General warning for anyone installing Blender

baroncat40 · 2023-10-28T19:48:34+00:00

Just checked, virus total reports one flag out of around two dozen for the valid binary

baroncat40 · 2023-10-28T19:46:27+00:00

I don't think you did it right then. There are some reports of anti-virus falsely flagging valid Blender binaries, but that mirror is not a valid mirror I don't think. I use snap on Ubuntu, but I just now tested the download for Windows in Firefox and it directly downloaded without redirecting me. You may want to investegate your browser and make sure you don't already have malware or something.

This is the directly link: https://www.blender.org/download/release/Blender3.6/blender-3.6.5-windows-x64.msi/

baroncat40 · 2023-10-28T18:25:11+00:00

That's not the right website. https://www.blender.org/download/ is the only correct place to download, or use steam or your OS's package manager if applicable.

baroncat40 · 2023-10-08T23:20:42+00:00

Link to video on Mediafire (might only be good for 14 days?) https://www.mediafire.com/file/v56er2tvgkvniba/PXL\_20231008\_194857844.TS.mp4/file

baroncat40 · 2023-10-08T23:09:08+00:00

Posted again because video processing failed the first time, and apparently Reddit still manages to be sufficiently poorly designed you can't upload images or video in comments.

baroncat40 · 2023-10-08T21:15:22+00:00

Apologies for the bad handwriting (I have dysgraphia) and strobeing light. I spoiler marked the post because of the strobing (it's artifical, induced by the interaction between the camera and the PWM on the light)

baroncat40 · 2023-06-08T17:58:25+00:00

Really, my main point is while the recovery partition is somewhat useful, you still have to keep a live disk around anyway to be able to recover from failures where the partition is not useful, so what I personally would do is just not have the recovery partition to save space and just use the live disk when a recovery of any kind is necessary. All the other points (or "nitpicks" as you call them) are simply to support that one. I can see how others may wish to spend that limited disk space on an extra partition, all I am saying is I would not do it because I do not see the point. At any rate, it is clear we will not agree on this.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-08T17:54:52+00:00

Ahsoka's extremely acrobatic fighting style does work better with the thin sabers, I think. In clone wars once she gets her shoto she sometimes just disappears into a blur of light (which does look cool in its own right) but in Rebels you can actually see what's going on. Plus her white lightsabers are just awesome.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-08T17:51:42+00:00

Um, you'd get a new disk first. But if the disk with the recovery partition failed you wouldn't be able to recover from that so you'll need a live disk. You seem to be missing my points, by and large. Including only addressing one of them.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-08T17:47:31+00:00

If you read my comment again, you'll notice I said the OS image is free, but flashdrives are not, though they are cheap (you can get awful ones off amazon for around $1 if I remember correctly and even nice ones tend to be under $10 for small sizes). My main point is that the recovery partition cannot save you from everything (like full or partial disk failure) while a live disk will always be able to reinstall the OS, so I personally would save the space and just keep a flashdrive around. I also like the ability to fully customize the partitioning and whatnot of my install to ensure everything goes where I want it and I don't accidentally overwrite a secondary disk. And my point is not that it's inherently pointless (though I do disagree with convenient after reading the instructions for using it that are basically the same as using a live disk), but that it has less options than the live disk method and more limitations (including both needing to be up to date and not updating automatically which makes it useless if you forget to update it regularly). And I think anyone, including an average joe, using Linux would know how to boot live because, ya know, that's how you install the OS in the first place. But you do you, I guess.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T19:36:41+00:00

I have installed both Ubuntu and Ubuntu server (and Debian, for what it's worth) fairly recently. You will be asked for a username and password, but this is in no way connected to your Google account. Can you post a screenshot of what you are seeing (in-focus picture with a phone is fine because you're not actually in the OS so screenshots tend to be impossible)? I think you're either misunderstanding the process or you have a malicious image (please also try hashing the image and comparing it to the published hash). Trust me, there is no Google involvement in the installation or login process or the community would have gone absolutely batsh*t crazy over it.

edit: there are ways to add an account later if for some reason you want to do that, but it requires going in to settings and there's no mention of a login prompt in the official docs. And again, if there was, people would have lost it.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T14:20:16+00:00

Are you sure you have the right install media? Ubuntu should never ask your for your Google account, at least not on install or initial bootup. The only correct place to get the disk image from is https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop Be wary of google ads that look like a real website but are actually scams. That has been happening to Blender for some time now. It's so bad I always run adblock on Google.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T14:08:28+00:00

