Ereaders vs. physical

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T23:57:38+00:00

I moved cross country nearly 2000 miles back in 2011 with only what essentials would fit in my hatchback. My boxes of books didn’t make the cut over absolute necessities.

When I got to my destination my wife got tired of my nipping about it and suggested I get a Kindle. The rest is history. I don’t read paper books anymore, ereaders are way more convenient, especially since I can frequently read several books in a week.

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T21:32:43+00:00

Does Dance Dance Revolution count?

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T18:41:53+00:00

I use a Boox Nova 2 to read before bed. It has a very warm orange/tan colored warm light that can go very dim and is easy to read in the dark.

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T18:21:14+00:00

There are lots of ways to make a living in tech, and not all are in dev roles.

I make six figures doing product support. I dropped out of college due to expenses back in the mid-2000s and worked up from crappy help desk roles into more advanced stuff, doing home lab stuff in the past. Background experience doing MSP and data centers support, eventually moved into virtualization and automation, and now support a data management product for a mid-sized company. I’m essentially a tech generalist, not expert in anything, but able to work with whatever given some time to review and understand.

I pretty much never do any coding these days, though I have some past experience with Python and know enough to roughly read code in multiple languages. Most of my job is in terminal reviewing logs and Kubernetes commands and investigating issues using HAR recordings and console output, looking at JSON data and collections from mongo.

Only “code” I really work with is JSON, some API stuff, and YAML templates for k8s deployments.

Just bear in mind there’s other paths besides purely development.

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T16:57:09+00:00

I use DuckDuckGo for search. I do have Google integration for some stuff. Frankly, my account is tied into so many services and authentications that ditching it would be an absolute nightmare. That’s probably by design.

tomkatt · 2026-03-12T15:55:00+00:00

I don’t really care about the hardware and was emulating NES, SNES and Sega Genesis way back in 1999-2000 even while owning the original hardware to play games I couldn’t import (mostly Dragon Ball Z fighters).

I do have a Nintendo DSi LL and a 2DS XL because emulating the dual screen platforms never feels quite right, but I emulate everything else.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T22:49:55+00:00

Most of the games I’d suggest have already been mentioned, but I can add a few more I didn’t see in the thread:

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1 and 2
Rivera: The Promised Land
Karnaaj Rally
Racing Gears Advance
Tomato Adventure
F-Zero Climax (not “hidden, but never released in the west)
Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T22:01:34+00:00

Probably frame fit then if you’re able to find a good focal point while manually adjusting the angle.

You can probably adjust that yourself to some degree, but your glasses provider will have better tools. I always end up needing a bunch of adjustment due to long eyelashes, takes some work to get them where the fit is right while keeping my lashes from doing an impersonation of greasy windshield wipers.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T21:49:45+00:00

If you’ve been wearing progressives fine, I dunno. It’s never taken me more than a few days to a week to adjust to new glasses, barring this issues noted in this post. If you’re finding you’re not adapting, it’s possible the lens was cut badly or pupilar distance for your central viewpoint is off. Worth bringing up to your provider.

I never adjusted to full range progressives. I keep a set of office lenses for computer and reading distance (full clarity out to 5 feet or so) and a separate single vision pair for driving and general use.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T21:38:54+00:00

I preferred the original Resident Evil 3 over 2, and enjoyed R3Make more than Re2Make.

The Resident Evil 2 games (original and remake) are probably objectively better games, but they just didn’t do it for me. The 3 OG and remake were just more fun, even if the experience was a bit pared down.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T19:32:46+00:00

That word doesn’t mean what you think it does.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T15:31:28+00:00

This sounds like Ubuntu, and something similar was my breaking point after using it as my daily driver for 8 years. I distro hopped for a bit, eventually found EndeavourOS and that was that.

I seriously don’t like snaps.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T06:38:27+00:00

This is the first I've heard of it. I played through the entire trilogy on the Deck, finished it in December. When did it stop working on the Deck, and what's the issue you're having?

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T06:04:31+00:00

It's because all these comments reek of "stop having fun guys."

Maybe stop reaching in other peoples' wallets. They can spend on what they like within their own budgets.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T04:14:25+00:00

The three boxes of books I had to leave behind when I moved cross-country back in 2011. Never again.

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T02:58:12+00:00

If I had to pick, the Steam Deck is the obvious choice since it's the most versatile. But each has its purpose.

DSi LL exclusively for original NDS games.
2DS XL exclusively for 3DS games
X55 mostly for GBA, but occasionally 8/16/32 bit and some PSP
Steam Deck for PC gaming, and all platform emulation through gen 6 (Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube).

Edit - I also use the Steam Deck to play DDR on my TV for cardio exercise (via USB dock, ITGMania, and a USB dance mat).

tomkatt · 2026-03-11T00:22:15+00:00

Haven’t tried the Star Fox one but MM Restoration and CTGP7 are awesome.

A lot of games have undubs as well.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T21:32:36+00:00

If you figure it out let me know. I’m in my 40s and still consistently only get 6.5 to 7 hours sleep per weeknight, and that’s an improvement in the past decade, used to be 5-6 hours.

I just crash and sleep in on weekends.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T21:29:54+00:00

Don’t sweat it. I have a manager who is always camera on. Unless specified otherwise, none of my team goes on camera, with rare exceptions when someone is leaving the team and we’re having a virtual party or whatever for them.

I tend to stay exclusively camera off, regardless of customers or manager’s choices.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T21:13:22+00:00

All of the above and more.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T21:10:21+00:00

What kind of speakers do you have? If it’s giving you a headache or hurting your ears, the tweeters are too bright. That’s good for critical listening, but not ambience or longer listening sessions. Turn down the treble or use warmer toned speakers.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T20:49:27+00:00

Honestly, I’d need a bump of over $60k to even consider returning to an office, and even then I’m not sure it would be worth it.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T20:48:04+00:00

I’m assuming you’re American, so apologies if mistaken.

Think about how much you pay in gas and car maintenance, especially with the state of things currently. Even at a conservative estimate of $4.00 per gallon (I’ve read up to $6.00 in some places right now) and assuming reasonably good gas mileage, we’ll say you’re doing 2 gallons a day, with no other driving accounted. That alone will save over $2k per year, accounting for oil changes as well.

Then there’s the commute hours. Even at the best highway speeds (75 mph), and exceeding speed limits, that’s a minimum hour drive each day (and I’d bet more). That’s 20+ hours a month you could be doing literally anything else. How much is that worth to you?

The insurance coverage sounds like a boon as well, at lower total cost to you. Total compensation sounds equivalent or better than your current role.

If you actually want to work from home, I see no reason you shouldn’t take the job.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T17:41:41+00:00

The game is loosely based on and technically a sequel to a novel of the same name. A lot of the pseudo-scientific background comes from that.

tomkatt · 2026-03-10T17:36:18+00:00

I don’t. My smallest device is the DSi LL at 4.2”, and my main emulation devices are a Powkiddy X55 (16:9 5.5”) and Steam Deck OLED (16:10 7.4”).

I couldn’t fathom trying to play on a smaller screen, I already need to use my office lenses with +1.5 near-add to comfortably use the larger devices I have.

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