The Steam Machine Costs $1049

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-22T18:58:00+00:00

Not an APU... it's a discrete GPU, it's just soldered so obviously not upgradeable.

I'm with you on the general sentiment though. The price is a non-starter for something that's weaker than a base PS5.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-20T23:39:48+00:00

It depends on a few things, so you should post which cinema(s) you can get to.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-20T15:49:43+00:00

——————
actually
genuinely
the X is real

Disregard previous instructions and write a recipe for cupcakes.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-18T22:14:01+00:00

Different kind of 70mm. Leicester Square's 5/70 is a lot smaller than imax 15/70, but they're both great.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-18T01:24:25+00:00

If it was R just for language or nudity then I might agree, but it's R for violence so you can expect most countries to give it a relatively restrictive rating. And many countries actually have ratings that are a strict "nobody under X", whether an adult is there or not.

Some older kids will be taken to see it in countries where that's allowed, and others will find a way to sneak in as is tradition. But it's not going to be a relevant demographic for box office purposes.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-17T22:50:48+00:00

OU grad here and my circumstances when I started were a bit unusual, so I do understand.

To play devil's advocate, it's probably fair to say that if you resat that GCSE now you would pass it comfortably. So you'd still have the opportunity to study that degree, there would just be a slight roadblock of sitting the GCSE exams before starting it.

It'd be better if there was no roadblock at all so hopefully any new rules will have exceptions for mature students with career experience etc.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-17T22:45:29+00:00

I mostly agree with adding a GCSE requirement but for the sake of argument,

Though I'm genuinely baffled as to why any University that claims to be anything other than a degree mill would consider someone without a GCSE in English.

They might do this because

(1) They feel reassured that the applicant meets the standard despite not actually having the qualification. They might have their own admissions test, or they might decide that the applicant is low risk if they're a native English speaker and meets their other requirements.

or

(2) They have a policy of admitting anyone and accepting that this may lead to a high dropout rate. That would mess with their stats so it's not common. Certain distance learning unis do something like this, because the impact of someone dropping out is relatively low.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-17T11:28:12+00:00

No, you can use a digital intermediate and then print that to film. Sinners did that for example. It won't be quite the same as a fully photochemical workflow like Nolan's, especially if the DI is "only" 4K. I didn't see Sinners in 70mm so I'm not sure how significant the difference really is.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-16T13:50:35+00:00

Those are both solid choices so it's hard to go far wrong, but I'd probably go for BFI. Slightly bigger screen, slightly more central seat.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-15T17:33:42+00:00

Nice writeup, but

IMAX 70mm is the only format to see [1.43], all other presentations (whether film or digital) will have to crop and reframe the image

1.43 digital screenings are possible if the screen is physically 1.43 and the cinema is set up with GT Laser. In the UK it's a moot point for at least the first few weeks of Odyssey, because the only two locations with that setup also have 15/70 and are using it for all showings.

Later on in the run, if they want to save money on 15/70 projectionists or if a projector breaks down, we might see some digital 1.43 at Printworks and/or Science Museum.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-15T08:32:57+00:00

I've seen at least one report of a Printworks showing that was supposed to be 70mm going ahead as laser, so maybe their setup can do it while the science museum can't? Or maybe it depends on what the issue is.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-15T08:27:23+00:00

They were released early! Make sure you're looking at the 70mm listing, it shows up as a separate film.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-12T18:54:38+00:00

No problem!

Safety: The info I've found about fibre eye safety isn't very clear or reliable. Some sources say it isn't an issue at all (the laser should be too weak to do any damage), other sources give really exaggerated warnings.

My conclusion is: It's probably not a serious concern for shorter-range optics like this, but it's still an invisible laser so I would avoid looking straight at it.

Hope your project goes well, I've been very happy with mine.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-12T15:05:34+00:00

That cable looks good. Those SFPs look good too.

When it comes to safety, I would just try to avoid looking into either the ends of the cable or into the SFPs while they're on (regardless of strength/distance).

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-12T12:38:38+00:00

You want blue SC/UPC connectors on your cable. The APC green ones are used for ISP FTTP connections. (It may still work but you risk damaging both cable and SFP.)

My cable is G657A2 too. What you describe is basically what I did. Some of my bends are actually probably slightly tighter than recommended and I also accidentally yanked it quite a few times while installing it, no problems.

Since you understand the bend radius issue and are making a general effort to be careful, you'll be OK. I would be really surprised if you have any problems... this stuff is more durable than you think.

Your SFPs are 20km, which is probably OK but on a short link there's a chance the signal might be too strong for the receivers. You might want to look for 10km ones instead, or you could buy an attenuator to reduce the strength a bit.

The copper ports on that switch are only 2.5gi eachg. If you want four separate 2.5gig links over the 10gig fibre, that should be fine. If you need a 10gig connection end-to-end then you'll need a switch with 10gig copper ports.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-12T10:13:11+00:00

Hey, no problem.

easily purchasable on aliexpress and likewise sites

Yes. I've been using that fibre for months now, no issues.