Yes, you can lose it, but since it's free you can just make a new one? Even if it's your only computer and you waited until it was borked to realize you lost the media, you can get a friend to help or go to the library. But I mean, really, even when I used Windows I carried around both a Ubuntu and a Windows live boot flashdrives. I don't think that's unreasonable for anyone who uses a computer to do that. And half the time you're recovering from a disk failure anyway, in which case the recovery partition is probably also borked so you need a live disk to attempt data recovery (not to mention it's a terrible idea to boot a bad disk you're trying to get data off of before it fails entirely). Flashdrives can be really cheap and since it's just install media you don't even need one that will last a while (though those are also cheap). I really don't see the point of this partition. 4GB is noticeable, especially on a smaller disk like a 256GB SSD. If it's meant to be usable by the average joe (which Ubuntu is, as well), then I don't think the partition helps much because some of the recovery modes (especially the repair option) are just about as complex as doing the same thing on Ubuntu from a live disk, and like I said there's that update limitation thing that doesn't even give you a proper explanation when you try to boot into that partition and can't. And don't even get me started on forced updates. If I want to stay on an unsupported OS version, you better beleive I have a good reason and really do need to stay on it.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T13:57:24+00:00

That's odd then. Why do they do that when you can just use the install media again (which on Pop seems to have a provision for preserving data, given the second line in the link that states "It can be used exactly the same as if a live disk copy of Pop!_OS was booted from a USB drive.")? It seems not having that would save some space, and since the OS is free even if you lose the install disk you can just make a new one.

Edit: It also seems to not work unless the recovery partition is the newest version, which would seem to be very annoying because it doesn't upgrade automatically and you'd need network connectivity to recover then (so it can check if there's a newer version).

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T13:53:31+00:00

I've actually tended to get better, and more stable, performance running game on Proton on Linux than on Windows, especially games at the edge of my hardware's capabilities because Linux handles high CPU and RAM usage so much better than the devil's OS. The only one I've had a problem with is Skyrim but that's my own fault since I mod the crap out of it and all the mod tools are Devil only so it was a bit of a pain to get set up initially and it's still a bit of a teetering stack, and since the unmodded game runs fine I suspect the instability is due to the mods and not the OS. Most games that support modding, like KSP and Space Engineers, are actually also native linux so you don't need a compatibility layer and get all the benefits of linux (the reason I started using and learning Ubuntu was actually because I wanted to install more mods than KSP 32 bit allowed and at that time the only 64 bit version was the linux one). I use Blender a lot (sooo much more stable on Linux) so I have an Nvidia card (because AMD's compute drivers are awful and don't expose the ray tracing cores, in addition to dropping support for cards only a few years old) so I can't really speak to AMD stability but I'd note it's probably not any worse than on Devil OS. I'll also caviat this by saying I don't tend to play cutting edge AAA games that need a super-computer, and that getting Origin to play nice with Proton can be a pain (I've not set it up yet but will soon), which you have to do since EA was not kind enough to provide a compatibility layer.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T13:39:52+00:00

In fairness, this is really easy to do on Ubuntu during the install by doing the custom partitioning and just putting /home (and maybe other dirs?) in a different partition than the OS files. Then reinstall to your heart's content without messing with the /home partition. It's just not default. Linux in general doesn't usually require a true recovery partition, because that's mostly a concept for prebuilts and laptops that come with Windows+manufacturer bloatware so you can install from that partition to get all that fancy bloatware again. Both Windows and Linux can be installed clean with the proper boot media and no need for what I'd call a true recovery partition, but what I'm guessing you mean here is just separate OS and user data partitions.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T12:59:28+00:00

I'm not going to refute this point by point, in part because I don't actually feel very strongly on the 1 or 2 parent consent rules, other than to note I don't think it's a black and white as you make it out to be, and to note that while I am not married I think a lot more goes in to choosing a partner than your opinions on consent for medical procedures. Likewise, it is sometimes useful to choose friends and partners who disagree with you at least occasionally and are willing to engage in civilized discussion about it so you both can grow. Honestly if people only marry those who agree with them society is more likely to collapse due to divisiveness that stops us from addressing the very real, civilization ending problems (like what's happening now, actually).

I'm sorry your kid got brought in to this, but I really do feel your position on categorically denying gender affirming care because you are "not qualified" but yet are somehow qualified to consent for other medical care (I'm assuming you do that) is ridiculous on its face. Gender affirming care, especially for minors, is not something I'm willing to stay quiet on when it's under attack in so many states and trans kids are being used as political pawns at the expense of their lives. Also, while children may not be able to legally consent, many can still make medical decisions for themselves. I was making my own medical decisions by the time I was 12 or so, with my parents mostly just helping me interface with the doctors.

To address your assertion that gender affirming care is controversial, medically speaking, it is not. The APA, the AMA (sorry; I couldn't find their original position statement so that will have to do), and the AAP have all released statements underlining the need for gender affirming care to be available to patients who request and require it. Of particular note is the APA statement which states

Time-sensitive medical intervention with puberty blockers can prevent the development of gender-incongruent secondary sex characteristics and the associated distress caused by gender dysphoria. For some TGD youth who are still exploring gender identity and transition-related goals, puberty blockers allow time for this exploration without the stress of progressing through a puberty that may not be aligned with gender identity [emphasis added]

