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pathartl

1,352 karma · joined November 22, 2017

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pathartl··on TrueNAS 25.10 Released with NVMe-Of Support, OpenZFS Performance Improvements
I wish they would take any amount of time to improve the web UI in a meaningful way. Hate to be harsh, but the new VM UI is terrible and the exception log dialog is completely worthless. If you do something that makes the dialog pop up (e.g. starting a container that is trying to bind to an already bound port), it shows you a generic exceptional n trace log from Python and points you to the actual log file that would have the error. As a user I don't care about a stack trace of the web UI! Log that to the JS console and give me a tail of the log!
pathartl··on Fallout from the AWS outage: Smart mattresses go rogue
It's definitely overpriced and over engineered, but maintaining body temperature during sleep is a massive factor of sleep quality.
pathartl··on With deadline looming 4 of 9 universities reject Trumps pact to remake higher ed
The primary issue with state power is human rights. If you don't guarantee certain rights, some other state will gladly exploit its citizens.

The neverending struggle of course is what does one consider a human right.

pathartl··on A built-in 'off switch' to stop persistent pain
If areas could be targeted, it could be a massive quality of life improvement for those with endometriosis.
pathartl··on TiVo exiting legacy DVR business
I seem to be the only one here that didn't have a good experience with TiVo. My parents cut the cord in 2013 and got a Roamio with a couple of the smaller streaming boxes. It was fairly easy to set up, but the UI was slow and not being able to transfer the recordings was a huge pain. Those stream boxes though, God those were terrible. If you had to reboot them it would take at least 20 minutes, if they didn't hang in the process.

I had a much better experience integrating a PC with a couple of PCIe Hauppauge tuners running Windows Media Center with a couple of Xbox 360s as streaming devices.

pathartl··on Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account
It will _never_ get to that point unless they port the original codebase to WASM or something. Or another product comes around that's so market upsetting that it takes the crown. The same can be said for Adobe products.
pathartl··on Pop OS 24.04 LTS Beta
The fragmentation is a huge reason the desktop experience is broken. The only UI that's actually consistent across all distros and works pretty damn well is the TUI.
pathartl··on Speeding up Unreal Editor launch by not spawning unused tooltips
In the Blazor space we use factories/managers to spawn new instances of a modal/tooltip instead of having something idle waiting for activation.

The tradeoff is for more complicated components, first renders can be slower.

pathartl··on Nintendo Switch 2 Dock USB-C Compatibility
They already produce custom designed ports in order to add some tolerance to make it easier to dock the device.
pathartl··on A Windows update probably didn't brick your SSD
For some behind the scenes on Microsoft's QA and Dev I recommend people read "Showstopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft". These days it's almost an ancient text, but it highlights a time in which computing was more fragile and the monumental challenge that comes with writing an operating system.

I think MS should be more transparent about their QA process, as I can only imagine how complicated it can be. I think we're past the era (mostly due to the high level of abstraction that exists between hardware and most end user facing software these days) where hardware variation has THAT amount of effect on the overall stability of a system, but we're also in an age where automation and reporting is actually mature.

So many of these controversies come from anecdotal scenarios that really should be treated woth

pathartl··on GitHub is no longer independent at Microsoft after CEO resignation
I have been a .NET dev for the past 8 years and have switched fully to Rider. The only thing I miss from VS is the quick nav to see all the properties and methods in a file on the top bar. Everything else is vastly better:

- Auto complete is a bit smarter (even the free AI suggestions are better) - Refactoring across files is often faster - Package management is undoubtedly the latest performance difference. I would go from taking 1-2 minutes from using VS's "Manage packages for solution" to under 10 seconds in Rider. - In VS there's always a noticeable delay when the debugger hits a breakpoint / exception and the IDE takes a few seconds to actually display. This is about halved in Rider. - The built in terminal is vastly better than VS's, though not as good as Windows Terminal

pathartl··on GitHub is no longer independent at Microsoft after CEO resignation
> Then there is the issue they seem to be shoting into all directions, with GUI frameworks, Web, Blazor, Aspire, to see what sticks.

