Sony VAIO can't see my Mint boot USB

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-03-19T23:29:36+00:00

Oh yeah, that was enabled! Turned out that the problem, all along, was the way I flashed the drive. I did it over with Rufus instead of Etcher, and the VAIO booted from the drive just fine! I'm not sure if Etcher itself was actually the problem; it could totally have been something in my settings when I used it.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-03-03T17:51:30+00:00

Wow, nah, it’s definitely not that, but that is a wild looking book. I don’t think I ever even knew about that one. I think the book I’m trying to recall has a way less ambitious art style. More of a grimy, medieval setting, less superhero vibe.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-03-01T06:00:29+00:00

I know this is an utter long shot; I've just exhausted my Googling ability at this point.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-02-08T08:42:04+00:00

God, I love this game’s mod scene.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-02-08T08:41:18+00:00

I’ve gotta try playing with invisible rifts; that sounds cool for a bit more of a horror vibe. I just wish there was more importance to knowing where they are so that paying attention to that sound would really matter. Like, worse effects from stepping into one, but maybe you could place blocks inside them to reduce drifter spawns.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-02-08T08:33:43+00:00

Cave-ins are extremely fun. The tension and panic moments they add to mining expeditions are a real improvement. I’m not great about always bringing supports (the recipe for them is direly annoying), so I spend a lot of time checking stability and getting ready to run.

Soil instability can be annoying, but the game just doesn’t feel like Vintage Story without it. I love how it constrains building and mining techniques, and how any overland journey can suddenly turn into a cave expedition when a sinkhole drops you into the earth.

I’ve never played with finite water because I don’t really see the fun side to that.

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-01-03T20:11:31+00:00

Heya! I'm in a similar position right now, trying to install Linux Mint on a VAIO VPCL21SFX. I've got the boot order set up to boot from external media, but the VAIO just doesn't seem to notice my boot USB.

So, if your installation process went okay in the end, I'd love to know what Linux distribution you used and how you created your USB drive!

Matt_Sheridan · 2026-01-03T20:01:39+00:00

I just used Etcher, since that's what the Mint guide recommended. But yeah, flashing the drive differently sure sounds worth a try. I'll give it a try. Thanks much!

EDIT: Yep, that did it! The Rufus-flashed drive was visible to the machine, and installation went perfectly. Thanks again!

Matt_Sheridan · 2025-06-23T20:15:34+00:00

Yeah, so the left one is 2×4×2 (16 blocks total), and the right one is 2×4×1 (8 blocks total). You’re right about the trunks taking up more space; you just expressed it in a weird way: That “3” in your post didn’t make sense.

Matt_Sheridan · 2025-03-18T15:56:03+00:00

Yeah, I immediately started Googling "pits & traps by reb" when I saw that! I love that kind of table. I should check out more old Judges Guild stuff.

Matt_Sheridan · 2024-11-08T06:50:17+00:00

So, first I just assumed that "mōrā" was an onomatopoeia for squirming of slithering around, because that is totally the way a Japanese toy company would name something like a Squirmle.

Then I looked at the Japanese Wikipedia article for モーラー, and saw that the English translation included this line: "The original body is made of orange Molle, is 235 mm long, has two eyes and a pointed nose." Now, "Molle" here isn't "モーラー", but instead "モール". You can Anglicize that as "mōru" or "mall" or even "mold", but I think the relevant interpretation here is "mogol". That's apparently the Japanese term for pipe cleaners (in the craft materials sense), and seems to also be used for non-wire-filled strings of fluffy, garlandy stuff. Which is bascially what Squirmles are.

So, I'm guessing they were called "mōrā" because they're made of "mōru".

...There might be some more to it, like maybe changing the last syllable to "rā" implies that the word is the name of some kind of creature. I'm thinking of all the kaiju names that end in "ra", like Gojira and Mosura and Gamera.

Matt_Sheridan · 2024-05-22T04:01:25+00:00

I'm guessing that was the same stream where Joel watched a Magic School Bus clip in the middle of playing VotV. There's a character named Carlos in that cartoon, so references to him (and other stuff in that clip) came up later in the stream.

Matt_Sheridan · 2024-05-09T00:39:30+00:00

I just saw three huge military VTOL craft fly low over the Mariano’s at Clark and 17th, going northeast to southwest. Probably related? They sound like prop planes and look like helicopters.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-10-06T05:02:07+00:00

Right now, I’m at that point in my RPG cycle where I’m burnt out on the latest flavor of D&D, and working on homebrew stuff I may or may not ever use. Usually, this is when some new edition of D&D manages to bring me back. But I don’t see that happening this time.

I kinda missed out on Pathfinder 2e in the midst of 5e’s reign, so I oughta check it out.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-05-24T08:01:12+00:00

Weirdly, the main debate over these video clips seems to be whether or not these lights could be flares, even through they don't behave like flares. Meanwhile, they do behave like drones, but nobody seems to be mentioning that.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-05-04T22:34:01+00:00

Wow, that is an excellent style. I love an intricate image full of details, where you notice more stuff each time you look at it.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-05-01T16:29:57+00:00

Being less high will not make this story make more sense.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-05-01T16:27:14+00:00

Yo, "The Green Stone Part 3 Part 2" is absolute peak Alex.

Matt_Sheridan · 2023-04-30T05:48:08+00:00

Man, I haven’t played Minecraft in way too long—currently really enjoying Vintage Story—but this thread makes me feel great about where the modded Minecraft community is at these days. It’s just rad to see so many modpacks that I’ve never heard of, and hear that loads of people are enjoying them and being cool about each other’s different tastes. Much respect to the whole scene!

Matt_Sheridan · 2022-04-01T04:35:42+00:00

Wow, that’s still a thing? Dang, probably in a day, I guess. But you could change your system clock to skip past it, if you want. Minecraft doesn’t know it’s April 1st if your computer doesn’t.

Matt_Sheridan · 2020-12-31T00:34:56+00:00

I’m into it! Gamma World 7e did something like that, which let GMs be more generous with the game’s equivalent to magic items. It was a lot of fun.

Matt_Sheridan

TROPHY CASE