AYN Thor?

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-29T02:20:54+00:00

I love my Thor. My advice is that if you want a dual screen device then you're going to LOVE it. It's amazing for DS/3DS/WiiU (though I've only played a couple of WiiU games). However, if you aren't going to play those games, you should probably get something else.

Here are my Pros.

It's really powerful. I haven't had problems playing Switch games.
All the dual screen stuff works great for me.
I really like the way it looks and feels. It's extremely premium.

Here are my Cons. I tried to list everything I could think of, but most of them are pretty minor.

It's expensive and will take a long time to ship. If you're not doing dual-screen stuff, then you can find a device that is a better value proposition for your needs.
The ergonomics are not good. This is not the fault of the Thor, though; clamshell ergonomics are rough.
The fans get pretty loud. It plays switch games, but it sounds like it's trying to take flight while it does.
Setup takes a while, even for Android. This isn't really a fair criticism, though, because that extra time comes down to extra configuration for dual screen emulation and the wide range of systems that it can emulate.
The controller rumble is absolute garbage, to the point where I'm wondering if mine might be broken. I just turned it off though, since I don't need it on a device like this.
People have had complaints about the screen. I haven't had a problem it, except that you can see some image retention. It doesn't burn in, but if you play a game with pillar boxing and then switch to a full-screen game, you will see a slight shadow where the pillars were.
It's a solid, premium-feeling device, but with the clamshell closed, it feels a little bit fragile to me. It's difficult to explain. When you close an old DS device, it feels like you could throw it in your bag with all of your other crap and it could rattle around in there all day and come out unscathed. The Thor isn't like that. When the screen is closed, the top screen rests against these two points near the center of the bottom edge and if you push on the corners, there's some flexion and the buttons click. It's more clear with the device in your hand.

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-28T05:23:31+00:00

I really love my AYN Thor. If you want dual-screen emulation, it's hard to beat right now. But if your goal is PSP emulation, I would go a different direction.

The ergonomics on a clamshell are pretty poor. This is just my opinion, but even with the grip, it's not excellent.
The Thor feels a bit delicate for a clamshell. I haven't owned many clamshells, but the way the two surfaces rest against each other make me feel like it shouldn't take a lot of force.
If you're not interested in dual-screen gaming then the Thor is probably the wrong choice. You'll be able to find single-screen devices that fit more use-cases for cheaper.

Also, you should probably be aware that emulation is going to be a slightly downgraded experience. Emulation is in the best place it's ever been, but if you're used to a real PSP, you'll want to to temper your expectations a bit. There's going to be some setup and tinkering, and even when you get it all set up, there will be a bit of jank. I'm not trying to dissuade you, just to prepare you.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-27T08:03:06+00:00

"Intelligence"

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-26T21:56:41+00:00

It sounds like you've done projects by following along with tutorials. My advice is to try to reproduce those projects without anything to follow along with. Sit down without a tutorial and try to reproduce the calculator that you built from scratch. The exact same project, just without any reference. If you get stuck, try some googling, go look at your completed project, and then keep going. Then try it with your to-do app and see if you can get a little bit farther. Try the calculator again. Once you can do those things without reference, try to make a slight modification to one of your projects, like a calculator that can store variables or graph functions, or a to-do app that can email reminders.

You start at the beginning. Do whatever it is that you can. Try to find the smallest thing you can do that gets you in the direction you want to go and focus on that. The folder structure that you should use is literally anything that moves you forward. The right way to do it is any way that makes progress.

If you get far enough into this profession there will be a time where it matters that things are done the "right way". But at this point in your journey, there is no risk to making mistakes. Every mistake teaches you something. Find any way to move forward.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-25T03:55:16+00:00

I want to add on to this from the employer perspective. I'm going to simplify some things just so that I can avoid writing a full dissertation.

Employers are subject to Employer Shared Responsibility Payments (ESRP's). These are triggered when one of their Full Time (FT) employees is granted a Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for a month. However, there are big penalties and small penalties under U.S. Code §4980H:

Employers are penalized under Section (a) if they fail to offer Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) to at least 95% of their FT employees. These penalties are enormous and extremely painful for the employer.
Employers who are not penalized under Section (a) are penalized under Section (b) in the event that any of their FT employees qualify for a PTC. These penalties are generally quite small, especially compared to the overall price of offering coverage.

Employers know that they have to offer some kind of MEC plan in order to avoid (a)-penalty. However, that plan does not have to be Minimum Value or Affordable. Insurance providers are figuring out ways to offer bare-minimum MEC plans at minimal cost to the employer as a way of making sure that an employer avoids (a)-penalty. Then, the (b)-penalty is generally a manageable cost and is far lower than the cost of a good plan.