... what?

They could do a better job with the native frameworks, but the rest of these are completely unrelated. For web, MVC is pretty much dead and you might want to use Blazor SSR instead. Web API via controllers is still supported, but minimal API endpoints are the hot thing. Blazor is being treated as a first class product. Aspire is there to assist in local orchestration of distributed applications... and is built on Blazor.

pathartl··on Knowing Steam players are hoarders explains why you give Valve that 30%
This is a crazy reductionist view of databases.
pathartl··on EverQuest
I was too young to get in on the early (and tbh me exciting) age of MMOs, only opting for RuneScape because it had a free tier.

I just finished Jason Schreier's book that covered 38 Studio's implosion and then his next book that covered Blizzard. It was a nice trip down memory lane where I remember crawling through the latest PC Gamer issue to read about MMO experiences or watching G4's Portal act out skits in these massive games.

While there's private servers out there, I'm not sure you could recreate the hype around that era.

pathartl··on Microsoft's big lie: Your computer is fine, and you don't need to buy a new one
Let's be real for a second, we're in an era where people are less likely to buy a new computer. Part of it is due to the performance plateau of new hardware, part of it is people just don't use PCs as much. This is the same demographic of people that ran XP until they bought a new PC that just happened to run 7. Or 7 -> 10.

I think about my mom. She's not tech literate, but needs a PC to do business. She cannot seem to remember Ctrl C, Ctrl V. She doesn't know what a file explorer is or how to pair a Bluetooth device. There is no way in hell she would know how to update to 11, nor would she even comprehend any of the differences between the two. She's the type of person that would buy a new computer if her charger stopped working. She represents millions of people that own a computer.

We're going to see a lot of 10 stragglers not due to protest, but incompetence. For any of us that actually care about updating, it is incredibly simple to bypass any checks. For anyone that would attempt to run Linux, it would be easier to bypass the requirement checks. This whole thing is blown completely out of proportion because people are still trying to push the year of the Linux desktop.

It might convert some people, but stop pushing (imo) misleading narratives like planned obsolescence when we're living in an era of a Windows that is more secure than ever, has the largest catalog of runnable software, and probably the largest step in the history of the platform.

pathartl··on Eliza: The doll that teaches girls to code
Yeah after posting this comment I ended up discussing it with my SO. I don't think this product is a bad idea by any means, it just seems to learn way too much into hyperbole for something that is essentially an American Girl doll with a microcontroller implanted in its chest like Tony Stark. This alone can't "fix" anything.
pathartl··on Windows 10 EOL
Yes, I have one. I'm paid to avoid WinForms.
pathartl··on Eliza: The doll that teaches girls to code
Is a lack of programmable dolls really the things that's keeping women out of the tech sector? I don't see how this will "fix the gender gap". I have a friend with daughters that hosts a LEGO league team and it sounds like they get just as much enjoyment out of it as the boys do.

On the surface I guess this is neat. But maybe instead of forcing dolls on girls and cars on boys we could do a bit better by, well, not being presumptuous.

pathartl··on Windows 10 EOL
Why are you still writing stuff with win forms?
pathartl··on Windows 10 EOL
Look at all of those 486s running Windows 10! Windows 11 is pure hell spawn. /s

Is the cutoff for 11 a bit arbitrary? Sure, but it's not unprecedented by any means. The machines that are supposedly turning to ewaste stopped receiving driver updates years ago. Why aren't we calling for the heads of hardware manufacturers?

Also let's ignore the obvious that the TPM check is still easily bypassable. It's not the most user friendly, your grandmother isn't going to be able to do it, but frankly your grandmother isn't going to update to 11 anyway. She's still stuck on 8.1.

pathartl··on Endometriosis is an interesting disease
Because it's genetic. It's something that develops during sexual maturation, it doesn't just pop up. My SO is the third generation in her family that has Endo. Women will have flare ups where they will be in excruciating pain during one menstruation cycle, and the next might be a non-endo's idea of a bad cramp, so it's often misdiagnosed as severe constipation, appendicitis (even though the pain is almost always on the right side), or they're given the "it's just in your head" treatment.
pathartl··on Windows 10 spies on your use of System Settings (2021)
> Why 1px borders when i have to resize windows ?

