Why don't you just save whatever pages you want to read on the bus to your local drive?
Does each browser have a built-in function or extension to save all pages currently open in tabs to the local drive? If so, I will. If not, because such a built-in function or extension does not exist.
if you want your computer to NOT talk to MS, then yes, I'd agree that should be an option, with the understanding that you'll lose a lot of function of Windows due to things like OneDrive, Cortana, live tiles, etc. not working without it.
Well, they are a for profit business, I can't fault them for that.
The problem is that each PC manufacturer is also "a for profit business," and many PC manufacturers have made a business decision not to cooperate with operating system businesses other than Microsoft.
This reminds me of my Mother, who is happy with her old feature flip phone and doesn't want to change.
I too use a flip phone, mostly because smartphones still cost much more per month to operate.
with the exception of disconnecting from the internet
This is the key difference. When I resume my laptop on the city bus, it has no Internet connection.
Mail and Safarit re-opened, and having some 8 tabs opened, it saved those tabs in my history upon restarting.
Firefox also restores open tabs when it is restarted. But if the PC is offline when a tab is restored, the tab is restored as "Problem loading page" instead of being correctly restored from cache.
Your needs appear to be a tad esoteric.
I prefer the term "thrifty". Suspend allows me to save $500 per year by not subscribing to cellular Internet.
I don't know about your internet, but I pay for a RATE not an AMOUNT. When Comcast changes that (in October?) then I'll have a (bigger) complaint. I pay for a RATE; if they want to put caps on it without my consent, that is breach of contract in my mind.
Comcast doesn't use "contracts". In fact, it has been running TV ads in response to bundles offered by the newly merged AT&T and DirecTV, and these ads slam AT&T for locking the user into a 2-year contract. But what the ads don't say is that this gives Comcast the flexibility to get all its subscribers onto a new set of terms within 30 days.
I realize I'll have to take my business elsewhere as no lawyer is going to fight for me pro bono publico. Hopefully, CenturyLink will have Prism in my area soon so I can drop Comcast completely.
And if not, you're stuck with sat or cell, which offer an even smaller AMOUNT.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to claim that 240p is not a viable art style. The fact that these are making it onto GOG and Steam shows that enough people like it or at the very least tolerate it. Is the 240p art style bad objectively, or is it just against the preference of RogueyWon?
The indie scene these days increasingly looks like a toxic swamp filled with egomaniacs who don't have the discipline to pay their dues working for an established studio
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to claim that starting a video game studio in your home town is the wrong way, and leaving your support network behind, moving to another state, and joining an established studio is the right way. If so, an established studio needs some way to choose the most skilled candidates for an interview, especially if that involves flying the candidate out to the studio's office. So how should a candidate for a job at an established studio demonstrate his skills other than through completing a game?
There is NO market for Big Picture living room gaming on the PC! [...] quit yer bitchin and DO something.
I want to DO something. Part of DOING something involves building a business plan, which includes finding evidence of a market or lack thereof. So how would I go about finding statistics to support this assertion of lack of a market?
For a while we were using Stone Edge, then we went to one custom web-based system, and now we're considering another. Stone Edge had its own built-in UPS functions, but it likewise required DAZzle to be installed in order to print USPS postage. Over the years, strict dependence on Windows has been cut down to this one application of turning a PC into a shipping appliance. It's a Python script that runs on Windows and communicates with running copies of DAZzle and WorldShip through XML.
I can shut my Mac down and everything will reopen exactly where it was - if I want it to. Just a little checkbox
Does Safari restore open web pages after your Mac restarts, even if your Mac is disconnected from the network after it restarts? If so, I'll add a MacBook Air to my short list.
Though if you are not suspending/hibernating, just connect to network *before* starting the browser?
My point is that lack of suspend breaks my workaround to save the cost of a cellular data plan for my laptop. Often I come out of suspend while riding public transit, and buses in my city do not offer Wi-Fi.
There's a big difference between fiddling with a game to get it to work and actually playing it. The latter is an entertaining waste of time, the former an exercise in frustration. Many people are willing to pay to skip the frustration. (Incidentally, this also explains abusive waiting mechanics in free-to-play mobile games.)
I don't about you but I have my computer hooked up to my 40 inch widescreen TV, and it works great.
I too have connected PCs to HDTVs through a VGA cable. But if you're keeping the PC in the living room all the time, how well does this work for you when you're using it for "work or homework"?
What don't you like 360 controllers?
