T w e n t y S i d e d

I was on vacation all week; more on that later. But more importantly I came home to a broken PC. Well, it was fine when I got home. Here’s the process. Last Monday, after a day of travel and arriving at the destination I got my laptop up and running. My laptop has Manjaro Linux installed just like my PC. Manjaro updates regularly, but I was a bit surprised there was a large suite of upgrades available when I booted up the computer. I put them off at first because I didn’t want to stress the internet connection where we were staying, but it became clear after a few days this vacation house likely had better and faster internet than I do at home. Knowing that, I applied all the updates without incident and went on about my week. Under my current schedule I usually first access my computer in the late afternoon and I mostly kept to that practice while away. After arriving home, of course; my PC showed the same updates available. I’m sure there were some differences in software but I wasn’t expecting a problem. However, the updates wouldn’t run on the PC. I kept getting an error message that updating a library would break a dependency and a recommendation that I remove a particular listing and try again. Except removing that entry would break *another* dependency, and so on and so forth. I tried doing updates one listing a time, which worked right up until it didn’t. I would occasionally get a prompt to restart the system (normally I get one prompt to restart after all updates are complete) but after one of these…nothing *I was used to using* would work. Most things wouldn’t launch. Efforts attempted through the terminal would result in an error message reporting broken dependencies. I had managed to break the fundamental links in the system to a couple of important libraries. Checking online I came across mostly some things I had read before: that the frequent update process on Manjaro is essentially its biggest weakness. I won’t get into all the reasons why, and I have no idea (only a suspicion) why something that worked a few days ago on my laptop *did not* work on my PC…this is actually a problem I’ve had before but was able to deal with. Instead, because of how I have everything installed, I decided to just do a new install of something different.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Replacing a Linux Installation After My Vacation”

Paige Francis He/him

So Infinity Nikki was finally released on Steam. It’s still not available on the Steam Deck; the limiting factor being the Anti-Cheat Expert implementation. The team responsible for bringing the title to Steam expressed interest in bridging the ACE requirement so the game will run on Steam Deck and as a result, most Linux installs (Valve has done this for other titles). However that may never happen at this point. A significant update to the game a couple of weeks ago has caused quite a bit of consternation among long-time players. Obviously I haven’t talked to every single person, but Steam reviews have dropped from near-perfect not long ago to “Mixed.” Essentially, before the Steam release, the reviews were from people who obtained the game in some other way and were talking about how great it was. The Steam version released with the new update from what I’ve read. You can see negative review after negative review now, all complaining about the update. The best I can put together is that the 1.5 update added co-op play, which seems simple enough. But for some reason also nixed the original story, introduction, and tutorial. I’ve read reviews of people complaining that the co-op play update makes the new content completely different from the original release. This, according to many, ruins the original “cozy” and casual feel to the game. If this trend continues, further development on Steam will likely cease, as will any upcoming content. In the U.S. anyway; I have no idea how people in China feel. (Allegedly the term “boycott” has been banned in-game and on social media accounts, but I don’t know if that’s English-only or for all languages. The word “girlcott” has been substituted, according to Wikipedia.) I also want to be clear that *I* haven’t played the game, so this is only reporting on what other people are saying, and how they are responding through official channels. I don’t completely agree with the idea that “online isn’t real,” but I DO agree that you hear about complaints at a much greater rate than you hear about satisfaction, so if this concerns you…the game is free. You can play it or not. Unless you’re on Linux.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Mother’s Day and Vacation Time”

Paige Francis He/him

I played several hours in Lord of the Rings Online this past week, and learned *something else* new. The game has had a 64-bit client for several years. *BUT* apparently they only made 64-bit *servers* available like, last month. Standing Stone started encouraging everyone to transfer to the new servers; they even offered a free server transfer. (If you don’t play MMORPGs regularly, this is one of the standard purchases that every MMO with more than one server offers. It’s one of the reliable money-makers. Because people want to play with their current friend group or active guild, you know.) I find it very interesting that the new servers give a pretty accurate measurement of the current population. I mean, other than what the developer claims, which may or may not be accurate. LOTRO has been considered a decently-populated game for an older legacy MMO, operating dozens of servers as recently as only a year or so ago. Under the 64-bit schema, SS is offering one RP server (role-playing), one non-RP server, and one “Legendary” server (I don’t know anything about those) in North America and Europe, for a total of six servers. This actually puts LOTRO on par with Star Wars The Old Republic which has six servers as well, although they aren’t divided by role. Since transferring to the new server, I have in fact noticed much-improved performance and the occasional improved texture. I assume there are other improvements I have not noticed.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “A Week of Various Updates and Upgrades”

Paige Francis He/him