NuXCOM_90Percent

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)

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.

So for the past couple of years (... coming on a decade?) I've liked the 8bitdo controllers a lot. Build consistency is a bit of a shitshow but you can tell almost instantly if you have one of the bad ones (and it is usually a matter of just loosening one screw unless the PCB itself is cracked). And the Ultimate Pro Whatever The Hell With Charging Dock is really nice and I love that I never have to worry about my controller needing new batteries when I am on my PC. In theory I can just plug it in but that gets into a mess with games that auto-detect what is connected and so forth. The charging dock that doubles as a receiver is delightful.

But when I switched to linux for fulltime gaming a while back... things got messier. 8bitdo has no linux support whatsoever. Mostly that is "fine" because the controller is a controller and I can use a phone app when I want to change what the rear buttons do. But I can't update firmwares. Which, again, is "fine" except I finally wanted to get back into Crosscode and have learned that shitshow of an html5 engine ONLY supports xinput on PC and apparently the functionality to tell the 8bitdo to present as an xinput might only be in a beta firmware? So all the joys of debugging but with very non-technical resources on google.

Not the end of the world (was mostly planning to moonlight to my xbox anyway) but kind of the straw that broke the camel's back as it were. Because Crosscode is a mess of a game technically that even the devs acknowledge was a mistake (AMAZING experience though) but what happens the next time I run up into a corner case? Not ready to throw this in the bin and rage purchase a new gamepad but very much ready to start browsing what my options are. Especially as (some) third parties are actually pretty good these days.

So what gamepads do you folk use?

So I finally broke down and made a very poor purchasing decision and ordered an e-ink writer to be a notepad/e-reader hybrid. Partially so that it is less of a hassle to read books I got from kickstarters and the like while still using the kindle app for the disturbing amounts of money I throw at Amazon.

Historically? I loved goodreads because theoretically I would get good recommendations based on what I liked. In practice, that has never happened but it is still nice to see if I read something in the past. And once I have multiple ebook ecosystems, it will be nice to actually check that rather than spend the first 100 pages wondering if this is familiar.

So any good recommendations? I suspect what I SHOULD do (and will likely start doing more as a self betterment thing) is just put a note in my personal nextcloud every time I finish a book with a quick summary and some thoughts. But having the big database is also really nice.

Thanks

So I've been grabbing a few shows I want to watch reruns of while playing Balatro that don't have good blu ray releases. My piracy is fairly limited these days so I don't bother with private trackers (do have a VPN though). In the past, I never really had an issue with grabbing a few one offs off the popular, maybe honeypot, sites like rarbg and 1337x.

But over the past month or so, I've noticed I have gotten a lot of shitty files. Skips here and there or garbled colors for a scene or two. At first I though it was just a bad file since re-downloading the torrent had the exact same problem.

But, on a whim, I did a recheck and had to download like 40% of a torrent. And then 20% the next time. Which made me assume my NAS was fucked or I was dealing with a lot of packet lsos (... I AM dealing with a lot of packet loss from my ISP). But when I redownloaded a "known bad" torrent I had the exact same corrupted file.

So am I just REALLY unlucky? Or is there an epidemic of shitty/malicious seeds on the public trackers these days?

So... Gundam 00. It has always felt like the black sheep of the "main" shows. Everyone makes fun of it for being a "ripoff" of Wing (to the point there are even meme pictures in the official gunpla stores in Japan) and it felt largely forgotten relative to the never ending love affair with the UC and the pushes to make SEED a thing while avoiding the acknowledgement that the vast majority of "main" Gundam shows are retelling 0079+Zeta.

So I put off the watch for a while. Because I love Wing (like most Americans, it was my first Gundam) but I also fully acknowledge that is batshit insane and mostly a retelling of 0079, Zeta, and CCA.

And... I know Japan has very strict anti-drug laws but I am pretty sure they were on the same stuff that made Wing seem like a good idea. But whereas Wing's pacing felt like complete insanity to the point you would FEEL like nothing happened and then realized three wars started and ended over the course of two episodes, 00 seemed obsessed with ending every climactic cliffhanger/battle before the first commercial break. It works amazingly well on a binge watch to make you watch "one more episode" but I REALLY wonder how people tolerated that when it aired on TV. "Oh cool. The battle we have all been waiting for is about to happen. And... it is over before we see Ibushi squirt some dashi into a pan in a suggestive manner".

But, for all its flaws? I think season 1 is up there with Iron Blooded Orphans in terms of being a genuinely good "real" Gundam show (War in the Pocket is still GOAT but that was very clearly a side story, similar to Rogue One in the Star Wars franchise). We have a roster of pilots with clear flaws and mysterious pasts that pretty much exist to explore the idea of whether you can ever truly achieve peace through violence. And... it is insanely bleak. It is clear from the start that Saji's plotline is going to be there to make us useless in the rain and... it somehow ends worse than anyone can possibly imagine on every single front of that. And the climactic battle is simultaneously more pointless and more brutal than basically anything short of IBO.

