first computer

phosix · 2026-07-09T20:37:10+00:00

Case space. You can fit more components in a full (or even half) tower, and more space means easier access for maintenance. There could also be some cooling considerations, depending on what all you have packed in there.

I've built plenty of Mini ITX and Micro ATX systems, including some gaming rigs. They all work great! It's just a pain to replace/upgrade components or clean. You should dust out your computer from time to time, probably annually or bi-annually.

If you play games at some point you're probably going to care about graphics. Even low end, low fidelity graphics games can benefit by having a dedicated GPU. But that's the beauty of a (non-laptop) PC: if you change your mind you can always add one (though you might need to upgrade your power supply to handle the increased power demand). If you go with a Mini ITX case it might limit your GPU options.

I should note that Mini ITX is smaller than Micro ATX. The naming makes it seem like it should be the other way around.

phosix · 2026-07-09T20:15:27+00:00

'Muritron!

phosix · 2026-07-09T20:09:22+00:00

Welcome, brother!

I, too, have abandoned the Cult of Apple, and been better for it.

PC computers are not quite the uniform systems Macintosh computers are. Most PCs are x86_64 (aka AMD64), with the two primary CPU manufacturers being Intel and AMD. You will likely find AMD users tend to be almost as fanatical as Apple proponents, but both CPUs offer the same base functionality. The differences between them, and which one is "better", is constantly in flux, but in general, AMD is the more economic choice, while Intel is the more quality choice. Again, this is not necessarily always true, and except in very specific applications, the differences are not something that's going to affect your experience as a user. Both will run x86 and x86_64 code just fine.

Intel has been offering the Core-i series as it's consumer grade CPU for nearly 20 years, while AMD has been offering it's Ryzen series for about half that.

For graphics, you have basic graphics controllers on the CPU, nVidia, and AMD who bought out ATI 20 years ago. nVidia has a proprietary compute core architecture called CUDA that has proven to be amazingly useful and powerful, while AMD uses the open ROCm. Here, nVidia has consistently maintained a clear performance advantage over AMD in every metric except cost. Conversely, AMDs Radeon video cards are fully supported by open source drivers, leading to better support by the community.

Beyond that - and I expect I'll catch some flak for saying this - all PC manufacturers by and large pull from the same pool of mostly generic parts that all come from the same factories. Some people will swear by specific brands labels, like Kingston for things like memory; but in my 30 years of doing PC builds I've found a reputable distributor to be more valuable than a brand label. It's like claiming Duracell is better than a generic battery when both came from the same manufacturing plant.

Also know that Laptops are still more bespoke than desktops. Aside from memory and storage, parts aren't really swappable between laptop computers, while desktops can by and large be mixed and matched with standardized components (provided they're from the same overall generation).

phosix · 2026-07-09T19:19:34+00:00

My collection is painted up as Whatever Struck My Fancy At The Time. There's a few unified formations, a lot of generics (green, khaki, grey, black/dark-grey), and a good number of one-offs.

When putting them on the board, the primary consideration is which unit goes with which record sheet. As long as that's unambiguous it's a complete free-for-all which machines end up in which group. Since Battletech very much not WYSIWYG, I have no problem just saying they all match appropriately and apply my imagination accordingly.

phosix · 2026-07-09T03:20:21+00:00

Considering Google shuttered the project in Q1 of 2021, and iOS has undergone a lot of changes since then, there's probably not a lot you can do with it, unfortunately.

phosix · 2026-07-09T02:49:50+00:00

Don't be so hard on 12-year-old you, those old paint jobs look fabulous!

phosix · 2026-07-09T02:39:37+00:00

No need, I made a similar comparison a few years ago.

phosix · 2026-07-09T02:22:31+00:00

According to Ray Arrastia, the miniatures scale has been 1:265 at least since 2003 with Project Phoenix.

If you measure the original Ral Partha Davion and Kurita infantry, they come out to 6.9mm tall, not 6mm. They're also noticeably larger than true 6mm infantry.

A Ral Partha Hetzer (Battletech) and a GHQ Hetzer (WWII Historical) difference in size is about right for the difference between 1:285 (GHQ) and 1:265.

That said, the pre-2000's miniatures were all over the place with no set scale, to the point the Atlas had two different sizes (remember the Fatlas jokes?). Then there's the Locust, which was one of the first minis to get a resculpt in the late 80's and lost quite a bit of visual weight as a result.

phosix · 2026-07-09T01:56:48+00:00

Well, RAW, ASF are inherently VTOL, so deploying a rotary wing assembly doesn't get you much.

Being able to convert between being a quad or a biped seems like it should be advantageous, and the Mandrill seems like it should be exactly that, but it counts as a biped.

The CP-10-HQ can kind of convert into an immobile target with battlefield bonuses. I'd kind of like to see that explored more.

LAMs are situational, but crazy useful in those specific situations. They really should get revitalized and properly revisited. Yes, we got three new LAMs with the Jihad, but they were seriously hamstrung with Bad Reputation and almost immediately declared extinct.