It's largely a matter of consumer confusion. Not all controllers sold in the PC aisle are Xbox 360 controllers, and a wireless Xbox 360 controller from the Xbox 360 aisle won't work without a wireless receiver (sold separately; allow a week for delivery).
I got a 360 controller from a friend for FREE
If it was wireless, you still had to buy the wireless receiver and wait for it to be delivered.
People who want to come back to where they were with documents open for editing rather than a blank desktop, and people who want to load web pages in tabs and read them while offline riding the bus to or from work.
That is a very specific and unusual set of applications...
Each of which has a use in my retro video game development workflow.
Firefox: Read documentation and participate in discussion
Notepad++ or gedit: Edit source code
GIMP or other bitmap image editor: Create graphics for an application
GCC and Python: Build and run custom data conversion tools
GNU Make: Decide which files need to be retranslated when making changes to an application under development
FCEUX: Run the application
Why 10 inch? For use while riding the bus to and from my other job.
But fair enough... remind me why those don't run on Windows 10 again?
They do run on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. In fact, one of them (FCEUX) requires Windows or Wine in order to activate the debugger. One drawback of Windows 10 is that you can't opt out of all telemetry. Another is its forced reboot policy, which causes loss of open documents, loss of unsaved changes, loss of loaded web pages until next Internet connection. And the drawback of older Windows is eating up 4 GB of SSD space for a copy of Windows 10 should an administrator decide to install it. Or should I file bugs against each GUI application that I use to request that the developer implement session saving?
For USPS, you have two options: [...] PayPal [or] USPS.com
How well does either of these options integrate with other order fulfillment systems? For example, does the user of PayPal.com have to manually match up the package's receipt with the transaction number on PayPal.com, key the weight from the scale into PayPal.com, and then copy and paste the tracking number from PayPal.com into the fulfillment system? And how well does it work with Amazon purchases, which don't go through PayPal payment? Currently DAZzle lets us use XML to get the addresses and weights in and get the tracking numbers out without having to manually copy and paste every order.
Use UPS.com. Anyone can get an account there
We have an account. Currently UPS's WorldShip application for Windows lets us use XML get the addresses and weights in and get the tracking numbers out without having to manually copy and paste every order.
I would if it were warranted and, more specifically, warranted for use with Linux. That's why I bought a Dell Inspiron mini 1012: it shipped with Linux and a warranty. It's just that those are discontinued.
It limits the audience, but it was already limited by the nature of the games.
Just because your audience is already limited by the genre (non-endless-running platformer or fighting game) doesn't mean you have to limit the audience even further with a choice of platform. If a game plays well with a keyboard or a gamepad, then your first port targets are going to be platforms that ship with a keyboard or a gamepad. External gamepads, such as MFi gamepads on iOS or HID, Xbox 360, or MOGA gamepads on Android, probably have a smaller market share than even the PlayStation Vita.
However, everything in your article smacks of cherry picking.
I admit to having collected what I believe are the strongest points in favor of consoles.
It completely ignores the valid argument that a PC/laptop can and would be used for much more than gaming (i.e. work, homework)
How many people are willing to carry a PC back and forth between the computer desk and the living room with the big TV?
and that the vast majority of games now come with Xbox controller support which is easily added to a PC (No need for fiddling with controller settings)
It also ignores the fact that you can get a PC comparable to the latest game consoles for under $1000
And you can get a PlayStation 4 game console comparable to the latest game consoles for under $400, which can be used at the same time that someone else in the household is using the family PC for work or homework.
But, if I was on a tight budget and I wanted the best value, I would buy something that does more than just gaming.
And a lot of people would use that as an argument for a $400 "work or homework" PC and a $400 PlayStation 4 over a $1,000 PC.
What distro are you using on what brand/model of laptop?
I do not own the laptop in question yet. I am doing research in advance of purchasing a 10 inch laptop. When I searched for Linux support on the ASUS Transformer Book, I got "not working" on Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch.
When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time
This saves only the URL in each tab, not the contents of the page in each tab. If I restart the computer, log in, and launch Firefox while offline, all the tabs will say "Problem loading page".
Slashdot Mirror
Why don't you just save whatever pages you want to read on the bus to your local drive?
Does each browser have a built-in function or extension to save all pages currently open in tabs to the local drive? If so, I will. If not, because such a built-in function or extension does not exist.
if you want your computer to NOT talk to MS, then yes, I'd agree that should be an option, with the understanding that you'll lose a lot of function of Windows due to things like OneDrive, Cortana, live tiles, etc. not working without it.
