So I used to really like the 8bitdo controllers but firmware updates and reconfiguring on Linux is... not a thing. Theoretically a windows VM can do the former and I can use my android phone and tablet for the latter but... no. Combine that with finally getting around to playing Crosscode (beautiful game that goes on for way too long and has the jankiest engine ever used in a video game) and I ended up back on just an xbox series controller.

Then I found out that apparently Valve are finally adding support to Steam Input for 3rd parties so that I can theoretically map those back paddles and the like without grabbing my phone and shuffling dongles. And I also remembered that I have all those extra features on my Steam Deck that I never use because my brain isn't smart enough to remember two full control schemes per game.

And doing research on the 8bitdos and gamesirs and the like... at BEST you get a brief mention of "this has steam deck support but let's look at my phone games instead". Knowing how clicky a face button is is nice but I would also REALLY like to know polling rates under bluetooth, what modes expose the gyro, etc.

So is anyone aware of any websites/blogs or youtubers who tend to go into even a shallow dive on gamepads and Linux? Configuration software/firmware updating, what features are exposed on what connection type, etc. Would obviously prefer someone who understands what Linux is, but even just a heavy focus on the Steam Deck would probably provide enough data (for me, at least).

So with newer wayland+wine/proton improving HDR support, I figured... I would actually try. And, rather than needing to debug everything all in one go, I'd rather take a few incremental steps.

So is anyone aware of games with native linux clients/binaries that support HDR? Preferably with a menu setting so I can determine if the capability is detected rather than "I guess that light looks bright?"

So Amazon finally closed up the kindle 4 pc loophole (bah) and that means I need to learn how to find ebooks for the authors who insist on releasing exclusively on kindle.

Looks like ebook-hunter and the like are the way to go for that (and I set up a reminder to try to get an invite to myanonamouse and we'll see how that goes). But... that site uses tiny-files which is straight up cancer. Not the end of the world to click the same link and close the same blocked pop ups five times in a row for a one off but... yeah.

Back in the day we used apps like jdownloader to make this less painful but from checking out the flatpak... that might be actively malware at this point AND it wants me to install definitely malware browser plugins and the like.

So is there a better alternative? Preferably something I can run in a container on a random server.

Thanks.

I've used proton for a year or two now and it is fine. Great for use on my phone when I want to use public/airport wifi and it sort of kind of works with gluetun (the rotating port is annoying but it still is a forwarded port).

But I've increasingly been annoyed with Proton as a company and am looking to migrate my email/domain to fastmail in the very near future. I COULD continue to just pay for the vpn (60 USD a year is pretty reasonable) but also feel like this is a good opportunity to "shop around"

Checked the wiki and other FAQs (which all basically crib from said wiki) and they all basically boil down to proton or mullivad... except that mullivad apparently stopped allowing port forwarding which is a bit of an issue for any torrents and the like.

So are there any other good options?

Thanks

No worries tesla owners of lemmy: your president is addressing your biggest concern

This is a grey area for piracy since you need to own the ebook but... you also don't really "own" anything purchased in digital distribution and this is removing DRM from that. Suffice to say, if this were Nintendo they would try to sue you so it is probably more piracy than not.

Confirmed working as of a few minutes ago since I wanted to rebuild this with KVM.

Based on https://www.reddit.com/r/Calibre/comments/1c2ryfz/ and comments thereof.