Speaking as someone who has had to implement their own chrome in Windows for aesthetic reasons, this is on the developer for not using the standard chrome.

> Why no place on the titlebar when one can click and drag on second monitor ?

Not trying to shame, but I assume English is not your first language. I'm having a hard time comprehending this. It seems like a complaint about dragging the title bar? I would assume this is another non-standard chrome issue.

> Why the stupid taskbar where some windows are hidden and others not.

This again is something that's up to the developer. It's definitely frustrating, but I would argue it's only more prevalent in newer versions of the OS because there's just more software out there. This is also an issue of developers making choices that go against proper UX/UI.

> Why the stupid alt-tab where it rearanges the window stack ?

Alt-tab has always been FIFO. It's always been based on "What's the last thing you had in the foreground"

pathartl··on Windows 10 spies on your use of System Settings (2021)
What is the X in this scenario? What do you need to configure that's not available in settings? I absolutely do not doubt there's _something_, but I bet it's not an every-day sort of thing, and I'm absolutely sure it's not something that was outright removed. If anything has been removed in a version of Windows it's always been able to be restored either via registry or by CLI. And in the case of CLI, that's what Linux users ask for anyway, so I'm not sure what the issue is.
pathartl··on Windows 10 spies on your use of System Settings (2021)
At least for the static addressing, it has been in the same location for I think every Windows based on NT up until Settings came a long.
pathartl··on PS5 shooter goes from 5 players to bestseller after devs defend game
Most FPS's of the era had that sort of map. Return to Castle Wolfenstein had Kung Fu Grip, which I played many, many hours of. The map was built by a clan member and we used to have map test nights.
pathartl··on Windows 10 spies on your use of System Settings (2021)
People are weirdly attached to Control Panel. What's better: Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adapter Settings -> Properties on selected NIC -> IPv4 -> Properties to set a static IP or Settings -> Network and Internet -> Ethernet -> IP Assignment

People got used to where things were. That does no indicate good UX/UI.

pathartl··on The Windows Registry Adventure #7: Attack surface analysis
I've been working a lot with older games and a big issue I see is developer discipline.

Take LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth II Rise of the Witch King: https://www.regfiles.net/registry/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-...

Not only does it have "Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts", the same game doesn't even follow its own standard!

Surely it's just that one game right? Nope! Here's the Sims 3 https://www.regfiles.net/registry/the-sims-3-steam-registry

And Battlefield 1942 on Origin https://www.regfiles.net/registry/battlefield-1942-ea-origin...

There's also developers that throw everything they can in HKLM when HKCU is almost always more appropriate.

It was also complicated with the introduction of WoW64, and then the introduction of the VirtualStore. Don't get me wrong, segmenting off all of those prevented a ton of potential collisions, but I feel like there's a more elegant way to handle it. Personally, I've been working on writing a library to hook every registry call and read from a text config file instead.

pathartl··on The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
Superior hardware with terrible software. Also they straight up artificially limit their hardware so they don't cannibalize their sales, which is slightly understandable, but they do it in the dumbest ways. My SOs MacBook Air can only do one external monitor, even though it has the same specs as her work Pro. Oh and good luck actually getting that external display to work, I swear only like 50% of USB-C docks work on the platform.
pathartl··on The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
Maybe just for your specific preferences. Terminal is plenty fine. Vertical taskbar on the right is straight up user preference. PowerToys for an app starter? Like Alfred? The start search does a decent enough job of that. Folder Size is nice, but enumerating all files is very taxing.
pathartl··on Choosing a Name for Your Computer
What would you name a smart dishwasher?
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