Hacker News: goosedragons

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

goosedragons — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:03:03 +0000

You don't have to throw out your whole PC. Could you have waited for the next time you upgraded and thought about it then? Maybe if it's a desktop swapped out the GPU and kept the rest of the components?

It wasn't even clear from your original post that you even kept the same PC FFS. Nor did you clarify what "bog standard" PC components you used. Just expected perfection.

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

goosedragons — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:18:49 +0000

It works fine on plenty of normal PC builds, just not EVERY PC build.

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

goosedragons — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:10:35 +0000

So you made zero effort got it. Try running PC-DOS on there instead. Should work fine with a "perfectly normal PC", everything should just "work".

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

goosedragons — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:01:29 +0000

It is painless on hardware that's compatible. Nvidia issues are well known too.

It's like you running Windows 7 on a PC designed with Windows 11 in mind and expecting a good time. If you wanted a good Windows 7 experience you'd want a PC with parts that are actually compatible and have good drivers. Linux is the same.

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

goosedragons — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:48:33 +0000

Nvidia graphics?

How much care did you take in getting a machine for running Linux? Did you get one specifically with that in mind? Or did you slap it on the machine you already had?

New comment by goosedragons in "Microsoft Surface Pen Compatibility / Interoperability FAQ (2024)"

goosedragons — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 12:25:00 +0000

Doesn't even need to fit in the slot either. One of my Surface Pens is an older one that uses a AAAA battery and doesn't fit in the keyboard slot. It works just fine on my SP11 and older SPX. It just has less features and isn't as good as the newer Slim Pen 2.

New comment by goosedragons in "Why can't we go back to small phones?"

goosedragons — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 14:14:18 +0000

Sometimes they are just impossible to use. For example I could not hit the button to use Steam Guard in the Steam app to log in on one device. The screen was just too small for what the app expected.

New comment by goosedragons in "The Amazon Kindle War Against Piracy"

goosedragons — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 11:48:51 +0000

Some have no DRM, like Baen, most Humble Bundles and J-novel club. Most books on Kobo/Google Play have DRM but it's really really easy to remove.

New comment by goosedragons in "The Amazon Kindle War Against Piracy"

goosedragons — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 11:05:04 +0000

Kobo, Google Play Books, smaller niche sites like Baen, Humble Bundle, J-novel club, etc.

New comment by goosedragons in "The Amazon Kindle War Against Piracy"

goosedragons — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 11:00:11 +0000

Just buy a Kobo. You can get a new one, you don't have to jailbreak it to run Koreader, it already actually ePubs out of the box, they don't have as aggressive DRM either. And the hardware is good.

New comment by goosedragons in "Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU"

goosedragons — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 23:58:38 +0000

Yes, just copy the zip over like the instructions say.

New comment by goosedragons in "Snapdragon X2 Elite ARM Laptop CPU"

goosedragons — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 23:23:16 +0000

You ABSOLUTELY do not have to create a recovery drive from a Snapdragon based device. I've done it multiple times from x64 Windows for both a SPX and 11.

New comment by goosedragons in "Baldur's Gate 3 Steam Deck – Native Version"

goosedragons — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 10:21:52 +0000

I thought it was playable on the LCD Deck. I did turn things down below what the Steam Deck preset was at. It certainly wasn't the smoothest 100% of the time but it was better than Fallout New Vegas on a PS3 IMO. It still holds up pretty well against the Switch 2 version in handheld mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvGQik3m6ag

New comment by goosedragons in "Why, as a responsible adult, SimCity 2000 hits differently"

goosedragons — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 19:50:39 +0000

Nope. Just more selfish choices. Resources are finite. The further we can move away from cars, THE better for kids. Less risk of them being run over by a 7 foot tall Dodge Ram, more chances for independence because actually going places doesn't require a car.

New comment by goosedragons in "Automatic differentiation can be incorrect"

goosedragons — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 16:53:40 +0000

That's true! But it's also true that any program dealing with floats can run into numerical instability if care isn't taken to avoid it, no?

It's also not necessarily immediately obvious that the derivatives ARE wrong if the implementation is wrong.

New comment by goosedragons in "Automatic differentiation can be incorrect"

goosedragons — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 16:45:35 +0000

It can be both. A mistake in AD primitives can lead to theoretically incorrect derivatives. With the system I use I have run into a few scenarios where edge cases aren't totally covered leading to the wrong result.

I have also run into numerical instability too.

New comment by goosedragons in "macOS Tahoe"

goosedragons — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:06:42 +0000

You can still use the old Sysv init on modern distros if you want. KDE3 is sorta still around (TrinityDE), ditto Gnome 2 (MATE).

New comment by goosedragons in "USB-A isn't going anywhere, so stop removing the port"

goosedragons — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 17:45:28 +0000

Why exactly? Are you just using the USB A port for a mouse on the PC but not Mac? That's the only sensible thing I can think of.

Personally I'd rather use a USB C hub anyways. I don't want to plug in more than a cable if I don't have to.

New comment by goosedragons in "Show HN: Read Japanese Manga More Effectively with MangaRenshuu"

goosedragons — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:19:24 +0000

What I'd want is hiragana or readings for characters.

New comment by goosedragons in "Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum"

goosedragons — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:41:16 +0000

I have one of the newer lowend Razrs. It wasn't that expensive, less than a base model iPhone and it actually helps me use my phone less because it takes intention to actually open it.