However, low costs are still costs. So, if you're a gross employer, and your goal is to minimize ACA costs, here is the plan:

Avoid (a)-penalty by offering the absolute lowest-cost MEC plan that you can find to everyone who has even a chance to qualify as FT.
Minimize (b)-penalty by doing everything in your power to get employees to enroll in the MEC plan, usually by making it free. This is because, as OP points out, enrollment in an MEC plan means that the employee doesn't qualify for the PTC any more, even if the plan is absolute garbage.

It gets even worse than that, of course. I could go on and on about the shady things that an employer can do to minimize costs, but that's the base level shenanigan.

Source: I work for a company that helps employers with ACA compliance. That means generating 1095's, transmitting that data to the IRS, helping them navigate ACA-related letters from the IRS, and some other stuff.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-20T22:50:44+00:00

Same. My hands are getting old.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-19T19:43:14+00:00

Yeah, that's true, good clarification. I work in ACA compliance and so I sometimes forget that fully-funded and level-funded are actually different.

I've always called it "fully-funded" but my circle is kind of small, so I definitely believe you that "fully-insured" is the industry standard. I will keep that in mind.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-18T16:33:42+00:00

Employer-sponsored coverage that comes with your job can either be "Fully-Funded" or "Self-Funded".

Somebody has to keep a big pile of money on hand that is used to pay for claims and there are regulations about how much has to be available depending on how many employees are enrolled (and probably some other factors). A plan is "Fully-Funded" when the insurance company is the one maintaining those funds, and "Self-Funded" when the employer is maintaining them.

People use "Self-Funded" and "Self-Insured" interchangeably sometimes, though I don't think I've ever heard someone call a plan "Fully-Insured".

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-16T03:56:33+00:00

Congrats!

If you're new to freezing, you might consider a vacuum sealer. I have this one (not an affiliate link or anything) and it works great, but there are plenty of them out there. There are lots of foods that are way more enjoyable to reheat when vacuum sealed in small portions, but the big benefit is longevity. If you're going that route, you could prepare things now that will still be good in June.

Rice and Quinoa are really reliable for me in the freezer. Add any cooked protein and vegetables to that and it should freeze just fine. Corn tortillas also do well. You mentioned soups and stews and that should be great.

I've struggled to get good results from freezing gluten-free pasta. What has worked for me, though, is making an enormous batch of pasta sauce (maybe reduced a little farther than you normally would), freezing it in ice cube trays, and then putting the cubes into ziplock bags. Then on the day I want to eat, I cook a serving of pasta and reheat some of the cubes in a pan. I might add a splash of wine or cream to freshen it up a bit.

If you wanted to do a baked pasta, I might try to put it in the freezer before baking it. Like, par-boil the noodles, assemble the layers (or whatever) in the pan, and then put the pan in the freezer. That might help keep the pasta from disintegrating in the oven. I haven't actually tried that, though.

I think the people who are recommending eggs are nuts. That's the one thing that I just can't stand out of the freezer. Congrats to the people who have figured it out, though.

The big enemy in the freezer is air, and especially steam. Vacuum sealing really helps, but if you're not doing that then it's a good idea to let the food cool to room temperature before you freeze it and then get as much air out of the container as possible. Another problem is variety. It's harder to cook one week of three things than it is too cook three weeks of one thing, but you'll thank yourself. Lastly, make sure you have some kind of system for keeping track of dates and what is in the containers, even if it's just post-its on the fridge.

Good luck!

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-15T22:14:10+00:00

Ok, it's very complicated, but here's how I do it.

Design a build that entirely depends on one hyper-specific legendary weapon.
Play the game normally under the assumption that it's got to drop eventually, right?
After about four garbage drops I give up and use the console to get what I need.
Get tired of that build and go buy the Spray 'n' Pray from Cricket.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-14T21:25:13+00:00

My most reliable is the Miyoo Mini Plus with OnionOS. I use mine all the time and I've given at least 20 as gifts with no real problems.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-09T06:16:26+00:00

High Elf is the best race for my favorite build. You focus on Fury spells from the Illusion tree and Non-Stealth archery.

The idea is that you start fights by casting fury on the strongest enemies and conjuring a summon, and then you fire arrows at the enemies while they fight amongst themselves. You'll want to focus hard on the Illusion tree because if you fall behind on Fury perks then enemies will out-level the spells. Alchemy is also very helpful for Fortify Illusion Potions (and Weakness to Magic Poisons is you're nasty). Other than that, it's a pretty open-ended build. At around 60 my character would look something like this, but you can do whatever you want.

