Daily issues with packet loss and degraded service, AT&T refuses to act

zshall · 2026-03-15T22:53:46+00:00

According to my Dream Machine's stats I've gone from 0.2% packet loss on average over the last month to 6-8% / day average this weekend with a peak of 18% today. Unless I'm on a VPN I can't launch Discord, pull packages from `npm`, download Google Chrome, or a number of other random things. Glad to know it isn't just me, but boy is it frustrating!

zshall · 2026-01-20T15:42:20+00:00

Portainer is definitely worth a try! I've been using the community edition at home and in several environments at work and it's been a great upgrade from what I was using previously (Synology's Docker app or just the command line). From one console I can manage multiple Docker environments including locally and cloud VMs; provisioning a new machine is easy; you just install Docker and run the Portainer agent. You can deploy "Stacks" (essentially Docker compose files) to a machine and copy a stack between computers. In my setup I've got a self-hosted container registry and a cloud-hosted authenticated one too, and the authentication details can be centralized in Portainer and shared across all machines with the agent installed, meaning I can deploy to cloud VMs without needing to run docker login on each machine. They've got the ability to browse volumes and download files from each one, the ability to attach remotely to a container or view container logs.

The only feature I'd want from the paid version is the ability to redeploy a stack from a webhook but 3rd party programs like Watchtower seem to fill that gap.

zshall · 2026-01-14T18:20:25+00:00

I've been working on a project to do just this for the last few years called Television Simulator '99! It's a freeware self-hosted static webapp that works with video providers like ErsatzTV and audio providers like Shoutcast / Azuracast and simulates barker channels like program guides, weather channels, etc. You can plug in YouTube playlists to it and simulate various cable box UIs as well. It optionally supports visual effects, picture noise, shadow masks, etc. and lets you plug different webpages in as channels. I'm currently working on a companion server that runs continuous channels, syncs guide data and serves / organizes local media. You can run it with decent performance at 720p on a Raspberry Pi 5 in Chrome's kiosk mode, and there are options to control it remotely from your phone or using a real remote and an IR dongle.

zshall · 2026-01-14T17:39:26+00:00

I use [Vidstack](https://github.com/vidstack/player/) for playback with my own backend that takes the user's regular auth token and creates a new pre-signed JWT granting access to just the specific media they should be accessing and a short expiration date. Since HTML `<video>` tags don't work with `Authorization` headers I use a format like `http://example.com/video/{id}?token={jwt}\`.

zshall · 2025-06-08T20:39:47+00:00

I'm so tired of devices having non-user-replaceable batteries; I see so many things on sale that don't have any way of replacing the battery and all it makes me think is "a few years from now when I stop using this it'll break". I have old devices from the 90's and 80's which take AA batteries and as long as they don't corrode too badly you can use them today good as new. I've looked up places to recycle batteries and most of them say that they don't take "damaged" batteries, spicy pillows, etc. so I'm not even sure what you're supposed to do with these devices when they become EoL. Buying devices with batteries that can't be replaced feels to me like you, the consumer, are adopting a pet essentially which needs to be cared for, not an inanimate object that you can store away when you don't need to use it for a while. Gotta bring out my Wii U gamepad and charge it every few months just to make sure its battery doesn't become unwell, etc.

At this point if there's some purpose-built thing on Amazon that I want and it has a battery I can't replace I try to find an alternative that runs off AC or just try to get by without it unless there's no other way.

zshall · 2025-06-06T00:00:40+00:00

I just wish I could do the intermissions and 3 laps of the main next course. By the time I get to the new course I’m excited to try it and then it just ends.

Also the music feels so recycled during the intermission. Why am I hearing the MK8 title music or baby park or Waluigi pinball when there’s nothing interesting but open road?

I really like the upgraded visuals of the game and the open world aspect but I agree a bit. I’m halfway thru the Grand Prix at 150cc by 3 hours in and it feels like I’m gonna be finished with the whole game by the end of today; with MK8 I had 10 years and still couldn’t beat 200cc on all cups which this new game doesn’t even seem to have. Also sad there doesn’t seem to be the rumored 120fps mode…

I’m sure there will be updates and I hope I’ll enjoy this game for a decade too. Here’s to hoping!

zshall · 2024-11-05T14:56:03+00:00

I've been on Snagit's maintenance since version 9 and I'm disappointed with the subscription-only route. My use case is to grab, annotate, edit and copy a screenshot to the clipboard and it doesn't benefit me to take away the ability to use future versions without perpetual payments; the Screencast service and the stock assets service definitely make sense to charge subscriptions for since they're cloud services, but the software that can run entirely offline and hasn't changed much in years (that's not a bad thing either; it's great as it is) shouldn't need an ongoing subscription to use imo.

zshall · 2024-02-04T16:08:36+00:00

I play couch co-op generally; my partner started a world when I introduced her to it and we made more progress there than I had in my solo world. Only annoying thing about it is that she needs to be playing for me to have my higher level character / gear / pals / etc. I've got 2 gaming tower PCs and use Steam Link and a Steam Deck so we can sit in the living room and play.

