bisby

My current system was installed as manjaro, but i immediately started having AUR issues, so I just changed all the repos out to the official arch ones and over time everything manjaro specific has been updated or removed.

The first lines in my /var/log/pacman.log are from early 2015, and ive fully rebuilt my computer since then, including swapping hard drives (dd' to clone old drive onto new drive). So at this point my PC is a hardware and software ship of theseus.

Back in october I travelled for a lan party. I didnt bring my linux desktop with me, and just brought my steam deck and dock, and when I got there, borrowed a keyboard/mouse/monitor.

Then i swapped it to desktop mode, and the people I was with all commented on "Oh wow! it's just like a regular computer"

One of them has explicited said they were fed up with microsoft's BS and would swap their gaming PC over to steamOS once it's formally released for desktop (they were uninterested in Bazzite and wanted an official Valve release for their gaming PC).

It's immutable (you can't break the core OS, there is no deleting system32). You can't install packages (like you would from AUR), but have access to flatpaks.

Firefox is preinstalled, but anything from flathub is also available.

So yes, it has all the things most people need from a desktop OS, and is harder to break, and is supported commercially.

It has a desktop mode, I've never looked into whether you can boot to desktop by default. But I would imagine if they released a desktop friendly version, that would be an option.

SteamOS has a web browser.

It boots by default into Steam Big Picture mode, which is the SteamOS/HTPC style "intended to be used with a controller" layout.

In the power menu, it has a "switch to desktop" button that drops you to KDE. Firefox is pre-installed, and immediately available for use.

But also, it's just an immutable OS with plenty of things installable via flatpak in KDE Discover. Which means Slack, Discord, Zoom, Chrome... all of the "desktop" things most people need are available.

If those personal photos and videos are important to you, you should have them backed up anyway. If you ever spill anything on that laptop, or it gets dropped or broken or lost. All those things are gone.

But as others have said, you can sometimes resize a partition from gparted if the drive isnt mounted (ie, use the live USB).

Also starship hasn't started its operational lifespan. These are test articles still. They should absolutely be treating them with respect and due diligence since they are launching, but this is just highly public testing on a reusable rocket. Success not guaranteed and that's why they aren't flying real payloads (even of their own).

Also, pretty sure Apollo 1 was a great example of Saturn rockets not being flawless.

Counter point... Both are generating perfectly valid JSON, so who cares?

Python 3.13.2 (main, Feb  5 2025, 08:05:21) [GCC 14.2.1 20250128]
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 9.0.2 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.
Tip: IPython 9.0+ have hooks to integrate AI/LLM completions.

In [1]: import json

In [2]: json.loads('{"x": 1e-05}')
Out[2]: {'x': 1e-05}

In [3]: json.loads('{"x":0.00001}')
Out[3]: {'x': 1e-05}

Welcome to Node.js v20.3.1.
Type ".help" for more information.
> JSON.parse('{"x":0.00001}')
{ x: 0.00001 }
> JSON.parse('{"x": 1e-05}')
{ x: 0.00001 }

Javascript and Python both happily accept either format from the string and convert it into a float they are happy with.

The official product page is an actual monitor name, and postfixed with the encoding to help differentiate similar models. So you're right, but also, "AW3423DWF is a terrible name" is wrong, because AW3423DWF isn't the product name, it's just how people identify it, because there are so many similar monitors out there.

Sure: that's a SKU and not the product name.

From LG's own website:

The name of the product is:

34" Curved UltraGear™ QHD HDR 10 160Hz Monitor with Tilt/Height Adjustable Stand

But since 34" curved monitors are a dime a dozen and the full name listing all the specs is a freaking mouthful, it winds up being referred to it by the SKU to help differentiate it.

The 34WP60C-B is apparently the same monitor, but without speakers and a different stand.

This isn't Apple where there is only 1 macbook pro each year and you can differentiate with a "M4" or "2024" on it. every year, LG releases 100 different monitors, some of which have VERY similar specs. If they gave them all names, the names would be meaningless except for to differentiate the models. "LG UltraGear Megashark" offers no details, and only serves to make it memorable and google-able.

34GP63A-B isn't memorable, but it is google-able to an even better degree (because theres no chance of getting a Terraria Megashark SEO landmine, I hate products that have names like "Cursor", because how the hell am I going to google that).

34 is size, G is "gaming", no idea on P63A, and -B indicates that this is the second revision (there is also a 34GP63A without the -B).

Youre right. "Cordless handheld vacuum" is a descriptor and not "the name of a product".

In fact, on the Alienware website, the product is called 'Alienware 34" Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor - AW3423DWF'

Alienware 34" curved QD-OLED gaming monitor sounds a LOT like exactly what you described. And then the SKU is tacked on to the end because they sell multiple various models of of 34" curved QD-OLED gaming monitors, and people are going to want to get the right one, so they make it prominent.

Why does it need a "name" at all.

I just say "I have the Alienware ultrawide OLED" and if anyone cares, the exact model number gives information and is very distinct and googleable.

You can google for "AW3423DWF" very easily and know youve found the right monitor for reviews etc.

Googling for "Macbook Pro" reviews, for example... a pain in the ass.

That only works if you assume that there is something consistent to version. Some years it's a 34" ultra wide, some years it's a 32" 4k. Will there ever be another 34" ultra wide from alienware? Who knows! Not every monitor gets a revision. and if you have random names for 100 different monitors every year, that doesn't really help make sense of things either.

Alienware Monitor 7.... Well they release 100 different models a year, and every year thats going to increment, and consumers often conflate "bigger number better" so you better make sure you get the numbering right.

And "Porkchop" means absolutely nothing to anyone. DWF at least means something to some people. Going from 0% usefulness to even 10% usefulness is a good move.