What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)

  • Thread starter tlowr4
  • 4,121 comments
  • 255,846 views
This week, I found out that my 500 GB HDD that I had for two years is a SSD. It went bad last week, so I had to swap it with my 2 TB HDD and was on the phone with Microsoft support for three days trying to nail down the issue. Not fun!
 
I can't believe I've been using Vivaldi for about a week, yet it feels like I've used it for months! I settled in incredibly well with this browser.

Rather than what have I done today, this is more like what will I do today? So to that end, I will kind of look into the Godot game engine to try to enhance my journeyman experience with programming and game programming. I have gone into designing gaming assets recently. I am hoping to keep making material to make into prototypes for testing. Long ways to go with my work.

So that's what I've been up to today.
 
After about a year of (very) on and off trying to get my GTX 770 working, and thinking it was dead dead, I finally got it running tonight! Turns out all I ultimately needed to do was uninstall Virtu MVP and restart. :dunce:

Hello, full screen Netflix, so long 1366x768!
 
Been working on the next version of the elevation editor (for editing the elevation of GT6 course maker tracks). I'm using Python and the tkinter module for the user interface. Programmed the collapsible widgets down in the bottom left corner and wrestled with the data validation of its entry fields. The validation works okay for now, but when typing a negative number it doesn't allow you to start with the minus sign, instead you'll have to add it later on... I'll see if I can come up with a better solution for that.

114pv2.png


Edit: In total I've got about 2200 lines of code so far.
 
Last edited:
Installed Vivaldi on my old macbook. I love that I can preview tabs before I click on them. I feel like its just a tiny bit slower than Chrome at loading pages but the interface is so much better than any other browser I have used
 
Last edited:
It seems like I started something by mentioning my Vivaldi browsing experience. It began with our SecretAgentZero mentioning it to me, followed by giving it a try and liking it. I even blogged about my thoughts on Vivaldi in my main blog. I have been fairly impressed using it. It's like the older Opera, only better... though not as customizable as some past builds of Opera before the Chrome takeover of Opera.

I haven't been up to anything lately with computers or software, except for trying to learn using Unity3D to make games.
 
Attempted a Hackintosh Yosemite on my Dell E6220 and it failed. The keyboard, trackpad and the WiFi didn't work so I decided to re-install back a copy of Windows 10 on it. I also got my hands on a copy of Microsoft Office 2016, and I really liked it!
 
Didn't want to start a new thread, so I thought that this would be the best place to ask.

I'm planning on buying an SSD and have narrowed it down to two choices: the Crucial MX200 (250GB) and the Crucial MX300 (275GB). The MX200 is only about $5 more expensive and has better endurance and performance due to the MLC NAND, but I don't know if I would even notice the higher speeds with my usage (gaming, occasionally transferring large files). In that case, would I be better off going with the MX300?
 
Didn't want to start a new thread, so I thought that this would be the best place to ask.

I'm planning on buying an SSD and have narrowed it down to two choices: the Crucial MX200 (250GB) and the Crucial MX300 (275GB). The MX200 is only about $5 more expensive and has better endurance and performance due to the MLC NAND, but I don't know if I would even notice the higher speeds with my usage (gaming, occasionally transferring large files). In that case, would I be better off going with the MX300?

I would say yes go with the MX300. Btw I bought an el cheapo PNY 240gb SSD awhile back, still works great. I mainly got it for my laptop. I honestly don't notice the speed difference between it and my good ones in my main PC (I have a Samsung 850 EVO 250gb running W10, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250gb running W7).
 
I would say yes go with the MX300. Btw I bought an el cheapo PNY 240gb SSD awhile back, still works great. I mainly got it for my laptop. I honestly don't notice the speed difference between it and my good ones in my main PC (I have a Samsung 850 EVO 250gb running W10, and a Samsung 840 EVO 250gb running W7).
Do you notice any large performance drops when transferring large files with the PNY SSD? That's the main reason why I was considering the MX200. From what I can gather, there's a sharp decrease in performance for drives like the MX300 (most drives with TLC NAND) when transferring large files. But if the difference isn't that noticeable, I might as well go for the MX300.
 
