[huckleberrypie]

Are you able to chain another router to your Centurylink modem with a wired connection and use the new router instead?

Yep. The QFX box has an ethernet port, which was the only way to get stable internet from my CenturyLink router.


I have since turned off the CenturyLink router's Wifi radio and switched to the QFX box. My Nintendo Switch has a stable internet connection now, and hopefully any other Wifi device.

That's 'swell. I am yet to come up with a stable way to get a wireless connection at home though, as streaming stuff through LAN tends to cause dropouts i.e. when I play MP3s from a LAN share through VLC, though 'tis strange that Netflix isn't affected if not for quality falling back if the connection goes a bit awry.

[cpd2009]

So far, so good in regards to my new Wifi setup. I gave the new WAP the same SSID and key as my old CenturyLink modem (I turned the modem's Wifi off as I mentioned earlier), and my consoles now have a stable Wifi signal.

I kinda wish the Nintendo Switch's UI wasn't as... sterile. Yes, it's a good thing Nintendo decided to ditch the overly busy kiddy-style themes of the 3DS and Wii U and go for something a lot more modern and flat. But if you got a Switch without a game bundle, you don't have much to do. Other than the eShop, there is no additional built in software. There is no background music or noise, and you only have a choice of two simple themes, White or Black. Organizational options are non-existent as of the current firmware. All your games or apps are displayed in one single row on the home screen. No options exist to organize the tiles into folders like you could on the Wii U or 3DS. There is also no accessible web browser outside of a very basic one that lets you connect to public Wifi hotspots with login pages, and to power the web-based eShop.

To accommodate my new Switch, I had to do a bit of re-arranging. My Xbox 360 is going to my bedroom TV, a small 19'' Sansui HDTV from my college days. It will use component video.

My Wii U is now connected via my 40'' HDTV component input, and the Switch through HDMI. My current 40'' TV has just 3 HDMI ports, with the Switch connected to a 3x1 switcher unit shared with an HDMI upscaling DVD player and a plug-n-play HDMI game console. The other ports are used by the QFX Android box and my HD cable box. I'm very tempted to get a larger 50'' set that has 4 HDMI ports, but I don't know if I want to charge that much to my credit card unless I have to replace my 40'' TV (if it stops working all of a sudden, for example). My current TV stand is also a bit too small for a 50'' set too.

I miss my old Sony Bravia 32'' HDTV. It was small, but it had 4 HDMI. TV makers really want you to pay out the arse for sets that have more than 3 HDMI ports, and they all appear to be only in units above 50''.

[huckleberrypie]

Speaking of televisions, my dad had the old LG plasma telly taken to the repair shop as it was spazzing out, i.e. audio works but the display is coughing out at best. Turns out that one of the logic boards in it got burned out due to intense heat, and as such is in need of replacement. Problem is they're asking over a hundred dollars for a replacement. :/

[cpd2009]

Speaking of televisions, my dad had the old LG plasma telly taken to the repair shop as it was spazzing out, i.e. audio works but the display is coughing out at best. Turns out that one of the logic boards in it got burned out due to intense heat, and as such is in need of replacement. Problem is they're asking over a hundred dollars for a replacement. :/

It's probably cheaper to buy a new set then. Perhaps it could be an excuse to upgrade to 4K?

My mom's old LG set suffered a similar fate, but the LED backlight array failed. Don't know how it happened, but the set was only about two or three years old. The problems began after my mom had the set attached to a new TV stand with a VESA mount. After that, you could see parts of the LED array pressing on the LCD to the point where bright circles appeared in solid colored scenes. Then individual LEDs started flickering on and off until the array failed completely, leaving a black picture with only audio.

My mom now has a Vizio smart TV mounted to the same stand, and no backlight problems have appeared.

[huckleberrypie]

We already have a 4K set lol. It's that we felt it would be a waste to leave the old telly gather dust or something.

[cpd2009]

So I signed up to be a beta tester for the new Chromium-based Edge. An email is supposed to come when testing begins. I know you probably will skip the test, but here's the news article about it anyway.
https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-signin...mium-edge/

RAM upgrade has also been ordered for Pearl, and barring no Christmas-related delays in the mail, I might receive it on Christmas Eve, according to the tracker.

Also getting ready to repurpose Pearl's old 500gb HDD as a secondary disk. Just waiting for it to get done formatting. It's a Seagate ST500DM0 02-1BD142, starting out it's life as the disk installed inside an old Gateway Windows 8 PC I had. It's from 2013, so it has a lot of miles on it, hence me wanting to get a new one. It appears to be in good working order. I tried to run SeaTools on it while it's inside my cheapo USB HDD enclosure, but it didn't detect the drive. I'll try running it again once it's back inside Pearl.

[huckleberrypie]

So I signed up to be a beta tester for the new Chromium-based Edge. An email is supposed to come when testing begins. I know you probably will skip the test, but here's the news article about it anyway.
https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-signin...mium-edge/

RAM upgrade has also been ordered for Pearl, and barring no Christmas-related delays in the mail, I might receive it on Christmas Eve, according to the tracker.

Also getting ready to repurpose Pearl's old 500gb HDD as a secondary disk. Just waiting for it to get done formatting. It's a Seagate ST500DM0 02-1BD142, starting out it's life as the disk installed inside an old Gateway Windows 8 PC I had. It's from 2013, so it has a lot of miles on it, hence me wanting to get a new one. It appears to be in good working order. I tried to run SeaTools on it while it's inside my cheapo USB HDD enclosure, but it didn't detect the drive. I'll try running it again once it's back inside Pearl.

Though there's still this "Microsoft's browser is garbage" stigma associated with any browser that has a small letter "e" in its logo.

I finally got Little Orphan Annie in SFM after a few weeks of trying to get the rig to work and such, though I'm afraid she is still missing the face pose feature which is pretty much the point of why you're putting these models in the first place.

[cpd2009]

I never understood the appeal of dark UI themes until I tried the Black theme for Nintendo Switch. The default White seemed a bit too bright for a handheld. Dark themes to me are much easier on the eyes.

Because of that, I tried the dark theme in Windows 10. It's not uniform just yet. Older Win32 apps still tend to ignore the dark theme, but a few like paintDotNet and UWP apps blend in nicely. File Explorer also supports the dark theme.

[cpd2009]

Pearl now has 16GB RAM.

Bad news... frame drops still occur in OBS recordings.

I may not be able to test Movavi until tomorrow or Wednesday due to Christmas related things.

[huckleberrypie]

I've been itching to get at least a half-decent racing wheel for Dirt Rally, as it's nigh unplayable without it no thanks to its realistic handling model.