And then... we have Season 2. Which is mostly a rush to explain all those mysterious backstories as well as the overall mythos. I assume this was intended (right down to not even having the namesake gunpla model until the end of Season 1) but it really undermines almost all the "vibes" of the first season. And I kept expecting Ian to quote Rodney Dangerfield and scream "We're all gonna get laid!" with how so much of season 2 felt like a collection mission for every Gundam meister's girlfriend.

And while 00 definitely cheated by having two "end of show so everybody dies" sequences... it ends on way too hopeful of a note. Don't get me wrong, I like a Gundam that doesn't leave me staring at my TV's burn-in prevention screen while I drink whiskey. But after how ridiculously bleak Season 1 was... 2 just felt like a copout.

Also let's ignore that the Gundams were literal reality warpers. And that it is clear someone watched Beerfest and had an epiphany on how to keep such a fan favorite character around.

But, for all of Season 2's MANY MANY MANY flaws, I still frigging loved it. Because usually, the overall story is secondary to the emotional beats of a Gundam. Yes, we are all super eager to know what the latest Char clone is planning but what we really care about is what it will mean for the Pilot. And, don't get me wrong, I was very invested in all of the pilots (even frigging Tieria). But I kept watching because I needed to know what Ribbons or the Feddies or A-Law would do next.

Also, let's not overlook the sheer ballsiness of ending the show with "And we are doing a movie!".

So yeah. Gundam 00. More or less abandoned by Bandai. Mocked by Eastern audiences for being a ripoff of the Gundam that was explicitly targeted at the Sailor Moon demographic (seriously...). Mocked by Western audiences because Eastern audiences mock it and we are all weebs to one level or another. Season 1 is some of the best that "mainline" Gundam has ever been. Season 2 is... good by Gundam standards.

And two parting notes:

1. Anyone who disparages this had better speak to their (non-existent) God about their crimes against cute and adorable Haro units doing repairs on the White Base equivalent Could have done with a lot less large breasted women in skintight outfits bouncing around and more cute Haro units being cute.
2. While I still take issue at just treating it as a blatant Wing ripoff, I do have to say: in a franchise where you have a child soldier who would be fine with being executed because it means he can rest and someone with blatant split personality issues... Heero is still the craziest Gundam pilot ever. And Relena is somehow even crazier than that. The number of times Allejulah went full Hallelujah and my response was still "Still not crazier than Heero"...

Looking for a solution to manage and access the directory on my NAS that is full of ebooks. Optimally I want to be able to web reader them but also automagically send it to the email that sends it to my kindle. And e-book wise, the majority of mine are epub/mobi that I got from various kickstarters or humble bundles. But I also have some RPG books (so PDF with a LOT of pictures) and manga (PDF or CBR).

Did some research and checked the various reference lists. Mostly narrowed it down to

• Weird-ass Calibre running in Kasm and accessed through a god awful web UI: This is actually what I used for the past year or two because there was a solution that was fairly plug and play with unraid. I... would rather never do this again
• "Calibre Web" https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web. This seems to be what I actually want (an actual web interface to Calibre!) but it looks like the lead dev lost their shit with obnoxious demands from users. And while I appreciate they are still supporting it, "I am going to ignore the issues unless I feel like it" seems like a good way to get a bunch of unacknowledged CVEs...
• Kavita https://www.kavitareader.com. Only found out about this today but it looks clean and efficient (plex-like). REALLY not a fan of the subscription model already being there but I also don't want any of those features.

Thoughts? There anything better I am missing because none of these look all that great?

So for the past few years (?) I have been using wireguard to vpn into (effectively) my firewall and a dynamic dns setup to access that remotely. But with the shitshow that is google domains and the like, this seems like a good opportunity to look into a few of the alternatives. I am not entirely opposed to just going in and changing the dns server once I figure out what I am going to do on that front, but wireguard has always been a bit of a mess to set up for less "tech savvy" people who need access to the home network.

Every so often I see some cloud based solutions get suggested. Which is sketchy but I already have a few alerts set up to be able to remotely shut my network down if wireguard is acting up when it shouldn't be and shutting down a VM is a lot less of a "do I really need to do this?" than shutting off the entire network. But most of those solutions seem built around selling seats which means they want you to add individual devices rather than just setting up a tunnel.

So is wireguard still the gold standard? Or is there a more user friendly solution that will let me compromise a bit but also have a setup that doesn't require me to be physically on site to fix the inevitable hiccups because it takes hours of reading articles to understand the setup?

Thanks