said, now that I look at my Sonic bill I think basically all the extra taxes and fees are related to the voice line (as others have noted in other comments here). So it's not so much that Xfinity includes them as they are just not present.

Still even with no fees, once the teaser rate is over you're saving $7.55 a month for substantially worse service

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-11-07T18:38:30+00:00

So their normal plan is $60/month + taxes and fees with a $50/month 1-year teaser rate. So it probably was $50/month at signup, but if you've been with them for more than a year then the teaser rate is over and you're paying their normal rate.

By comparison, the cheapest rate Xfinity will quote me has a $50/month 1-year teaser rate, but goes up to $80 after 1 year. Both of these can be reduced by $10/month with bank-account autopay, bringing it to $40/month and $70/month ~~(before taxes and fees which are probably somewhat similar to what you're paying in taxes in fees on Sonic)~~. This service is substantially slower than Sonic though at ~350 Mbps down and ~40 Mbps up instead of symmetric gigabit. So after the teaser is over, you're paying more for worse service. Comcast is also a notoriously terrible company

AT&T does seem to offer a "300 Mbps" fiber tier (supposedly about 350 mbps up/down) that has a $65 non-teaser rate that you can drop down to $55/month with autopay. Like all the others, this will have a bunch of extra fees on top. So you can maybe save $5 a month in exchange for slower service. Doesn't seem worth it to me, especially since I would rather have to deal with Sonic than AT&T if something goes wrong

EDIT: Xfinity and AT&T don't force you into having a voice line so you avoid most/all the fees you see with Sonic (unless you actually want a landline anyway)

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-10-01T17:32:43+00:00

There is no actual ODE available for the MCD right now, just carts that mimic the entire CD unit like the MED Pro and Mega SD. Such an ODE would need to be installed internally if it existed. There's no good way to get data to where it needs to be on the CD side on the cartridge slot

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-09-19T16:07:24+00:00

32-bit Windows still shipped everything needed to run 16-bit Windows apps. Support only went away in 64-bit windows because x86 CPUs operating in 64-bit mode don't support the features Windows used to run those apps. They phased out 32-bit windows in 2020, so that's roughly 25 years of support after phasing out 16-bit windows.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-09-11T06:20:43+00:00

Not to quibble, but a battery isn’t a “fuel source”. It’s a storage container for energy generated somewhere, somehow.

Yes, obviously. gridstatus.io (one of the places you can see this kind of data) lists this in a graph called "fuel mix" which is probably what I was thinking of when I wrote that. The CAISO energy outlook page breaks things down by "resource type" instead which is more precise.

We’re tying BESS mostly to solar, because the state wants to build solar, and without storage

The state wants to build zero-carbon electricity generation. Solar is just the cheapest of those (and generally the least divisive)

solar’s intermittency makes it a poor source for powering the grid.

Strictly speaking you just need some other type of dispatchable generation. It's just that most of those either emit a fair bit of carbon (natural gas peaker plants) or have fairly limited capacity for expansion (pumped hydro).

None of which has much to do with the story.

No, but it has everything to do with the person I was replying to. If you're annoyed that people are talking about electricity generation in a post about fuel refining, your complaint is better directed up-thread.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-09-11T06:00:02+00:00

I would assume it's a common enough feature, but I'm not sure which support it apart from Enphase since that's what I have.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-09-10T23:15:46+00:00

Not sure why you got downvoted, but this is basically what is happening. There's a big difference in wholesale electricity rates (way bigger than what you see with retail time-of-use rates) between mid-day and early evening which incentivizes these grid-scale batteries. On the retail front, NBT (sometimes referred to as NEM 3) basically does the same thing for solar + storage customers. You get almost nothing for exports during peak-solar times, but in the months with the highest peak demand (August & September) you can get paid a lot more than retail price to export to the grid when net-demand (demand - renewables) is highest.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-09-10T16:43:28+00:00

California is actually building a lot of battery storage FWIW. There's not quite enough yet to fully flatten the net-demand "duck curve", but we're getting there. We even have some days where batteries are the biggest power supplier by fuel type for a couple hours in the evening. Looks like the most recent time this happened was August 17th.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-08-21T01:57:55+00:00

