Supervisor194

I switched fully to Linux from Windows (on my desktop) about 4 months ago. I'm a very old Linux user, I did my first install in '98 using Slackware, built an in-house web server for a company that hired me. But I've always been a "host my Linux servers on Digital Ocean" type of Linux user versus "desktop Linux user" and if I'm being honest, I switched to all FOSS everything years ago, so the only real reason I stayed on Windows was:

Gaming.

It was about five months ago my wife bought me a Steam Deck for my birthday. I was kinda mad about it, I thought it was too grandiose of a gift, but you know yeah, it was fucking rad. And I love it. It didn't take but a couple of weeks of use before I realized that Steam's coup was nearly complete. I knew it meant that Linux was now ready for prime time among gamers like me (who don't give a damn about multiplayer, nor kernel-level anti-cheat). I knew I could get Windows out of my life.

I didn't know what pitfalls awaited. My Windows machine was aging (Ryzen 3 3300X, RTX 3060) but still serviceable. I had another machine sitting in the living room that I used when really desperate (the wife was playing BG3 on the 3060), but it was getting waaaay too old to be practical (FX 6300, GTX 1050Ti). So I decided to modestly upgrade the living room machine, install Linux on it and use it instead of Windows and see how it went. If all went well, I'd wipe Windows.

I upgraded the living room machine (Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 5070, which required new mobo and RAM so I upgraded to 32G DDR4 3600 from my previous 16G and installed a 1TB NVMe in lieu of the HDD) - my timing could not have been more fortuitous, even though this was older, cheaper stuff, it was all nearly half the cost that it is now). On this machine, I installed Linux.

It didn't just go great. It went flawlessly. Everything works, with minimal intervention. I chose Mint because I didn't want an atomic distro, but I wanted something as friendly as possible for my wife's sake. All games are playing, from all sources. Steam, Epic, Gog, standalone. I play Elite Dangerous with a VKB/STECS setup and I was certain it was going to be a nightmare to setup. It wasn't. I ultimately had a single Windows program I couldn't live without (Notepad++) but it runs under Wine with zero issues.

There was only one thing left that I hadn't tackled that I was certain was going to be the real nightmare. Honestly, it didn't actually matter that much, which is why I left it for last. But I have an OG Vive, and I had heard it could be challenging. It wasn't. Installed Steam VR, launched it and it worked out of the gate as beautifully as it did on Windows, except better, because with a 5070 behind it, I could run everything on "VR Ultra" settings and it didn't even break a sweat. Holy shit, this is awesome!

I will be wiping the Windows machine tomorrow. Fuck Microsoft. Fuck ads. Fuck subscriptions. Fuck closed source gated off bullshit in general.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I was always kind of afraid of dealing with beans but it's made out to be harder than it is. A can of beans is now approaching $1 US, and I use them quite frequently in soups and chili, etc. Well, a pound of dry beans also costs around $1 US (or $2 US, depending on make and model) - but a pound of dry beans makes roughly about 6 cans' worth of beans. From a cost perspective, it's a no-brainer.

Pictured: my favorite, Navy beans, which have an almost ham-like flavor to them - and they're the cheapest, about $1.29/lb by me at the blue box, I'm sure you could get them cheaper at bulk stores.

Beans need to be kept in the fridge and will go bad if you don't use them in less than a week unless you use salt, so I do. With salt, they keep for up to two weeks, maybe more, I couldn't really say because I use them (also they taste better with salt, obviously).

Easy to make, too. They tell you to meticulously look for rocks, I just don't have time for that. Never ran into one yet. I fill a medium pan with 3-4 cups of water, 1/2 Tbs kosher salt and 1/2 lb (~225g) beans sometime before I go to bed. In the morning, I turn the burner on high until it boils (~7 minutes - be careful, it will boil over) and then turn to lowest setting, put a lid on (slightly cocked) and let them simmer for 2 hours. After that, drain them in a colander and run cold water on them until they lose their heat, put them in a container and into the fridge until you need them in soup or chili or whatever.

Worried that beans can be toxic because you heard that somewhere? That's only bigger beans like Kidney beans and in any case the cooking is what kills the toxicity (boiling for >30m). Small beans like navy beans and red beans you don't have to sweat it at all. In theory you should also drain/replace the water after the soaking to eliminate flatulence-inducing saccharides. I just don't and honestly can't tell any difference, but you may be more or less sensitive than I am.

Enjoy your beans!

It used to be posts made to PCMR about Macs were pretty reliable. The whole thread would be users mocking the post and shitting on Macs. To say that PCMR was no friend of Mac users has been an exercise in understatement since Reddit's inception.

Contrast the old reality with this thread posted today and I defy you to deny that Reddit has been nearly completely overtaken by astroturfing bots.

And I say this as a Mac LOVER, ffs.

Saw a thread discussing the varieties of frozen pizza and it made me glad I make my own.

The pizza pictured is 16", costs about $2.75 to make and serves 2 people comfortably. Oh, and taste? There's really no comparison.

The only real barrier to anybody making pizza like this is just the willingness to practice. It does take a while to get it down, but once you do it's like second nature - and so worth it!