@abraxas

@abraxas 15 February 2025

Been screwing around with some Linux configs to cyberpunk up my old laptop. The Neofetch needs more work still, but it's getting there. I run arch, btw 🤣

@abraxas 9 August 2024

What's up guys? Hope everybody's been doing well. Just dropping by to say hello and that I'm still alive. I honestly kinda miss the old NC website. It had its share of spammers and scammers, but I felt like it was also easier to view content and interact with new and old people on there. Noise app is okay too, don't get me wrong. The way it works is interesting. I respect that. It just doesn't resonate the same way with me as Noise did. Anyway, not much more to add here. I guess I could shamelessly plug my Twitch stream more as a way to find and reach me easier. If anybody does drop into one of my streams and has an idea for anything I could add (commands, interactivity, etc) let me know and I'll see what I can do and open-source! https://twitch.tv/abraxas86 Lately I've been playing through Lagrange Point [pic 1] - a game for the Famicom (original Nintendo) that never got a release outside of Japan. The game relies heavily on the VRC7 sound chip, which took advantage of expanded audio capabilities that the NES never got. If you try to run this game on a stock NES all you'll get is the drum track. Here's a recording somebody did of the soundtrack - it's really good. And sounds impressive for a 1991 NES game (but again, that's because VRC7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=FZjC4k3-_88 Next few streams may be a bit thicker on the nerdlinging as I try to figure out how to trigger "random" encounters in another NES game. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm figuring it out a bit at a time 🤣 [pic 2] Not sure what else I have to share... I blew the fuse on the controller board of my dreamcast, totally my own fault due to some shoddy soldering I did on the memory card mod [pic 3 is after I cleaned up my botched job]. I ordered a bag of replacement fuses from AliExpress that never came... got a refund, tried again - same deal. I'll have to try Amazon and pay a bit more I guess. I miss having electronic components stores around here... The mod replaces the 2 CR2032 batteries with a Lithium battery instead. You charge the battery via the controller itself. These things absolutely chew through batteries like no tomorrow, so the mod is good there. Only downside is that you have to irreversibly mod the back of the case to make the whole thing fit.

@abraxas 25 January 2024

Any webdevs in here want to make the need for Sass to make sense to me? It doesn't expand CSS, and browsers can't even render it - you have to compile it back to CSS to include in your project. It also seems to discourage multi-classing elements... It means that any adjustments you need to make will be done to the sass and then converted back to css. Sure it only takes a second, but still. It also means that the output is somewhat of a generative mess. Am I doing some digital-boomer shit by complaining about this? Am I basically yelling at the kids to get off my vLawn? Am I out of touch, or is it the kids who are wrong? LOL

@abraxas 21 January 2024

Last month I (finally) installed a composite-out mod on my Atari2600 Jr. I got this console off a friend in September 2022, and got the mod shortly after. The kit came in right around the time I ended up getting burnt out, had a death in the family, and holidays all kind of hit at once. The Atari sat in parts on my shelf until now. The mod was relatively easy, had to remove a few resistors, transistors, and capacitors, then solder in the four wires. I had to make some rudimentary adjustments to the metal shielding, as it is quite sharp and likely would have damaged the wires over a short period of time. Some simple snips and bends, and some electrical tape to make it less sharp should suffice. I also noticed that the Select and Reset buttons weren't working - not sure if I damaged the ribbon cable at some point, or if it was like that when I got it. I traced for continuity and found roughly where the issue was, but even under my microscope I couldn't see any breaks in the traces. I ended up soldering some tact switches in to work around that issue. Along with this, I got myself a Harmony Encore cartridge so I can have the entire library of games in one place. There are some really cool demos for it, but they're mostly all coded for PAL systems, and thus don't render correctly in my NTSC environment.

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@abraxas 27 December 2023

What's happenin' noise? Been a while! Hope you're all doing well. I've been keeping busy with a variety of silly little hackjob scripts for my Twitch bots and some other stuff. Nothing too exciting, I guess. Took my usual 2 week break around the holidays - enjoying the last week of it now. Definitely not looking forward to going back to work. There's just not enough time in the day to enjoy everything I wish I could do. How have you guys been? Hope your holidays have been good!

