Messages

I updated my late 2013 Macbook Pro with Open-core Patcher to 15.4 Sequoia. It's such a nice machine that it seemed wasteful to not update it to something more modern and secure. The M series Macs these days are sooooo nice though. I'm glad I have both.

I have considered, but hesitant, updating my Mac Mini to Sequoia. I wasn't sure how it would run. I love taking old stuff and getting it to run with an up to date OS. There is just something enjoyable about it. Some type of pleasure.

Chromebooks seem to be treated like they are disposable by the industry. Those expiration dates are planted in the software, in the settings. It is like they do not want you to use them after that date. Even those Chromebooks that do have the capability to install Linux, they make it hard. You have to open them up and remove something that blocks the install. Not just anyone would tackle such a task.

@CreepinDeth chromebooks updates are based on the year that the laptop was released. Meaning that if it sat on the store shelf for a year before you purchased it, you have lost one year of service. The one that I am using will receive its last update June 2031. They can extend it. I have an old Lenovo, my first chromebook, that was extended until June of this year. It was the laptop in which I learned all about chromebooks. I am not sure about ChromeOS Flex. I am sure it would be totally different than the chromebooks. Just remember the ChromeOS is accessed by your gmail password. Or at least the chromebooks are.

@CreepinDeth @BLUEVOODU i am presently using my Macbook Pro mid 2012 to type this. It is running MX Linux based on DEBIAN. I use it daily. I also use my chromebook daily. I have a Mac Mini late 2012 running Sanoma 14.7.4 using Opencore-Patcher on an SSD with 16 gig ram. That is my desktop. I am seriously thinking about switching it over to Linux when the updates run its course on Sanoma. But that is still undecided.

@BLUEVOODU if you have that ice blue with original box it is a collectors item, worth real money. My Daughter has hers in box.

I started streaming Castle from the Roku channel. For some reason I started to get into that while doing my stationary bike exercise. I started off okay, but somewhere in the series the writing started to change in a way that I found displeasing. When season 8 started I dumped it.

I am now watching SG Universe. I grabbed up Season one from eBay, $6 free shipping.

@BLUEVOODU how do they pick something out for my birthday?  At one time many years ago they started asking for a list of the things that I would like to have, being that they wanted to get me something that would be awesome, to me, I guess. So I make out these lists ahead of time for them. I do not intend for it to be so much video gaming stuff, but they know I really like that kind of stuff. I make a large list, so that, I cannot guess what they got me. I have named the list,"That horrendous gift list, 2025!"

Talking about how old something is, I was playing a new homebrew game cart for my Gameboy Pocket, and suddenly I realized just how old my Gameboy Pocket was......................

Just thought I would give this an update.
I have had no more issues with the screen blackout since I applied the previous fixes. It has turned out to be a very good daily for bill paying and shopping.

I am having a lot of difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that I am 70 years old. One thing that has helped, I think, is exercise. I do 100 pushups, some 100 jumping jacks, a step up on a step exercise, and some stomach crunching before breakfast. I do an hour on a stationary bike in the afternoon. I worked up to doing this before retirement. My diet has gone toward healthier choices. I am in better shape now than when I worked sitting behind a desk all day. And my Doctor doesn't fuss at me anymore. With that being said, my birthday seemed to flow like a telephone pole passes a moving car. I still occasionally ask myself, I am 70? How did this happen? How did I get here?
My family helped me celebrate in style by spoiling me as usual. They gave me retro games plus. I received the Capcom edition of the Hyper Mega Tech Super Pocket for Christmas. And here for my birthday I got the Taito edition from my Wife. I have spent more time on this than anything else I got for my birthday. I was blown away by the Sega Arcade Classics game. It is clean and in mint collector condition. I don't think it was ever played that much at all. But it is missing the manual. It is like this was taken off the shelf from a store condition. The only thing I haven't played yet is the DC Villains. Spending my time on the Super Pocket. The Tensei game made me forget I was playing on a Switch.
Thank you for the Birthday wishes. I wish forums like this were a part of the present gaming culture. I sure miss that generation.


You cannot view this attachment.

Things have become bleak locally purchasing any type of media has become very difficult. Our big Walmart has driven out any competition. And now Walmart has limited their shelf space, packed on top of that reducing the area that contains any media. (We have had two places closed this year, and we are just getting started.) There is a GameXchange in town, but that is either retro, or old stuff, used, nothing current. When it comes to purchasing anything, for me, I have to go with ordering online. Yeah we do have a Gamestop, but I gave up on them years ago. Games, DVDs, CDs, it is online for me, really no choice anymore.
I have started building my DVD, or blu Ray collection of TV series and movies over the past year.

Are we back up to stay this time? 

Happy New Year!
No real resolutions here....................if there is any it would be to finish the games I start. 

A Merry Christmas to all!!

Hmmm.....you know me, the old stuff thrills..

The Super Pocket put out by Blaze that accepts all the Evercade games. The scanline option on this thing YES!!!

