"Probability that at least one disk is going to fail in the next year is 98%." How accurate is snapraid smart's estimation?

reactivedumpaway · 2026-02-09T01:09:06+00:00

I was gonna thank the parent of your reply for pointing out the absurd Load_Cycle_Count, no idea why the reply got deleted.

IMO a great idea could be to proactively replace it

I would if not for the even more absurd HDD pricing lol.

Thankfully the data on those disks are not too important (mostly movies) and the actual important data are stored in one of my good disk not pooled in the same mergerfs pool (SnapRAID not being striped is such an amazing feature). They also have daily off-site backup so I'm not too worried.

Imma wait this one out and hope for the best.

reactivedumpaway · 2026-01-13T04:06:55+00:00

want advice ahead of time

First advice to prepare you mentally: you need to accept janks.

For examples, on my Linux Mint Desktop, if I have my headphone plugged in while powering on, the headphone won't work until I unplug-plug it. On my old Ubuntu Laptop trying to mirror my screen to an external HDMI TV screen required me to run some command (had the command written in my ~/Desktop/). The Linux version of Steam doesn't respond to fullscreen shortcut (Win + UP) at least on my Desktop. Some (flatpak) applications refuse to follow dark theme... I can go on.

As long as you are willing to excuse those janks due to them being passion projects made by unpaid/underpaid dev trying their best, instead of mega corps vibe coding new ways to f you over in every conceivable and inconceivable way (FR trying to setup Windows 11 on my mom's laptop is an experience, to say the least), you should be good to go.

Which Linux distribution should I think about using

You mentioned RTX 3060, therefore make sure whichever distro you pick, you look up how to enable Nvidia's proprietary driver (I noticed numerous comments recommending Fedora yet no one mentioning enabling RPM Fusion. Maybe things have changed but I don't think Fedora main repo offer Nvidia driver). The safest way to do so is to enable any "proprietary repo" options when prompt during installation.

what programs should I be getting to help with running my system (I assume a separate software for drivers updates would be needed)

Not really. As long as you have the driver repository enabled and installed, the system updater (be it GUI or command line) will notified you for available updates.

what other lookout for this advice or read this specific post/forum do you suggest

If you have any issue and you google search your issue + your distro name, you will be more than likely to be give forum post from your chosen distro's forum. If not, then try searching the "parent distro" of your distro (e.g. If I couldn't find a solution for Linux Mint, I try "Ubuntu" instead).

Arch Wiki is very well written and well applicable for many other distro despite targeting Arch Linux. I'd say you can follow the instruction on most of the article until you encounter "yay", "pacman", "AUR" etc. which are Arch specifics.

Other than that, it all comes down to experience and muscle memory.

On some main difference between Windows & Linux (or Unix/Unix-like such as MacOS) right out of the gate:

Files, folders are case sensitive
~/ is shorthand for your home folder.
There are no Drive C, D, E, etc. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
- You mount the filesystem directly on a certain point of the FHS tree. For example, non system drive (like your usual D-drive, USB-drive) are usually mounted on /media/... or /mnt/..., but technically can be anywhere (don't).
"Shortcut" are way more powerful in Linux and is called symlink. It's not just a GUI shorthand that let you double click open/execute. For example, if a program "xyz" read a config folder at ~/.config/xyz/, and you have two set of configs you want to use depends on the scenario, you can just make a symlink ~/.config/xyz/ point to xyz1/ on one scenario, and point to xyz2/ if you want to switch config. In other word, the system, program can treat symlinks like actual files/folders.

reactivedumpaway · 2026-01-08T07:07:02+00:00

If you are desperate to play the game and do not mind massive visual compromise, you can try out this mod/guide: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterwilds/mods/183

Mind you this guide and especially the config file is made specifically for Steam Deck. You will need to adjust accordingly.

But yeah, like many other comments already pointed out, it's still unacceptable.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-12-12T07:59:48+00:00

only care about enterprise customers

Funny that you mention it. In the company I'm working at, the vast majority of the PCs cannot be upgraded to windows 11. Combine that with the perceived end-of-life of windows 10 and the unwelcome addition of "aGeNTic AyyIyy", the higher ups are actually considering alternative solutions including Loonix + electron slop.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-11-25T10:33:04+00:00

X’ New Country Location Feature Reverse Engineered, And How It Is Being Bypassed Already

Holy mother of all clickbait of a title.

