12/18/2025
So, Firefox is now dead, becoming yet another victim to the ever-encroaching AI slop. I've also just learned that Zen Browser's creator is a piece of shit. Jumping ship to Waterfox for now.
Before I switched to Bazzite and then CachyOS, I was looking into Zorin OS as it was stated to be beginner-friendly for former Windows users. That is, until I found out that it uses Brave Browser by default. Ew.
To move onto a different topic altogether, I feel like I'm slowly plunging into the pipeline that is FOSS, focus on privacy and opposition to all that telemetry crap modern software and hardware is filled with. My future homelabbing projects will focus on exactly that, and of course I'll post updates here. Though, that's something at least a couple years ahead from now. Also, not yet sure if eventually switching my phone to a Pixel 10 just to put GrapheneOS on it would be a good enough idea. I mean, the phone is still Google, no?
12/17/2025
Now that I got over the sickness, it was high time I went to the gym. Good workout today, big ups to my husband for motivating me.
Note to self: make future blog entries bigger than this.
12/16/2025
The rate things are going with the current state of computer hardware, I'm gonna make this sort of prediction, but really I'm just throwing shit at the wall, so we'll see what's gonna stick:
- I'm inclined to believe that, in the grand scheme of things, major companies are aiming to shift almost completely from consumer hardware to cloud. It's less of a "you will own nothing and be happy" conspiracy, but more of a practical (in their eyes, that is) financial decision, as datacenters would make for more profitable and therefore strategic customers, compared to regular consumers.
- DIY industry won't die outright, but it'll suffer heavily and will have to make fundamental changes to business models if it's to survive in the coming years.
- It's likely that the second-hand server market will expand, there will always be insiders from the datacenters who will "lose" stuff and sell it off instead
- China, especially the Chinese black market is NOT to be ignored in the coming years (I'm 200% sure about this).
- There will always be companies who will be at least a little bit more consumer-friendly, who will sell "prebuilts" like Valve and Steam Machine at more reasonable prices, even at the price of hardware configurability.
- Gaming laptops will continue to suck as they always did, but handheld devices like the Steam Deck and others are here to stay - there will be more like these in the foreseeable future as the more "affordable" option.
- I wouldn't really call it a boom, but I can see ARM hardware making an expansion to home computing in the long run - see Valve again, and with Steam Frame apparently being able to run x86 applications, we might see Proton's second coming of sorts.
...OR maybe I'm just dooming and things will wind down maaaybe before Q2 2027. I hope.
12/15/2025
The Master of Diabolism, more liek the Master of Diablo-ism, amirite?
...man, I wanna replay Diablo. UPD: DevilutionX works like a charm - wish there was something like that for Diablo 2 as well. Looking forward to playing both games on LAN with my husband.
12/14/2025
Now THAT'S what I call an update! Just look at how it looks now! Tired, going to bed, more later.
Ok, what's with the Half-Life fanbase going absolutely psychotic over Megaman? I got the context, but I still can't wrap my head around it. I mean, I've been there since 2007, saw the first batch of HL3 conspiracy memes, saw Epistle 3 happening, so I haven't been expecting anything for a loooong time.
But like, they kinda gaslit themselves that an announcement is absolutely gonna happen at The Game Awards, then got surprised (to say the least) when it didn't. Is this just the younger part of the fanbase losing their shit in a different way than we did back then? Or am I just getting too old? Make it make sense, please.
12/13/2025
A lot of time passed since I actually forgot about this crappy blog, so like, might as well make a "grand" return. As I'm currently preparing to move to another country, obviously I can't bring all of my retro stuff there, only some of it that will be the bread and butter of my new builds. These will be outlined a bit later on a separate page.
In the meantime, I'm ironically back on Linux - for good this time. Gotta admit, certain distros had improved a lot in terms of user-friendliness. After trying out Bazzite for a couple weeks, ultimately I had settled with CachyOS as my daily driver. While there was some trial and error, I'm actually having a blast with CachyOS - it's very comfortable to use and to play games on.
On a final note for today, I gotta say - I'm highkey jealous of how pretty some of you make these Neocities websites. Makes me regret I didn't learn CSS and stuff back in the day, so this bare minimum of HTML is all I've got and my cranial capacity no longer allows for new data. Oh well. Complaint time is over for now.
1/2/2025
Boy, I gotta say, enabling DirectMusic back on Windows 10 just for Unreal II: The Awakening was a bitch. Not a fan of putting stuff into my registry and System32 folder. Can't it be done in a neater way?
1/1/2025
If I'm to make a new build, I'll be experimenting with Linux on it. Everyone and their mother keep swearing how good it is for playing older Windows games and I find that preaching annoying enough to give Wine and Proton a try someday. My last foray into Linux was nothing but a disaster, and all because the same people kept recommending me Linux Mint, only for me to find out later that the drivers kept crashing mostly because of an outdated kernel, and no one told me about it. I had to find out about it from comments on a random Youtube video. That's the problem with Linux - there's always gonna be some fundamental problem with some or any distro that is apparently an open secret, and each and every basic issue requires hours of research and terminal fuckery. That additude ain't gonna bring the Year of Linux Desktop any closer, guys.
I had played a bit of the new Brutal Half-Life release a couple days ago - pretty damn good. I should play the whole game with it and write a proper review sometime.
12/29/2024
Not much new to report, really. Half-Life: Interlude looks like a very promising mod, even if it's a yet another attempt at a fan-made HL2 Episode Three. My only two pet peeves are not very obvious puzzles that stray away from Valve's design philosophy and the overly loud combat music. Other than that, I'm really liking it so far and I'll be paying attention to its further development. Though, is it just me, or are people kinda scrambling to take over the Entropy: Zero 2 throne? Whatever, as long as we get some good eatin'.
Also, found a mini-ITX motherboard online with an embedded Intel Celeron 1037U, and someone's managed to put Windows 98 on it scratch that, I had misread. I wonder if it can be downclocked, then perhaps my plan for a simple DOS test build isn't so hopeless, after all... (UPD 1/1/2025) Nuh-uh, fuck that.
Die Hard continues to reign supreme as the best Christmas movie ever.
12/26/2024
I had a mild interest in pursuing an LGA775 build for a DOS/Win98 machine, but after some research I've decided against it. From what I understand, pretty much any 775 motherboard+CPU combination will work fine for DOS, but not both. For that, I'd need to hunt for a mobo with a specific chipset like Intel 865, and then I'd need to find a last Win98-supported videocard, be it a GeForce 6800 or a Radeon X850, if I am to play early WinXP games as well. I have neither time nor spare money for what is increasingly sounding like a redundant project. I already have a Win98 build, and my last test build can just use DOSBox.
Though, not gonna lie, I did eye a motherboard with a VIA P4M890 chipset that is reported as Win98-compatible, and there's a 6800 GS for sale, too. Time will tell if this will be yet another in the series of my poor financial decisions. Not like any of these will really matter, in due time.
In the meantime, I've only now played Command & Conquer Remastered Collection. It is indeed done very well, but I'm just a little bit bummed that it isn't suited for 4:3 resolutions. My memory doesn't serve me well here, so I'm learning the gameplay from scratch, but I'll be writing a review upon completion. (UPD 12/13/2025) Haha, that clearly ain't happening.