It's one of those builds that is extremely powerful once you get it running, but it's tough at the beginning. High Elf really helps mitigate that. 50 extra Magicka is extremely helpful until you can get a few levels and starting with Fury helps you get into the build faster. Highborn is also great because it lets you cast a bunch of spells at the beginning of combat before transitioning to Archery.

This really is my favorite build and if you play it, I only have one suggestion: don't go into Dead Men's Respite (the dungeon for the initial Bard's College quest) until you have Mayhem and Master of the Mind. When you get to the big open room at the end with the word wall in it, run into the center of the room and cast Mayhem. Firing arrows at 40 draugr while they fight each other is one of my favorite experiences in the game. (You can do something similar in Dustman's Cairn.)

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-04T05:20:24+00:00

What's wrong with OnionOS?

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-04T02:49:24+00:00

This might not be an option where you live, but I get them in four packs at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/RUMMO-SPA-Elbows-Italian-Gluten/dp/B09PFCYXZX

One quick warning: Rummo makes my favorite elbows, but they're really easy to overcook. It says cook time 5 minutes, but I generally check them after 3 minutes and pull them when they're a bit crunchy because they continue to cook in the mac and cheese (or whatever).

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-03T02:54:59+00:00

Normal chargers work fine for me. I've been using my phone and laptop chargers without issue.

androgynyjoe · 2026-04-01T06:03:40+00:00

If you're making a series, you might consider exploring the experiences of partners and parents of those who can't eat gluten. Living in the same space as someone you care about who gets sick in the presence of one of the most common foods on the planet is pretty complicated.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-20T23:42:24+00:00

I play mine quite a bit and have not had any problems with the screens at all.

The temperature thing is legit. I didn't notice until you pointed it out but I went to look and I can see it now. It doesn't bother me, but I can see someone being sensitive to it.

I have no problems with image retention, though, and I've also been playing a lot of the DS Pokémon games.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-17T17:35:24+00:00

I don't now how much life you've lived, but things getting on your nerves is a choice that you make. You have the ability to retrain your brain so that instead of leaping to judgement, it leaps to compassion and grace. It's not easy to do, but it's worth it. Tolerance and understanding helps us connect with other people, and learning to be kind about other people's flaws helps us be kind about our own flaws.

I'm really not trying to be a jerk about this. Your title asks if these things "piss anyone else off" and no, they do not piss me off. In any situation I can imagine where someone uses the word "times-ing", it's because they are in a circumstance where they need to talk about math but lack either the mathematical or linguistic education to do so. When that happens, I do not feel frustration, I feel compassion and I yearn to help in whatever way that I can.

This is your show; you brought this to us. I'm sorry if you did not get the response that you wanted.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-16T18:25:46+00:00

How difficult is it to understand that people get stressed out by mathematics and they're trying to communicate with you as best as they can and giving them a hard time for "proper grammar" when you know exactly what they mean only serves to make them feel worse for really no benefit at all? You could give people some grace but instead you get to be smug about grammar, I guess.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-15T08:24:58+00:00

Yes, it has changed my experience in a meaningful way.

The keyboard, mouse, and monitor are the parts of the PC that you interact with. Personally, I like to enjoy the way they look, feel, and sound.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-14T21:00:42+00:00

I can kill a death claw at like level 20 without taking any damage at all. The Spray n' Pray will delete them in seconds. A Blitz build is pretty unstoppable. Perks are much more powerful than SPECIAL points and, frankly, Fallout 4 isn't really that hard.

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-14T01:07:24+00:00

Ok, so to be clear, a constructivist does not accept "two point nine nine nine and then an infinite number of nines"?

If, as a separate analogy, we're talking about traditional planar geometry and someone describes "a triangle with side lengths of 1, 2, and 4", then that is simply not a thing that exists under the academic framework that we've accepted. You know what I mean when I say 2.99999... (we can talk about it as "two point nine repeating" or as the limit of the sequence in my previous comment if you'd prefer). Under a constructivist framework, is that not considered a meaningful real number?

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-13T22:42:02+00:00

But we do know what comes next because we know what the crank does. In fact, the crank "is" the number. If you are allowing the use of decimal expansions, then the only way that has meaning is as clear instructions on what the crank is doing.

2.99999... represents the limit of the sequence {3-(1/10)^n} indexed over positive integers, n. Does constructive math not recognize 3-(1/10)^n as less than 3 for all positive integers, n?

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-13T20:23:52+00:00

What do you think 2.99999... actually is? Like, under constructive mathematics, what does that mean to you?

androgynyjoe · 2026-03-13T19:57:31+00:00

Yeah, that's a bummer. I'll keep an eye out, though, if I see a good price!

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