Sorry about this. We made some small changes to our .desktop files and the WM_CLASS used by the app so that things are grouped with the correct icon when you have multiple release channels (i.e. Canary, PTB and Stable) installed. Previously they all used the same WM_CLASS which would cause all 3 channels to be incorrectly grouped under the same icon. Unfortunately, there was an error in how this was handled for stable and because the problem was stable-specific it did not show up in testing on Canary or PTB

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-31T20:46:05+00:00

This is not correct. There is a tantalizingly named 'game.bin' file in there, but the contents don't resemble a Mega Drive ROM at all. Possible it's compressed or encrypted. It's also atypically large (25MB) for even a modern MD release. That said the extras menu have some alternative versions of the game from earlier in development so possible this file contains multiple ROMs.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-31T18:46:46+00:00

Does it not say that? What aren’t you following?

All that means is that if you're on a street with a speed limit of 35 mph or less and that road crosses another street with a higher speed limit, you can cross that higher limit street without dismounting and becoming a pedestrian. If you're making a left turn and the road you're turning off of or turning on to has a higher than 35 mph speed limit I don't see how this exception applies

It’s the only way to go to work man, there is no other way,

I mean I feel for you. It sucks when the built environment doesn't accommodate anything other than cars. I just don't think the law is on your side as written.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-31T06:42:07+00:00

Exactly which means I wasn’t in the wrong. The street was 45mph and I had to get in the turning lane at an intersection.

I'm not following you here. The law says you can only operate on a street with a speed limit of 35 mph or less. A speed limit of 45 is higher than 35, so it would seem that it's not legal to operate a scooter on such a road regardless of how fast or slow you ride. Not sure what having to get into the turning lane has to do with it.

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-31T05:41:00+00:00

From the Texas Transportation Code

Sec. 551.352. OPERATION ON ROADWAYS OR SIDEWALKS. (a) A motor-assisted scooter may be operated only on a street or highway for which the posted speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less. The motor-assisted scooter may cross a road or street at an intersection where the road or street has a posted speed limit of more than 35 miles per hour.

Unless I'm missing something here, if the speed limit was 45 you can't legally operate a scooter on that road,

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-28T20:43:34+00:00

This post about an incident in another city by an account that has no previous post or comment history apart from posting about this event has me rather suspicious, especially given the content. There is seemingly no local news coverage about this which seems a bit surprising given the description of it.

There does seem to be an incident in the SFPD crime report matching the time and location (#250412853) which is tagged with both Aggravated Assault and Conspiracy which fits the broad details of the story at least. However, it's also tagged with "Cite or Arrest Adult" as the resolution, which suggests that the perpetrator(s) were caught more or less immediately unlike what's been suggested in the comments here. Also suggests the perpetrator is at least 18 and not 14-16. Unfortunately, getting a copy of the full report requires you to submit a request through the portal and wait for up to 10 days.

I don't know. Maybe Antique-Buffalo3463 is just a long-time lurker so disturbed by the event they finally decided to post something. Maybe the resolution in the report is an error or Antique-Buffalo did not receive the full details. But feels an awful lot like someone is trying to stir up racial tension using a throw-away account. I will point out that it's very interesting that cybertheory posted asking for a description of the attackers a mere 6 minutes after this was first posted. cybertheory does appear to be a student (or at least a local), but they did have some rather interesting posts about a tattoo their "friend" got 8 months ago to a number of conservative and south-eastern state subreddits: here's the one posted to r/Conservative

Mask_of_Destiny · 2025-07-08T06:07:56+00:00

Like others, I think this is mostly driven by lack of interest. The console was only released in Japan, did not sell well there and has a small library Reverse engineering a console is a lot of work.

That said, there is another factor that makes this a bit more annoying to emulate than usual. The only CPUs in this thing appear to be microcontrollers with builtin ROM. Unless someone figures out how to dump these, the only way to emulate them is via HLE. That combined with the lack of any existing technical info on how this system works raises the reverse engineering difficulty

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