@abraxas 19 February 2023

Oh man! Zojoi is working with Grahfmetal to drop a new Shadowgate game! This one I think is supposed to be along the lines of the TurboGrafx16 game, but re-designed to fit the style of the original Shadwogate game. They just opened the Kickstarter today. there's a "PC Only" demo available that seems to be working fine on Ubuntu. Can't wait to see the final game when it's done!

@abraxas 7 February 2023

Came down with a cold on Sunday that pretty much had me down for the count yesterday. Tested negative on a COVID test, but it sure felt like 24h COVID. Spent most of the day in bed. Today it feels more like just a regular cold. Hopefully it stays this way.

@abraxas 29 January 2023

Been up to so much, but so little at the same time lol. Gave myself a crash-course in JavaScript by frankensteining a bunch of code together to make an otherwise unusable site at work much more functional. Also itching to learn how to slap together an Android app. Still have to solder that Composite chip into my Atari 2600 Jr... I'll get around to that eventually. Want to do more digital art stuff... PIxelo has a few really awesome font bundles on right now. Horrible time to be broke, but I've been doing pretty good at catching up on some old debts. Would be nice if the crypto markets went back up to where they were a few years ago haha Also want to get back into Twitch streaming more regularly... and updating on here.

@abraxas 22 December 2022

On my way to catch the bus the other day. I didn't even see him at first. He startled me, but he was chill. He grazed for a bit, then headed back into the woods. I was almost uncomfortably close, but he didn't show any signs of aggression. I was mostly just thankful it was a deer and not a moose lol [EDIT] Whoa, we can edit posts AND manage pictures!

@abraxas 3 December 2022

Last post, catch you over on Noise app! ♥️🤘🏻

@abraxas 25 November 2022

Sometimes life throws you a crappy hand, but you gotta roll with the punches and remember the good times. RIP Grampa - 1931 - 2022. Lost, but absolutely not forgotten.

@abraxas 30 October 2022

One of my pet rats died last week, I wrote more about it over on nosie.app but didn't want to post here because it felt weird getting possible tips because of it. You can read more about that here: https://noise.app/Abraxas/7p2q8zgk But I thought I'd share a pic of my other two ratboys - we got them so Sus could have some friends after Link died in the summer. So here's Smeagol and Dobby. Dobby is super sweet - much like Link used to be. He's still not totally warmed up to us grabbing him, but he loves the attention once he's accepted that we have him lol. Dobby is the one with the greyer face. Smeagol isn't a fan of attention at all - much like Sus used to be until his last few days. We're working on getting him socialized better. Smeagol is the one with the dot around one eye. Rats really are awesome pets, but they're prone to tumours and respiratory illnesses. They also only live about two years and really need to have buddies. So they're kinda hard to own because of their short lives.