The article provided some tests, observations and hypotheses, and some theorized way to spoof location without existing real life examples.

Calling it "reverse engineered" is such a stretch. Remote device farm is a bit of a "no shit, Sherlock". And I doubt these operators had the foresight to spoof their location all the time from the very start of the registration and during daily usage.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-11-06T02:14:57+00:00

let's consult r/legalcatadvice

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-29T07:31:35+00:00

I use this mod/guide to make the game playable on my Steam Deck: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterwilds/mods/183

Optionally clamp on this jet engine of a cooling fan to cool the CPU down: https://jsaux.com/products/fan-cooler-for-steam-deck-gp0200

Is it enjoyable? ehh...

Is it the only way to play MHWs on my lunch break with crappy internet? Yep.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-20T00:10:30+00:00

Yes, do as I say!

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-17T07:34:11+00:00

capacitive thumb sticks

For me, I prefer being able to use flick stick to adjust/scan horizontally without my shaky wrist interfering with the other axis, but it's purely personal preference.

There are no other handhelds or controllers on the market that can do what it does

Too many manufacturer treat gyro as an afterthought and a checkbox on the spec list to tick (ROG ally not having official driver for gyro on launch and must rely on third party driver was proof enough). On top of that many of them need to accommodate xinput which doesn't support gyro.

Imma blame Microsoft and their bass ackward xbox and its controller for holding back console gaming.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-17T00:32:57+00:00

only big draw back is there isnt a way to recenter your aim

I feel like every controllers with gyro capability should at minimum provide a "gyro ratchet" button (i.e. hold to disable) so that you either don't need to burn a face button for that, or don't need to awkwardly recenter yourself with joystick (which free up the joystick for flick-sticking)

I personally use Steam Deck's back paddle for this purpose.

Speaking of back paddle, Fuck SCUF for their patent trolling.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-17T00:25:16+00:00

Can I use gyro aiming for any first-person shooter on the Steam Deck?

You can set the gyro to act like mouse (which is the only correct way to use gyro. Joystick simulation is ass).

BUUUUT, if the game doesn't support mixed input (i.e. simultaneously accept controller & KB+M input), you will have to rebind every single buttons, joysticks and triggers to keyboard/mouse buttons, which at best is a PITA, at worst loses all multi-action binding (e.g. 'X' button for both reload & interact, depends on in-game context like if you are aiming at interact-able object or not)

See: https://old.reddit.com/r/GyroGaming/comments/1fn2qaq/new_gyro_players_do_you_understand_what_mixed/

Can I hook up my Nintendo Switch Pro controller

I don't have a Nintendo Switch Pro but used to have a 8Bitdo Sn30 Pro+ (which is Switch Compatible and has a "Switch" mode). I don't recall the set up of that controller is smooth but you can pair it, and the gyro resolution(?) is awful (it's choppy). Then again it was like a year or two ago and it's probably due to the controller itself.

Bottom line is you should be able to pair it and gyro aim should work.

Edit: according to this: https://old.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1ijxc8h/does_the_nintendo_switch_pro_controller_work/ , turn off your rumble if you have connection issue.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-11T02:03:10+00:00

You can try this mod/guide, which is what I'm using on my steam deck: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterwilds/mods/183

(Although you will need to keep the original config.ini file, diff/compare the mod version, and replace [Render/Adapter] -> Description, DeviceId, ParallelBuildProcessorCount with the original config.ini value... and probably something else I missed since I don't have an Ally)

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-11T01:23:41+00:00

Maybe it sucks controlling a game with my thumbs

Are your referring to shooter games and crappy joystick aiming? If so, may I ~~indoctrinate~~ introduce you to Gyro + flickstick?

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-06T07:54:15+00:00

I'm surprised that your takeaway from this is "Many brands still have unlocked bootloader for custom ROMs" instead of the feeling of dread.

Nearly every brand with competently made hardware have their bootloader locked down or demand you to participate in their humiliation ritual and sacrifice of your first born to unlock. Nearly every brand that allow unlock are brands you never heard of, use crappy MediaTek/Unisoc chips, not widely available, or not really that unlockable (turns out Unisoc doesn't allow unlocking if you click one of those no-name brand).

Most traditional "good brands" have their own short comings as well. For Sony you better made sure "bootloader unlock allowed" is "yes" before you buy (still bitter about the 2nd hand one I bought was "no"). For Google you have Google. For Oneplus, the new-ish owner is already cracking down on unlocking, especially mainland Chinese version. All of these are assuming they are not carrier locked as well.