There's a big difference between Windows communicating with application service providers that the user has made an explicit choice to trust (OneDrive, Cortana, and publishers of live tiles) and the browser's phishing filter sending every URL you visit to an organization that works closely with the MPAA.
Well, they are a for profit business, I can't fault them for that.
The problem is that each PC manufacturer is also "a for profit business," and many PC manufacturers have made a business decision not to cooperate with operating system businesses other than Microsoft.
This reminds me of my Mother, who is happy with her old feature flip phone and doesn't want to change.
I too use a flip phone, mostly because smartphones still cost much more per month to operate.
with the exception of disconnecting from the internet
This is the key difference. When I resume my laptop on the city bus, it has no Internet connection.
Mail and Safarit re-opened, and having some 8 tabs opened, it saved those tabs in my history upon restarting.
Firefox also restores open tabs when it is restarted. But if the PC is offline when a tab is restored, the tab is restored as "Problem loading page" instead of being correctly restored from cache.
Your needs appear to be a tad esoteric.
I prefer the term "thrifty". Suspend allows me to save $500 per year by not subscribing to cellular Internet.
I don't know about your internet, but I pay for a RATE not an AMOUNT. When Comcast changes that (in October?) then I'll have a (bigger) complaint. I pay for a RATE; if they want to put caps on it without my consent, that is breach of contract in my mind.
Comcast doesn't use "contracts". In fact, it has been running TV ads in response to bundles offered by the newly merged AT&T and DirecTV, and these ads slam AT&T for locking the user into a 2-year contract. But what the ads don't say is that this gives Comcast the flexibility to get all its subscribers onto a new set of terms within 30 days.
I realize I'll have to take my business elsewhere as no lawyer is going to fight for me pro bono publico. Hopefully, CenturyLink will have Prism in my area soon so I can drop Comcast completely.
And if not, you're stuck with sat or cell, which offer an even smaller AMOUNT.
pseudo-8-bit-retro-sprite-art
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to claim that 240p is not a viable art style. The fact that these are making it onto GOG and Steam shows that enough people like it or at the very least tolerate it. Is the 240p art style bad objectively, or is it just against the preference of RogueyWon?
The indie scene these days increasingly looks like a toxic swamp filled with egomaniacs who don't have the discipline to pay their dues working for an established studio
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to claim that starting a video game studio in your home town is the wrong way, and leaving your support network behind, moving to another state, and joining an established studio is the right way. If so, an established studio needs some way to choose the most skilled candidates for an interview, especially if that involves flying the candidate out to the studio's office. So how should a candidate for a job at an established studio demonstrate his skills other than through completing a game?
There is NO market for Big Picture living room gaming on the PC!
[...]
quit yer bitchin and DO something.
I want to DO something. Part of DOING something involves building a business plan, which includes finding evidence of a market or lack thereof. So how would I go about finding statistics to support this assertion of lack of a market?
What order fulfillment system are you using?
For a while we were using Stone Edge, then we went to one custom web-based system, and now we're considering another. Stone Edge had its own built-in UPS functions, but it likewise required DAZzle to be installed in order to print USPS postage. Over the years, strict dependence on Windows has been cut down to this one application of turning a PC into a shipping appliance. It's a Python script that runs on Windows and communicates with running copies of DAZzle and WorldShip through XML.
I can shut my Mac down and everything will reopen exactly where it was - if I want it to. Just a little checkbox
Does Safari restore open web pages after your Mac restarts, even if your Mac is disconnected from the network after it restarts? If so, I'll add a MacBook Air to my short list.
Though if you are not suspending/hibernating, just connect to network *before* starting the browser?
My point is that lack of suspend breaks my workaround to save the cost of a cellular data plan for my laptop. Often I come out of suspend while riding public transit, and buses in my city do not offer Wi-Fi.
I'll skip the 1960 pop culture reference, Mr. Phelps.
I know why you wanna hate me: because hate is all the world has even seen lately.
If that is more than you want to spend, how about this
Thank you for recommending the Dell Inspiron 11 convertible. I've added it to my shortlist.
There's a big difference between fiddling with a game to get it to work and actually playing it. The latter is an entertaining waste of time, the former an exercise in frustration. Many people are willing to pay to skip the frustration. (Incidentally, this also explains abusive waiting mechanics in free-to-play mobile games.)
I don't about you but I have my computer hooked up to my 40 inch widescreen TV, and it works great.