@abraxas 28 October 2022

Let's say you need to reset a password, but you *really* don't like the person... I've come up with the perfect tool! Introducing the "Bastard Password Generator!" It's default is to spit-out passwords that combine 0, O, I, l, and 1. They all look similar but it's a mix of Zero, Capital O, capital i, and lower L. It also includes switches to use Unicode characters that *look* like western alphabet letters but aren't. Here are some examples: lI1I01I0O0I0lO00 111100I0l1l1010O IO1I0O1O10lI1010 Noise doesn't support Unicode so I can't share any of the REALLY fun ones lol. === script below == function BastWord{ [Alias('bwgen')] <# .SYNOPSIS Bastard Password Generator - A password generator that only uses similar looking characters and Unicode characters that look like latin-script letters. .DESCRIPTION Creates passwords that are nearly impossible to read when printed in the right font with a switch to make them impossible to type, too .PARAMETER PWLenght The number of characters you want in your Bastword .PARAMETER NoUni No extended characters in the Bastword .PARAMETER OnlyIs Password will only contain I-like characters .PARAMETER OnlyOs Password will only contain O-like characters .PARAMETER No1s Password will not contain a "1" (this works well with -OnlyIs) .EXAMPLE bastword Will output an 8 character password of standard characters: 01l010O1 .EXAMPLE bastword 69 -OnlyUni Will output a 69 character password using only characters that can't be typed on an English keyboard: 〇ｌⅠഠ߀୦|׀〇Οןⵔ￨١ІƖΟꓲⅠⅠꓲｌⲞΟ١߀ｌᛁଠߊОꓳᛁןǀΙ١|ՕଠⅠΙⲞ୦ﺎⵏ|ΟⲞⅼⲒଠ୦ＩООןⲒ߀୦ןⵏⅠ۱۱ᛁΙ߀ｌ .EXAMPLE bastword -PWLength 420 -AllowUni This will generate a 420 character password of regular + unicode characters .OUTPUTS [String] .NOTES I take no responsibility for any issues caused by this script. .FUNCTIONALITY Create perfect passwords for people you don't like! #> [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='DefParams')] param( [int]$PWLength = 8, [Switch]$NoUni = $False, [Switch]$Dbg = $False, [Switch]$OnlyIs = $False, [Switch]$OnlyOs = $False, [Switch]$No1s = $False, [Switch]$AllowUni = $False, [Alias("OnlyUni")] [Switch]$UniOnly = $False, [Alias("Clip")] [Switch]$Copy = $False ) $Passw = "" $Disclaimer = 0 $Min = 1 $Max = 6 if ($AllowUni -eq $True) { $Max = 42 } if ($No1s -eq $True) { $Min = 2 } if ($OnlyIs -eq $True) { $Min = 17 $Max = 42 $Disclaimer = 1 } if ($OnlyOs -eq $True) { $Min = 4 $Max = 17 $Disclaimer = 1 } if ($UniOnly -eq $True) { $Min = 6 $Max = 42 $Disclaimer = 1 } if ($NoUni -eq $True -AND $OnlyIs -eq $True) { $Min = 2 $Max = 4 } if ($NoUni -eq $True -AND $OnlyOs -eq $True) { $Min = 4 $Max = 6 } if ($Dbg -eq $True) { $DebugPreference = "Continue" write-Debug " debug " write-Debug "-------" write-Debug "PWLength: $($PWLength)" write-Debug "AllowUni: $($AllowUni)" write-Debug "UniOnly : $($UniOnly)" Write-Debug "NoUni : $($NoUni)" write-Debug "No1s : $($No1s)" write-Debug "OnlyOs : $($OnlyOs)" write-Debug "OnlyIs : $($OnlyIs)" write-Debug "Copy : $($Copy)" write-host write-Debug "Min: $($Min)" write-Debug "Max: $($Max)" $DebugPreference = "SilentlyContinue" } for ($i=0; $i -lt $PWLength; $i++) { $Letter = Get-Random -Minimum $Min -Maximum $Max Switch ($Letter) { 1 { $Passw = $Passw + "1" } 2 { $Passw = $Passw + "l" } 3 { $Passw = $Passw + "I" } 4 { $Passw = $Passw + "0" } 5 { $Passw = $Passw + "O" } 6 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u3007""))" } #Start of Unicode Characters (O-like) 7 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0B20""))" } 8 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0B66""))" } 9 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0D20""))" } 10 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2D54""))" } 11 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u039F""))" } 12 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u041E""))" } 13 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0555""))" } 14 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u07C0""))" } 15 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2C9E""))" } 16 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uA4F3""))" } 17 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u007C""))" } #I-Like 18 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0196""))" } 19 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u01C0""))" } 20 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0399""))" } 21 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0406""))" } 22 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u04C0""))" } 23 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u05C0""))" } 24 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u05D5""))" } 25 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u05DF""))" } 26 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0627""))" } 27 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u0661""))" } 28 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u06F1""))" } 29 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u07CA""))" } 30 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u16C1""))" } 31 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2160""))" } 32 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u217C""))" } 33 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2223""))" } 34 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2C92""))" } 35 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\u2D4F""))" } 36 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uA4F2""))" } 37 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uFE8D""))" } 38 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uFE8E""))" } 39 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uFF29""))" } 40 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uFF4C""))" } 41 { $Passw = $Passw + "$([regex]::unescape(""\uFFE8""))" } } } if ($Disclaimer -eq 1) { write-host "The following password will probaly appear broken if it has unicode characters in it." -ForegroundColor Yellow write-host "Please copy/paste into notepad/word/email etc. to see the password in its full glory:" -ForegroundColor Yellow } if ($OnlyIs -eq 1) { write-host "Make sure to change the font on this password to Arial before sending!" } write-host $Passw -ForegroundColor "Cyan" if ($Copy -eq $True) { $Passw | Clip write-host "Password copied to clipboard" } }

