When we got our first computer it was a Win 95 machine, with a copy of Encarta, Atlas. I don’t remember what word processor, but it wasn’t a full office suite.

It was cool. We did lots of typing and using ms paint.

Then we got a shareware cd. Hundreds of pretty useless games + 4 or 5 big ones like doom and transport tycoon, but it changed everything. Every day we’d try a new one. We’d mess around in DOS trying to get those ones working.

Then 3D Movie Maker - the full version. It all really started to come alive.

Then a microphone. Just messing around with sound recorder was like when we used to make “funny” tape recordings of ourselves, but without the hassle of tape.

These are the basic concepts of what I think made computers fun.

I guess the direction I’ll probably go shortly is the old AMD 2400g mini itx I have laying around. Put on an opensuse slowroll. We have a microphone handy. We have 900 games on our GOG account. I have an old intuos drawing tablet that might work. Add some of those education flatpaks - solariums and stuff. I think you can definitely do a modern version of what we had back in the 90s when computing was more than watching youtube.

Yeah, I’ve tried to make a smash burger by squishing down a pre-formed patty. It doesn’t bring the magic in the same way.

No they weren’t. Infectious diseases resulted in life expectancies 40-50 years lower than now. Dying at 35 years old is not “perfectly fine”.

Does the top screen crop to the same size as the lower screen?

I would have thought these are finally a decent solution for playing games like Contra 4 and Sonic Rush, that need to seamlessly go between two screens. But if the two images don’t line up then it won’t be so nice.

This (Disks) is exactly what I’d suggest for a newbie too. Just noting it’s not gparted, it’s gnome-disk-utility.

Also did this with the first Monster Truck Madness and Big Red Racing. And Motocross Madness. Seems these games were just built for that. Only had demo versions though, so just the one stage to explore.

I think DS should take the final round - plays the DS and GBA library + relatively easy to emulate GBC if you really want to.

And still the only way to play some games - Contra 4, Sonic Rush for example, are horrible to play on emulator but still really fun games.

Borderlands 2 was fun, but Borderlands 1 is the game I replay.

The movies depict actual AI. That is, machines/software that is sentient and can think and act for itself.

The future is going to be more of the shit we have now- LLMs / “guessing software”.

But also, why ask the question if you think the answer can’t be given yet?

Just keeping in mind that Mesen is a cycle accurate emulator (last time I checked it was the most accurate). So the ideal solution here would have been to install Mesen.

Still good idea to check the feature matrix on their github though, I think depending on the device you could still need surface kernel.

It was popular in Australia too.

Going to the video store and looking through the racks full of the checkerboard master system boxes for a game to hire. Ghouls n Ghosts, Altered Beast, Penguin Land, Ghost House, Golvellius, Aztec Adventure, Fantasy Zone 2 come to mind.

Watching mum and dad play My Hero for hours, trying to get just a little bit further.

Getting hit by a car whilst taking a game back to the video store. (Not the most magical memory but I can’t think of master system without that)

Finally having double Dragon at home. Throwing the sega box at the second level boss. Years later finding out that the arcade and mega drive versions are unplayable due to slowdown, and deeming the master system version as the best.

My aunty buying me Transbot from the discount bin in Boxing Day sales.

Waking up from a nightmare and being comforted watching mum and dad getting up to the Mouse Man dungeon in wonder boy 3.

Sundays watching my dad and his mate playing Golfamania sessions, drinking and smoking weed and listening to Van Morrison, when they weren’t up to going to the local golf course. (Later it was pga tour 2 on mega drive)

Finding a copy of Action Fighter and Fantasy Zone The Maze from some random person at the local market.

Coming home from school one day to find mum had hired Teddy Boy from the video store. What a game. I don’t go back to it because it’s so lame in retrospect, just stick with this memory of it being mind blowing awesome.

The first time I could play well enough to get to the end of the first stage in Miracle World and seeing that burger waiting for me. Going inside the Octopus’ pot (?) to take the secret shortcut in Alex Kidd.

So many Alex Kidd things really. The dinosaur level in Lost Stars, so exciting for some reason. Swimming under the tentacles in the water level. The ninja forest stages in Hi Tech World. Shinobi World in general, me, my brother and our cousins being like “it’s Shinobi, but it’s Alex Kidd :O” while eating cordial ice blocks in the middle of summer.

Getting Ghostbusters for $2 because the video store was trying to get rid if all their master system games and no one wanted the old junk. Loving that game so much I drew a picture of the driving stage on the blackboard at school before class.

When I got Castle of Illusion for Christmas right before we moved away after my first year at school, and mum and dad let me stay up playing it until I fell asleep.

The very last game we hired before we got a mega drive, and the first time I ever saw him, Sonic the Hedgehog. The same day dad bought home a kitten that I looked after until I left home. That was a good day.

Many surface devices don’t need a specialised kernel anymore anyway.

Surface Go 1-3 for example, everything is in Linux kernel 6.14+. And everything except the cameras is in since 5.17.

As much as I love collecting books, I’ve decided now my shelf is so full, my next reading purchase will be a kobo instead.

Records and books mostly. But I just moved my CDs out of my storage space.

The controllers I use:

Steam controller

Wired xbox controller (Hyperkin branded)

Wired switch controllers (pdp and hori branded)

I have some ps4 controllers that worked well but they don’t hold a charge now so they’re just e-waste.

Sticking with wired or rechargable AAs. Any wired switch and xbox controller I’ve plugged in has gone fine.

I can’t speak for the wireless switch controllers (we have 2 that run on rechargeable AAs), because I’ve never paired them onto a PC. But eneloops last about 6 months in my steam controller, I’ve just been recirculating the same 4 batteries in it since 2017.

Hell yes. And every time I see it pop up, these points come up, usually a bunch of times. So people know this shit is trouble, and it’s still blowing up.

I assume it’s just that his channel mostly seems like advertisement for products. I like him enough, but I know what I’m getting if I watch one of his videos.

Your response to someone who doesn’t understand boundaries (have you set those boundaries with them or just expect them to know?) is to be a jerkoff? Laughing at yourself isn’t your biggest worry here. Re-visit this whole thing from the start.

The Master System version is a fun time for a while and improves on the c64. The NES version though seems to have no redeeming factors.