1. Create a new virtual machine. I recently used KVM directly but also had success with Virtual Box.
2. Install Windows 10
3. Disable internet access for the VM.
4. Download and install Kindle 2.4.70904 (SHA256 2e2e4e5bb9fd585947244a4a62ce5baca47818c439d0213cc9a5a96f9a692119) from https://kindleforpc.s3.amazonaws.com/70904/KindleForPC-installer-2.4.70904.exe
5. Run the Kindle app and disable updating (Tools > Options > General > disable "Automatically install updates..."). Optionally change the save path.
6. Run the batch script disable_k4pc_download.bat (SHA256 656fbabfa9d1bb3fd1160100391fbf3886597633178e37cffcffe747d3b66567
   ) under step 2a at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361503 to ACTUALLY disable automatic upgrading
7. Re-enable networking.
8. Download and install Calibre. 7.13.0 from https://download.calibre-ebook.com/7.13.0/. This version is known working and all efforts I found used Windows so I went with the msi (SHA256 7c1b57b6f55076cc646a30eb6394ec00df18be373c3badf80d7ee39152ccffda
   ) since this install exists solely to strip DRM before I then add them to my Calibre-Web server.
9. Launch Calibre and install the KFX Input plugin from the built in plugin manager
10. Separately download the 10.0.9 version of the DeDRM plugin (newer may work but, again, lazy) from https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools/releases/download/v10.0.9/DeDRM_tools_10.0.9.zip. SHA256 of d46e7ff94a46dc871eb9b7e639e6da1883823cd5a9d705d53f51bd9c251aabda
11. Launch Kindle, login, and download whatever you want to strip DRM from. I did run into some weirdness where I had an exclamation point after logging in but restarting the k4pc app allowed me to download books.
12. In Calibre, add all the books you downloaded by clicking and dragging the .azw file from Explorer to the Calibre window. You must do this from the downloaded directory as DeDRM is dependent on metadata in the same directory. This can be automated using a batch script pretty trivially.
13. Then convert them to a non azw3 format (mobi if you are putting it back on a Kindle. epub otherwise).
14. And then all the epub files in your Calibre library should have had DRM removed and be ready to import into your real Calibre library (or in a random folder on your computer)

Update (so someone tell that dipshit who steals guides to upload his copy):

Looks like Amazon have blocked sufficiently old versions of k4pc from downloading ebooks now. Unclear exactly what the criteria are. Some people think it is any book published after Apr 22 2025. Others (self included) have noticed it applies to purchases after that. My suspicion is that different publishers have different deals with Amazon and their cutoffs are based on that.

So either way: The above is mostly useless now. Yay.

Been getting in the mood for an Armored Core 4 run and there is zero chance I ever dig my PS3 out of the closet ever again. Also more stable framerates would be nice.

So, these days, which emulated console (and emulator) is "best" for this generation? My assumption is 360 because of the CBE but the PS3 was a REAL sicko console and has relatively little backwards compatibility, so that might have been a bigger motivator for the development community.

Thanks

So I picked up a facebook quest 3 to get back into PCVR and to have some standalone fun too (also to force Valve's hand to release Deckard sooner than later because that is how things work).

Wouldn't mind getting an actually comfortable headstrap and maybe checking out what games are worth looking at. But it is REALLY hard to figure out which outlets are worth listening to and which are just playing the SEO and "sponsored but not really" bullshit game.

So... any suggestions? Thanks.

Bit of a weird question but how do you store and organize your models/STL files?

I do most of my CAD in OnShape these days so I have The Cloud for all the convenience and future horror of that. And... when I grab stuff from one of the sites like thingiverse... I SHOULD save the model but I don't and it has only bothered me once when I lost my webcam cover. And I probably spent more time searching for a replacement than it took to just make my own.

But I want to get more into kickstarters (... I feel dirty) and buying cool models and those I DO want to archive and save.

Most likely I'll just make a folder structure and sync it to my NAS with syncthing. But are there any better/more elaborate solutions? One of those "have server, will spin up container" things but figured I would ask first.

Thanks.

I've been using News for Nextcloud for the past year or so and love it. But it recently broke (refuses to pull any feeds) and reading the github issues... that app ain't gonna last much longer.

Briefly looked at the awesome selfhosting page and going to do a read through of those when my brain is a bit more sane. But any suggestions? My main requirement is that I need to have multiple android devices able to connect and sync even while off network (I can handle the anxiety that comes from tunnels).

Anyone know of any good sites for (good) STLs of the popular tabletop/wargaming miniatures?

And, more importantly, anyone have any good experiences with them? My gut would be that the vast majority are pointless in FDM and require the granularity of resin. But I have also seen some wild prints that take advantage of ridiculously thin layer sizes to have insane detail. And, if it isn't a complete fool's errand, this would be a fun set of projects to fine tune both my printing ability and my painting skills.