@abraxas 26 October 2022

It's been a difficult few days for me. My old rat Sus got really sick Sunday night - at first I thought it was just him and his buds scrapping but when I went to check, I saw that the other two weren't near him and he looked lost and distraught in his cage. I'm 90% sure he had a pituitary tumour which caused a seizure. He went from being a tough and tumbly rat who hated affection to being lost, lonely, and a total suck-up. His decline was slow, and a bit of a rollercoaster. He kinda got worse in waves, with occasional signs of improvement in between. I knew we were close to the end, though. He was quickly unable to eat and drink on his own, so me and my partner had to take turns feeding him and hydrating him with a syringe. He still showed signs of happiness throughout so I didn't want to put him down. Despite being basically unable to move, he was still enjoying the affection and frequently bruxing and boggling (a thing rats do when they're happy). He started getting congested, so we had to aspirate his nose with another syringe. We started giving him small doses of Kids' Tylenol syrup to ease his pain, and we made a small bed for him out of a shoebox and some blankets. We kept it warm with a heating pad. I spent Sunday night with him until like 5am and had to call in sick for my work shift on Monday, but I had no idea how much longer he was gonna last. I cuddled with him Monday night until 2am or so and put him in his bed. By about 6PM last night, he was pretty much just a blob, but he was still somewhat living and still enjoying what he could. He was still bruxing when I pet him and still seemed to be appreciating company. He perked up a bit when I got home from work and he heard my voice. I had him on me pretty much since I got home, but had to put him in his bed for a bit while I took care of some things around the house. I kept him near me the whole time, though. By about 12:30 I took him back in my arm and said we could hang out until 2am, but then I'd have to put him to bed and go to bed myself, but I'd see him the next morning. By about 1:30 I could tell he was getting ready to go. His lips were turning blue and his breaths were getting shallow. He took his last breath and went at about 1:59-2:00 right on the dot. I had bonded so much with him in those three days. It was so hard to see him go. Sus and his brother, Link, were some of the sweetest, coolest rats we've ever had. Somebody had abandoned them in a field and my partner saved them. Her friend had messaged her and said she saw them and wondered if they were former pets, which they were. Pet rats are a different breed than wild rats, so generally you can tell just by looking at them. Link was always really playful and an attention seeker - he loved people and being held. Sus was more the opposite - he was very suspicious and cautious of everything (hence the name lol). He hated being held, but once you had him he loved being pet for short periods of time. Link passed away in July, he'd had a few rounds with a respiratory illness - recovered the first time, but when it hit him the second time the medicine wasn't helping much.

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@abraxas 2 October 2022

Oh man, I just learned that one of my favourite vocalists paired with one of my favourite bands a few years ago. Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) subbing in for Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod) while he was in for liver surgery. This is wild! I wish I could have caught one of these shows. This would have been during the (long) time they weren't allowed to play in Canada, but I thought that was just because of Mike's drug charges? No clue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9MpimRVsdI

@abraxas 1 October 2022

Sucks that we can only post 5 pics at a time... here's some bonus pics from the show last night that I didn't post to nCash

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@abraxas 30 September 2022

What an absolutely frigging awesome show last night! The venue was cool, too. Really small dive bar kinda place. Can't wait to go back again lol The lighting kinda sucked for getting good pictures, and interestingly, the shirt cost more than the ticket. Lineup: - Cognitive - Interloper - Psycroptic - Fallujah

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@abraxas 28 September 2022

Just a bonus pic from the 2600. I was trying to grab a pic of that slanty boy chip near the transistor. Somehow it ended up being surprisingly visually appealing. I'm not really a professional photographer, but I play one on "The Internet" 😂

@abraxas 28 September 2022

Got an Atari2600 Jr from a buddy at work the other day. I've been giving it a real good cleanup. Couldn't believe that the plastic factory tape over the silver band hadn't even been removed yet haha. Also ordered a composite output mod for it, should probably get that next week. I'm gonna leave it apart until I get a chance to install it - the plastic shell is pretty fragile and it's a pain in the ass to open.

