Sure they’re doing it for the simple reason of Steam machine owners being guaranteed Steam gaming customers
That isn’t even the most important reason, IMO. I think they’re doing it mostly to actively push Steam OS and thus normalize Linux for gaming. Not because they care about Free Software in principle, mind you, but as a hedge against the existential threat of Microsoft locking them out of Windows.
It’s very compact and quiet and has very good driver support without any tinkering.
The first two are real advantages, but I think any random AMD-based system (CPU and GPU) would be damn near equal in terms of driver support.
For a TV PC the cube form-factor is nice, in a “sit on top of the furniture looking pretty” sort of way. However, I think a short-depth 1U form-factor to stack with hi-fi equipment would be a good way to do it as well, and relatively easily achievable to DIY with off-the-shelf parts.
If you want it to be like a Steam Machine, you should definitely go for the AMD GPU so you can run Steam OS on it.
One of these days I need to get around to hard-wiring my dashcam so that it can always be powered.
I wouldn’t ever spend money on something that requires an app, an account, or an internet connection. Fortunately my car has dashcams built in.
What car has built-in dashcams but isn’t itself an enshittified nightmare?
Wait, the $15 2K model you bought yesterday can be rooted? I figured anything made in the last few years would’ve been patched.
Can you tell me the exact model (the code on the box, like this, as explained in this XDA thread about the model I got where I experienced disappointment), and where you found the information about rooting it?
I appreciate that you’re happy with yours even without rooting, but I don’t think I’d be able to trust it not to enshittify in the long run on the stock firmware.
I have a couple of them that I bought shortly after the LTT video on the topic with the intention of rooting. After figuring out that I’d unfortunately got the newer hardware revision that can’t be rooted, I had them just sitting in a box.
If “debloating” them without rooting and installing Lineage or whatever is “good enough,” maybe I should take another look. Do you know of a good guide to follow? Is there anything special that needs to be done, such as preventing it from updating or connecting to the Internet before the factory malware is removed?
What’s a “dont” and does it exist when not owned by a ghost?
Goddamnit. I got my Boomer parents to ditch cable and get a Roku, in part, to keep them away from Fox News.
When did that happen?
I am genuinely surprised none of the freaks around here have mentioned the KFC dating sim yet.
That’s great and all, but I’m still waiting for it to be affordable to install my own so that it can also be a whole-house uninterruptible power supply.
I did literally that.
The real solution is regulatory, though, because obviously my boycott has done absolutely fuck-all to change manufacturer behavior.
You say that as if saving $10 on a bulb once every few years is worth the risk of spending $100s or apparently even $1000s if they get damaged.
There are reasons cars have been getting ever more unaffordable (above and beyond inflation), and stuff like bespoke model-specific headlights requiring complicated tooling to manufacture is one of them.
My Miata with pop-up sealed beams gets ~30 MPG. Any aerodynamic problems it has are due to being a convertible, not the headlights.
Meanwhile, only 30 years ago when we had sealed-beams in standardized shapes, you could replace a headlight for like $10. And the lens was actually glass instead of plastic prone to yellowing and abrasion.
Between coal and kleptocrats, only one of those things is actually possible.
I also would’ve been more interested if the thing had unified (but not soldered) memory, like a cut-down Strix Halo.