The original Gameboy games, hack&slash platform, and pinball Kirby. I think the kirby game was released over here in the US as Kirby pinball land.
The eggmania for the GBA is a Tetris influenced puzzle game. It has the falling blocks but your character has to catch them and place them where needed. You're timed, strategy and stress.
The Sega game is a side scrolling beat'em up.
You cannot view this attachment.


I also got a Funko Pop Sonic...........

hmmmmmmm................yeah 
It was good, hope everyone had a good time eating with family.
We were thankful for much this year.

@BLUEVOODU
I thought this was it. Our community is small as it is. I kept thinking at least I would have wanted to say good-by.  I try coming here once a day. Glad to see this thing is back...
I like forums even though they are a thing of the past that have been buried and ran over by the social media bus.
I'm here for the long haul. I guess I will continue to work on some projects for posting.

Boom Shakalaka

Happy Birthday!!

What am I doing? I saw these Pokemon hacks available on Ali Express. Got this one and started playing. Somehow it hit the gaming mood at the moment. I'm in a grinding mood. I have enjoyed this so much that I have ordered about thirteen other different hacks, Including hacks of Pokemon Sword & Shield. They are on their way.

You cannot view this attachment.

Ahhhh.....so that was the issue. I tried the last few days but could not get through.

BUMP!
This is a bit of an update. The screen went black again shortly after the last fix. Fixed it with the same method as above. It got me to thinking as to probable cause. I turned off everything connected to any screen "sleep mode." I have had no issues since. I am thinking that there is either a bug in software, or, more likely, a conflict between Linux and the Asus hardware. Maybe?
The screen does cut off when you fold the laptop. It will not, with it just sitting there, and, you have walked off to do something.
Of course it does have a slight impact on the battery life, charge may not last as long as before. But no issues, so far.

@BLUEVOODU it still had that "eshop music." The only other thing that it had to download was the transfer app to use between the Wii and the Wii-U. I was surprised that there was anything to connect with at all. I expected a 404, or a "check your internet connection" type message.

@Grindspine I am thinking that this is the saddest part of the modern consoles that has internet access as a part of the gaming experience. When you have a console die on you and want to continue using one. You, as in  my case, go out, and find, purchase, and find that there is info lost. I had a Wii die on me. I never thought about it until after the fact. Not sure what I even had on that old one, game saves, game downloads. I do have a 3DS with game downloads which I treasure. I always liked independent publishers on the e-shop, good games.

@BLUEVOODU it was a note from Nintendo about how I can transfer all the Wii stuff to the Wii U. Must have been automated in some way. LOL
Hope I can do something to make it happen again.
Something really weird. I was able to go to the e-shop and download an app, skyward sword. It was the only thing on there. Something about saving your data.

@BLUEVOODU lost it! We had some bad storms move through the area this past week and lost power for several hours. When everything went back up, no blue light. Sad.....................I guess I can go in and see what it was now.

How do you pay with your palm?
I know that Aldi was testing a new way at one of their stores. But it was the store cameras adding up things you placed in your basket. When you got to checkout everything was paid for and it sent the receipt to your phone. You had to be pre setup to shop.

Happy Birthday!!!

This week I turned on my Wii because I remembered that I never have changed the internet settings to my present fiber optics. I haven't used the Wii that much since I have a Wii U to play Wii games. To my surprise, the very next day the disc slot is slowly flashing blue! I do not want to do anything to change this because this is like a ghost in the machine. I am not turning it on because I am afraid of losing this. This is retro warm fuzzies. I am going to get a back up Wii console just to take its place, maybe.
You cannot view this attachment.

Our local Walmart, which I might go into every few years, has drastically reduced their game area. The game rack is maybe four feet wide and shoulder height. It is dominated by Nintendo Switch games. I am not sure if there are DVDs on the shelf, but there are those box displays in the isle that you can dig into.
My Family and I are going back to seeking out hard copies of tv shows and movies. And I think there is a surge of interest out there for wanting DVD collecting again. We have unknowingly gone from ownership to access. It is nice and convenient to stream but you lose control. With having the advantage of the DVD I can watch my favorites when I want. No looking for it and the streaming service has taken it off issues.

I have went back and started, trying, to collect the original Gameboy Pokemon games, and playing. I, for some reason, am finding them more enjoyable. Something about the simplicity and strategy of those older games. I have been playing my Gameboy Pocket and this has kept that feeling and gaming alive. I have Shield for the Switch. That game is what caused me to want to go back to the originals and try them again. OI have several for the DS and 3DS.

Happy belated Birthday! I am sorry I missed this yesterday.
@Mai Valentine since I retired it seems that I do not game like I used to. I have found myself so busy with a lot of things.