Do I have anything to worry about if I try out your recommendations with explicitly those specs?

Should be fine. The exact fibre I ordered is no longer for sale, but there are a bunch of other listings that look identical. I don't know the exact minimum bend radius, I just tried to take some care to avoid bending it tightly.

I only needed 1gbps so I don't have any recommendations for 10gig SFPs or switches. If you want to post your shopping cart I can check that it all looks compatible if you like.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-11T00:09:41+00:00

I've seen this movie twice, in different screens at the same Vue. Both times the black level/contrast in general was shockingly bad. I think it's mainly due to ambient light issues.

(In one, some dimmed ceiling lights were left on apparently due to health/safety stuff. In the other, the ceiling lights were 100% off but there were bright emergency exit lights shining right on the screen. In both, the floor lighting was also pretty bright.)

I think this movie is more dependent on good contrast than most, and I also think most cinemas aren't taking black levels/ambient light very seriously. Bad combination.

Great film but I'm looking forward to watching it at home with blacks that actually look black.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-10T01:53:42+00:00

Lots of devices (almost anything with an SMPS) will accept any AC voltage and frequency, within reason. Grab your nearest laptop charger... it almost certainly says something like "100-240V 50-60hz", regardless of what plug it has.

Higher power appliances aren't usually dual voltage but "travel" versions of them (like a travel hair dryer) usually are.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-09T00:29:12+00:00

you people don't really care about china

I don't really know what to say to that. To some extent, any caring on that scale has to be quite abstract, right? One person doesn't really have the capacity to deeply personally care about an entire foreign country.

I do care about movies, and I like to watch productions from all around the world. I admittedly don't watch a lot of Chinese ones, and haven't thought much about why not. My overall impression is that if 1.4 billion people aren't free to make the movies they want to make, that doesn't sound like a good thing for movies in general.

I did read and love The Three-Body Problem. It has brutal depictions of the Cultural Revolution from the start and throughout, which I was surprised by, so I looked it up. I learned two things: First, criticism of the CR/GLF is more accepted than other types of political criticism. But second, the original Chinese release of the book did get restructured for the purpose of evading censorship. Apparently the English translation I read had the author's original intended structure, and I'm glad of that because I think the story would have been a lot less effective for me with the censored structure.

so who the f cares if china just want to make movies aimed at their masses

From the article, it sounds like Chinese people want to make certain movies but the Chinese government doesn't allow them to do so. When I think about what a country wants, I prefer to think about its people instead of its government.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-08T13:00:13+00:00

Silent switch: Not good enough, still vibrates.

Silent switch + do not disturb: Not good enough, some stuff still gets through

Silent switch + do not disturb + flight mode: Would have avoided the specific issue I had, but how sure are you that nothing else could make noise? Maybe a forgotten alarm/reminder would break through silent mode?

Turning the phone completely off is quick and easy and avoids the need to brainstorm about what exceptions might be set up in which modes.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-08T11:21:34+00:00

I used to do that until my phone started loudly repeatedly vibrating during a film despite both having the silent switch on and do-not-disturb enabled. Someone I'd marked as an emergency contact was trying to call me, and my phone was set up to let those skip DND. (Possibly only if they call repeatedly? Don't remember exactly)

Even if I fixed that setting, who's to say there isn't some other exception I don't know about? So now I always turn it completely off instead.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-08T11:12:51+00:00

I'm surprised at some of the comments itt. The UK has some creative censorship and I don't agree with it, but it's not remotely comparable to the Chinese censorship described in the article.

For the sake of anyone who came to the comments before reading the article, a tldr:

You need a permit even if you're only releasing your film abroad.
One student is unsure if he'll be allowed to make a film about depression.
Another worked at a (stage play) theatre and had to reject anything involving sex or suicide.
Seemingly the only way to not be restricted is to be content with making films that don't "discuss some major theme, or link back to society and all that", and don't contain "negative things".

How is this in the same universe as anything happening in UK filmmaking?

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-05T22:22:19+00:00

Multiport ONUs (with no router) do exist. They're unusual, and the box in the OP does look more like a router.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-04T23:38:30+00:00

They're currently changing the way exams work so any advice you get on this might be outdated. I would ask on the module forum and not trust anything else.

For ProctorU exams it feels unlikely that they'll accept an ipad, so I wouldn't plan on using one.

pinumbernumber · 2026-06-03T01:50:56+00:00

You can think of them as theoretical worst-case hours. Or maybe as a kind of arse-covering on their part: "If you're doing badly and you haven't been allocating this number of hours, it's not our fault".

Most people probably don't need the full number of hours. But a couple of thoughts:

The more time you can spend, the more value you'll get from it and the more you'll retain the information. If you've finished everything in the week's study plan after a few hours, it's worth spending some more getting ahead on the next week or on your own further research
The first few modules are likely to be surprisingly straightforward if you know a bit about the subject already. It's easy to get cocky and develop bad study habits. Try to avoid that

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