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Cake day: June 6th, 2023

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  • Element is able to use features called “Integration Manager” and “Identity Server”. When using an Identity Server, you can choose to link name, email, and phone number to your Matrix account. When using an Integration Manager, there’s a feature to share your location with others in chat.

    As such, Vector discloses that they “collect this information”, although (except some diagnostics), this is completely optional.

    (I am not associated with Vector, just interested in Matrix)




  • Lets go through the summary and see if anything is wrong or misleading:

    Linutil is a distro-agnostic toolbox designed to simplify everyday Linux tasks. It helps you set up applications and optimize your system for specific use cases. The utility is actively developed in Rust 🦀, providing performance and reliability.

    • It is not distro agnostic. There is Arch and Fedora specific code, which are not separated into modules, but part of other scripts. Outside of the package manager, it also relies heavily on systemd.
    • Installing “Diablo II Resurrected loot filters” is not an “everyday task”. A lot of other scripts are similar, very specific, “one time use” things, not “everyday tasks”.
    • helps you set up applications, maybe, but only if you count running sudo pacman -S networkmanager as “helping”, even when it ignores existing network configuration.
    • “optimize your system for specific use cases”, it does nothing of the sort. There’s no kernel parameter tweaking, no other cpu scheduler, no IO options being changed, or anything remotely similar.
    • “The utility is actively developed in Rust” except for the ~70% that is shell scripts. (according to GitHub)
    • “Providing performance and reliability”, which is not something that’s determined by the programming language.

    So lets revise the short description, to exclude any incorrect/misleading statements:

    Linutil is a toolbox. The utility is actively developed.

    Alongside all that, the “installation instructions” include the biggest sin of all:

    curl -fsSL https://christitus.com/linux | sh

    TL;DR Never trust Chris Titus, or any “Linux YouTuber”, with your Linux machine. They do not know what the hell they’re doing.




  • I don’t own one, so I can’t guarantee the following: Compared to other PCVR headsets, the screen is very high quality, the tracking is easy to set up, it’s not a facebook headset, and the price is still very good compared to other non-facebook offerings.

    Eye tracking on PC would’ve allowed for “foveated rendering”, a technique where only the part you are directly looking at is rendered in high quality, with peripheral vision rendered at lower resolution. Even very powerful desktop PCs are going to struggle rendering the full resolution of the PSVR2s displays.

    Please look up reviews, and check if the headset is compatible with the games you want to play, before purchasing one.


  • Of course it would be less than on PlayStation. Game developers on PC don’t have features like headset feedback and adaptive triggers built into their games, and the standard VR protocols (afaik) do not support stuff like that.

    The main thing that’s disappointing is eye tracking being unavailable. There’s no technical reason for them to not expose that, and would’ve made the PSVR2 one of the best PCVR headsets.


  • Despite the downsides of F-Droid, there’s one thing they provide that other stores like Accrescent simply can’t. F-Droid provides APK builds with the exact source used for the build available. There’s a lot of trust involved, but this trust is in a single entity, rather than random developers. F-Droid has existed for a long time without adding malicious code to builds, so when they say “this source code produces this APK”, they have years of history doing exactly that to back their claim.

    A random app developer has no such trust built up. Stores like Accrescent, even if you download only FOSS apps, trust the app developer with building apps. It’s less prone to one massive takeover, but APKs built by random devs are much harder to verify and check for malicious code than the source code. If F-Droid is taken over, it should be noticed relatively quickly, but affects everyone using F-Droid. If an app on Accrescent bundles malware, only users of that app are affected, but it may go unnoticed for a much longer time.





  • It really depends how the release turns out. Eye tracking is often used in social VR games like VRChat, and it can help increase peformance, but that often requires setup. The other “features” are not standard or completely lacking in PC VR, like “headset feedback” or adaptive triggers. These wouldn’t be used in any games even if the hardware/software was capable of it.

    Compared to the Valve Index, the PSVR2 has a higher screen resolution, OLED, no finger tracking (different controllers), and inside-out tracking instead of base station tracking. It looks like a really good option, at a really good price (compared to other “consumer” PC VR headets like the Index). From what I can tell, you’re not really “missing” any major hardware features when using PSVR2 on a PC compared to an Index (depends on implementation, will be obvious at release). Although the lack of eye tracking when the hardware is capable is kind of a bummer.

    Wait this one out for initial reviews, but if those are good, the PSVR2 seems like a very good option for PC VR (Although only “casual”, like playing games, social vr, etc. compared to “competitive” like very high level play at Beat Saber, shooters, etc).

    Do note that this is just looking at PC VR exclusive headsets. “Standalone” headsets like the Meta Quest lineup offer similar VR hardware specs at a similar or lower cost. These come with the downside of having to “stream” from a PC rather than using raw display output (for games not natively supported on the headset). The privacy aspect of standalone headsets needs to be considered too. Most run a version of Android, which comes with just as much (or more) telemetry as an average Android smartphone.

    As for being tethered, you get used to it pretty quickly. The main problem is that the cable is being used, and will break after some time. They are often expensive to replace, like on the Index. With standalone headsets, the cable is often USB-C and a lot cheaper to replace. I don’t know how replacement cables for the PSVR2 are handled.