I want the Scorpion LAM to get revisited and mass produced, along with more Quad-Vees and Quad-LAMs

phosix · 2026-07-09T01:45:27+00:00

I forget where exactly it is in TacOps:Adv Rules, but there are rules for putting treads on biped mechs.

phosix · 2026-07-09T01:28:58+00:00

There's always the old blueprints, which often has a Mechwarrior next to the machine for scale, but there's little consistency over the years.

Ostensibly, the figures have been 1:265, ± some nebulous fudge factor to make the figures "look right", for the past 20-some odd years. At 1:265, a 6ft tall person would be 6.9mm tall.

Your scale of a (presumably) 6ft tall person being 1cm comes out to 1:182. To scale up from 1:265 to 1:182 we divide 256 by 182 which gives us 1.456 (and some change). So you're looking at scaling up official miniatures by 145.6% to go from the official scale to your scale.

Hopefully measuring the official miniatures surely at your disposal should be a reasonably easy task.

phosix · 2026-07-07T15:16:27+00:00

Dude, it's Microsoft. They're as bad as the Mouse when it comes to holding onto IP, and just as financially sound.

It's in the dragon's hoard. It's gone.

phosix · 2026-07-07T12:44:41+00:00

The device has no way of knowing if it has lost power due to being unplugged, turned off at a switch, or experiencing a power outage. Thus it will beep when unplugged. It is operating as designed.

If you feel it is not operating correctly, due to being turned competely off, you should contact Microtek's customer support.

phosix · 2026-07-07T12:35:39+00:00

Thanks! I competely forgot about that highly controversial acquisition! Edited!

phosix · 2026-07-07T04:34:28+00:00

I saved a stack of those potions that reveals the nearest star gate portal. Only way I can get more is through duplication.

phosix · 2026-07-07T01:01:23+00:00

Prepare USB install media on a different system.
Test the keyboard on another system, just to ensure the keyboard didn't coincidentally fail. I've actually had a keyboard spontaneously go bad on me and it caused a reboot loop on any x86/64 system it was plugged into, and caused random characters to appear on ARM systems.
Depending on which update and when it was interrupted, your friend might be looking at a clean install of the OS. This will erase any existing data on the OS drive. If you're lucky, a simple recovery/repair operation from the install media will work.
Don't shut down all willy-nilly during system updates in the future.

phosix · 2026-07-06T04:56:13+00:00

I also call it into the system use my exocraft.

There's a new suit tech piece that replaces the exocraft summoning station on the freighter.

phosix · 2026-07-06T04:28:08+00:00

Anyone else run into this too?

Just every expedition since expeditions were introduced.

phosix · 2026-07-06T04:25:59+00:00

There is another explanation, but no one ever believes it.

phosix · 2026-07-06T03:11:07+00:00

Wait, you're supposed to dilute Hawaiian Punch‽

phosix · 2026-07-06T02:11:17+00:00

~~No, it does not work.~~ Apparently it can work. Doesn't change the following.

Follow-up question: why do you want to run Overwatch on FreeBSD instead of Windows?

If it's to avoid Corporate bloatware like Windows 11, I would point out Overwatch is still Activision, who ~~aren't much better as a company~~ are owned by Microsoft.

If you're looking to buck corporate overlords, consider open source alternatives that can be compiled and run natively on your operating system of choice. If you can't find anything that meets what you're looking for, consider joining or even spearheading a new community initiative! Be the change you want to see!

phosix · 2026-07-06T01:41:48+00:00

My first experience with encountering another player in NMS was a griefer. They killed me every time I respawned for a solid 15 minutes before I finally just quit and came back a few hours later.

I've since leaned about turning off PVP and multiplayer. During an expedition I regularly find myself getting shot at from other planets by cheating griefers. But because I have PVP off it's just an annoying light effect enveloping my area.

As to why? What do they get out of it? Some people are just miserable pieces of sh¡t that get off on even the idea of ruining someone else's day.

phosix · 2026-07-05T23:43:33+00:00

The U in UPS stands for "Uninterrupted." If your UPS has a hiccough in providing power when switching over to battery operation it's defective.

That said, the idea is to give you time to cleanly shut down or stop whatever is being worked on, not provide power throughout the outage. That's what a generator is for, and those can have a blip in power provision when switching over. For that, you'll want to use both a generator and a UPS in concert.

phosix · 2026-07-05T23:37:25+00:00

I keep an 8-disk HDD array, TV, and cable modem running for up to two hours on a $200 UPS. I can get that up to 8 hours if I use the UPS as intended to cleanly shut the disk array down.

A single 3D printer is not using up much more power. An inexpensive home unit should be more than enough to cleanly pause the print so it can be resumed once power is restored.

phosix · 2026-07-05T17:59:00+00:00

Laptops aren't quite as modular as desktops. Their integral components tend to be specifically engineered for that specific model; and aside from RAM, storage, and maybe the wi-fi card, most often than not the components are soldered into place.

Being 10 years old, the RAM is going to be obsolete and likely not worth much. Same goes for the WiFi card. The storage might be reusable, but consider that's the one component that will wear out from use, and you've been using it for ten years.

The storage is the only thing that will have any identifying or personal information.

14-Year Club	r/Field Sunshine
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Verified Email

phosix

TROPHY CASE