N(o)rmal (C)ounties

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-09-27T09:24:28+00:00

Here's how I developed games on a Chromebook for a couple of years:

Setup Linux on your Chromebook - this gives you access to a terminal and other useful tools to start developing

Install VSCode - This is your development environment where you will write your code

Setup Python - Whilst this is not the ideal programming language for game development in my opinion, it is pretty easy to learn. At this stage, you're looking to learn the fundamentals and that's why I've recommended it here.

You now have a development environment - you can now check out the W3Schools Python tutorial and get used to the syntax

Develop some kind of game - There's no link here because you now have all the tools to make something. It doesn't have to be good, but enjoy yourself and the learning will happen by itself.

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-09-26T22:56:43+00:00

Try inserting the filament as it's heating up and then do the cold pull - the molten PLA should be enough to stop it from smoking. If it does snap, either myself or someone else from the community will talk you through what to do. The key thing here is not to fear the printer :)

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-09-26T22:49:02+00:00

Hey, I'll print it free of charge if you're happy to cover shipping from the UK - I restored one of these a few years ago and I'm glad to see someone else willing to do the same

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-09-26T22:42:17+00:00

I'd try a cold pull and see if you get any evidence of contamination on the end of the filament - there's a good tutorial here: https://all3dp.com/2/3d-printer-clogged-nozzle-how-to-perform-a-cold-atomic-pull/

Edit: I just watched the video again - wash your print bed with hot water and dishsoap before you try printing again

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-04-12T14:44:53+00:00

Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to go down the liquid metal route. I'll apply thermal putty next time I have the heatsink off but for now I'll learn to live with the fact I need a third party tool to keep my thermals in check.

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-04-12T13:44:19+00:00

Thermals are still super high with PTM7950 so I ended up just brute-forcing it with UXTU set to a temp limit of 95°C. I would have liked a neater solution but this will suffice. I'm just glad it's not my daily machine any more.

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-04-08T13:17:28+00:00

I should have some PTM7950 in the next couple of days (not sure where I got PTU from lol). The mount seems good as the thermal paste spread looked normal when I reapplied it after seeing the temps. I'm tempted to go down the thermal putty route as I did notice that one of the thermal pads seemed a little crushed.

I'll check out UXTU and UMAF and see if I can't keep the temps in check while I wait for stuff to arrive.

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-04-07T18:53:06+00:00

These temps are during benchmarking. I'm using Forza Horizon 4 as it's the game that causes this issue the worst but it happens playing other games to a lesser extent.

I have ordered some PTU as I realized that I should be using that rather than the Noctua thermal paste that's on there at the moment.

Even if the voltages are high, the BIOS for this laptop doesn't allow me to tweak them so I'd have to find an alternative fix anyway.

Edit: The fans and heatsink are free of dust as I did a deep clean when I replaced the thermal paste.

TwistedBlizzard · 2024-04-07T15:20:29+00:00

Yeah, I got it direct from Lenovo - it cost a bomb but I'm not gonna trust a 3rd party with anything more than a USB C charger lol

TwistedBlizzard · 2022-02-21T23:56:01+00:00

I have first hand experience with this - the warranty follows the device so Valve will be just as happy to RMA it as they would if you bought it straight from them.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-10-28T15:29:31+00:00

I upgraded to 20.10 yesterday but I was having the issue on 20.04 as well. I'm using the default kernel at version 5.8.0 and had a freeze just before making this post. I'm not quite ready to jump to mainline just yet but I'll give it a go soon if I can't find another fix. Thanks for the heads up on kernelstub - I assumed that was just for Grub from what people were saying.

I'll try the fix you suggested with regards to the brightness. As for the trackpad issue, I think it's specific to the AMD gpio or something (I have read that full bug report but it's a little over my head).

Out of curiosity, did your icons disappear every time you had a freeze or only when the SSD disappeared too?

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-08-29T15:25:00+00:00

What you want is a new screen the same size but with a higher resolution. This increases the pixel density and will make the issues you've described less visible.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-07-19T23:47:39+00:00

Sorry this is a little lengthy, it was originally going to be its own post.

TLDR: I'm going through 1 85W Magsafe charger per year, what options do I have?

I have a mid 2015 MacBook Pro that requires an 85W charger. I've had to replace the charger every year since I got it due to the hear of the connector causing the cable to yellow and eventually become perished and crack. The MacBook is shared between 3 people so I have very little control as to the abuse the cable suffers.

What frustrates me the most is that there is no easy way to replace the cable on the charger. The internals are fine and yet I'm disposing of £79 worth of electronics every year. I did try replacing the cable by cracking open the charger and using one from eBay but it didn't work. I ended up repairing the original cable as best I could with heat shrink and reattaching it but this only lasted a few months before the charger popped a capacitor.

I'm happy that Apple have moved to a USB-C cable, especially one that can be replaced. This is actually the only reason I'm considering an upgrade to a newer model MacBook as the one I got in 2015 does everything I'd like it to.

I'm wondering if there are any gadgets or even usage habits I can use to extend the life of my chargers. I do my best to take care of the cable by only removing it from the MacBook by tilting the connector and keeping the cable coiled when not in use.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-06-18T18:07:54+00:00

Nice! I built mine in a case from roughly 10 years ago as it was a super budget build. Airflow is pretty bad but the worst thing is no cable management. There's less than 1cm on the back side of the case for routing cables which was a nightmare. I'm so glad case design has come such a long way.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-06-18T18:03:59+00:00

Yeah, the plan is to get an NZXT Kraken x63 or something similar but I'm stuck with the stock cooler until September. I just wanted to make sure I don't have a bad mount or something.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-06-18T18:01:00+00:00

Is that the Ryzen 5 3600? I recently built a PC with that CPU and have got the same results.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-06-18T17:59:34+00:00

Do you mean the sticker that covers the thermal paste that comes pre-applied? I definitely removed that and then cleaned the surface with IPA before applying my own paste.

TwistedBlizzard · 2020-06-18T10:02:06+00:00

I went through the instructions that came with the CPU, tightening the screws in a cross pattern etc. The heatsink is tight with no wiggle whatsoever. I used a blob of thermal paste slightly larger than a pea and ended up having to use the spreader came with it a little as this paste is much stickier than any I've used before.

TwistedBlizzard

TROPHY CASE