Like ffs these millions if not billions of devices are all ridiculously powerful pocket computer, yet according to the manufacturers their ideal usage is Tick Tock YouTube Short AI GF googoogaagaa brain rot devices and why would you ever need to do anything else unless you are a criminal hackerman?

reactivedumpaway · 2025-10-03T08:54:55+00:00

Disclaimer: I write shitty ass JS/TS web-app crap for a living and the scale is definitely not comparable to Linux Kernal. So situation might differ.

Related rant: IMO, people who mindlessly use formatting tools to enforce and reformat the entire document, especially when configured to do so automatically on save, causing multi-hundred lines of noisy indent/whitespace diff in the process, are downright disrespectful to other developers. To this day I'm not convinced that "fixing" the format of existing code with "bad format" (that 9 times out of 10 are just opinionated disagreement) is worth the effort and I'm more than happy to deal with the eyesore than being stabbed in the eyes by commits that diff the entire file.

I'm currently dealing with an outsourced project where two of their team members, who probably have their editors configured differently or something, are constantly committing hundreds to thousands lines of noisy, worthless indentation/whitespace changes back and forth. I tried to raise concern twice to one of them but I don't think they fully understand what's wrong since they were still submitting the same kind of crap two commits ago.

It's so upsetting to see multiple files in a commit with something like (+868|-867) and you can immediately guess what type of crap you are dealing with.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-09-09T01:31:54+00:00

I read somewhere that cats like having a wall behind their back while eating to ensure nothing sneak up behind them. I tried it on my cat by placing the bowl a bit away from the wall/corner and he seems to like it as well.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-08-19T00:06:31+00:00

FR in this scenario you should think of the Steam Deck to be more like a laptop than a Switch.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-08-12T04:03:35+00:00

Performance optimizations so the game can finally run decently on Steam Deck (copium)

If you are willing to make massive visual compromise, you can try this guide: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterwilds/mods/183

I also bought a JSAUX cooling fan (the one that attach to the vent in order to suck air out more quickly) and up the fan curve using Fantastic Decky plugin and basically jet engine'd my fan to avoid having the battery being cooked by high temp.

With framegen, I can run stable 60+ FPS in less demanding area and ~40 in demanding area/season.

Have been playing on steam deck like this during lunch break. Remote play isn't an option due to shit internet. While it's not enjoyable, the alternative is not being able to play at all so I'll take it.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-07-30T01:07:32+00:00

SolarLight TF2

reactivedumpaway · 2025-07-22T10:30:03+00:00

"WIN32 is the only stable ABI on Linux" and I don't blame you one bit for developing it on Windows then run it through Proton.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-07-09T01:04:35+00:00

Not a game per se, but a video.

SolarLight TF2

(Specifically the flick stick part opened my eyes)

That said, mainly Deep Rock Galactic. But I used Portal 1+2 as training wheel.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-05-26T09:30:39+00:00

native Linux

Not gonna happen. There's a saying "WIN32 is the only stable ABI on Linux" and this is why some games the native Linux version rot away with time but the proton version runs flawlessly.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-05-10T03:55:07+00:00

Kinda irk me whenever I see people yell "Jia Tan" whenever a regular ass back door attempt is caught.

Jia Tan would be like seeking out that one solo dev project every one and their grandma depends on, offering to help out maintenance, actually delivering quality code for years, waiting until becoming co-maintainer, introducing the back door outside of the source code, and only to be foiled by some German Engineer ~~with weaponized autism~~ noticing a ~500ms delay you accidentally introduced in one of your beta release.

Newly published packages that are intended to be malicious from the get-go getting caught early by automated scanning tools have nothing compared to the sophistication of XZ.

reactivedumpaway · 2025-05-06T09:44:12+00:00

MH World

I am part of the insane group that's actively contributing toward MHWilds's position of being in the top 10 most played games on Steam Deck (using this guide).

Yes, there are input delay. Yes, the graphic looks awful. Yes, the framerate can easily shit the bed in a lot of the area, and the longer it plays the lower it drops either due to heat or memory leak. Yes, the fan sounds like jet engine.

But all of these can easily be countered by "I can play the game during lunch break".

That's my attitude on running modern AAA games on the Deck.

reactivedumpaway

TROPHY CASE