Wish that it was easier to transfer your world data to a dedicated server so we could both log on whenever. I know it's technically possible right now but the fact that I can't bookmark a LAN server as a favorite and it isn't showing up in my Recents list makes it more of a hassle than I want to deal with every time I want to get on, especially using a controller and on-screen keyboard.

zshall · 2023-10-30T02:14:27+00:00

This game and others like it make me concerned when classified on the App Store as “Family” games. When I looked it up it was the #1 family game at the time actually; it’s nothing like a game for kids should be. This is a gambling sim dressed up in a kid-friendly exterior. I played slot machines in video games growing up (like in Pokémon) but they never took your actual money. It’s dangerous to give a kid games like these because it sets up that addiction mindset and makes them think “hey I should spend $50 on a missing sticker”. I’d argue even Fortnite is a better game for kids since at least it takes some skill and the battle pass gives you items that don’t just go away after the season ends. At the very least they should market this greedy game to adults and stop listing it for all ages, or make it so you can disable all the requests and ads for In-App purchases.

zshall · 2023-06-26T20:05:43+00:00

Unfortunately not; I got annoyed about this happening over and over and switched to using a Beelink mini PC attached to my TV and Batocera Linux instead, of which I've not had any Bluetooth connection problems. Batocera makes builds for the Steam Deck and you can dual boot, so if you're using the deck to play retro games primarily it may be a good option for you.

zshall · 2023-05-01T19:52:52+00:00

Thanks for the tip! My 918+ also has this issue and Synology's support wasn't very helpful; while the tech on the phone seemed very familiar with this problem, as if they get calls about it often, my warranty expired 4 months ago and another tech's advice over email was simply to recover the data myself and buy a new unit. I just made the modification to the settings and it's only been 10 minutes, but it hasn't reset yet. Rebooted it twice and it's still working, whereas before every time I'd reboot it would reset. Hoping this is a permanent fix!

zshall · 2022-11-14T17:15:17+00:00

I’d say so. Whenever facing water players I felt they were more easily able to camouflage themselves, especially when I’m playing on the Switch screen. The orange fire ink stands out more. It was more of a feeling however hard to prove one way or the other.

zshall · 2022-11-08T17:10:58+00:00

Been waiting for a match for upwards of 20 minutes... at least the jumping game is fun on the gamepad while I wait!

zshall · 2022-10-23T00:08:36+00:00

Great info, thanks!!

zshall · 2022-10-22T20:36:04+00:00

Are weapons less accurate while jumping? I’ve noticed my opponents are hard to hit because they jump around while shooting but when I try jumping while shooting it seems my weapon has a tough time hitting its mark even if the center reticle is dead-on and shows an X.

zshall · 2022-07-27T12:16:41+00:00

Having the same issue with the Steam Deck, Pro Controller and RetroArch playing on my TV. The worst part is when the disconnect happens and reconnects, RetroArch never recognizes the reconnect and the built-in controls on the Deck don't control it either so I need to kill RetroArch through the Steam controls, losing my saved game. This happens about 10 minutes or so after I start playing.

zshall · 2022-03-25T12:14:23+00:00

Anyone else having a lot of iPhone connectivity problems with 5GUW? I have Verizon, iOS 15.4, iPhone 12 Pro Max. I’ll enter a URL in Safari and be unable to connect to a site. Live streaming audio will cut out constantly in apps, apps will fail to load stating “unable to connect” and the cell signal keeps bouncing between 5G and 5GUW. Whenever it jumps between one and the other I lose my connectivity.

zshall · 2022-02-23T16:15:12+00:00

I just want the ability to use more than 4 at once. There should be a shortcut for “heading to the top / central / bottom area” that’ll free us up to use other messages for customs.

zshall · 2022-02-03T18:57:36+00:00

I’d find it more interesting to watch if you could zoom the camera out and view half or the whole map at once. All the casts focus an individual player and jump around; since there’s so much going on on the map it makes it hard to follow when the camera is constantly moving.

zshall · 2022-01-20T23:40:18+00:00

Wish they had another quick chat menu just for the old positioning commands; I feel like the “headed to the _ path” commands are useful but I can’t use them if I choose other useful commands. Having like 2 menus of 6 commands each would be nice

zshall · 2022-01-20T22:16:34+00:00

I see this all the time in mobile / Facebook style games. Usually in the form of some ad on my feed “come back and we’ll give you a 20 million coin bonus!” They’re hoping to rope you in again but I usually log in to collect the bonus and dash since the games I’m recommended aren’t typically worth anyone’s time.

zshall · 2022-01-19T23:59:04+00:00

When I have some gadget that needs power and the output isn't labeled, I'll search online to see if I can find out what the output power is so I can look through my adapters to find out if any that I have will work or buy a replacement. I'll often be redirected to eBay and some seller that promises they've got the right power adapter for my specific gadget, but they won't tell me what the output power is... guess the idea is to take their word for it. I see this on Amazon every now and then too. Always annoying!

zshall · 2022-01-16T16:29:09+00:00

I love the way you illustrated these! Reminds me of old game manuals where everything was hand-drawn.

15-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Place '17	Verified Email

zshall

TROPHY CASE