I tried learning Unity3D more. Now, I have a better idea of how to make at least a 2D side-scrolling platformer. It does seem awkward making a 2D game using a 3D editor in orthogonal view. However, it can be helpful using such a program where you can properly see your work layer-by-layer. This is especially true if you can properly break up levels by layer. I also learned how to scale graphics and even set up prefabs. You know what I'm talking about if you've used Unity3D. This gives me a bit more confidence in simply constructing levels. Next for me will be to try to hand-craft levels using various objects.

I was reminded in using Unity3D that when I bought my OUYA about two years ago (can't believe it's been THAT long), the OUYA team actually teaches you how to make and upload a game to the OUYA store. You had this Unity 2D sample program that you could modify and upload to the OUYA. A few games I have on the OUYA are 2D games made using Unity. Among those... Super Indie Karts and Battle High 2. So it is very possible to make 2D games in a 3D game maker. I just have to perfect my craft.

So next for me will be to enhance my Unity3D skills, learn to use Godot, and even look for new ways to make game levels and games in general.
 
Installed my new SSD and did a clean install of Windows 10 on it. The download for the ISO would probably have gone on for two days with my internet right now, so I went to a friends house and it downloaded in six minutes. :lol:
 
My GTX 1080 and Corsair H60 AIO arrived today, so I installed those. Also got some SATA cables so I could actually use my two Blu-ray drives that have just been sitting in my case disconnected for months now.

The AIO doesn't block RAM slots like the heatsink I've been using did, so I re-installed 32 GB of RAM and I'm back up to a fully operational 64 GB. Also took the old rear chassis fan and moved it to the front.

My CPU's temps at max load are now what they used to be at idle. Much improved. And naturally, the 1080 is a beast and isn't breaking a sweat regardless of what I throw at it... though my old 780 Ti SLI setup was still performing admirably.

Also, organized my pile of game consoles:
O9F79sw.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've been having a whale of a time at work assembling our CAD workstation PC, I was handed a GTX 1060 and two 27" 4k monitors (well, a trolley was left by my bench with those items on it) and asked to put it all together. The PC the card was due to go in... Well.

1. The hard drive bays meant the graphics card was about three inches too long to fit in the case, so we cut them out using a pair of shears.
2. The card sits over the SATA ports, so I was only just able to plug one right angle connector in.
3. The card also sits over the front panel USB 3.0 header, and the only front panel USB ports are those. So no front USB. Inconvenient when the method of transferring files from the PC to the CNC router is via a USB stick.
4. The PSU was rated for 145W, so I took a 550W one from our stock, but the old one had a mini SATA power connector for the DVD drive, so that couldn't be plugged in (not that the data cable would fit, of course).
5. The PCI slots in the case had a rolled lip which made it too thick for the DisplayPort connectors to lock in, so I took a Dremel to it.
6. Because of 1, there was nowhere to mount the hard drive, so I taped it to a piece of cardboard and left it on the floor of the case (with a note on top saying not to move the PC, obviously, I'm not a complete savage). It's only temporary until I can get a SSD going.

Fun build! The screens are great too.
 
After not having messed with it for about two years now, I dragged out my Arduino stuff again. Now I'm working on re-learning what I'd forgotten, but it is coming back to me.
 
Did a clean installation of Windows 7 on my old gaming rig. It failed after trying to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10. It's six years old now, Intel i7-950 3.06 with two Radeon HD 6850 1GB cards and 8GB of DDR3. Install was smooth and system still works fine. Never liked Windows 8 much.

I'm expecting and a GTX 1060 6GB card and 275GB SSD to arrive next week for my current i5 gaming rig. The plan to move it's GTX 660Ti card and 250GB SSD to the old box.

Then I'll have a dedicated computer for MSFS with my Saitek yoke, throttle, and pedals. The newer gaming rig will be setup for Assetto Corsa and my Playseat and wheels.

Now all I have to do is make the room for all this stuff!
 