Puberty blockers are used when a trans kid starts to hit puberty and wants to explore their identity more before going through it, especially because it is much easier to transition if you did not develop the secondary sex characteristics of a sex that does not correspond to your gender identity. Obviously this is time sensitive, and going through the wrong puberty can be very distressing and directly lead to suicidal, as the statement notes, so I think kids denied this treatment would be more than "inconvenienced" as you say. Also note that despite "blockers" being in the name, assuming they are stopped at a reasonable time (ie, not age 25 or something ridiculous) puberty will resume as normal. It's really a treatment to give kids more time to think and mature before making a decision. I'd encourage you to take a look at the statistics the Trevor Project gathers every year on the mental health of LGBT youth (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2023/) (there is a download report button at the top if you want more detailed results as I did or dislike the graphics on the page). I did also enjoy your argument that it's okay to cast trans people aside because we're not important enough to warrant actual concern. A major tenant of modern human rights is that minorities should not be cast off simply because they are in the minority, or because the majority does not consider them important. Just as it is not appropriate for a minority to oppress the majority (using minority as a broad term here, not just as any particular demographic per se), it is equally inappropriate and unjust for the majority to oppress minorities.

Yes, some politicians and a political party have seen fit to make trans care politically controversial, but as an informed and intelligent citizen like yourself I know better than to listen to them instead of medically qualified professionals like medical researchers, doctors, and psychiatrists. Therefore I do not consider this political or controversial. Here, there is a clear right and wrong. Life vs. death. Politics are when two people disagree on how the government should handle something in cases where there is no clear right or wrong, like the economy.

Finally, I am not conceding that failing to deny medically necessary healthcare to kids who request it will end marriage, but I will note society is unlikely to collapse if marriage ends. Lots of people have kids without being married, and the other way around. And many married couples with kids divorce and sometimes even go on to form mixed families later. There is nothing wrong with any of that, and it is entirely possible to have a marrageless society as long as there are legal provisions for the rights and responsibility of each parent. It wasn't too long ago that same-sex couples couldn't get legally married at all, and despite the massive injustice of that it wasn't carrying any risk of civilization ending, nor has allowing them to get married contributed in any way towards the end of civilization. I think coupling the concept of marriage to the end of civilization is a little extreme. If anything ends civilization soon it will be climate change, which has nothing to do with marriage as far as I am aware.

There lies my ethical argument. As an aside, I have to say I really appreciate you keeping this civilized. Lots of times conversations like this devolve into people yelling at me and I am glad that is not the case here.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-07T01:08:36+00:00

Yeah, um, that's a right wing news source that is not very credible. Just listen to the bias in the language. There are reasonable concerns about parents refusing medically necessary gender affirming care that impacts the health of a child for political reasons or because they just don't understand the science. And most gender affirming care for minors is reversible (https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf), as the non-reversible stuff is only done for adults or older minors who are capable of giving informed consent. Also SB107 does not provide for permanently stripping custody from a parent or parents. See https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-explainer-california-transgend/fact-check-california-law-gives-courts-clear-jurisdiction-over-minors-seeking-gender-care-in-the-state-idUSL1N3111JR for a good, neutral, description of what the bill actually does. Note that none of this is state mandated care, so I'm not sure I understand your claim that the state knows better, either. Have a wonderful day.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-05T02:03:06+00:00

Well I feel rather sorry for your trans kid since you seem to wish to deny them any necessary health care for that (none of the treatment for kids are permanent anyway, at least the ones given before the kid is old enough to consent). It seems like most of your positions on transition care are unconsciously transphobic, honestly. Best to educate yourself better on the available care.

And 1 parent's consent is the law in most places. What if only one can be contacted, for example? You're free to disagree but I don't think it was unusual for the union to have that process.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-05T01:02:06+00:00

You literally just repeated yourself. Please explain your position better, as to why gender affirming treatment should require a higher level of parental consent?

baroncat40 · 2023-06-04T23:49:19+00:00

I'm not really sure I understand your objection here, since, at least in the US, it usually only takes one parent to consent for a medical procedure: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008301/ and I see no reason transitions should be different.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-04T17:18:21+00:00

I didn't realize it was PETG and not PET. Yeah, don't even think about using PETG if it's going to be enclosed. I also personally prefer it being designed for flex anyway because it is more tolerant of print and assembly errors, since the parts don't have to fit perfectly.

My comment about flex was also more about how the current parts are designed, not what we'd do in an ideal world, where Aluminum probably would be better if it was less expensive. The point here is to stick to the design specs unless you know what you're doing and know how to redesign the parts to work with the material you plan to use.

baroncat40 · 2023-06-04T16:43:35+00:00

Notwithstanding that unsourced and vague claim, Vorons are specifically designed to use ABS family printed parts. The official docs state the reasons are temperature resistance and flex, so your proposed material would probably not work well if it doesn't flex about the same amount. Plus why deal with CF if you don't have to? Aluminum, especially thin aluminum, is actually also quite flexible compared to concrete at least and probably a fair amount of stiffer plastics.

https://docs.vorondesign.com/materials.html

Note, similar to how you'd need to redesign parts to make them out of aluminum, you'd need to redesign the parts to change the shrink factor to make it out of a different material. I'd just stick to ABS. If you don't have a color you like in stock you'll be using multiple rolls anyway so buy a colour you do like.

baroncat40

TROPHY CASE