@BLUEVOODU i am using Xfce Desktop Environment/Window Manager on top of a Debian Stable base. I love it. The people that have produced the distro have put together a great package. What I really liked about it most is that it set everything up for me I did not have to tinker with anything. It recognized and installed all drivers. I have been using it on an old 32bit Lenovo IBM R60 laptop since last year. The Macbook and the Lenovo are two distinct configurations internally. I would think the Macbook would not be easy to have drivers, that is my assumptions being that it is Apple. when I can load up a distro and then began immediately start using it, they have my attention and loyalty. Different distros have their good and bad clashes when it comes to hardware during the boot and install process. I have had some that I want to use but could not get to even begin to install onto a particular computer, lock ups, freezing. Then try another distro and it installs without a hassle.
When I was making the decision on what distro to install on these Macbooks, I wanted tumbleweeds because it was a rolling distro, but it would lock up. Then I thought to myself, go with MX Linux, you like that, and it is Debian with the MX team's packaging. I have loaded some of my drawing program, Krita and GIMP. All ready have an office program installed, so I am good to go. Just simple casual computing. I game retro so no concerns there. I do think they have it where you can load up steam. But I do not game on my computers. I did go through a period where I experimented with emulation but I would rather have the real thing. And there are enough Chinese stuff out there for emulation that there is no need to tie up your computer with something like that. 

You cannot view this attachment.
It looks like my journey to find that "special path" to a long term secure computing experience has added a new element to the equation. Having successfully installed Linux on that old 2008 Macbook gave me inspiration and the old imagination gears started churning. My 2012 Macbook Pro was my daily for years. It pulled me from the Linux road, but the OS lost support, it expired, about the time I retired. When I retired I began doing a lot of my banking, bills, and taxes over the net. There was a growing concern for security which would be a need for OS support. It is too expensive to stay in that Apple ECO system. I need something long term and it not cost an arm and a leg. I am unwilling to take that old Macbook Pro ,wipe, and install anything else on it simply because I have so much "Mac Stuff" on it and it is MY Macbook, and it has an old Photoshop installed, and some other things I hold dear, etc. I just wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. I'm sure you understand? Right? Sooooooo........

I got on eBay. I need something to make into my Linux machine. A solution to what I am seeking. Lo and behold someone had a 2012 Macbook Pro up for sale. $60!!! And those pictures, it looks so clean. Wait a minute those hands in the photos, it is a girl that is selling it. The Seller name is female, hmmmm. There is one thing that I have learned, girls take good care of their stuff. I ordered and received it and it is mint, just-like-new, out-of-the-box, condition. Opening it up, the hinges are still tight. I was blown away. The battery only has been used 107 cycles and it is good. Booting from USB I have installed MX Linux 23.2 64bit, fit it like a glove, everything works, even the camera. I am typing this out on it now. That is one thing I love about MX Linux it detects and sets up everything, works out of the box. Or it has for me. It is based off of Debian. That is a big plus for me because I like Debian and I feel that it is a very stable Distro.

It is good to be back on a powerhouse computer again and using Linux full time. I have used the Chromebook for over a year now. And it does have its Pros and there are some big Cons. And I will still use the Chromebook even though it is a low powered device, but Linux is my long term solution. MX Linux 23.2 will have support for the next maybe five years. I plan on using either a flash drive or an SD card for all my saves. That way when I need to install the newest version of MX Linux, all I need to do is install. I won't have anything on this laptop. I will already have backup.

The Chromebook is an experience. There are a lot of things you can do with it as a casual user, but it is not a powerhouse that you can really sink your computing teeth into. I could still recommend it to someone only under certain circumstances, depends on their use. Right now my plans are to make this 2012 Macbook Pro my daily. Chromebook will cover banking, bills, etc, for now. I don't know, it may become just something to use over social media and net surfing, youtube, creating documents, listening to music. The limited power and the fact you use your email to open it up is a deal breaker, really, unless you set up a dummy email, not your main stuff. The Chromebook is great for schools and businesses and that is the thrust of the market for its use. Home personal use? One would have to consider how they use it. But for me I have my 2012 Macbook MX Linux and I am happy. I have my Mac Mini set up on a 32inch flatscreen for my desktop. I haven't stitched it over to Linux.........................yet........you better believe that I have thought about it the last couple of days. Might have to grab another one from eBay and experiment.

I have started watching each day an episode of the Bad Batch. I think that is what it is called, it is on Disney+. I am 2 episodes deep in to it and I am hooked.

Some years ago I was curious about Macbooks, Apple stuff, etc. I was wondering about the OS and started looking on eBay. I picked up a 2008 Macbook Unibody for around $20 to $25, can't remember exactly but it was cheap and the OS was outdated. I was able to learn and enjoyed playing and tinkering with it. I ended up sticking it away and purchasing a Macbook Pro with a supported OS. And it was my daily for many years.
Recently I started reading and watching Youtube videos about installing Linux on a Macbook. I had to dig out this old 2008 Macbook. And I downloaded the newest version of MX Linux and put it on a bootable USB. I held down the option key while turning on the laptop. I held the key down until the two options to boot appeared on the screen. Chose the USB drive and booted into the Linux install. It runs like a top. It fully makes this laptop up-to-date and very usable. This could be a good laptop for my daily. All it needs is a new battery. Linux has made this thing modern and breathed new life into it. Everything works but the camera, not sure, but I might have to do a bit of fiddling for that. But I do not need it really.
You cannot view this attachment.