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@abraxas 27 September 2022

Got a 2600 Jr and some games from a buddy at work. Started cleaning it up last night, left the parts to fully dry overnight. I couldn't believe the tape stuff over the silver band hadn't been removed yet! Also had one game basically CIB, but the box has definitely seen better days.

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@abraxas 21 September 2022

Gonna see Fallujah live next week! 🤘🏻🤘🏻 Can't wait - Scott Carstairs is such an underrated guitarist. This will also be my first show since all the COVID lockdowns. Looking forward to it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf-Kmg9Mgt0 https://twitch.tv/scottcarstairs

@abraxas 17 September 2022

Picked some "nice" apples today 👀 😂

@abraxas 17 September 2022

Man, kids back in school has me like a total zombie. In bed around 12:30, up at 5:45. I legit slept almost 11 hours today

@abraxas 12 September 2022

Today's #WTF moment: A macro-embedded Excel file (.xlsm) whose sole purpose is to copy a temporary file and open a particular Access database that feeds this temp file into it. Surely you can just add this logic into the Access file itself, on? Or just make a simple batch script to do it? It reminds me of people who save screenshots and images to Word Docs 🤦🏻‍♂️

@abraxas 12 September 2022

Oh dang, guess what site isn't blocked by my work (yet) 😂

@abraxas 11 September 2022

Last night I had a dream where I fell asleep and had another dream. I got to experience this meta dream, and in it I became aware that I was asleep and needed to figure out a way to know. Eventually I made it outside and I had a small inflatable pool, and my neighbors had a slightly larger one. It appeared that there was snow on the ground and my pool was frozen, but my neighbours were outside in bathing suits having a blast. That was all I needed - I looked at them and said thanks, then figure out how to wake up. I was so proud of myself in this dream - I was telling everyone how I was able to pick out that I was in a dream and get out of it. But then I woke up and realized how hilariously meta it was that dream me didn't realize that he was ALSO in a dream and totally unaware of it. What a trip 😂

@abraxas 11 September 2022

Separating Windows 10 from OneDrive is a real pain in the ass... but I'm getting there. Apparently I had a temporary 100GB on OneDrive and had no idea. Well, that just expired and shrunk down to 10GB which in turn put me in a panic to figure out how to move everything over. Microsoft being Microsoft has everything so tightly locked in with their own services - but I think I've got a solution. I'm gonna try to run backups via RClone. Google Drive offers somewhat of a service, but I was having trouble figuring out how to use it properly - the folder itself did not appear in my main Drive, but rather as a completely segregated section. In doing it this way, I can sync it to a folder in my Google Drive instead.

@abraxas 10 September 2022

Still getting used to things here on nApp... I think the menus could use some changes. I keep hitting the main menu to try to get to my profile, for example. So far though, I'm really enjoying it here and look forward to building up a new community. Once I settle in, I'd like to maybe start doing some member showcases to help people find new people. I'm assuming most (if not all) the people who find me here will be people I've known for a year or more on nCash, so it won't be hard lol.

@abraxas 10 September 2022

Bug reports! Hopefully Simon finds me here - I'd love to try to help with debugging and bug fixing. Got two things off the top right now: 1. Replies are being duplicated. - Go to any post, leave a reply. Seems to get posted twice. - Using Firefox on Android (as mobile, not masking as desktop) - Also happens when masking as a desktop user - Closing tab and starting fresh in a new one doesn't help. - Tried from Chrome on my phone, no problem there. - Firefox incognito - problem returned. I'd think it were cache-based, the Incognito wouldn't have replicated the issue? 2. Tapping co-ordinates at the bottom of a page are off - Tap heart/view more/etc and it opens the panel to make a new post. - Firefox mobile (as mobile) - Also happens incognito - Does not happen in Chrome - Does not happen in Firefox if masking as desktop user.

@abraxas 10 September 2022

Whipped up a quick doodle for something. Turned out pretty good, just wish it could have been a bit bigger... was working with limited space for a banner, though