I too have connected PCs to HDTVs through a VGA cable. But if you're keeping the PC in the living room all the time, how well does this work for you when you're using it for "work or homework"?
What don't you like 360 controllers?
It's largely a matter of consumer confusion. Not all controllers sold in the PC aisle are Xbox 360 controllers, and a wireless Xbox 360 controller from the Xbox 360 aisle won't work without a wireless receiver (sold separately; allow a week for delivery).
I got a 360 controller from a friend for FREE
If it was wireless, you still had to buy the wireless receiver and wait for it to be delivered.
People who want to come back to where they were with documents open for editing rather than a blank desktop, and people who want to load web pages in tabs and read them while offline riding the bus to or from work.
Find an ASUS Transformer Book, put on "the standard Ubuntu usb key", and see if you can get suspend to work.
That is a very specific and unusual set of applications...
Each of which has a use in my retro video game development workflow.
Why 10 inch? For use while riding the bus to and from my other job.
But fair enough... remind me why those don't run on Windows 10 again?
They do run on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. In fact, one of them (FCEUX) requires Windows or Wine in order to activate the debugger. One drawback of Windows 10 is that you can't opt out of all telemetry. Another is its forced reboot policy, which causes loss of open documents, loss of unsaved changes, loss of loaded web pages until next Internet connection. And the drawback of older Windows is eating up 4 GB of SSD space for a copy of Windows 10 should an administrator decide to install it. Or should I file bugs against each GUI application that I use to request that the developer implement session saving?
For USPS, you have two options: [...] PayPal [or] USPS.com
How well does either of these options integrate with other order fulfillment systems? For example, does the user of PayPal.com have to manually match up the package's receipt with the transaction number on PayPal.com, key the weight from the scale into PayPal.com, and then copy and paste the tracking number from PayPal.com into the fulfillment system? And how well does it work with Amazon purchases, which don't go through PayPal payment? Currently DAZzle lets us use XML to get the addresses and weights in and get the tracking numbers out without having to manually copy and paste every order.
Use UPS.com. Anyone can get an account there
We have an account. Currently UPS's WorldShip application for Windows lets us use XML get the addresses and weights in and get the tracking numbers out without having to manually copy and paste every order.
perhaps they are happy with their iPhone/iPad/iPod.
For a satisfied user of iOS looking to switch from Windows, I recommend a Mac.
Then get a used one.
I would if it were warranted and, more specifically, warranted for use with Linux. That's why I bought a Dell Inspiron mini 1012: it shipped with Linux and a warranty. It's just that those are discontinued.
It limits the audience, but it was already limited by the nature of the games.
Just because your audience is already limited by the genre (non-endless-running platformer or fighting game) doesn't mean you have to limit the audience even further with a choice of platform. If a game plays well with a keyboard or a gamepad, then your first port targets are going to be platforms that ship with a keyboard or a gamepad. External gamepads, such as MFi gamepads on iOS or HID, Xbox 360, or MOGA gamepads on Android, probably have a smaller market share than even the PlayStation Vita.
People change. Markets change. Sometimes one needs to stop and look at the big picture.
However, everything in your article smacks of cherry picking.
I admit to having collected what I believe are the strongest points in favor of consoles.
It completely ignores the valid argument that a PC/laptop can and would be used for much more than gaming (i.e. work, homework)
How many people are willing to carry a PC back and forth between the computer desk and the living room with the big TV?
and that the vast majority of games now come with Xbox controller support which is easily added to a PC (No need for fiddling with controller settings)
Until the player plugs in a controller that's a standard HID, not an Xbox 360 controller. Then people end up complaining that a game works only with XInput.
It also ignores the fact that you can get a PC comparable to the latest game consoles for under $1000
And you can get a PlayStation 4 game console comparable to the latest game consoles for under $400, which can be used at the same time that someone else in the household is using the family PC for work or homework.
But, if I was on a tight budget and I wanted the best value, I would buy something that does more than just gaming.
And a lot of people would use that as an argument for a $400 "work or homework" PC and a $400 PlayStation 4 over a $1,000 PC.
"Snooping as usual, I see."
-- Dr. Eggman
What distro are you using on what brand/model of laptop?
I do not own the laptop in question yet. I am doing research in advance of purchasing a 10 inch laptop. When I searched for Linux support on the ASUS Transformer Book, I got "not working" on Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch.
When Firefox starts: Show my windows and tabs from last time
This saves only the URL in each tab, not the contents of the page in each tab. If I restart the computer, log in, and launch Firefox while offline, all the tabs will say "Problem loading page".