Last edited:
I just created a Kali live USB stick to dual boot on my work laptop. Which then made me think... Maybe I should do the same,but with Fedora and put a copy of war thunder on it...
 
I am back to trying to make a game level. There were techniques I've practiced making Photoshop images. Recently, however, I tried to learn a few techniques using Inkscape. Inkscape is a popular program for making SVG (scalable vector graphic) images. What drew me (no pun intended) to Inkscape is the implementation of using certain borders to provide a collision layer for 2D games. I think Photoshop also allows you to have polygon lines and such to make images, but I am looking at Inkscape and how that is all implemented. Trying to make some kind of game is still on my bucket list of creative works. This method of hand-crafting levels and eventually making some kind of prototype are still things I am trying to accomplish. I am slowly getting better. That's all you can do when you're not good at something. Just can't wait to finally get over the top and make something to be proud of.
 
Happy Holidays, folks!

What I did today was install my new external hard drive. There was nothing wrong with the 320GB external hard drive; I just wanted something better. So what I did was buy a new 1TB external hard drive as my Christmas 2016 gift. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. This thing is enough to back up my 320GB external drive three times and can back up about half of my former PC (which had 70GB of storage). I think this new 1TB external hard drive can back up my current PC (499GB storage) twice. For now, I am mostly backing up most of the data from my other external hard drive to put onto the new external hard drive. I don't intend on backing up my current PC's data, but it is doing a good job holding in a majority of the files I've put on it. This even includes game mods, backups of my blog posts, music, and more. I am even considering using the new 1TB hard drive towards [maybe] storing any raw video for editing.

Outside of this new external hard drive, I am looking to new ways to try to make my first game of any kind. The method now mostly is with designing material using paint programs, but then also use some extra material to help define borders of levels. Only problem is that this method of hand-crafting game levels is not very efficient. And in case you ask, I am more into basic 2D game development. So you're not going to see me with even a simple mobile-friendly 3D game any time soon. You can make a game or game level with almost anything these days. I've been seeing methods such as using Photoshop PSD images to SVG graphics to design levels and worlds for games. I have yet to find a suitable solution or workflow to make my vision(s) a reality. As for the programming side, I will stay with Lua/Löve2D because this has been the programming language I have best been able to design even a basic game prototype.

Long ways to go, but I'm doing good.
 
Today, I have been trying to get my new one terabyte drive working. The initial problem was that I originally had trouble trying to get the drive working after I unhooked the drive from the USB drive when I discovered the drive was going slow as I was transferring files from my 320GB external drive to my new 1TB drive. I have been trying to hook in my 1TB drive in a different number of ports. I even tried hooking it into my USB 3.0 port on my PC. I thought I would have to reformat my drive and all. But ultimately, I put it in one certain USB port from one of my two USB hubs. Now it works perfectly fine and doesn't slow up my PC. I may end up having to take some of the files from my 320GB drive to put onto the 1TB drive. I still have about 100GB left on the 320GB external drive, but I want to free up a good amount of it so I can possibly put some more stuff on the 320GB drive if I need to.

Something else I want to try is to load my 320GB drive on my PlayStation 3. I've used some USB flash drives on my PS3 before, but never an external hard drive. I even heard of people adding a lot of space to their PlayStations or XBOX systems with external hard drives. It is something I want to try in the future.
 
Something else I want to try is to load my 320GB drive on my PlayStation 3.
I have an external drive that I've used with the PS3 to play music and movies off of (before I got PLEX) but I don't believe you can transfer games, besides backing up your internal, to an external.
 
Finished swapping in the new mobo and PSU. Sad to learn the front USB plugs and stuff on this case is too dated to have a spot on the mobo.

Also I ned to buy a damn USB CD drive as the mobo doesn't have an IDE slot for the old DVD+RW drive.
 
Also I ned to buy a damn USB CD drive as the mobo doesn't have an IDE slot for the old DVD+RW drive.
Would something like this work?

I think for the price of that cable, I'd skip it and throw in a BR reader instead.
 
Back