xyguy

Moved into my own house again recently. I would like to get a lot of stuff automated like I had in my previous house.

Unfortunately, theres a lot if old wiring here and most switches have no neutrals in the box.

What is the current best option for smart switches (ideally dimmers) that dont require a neutral wire?

I'd prefer a non-wifi solution that doesnt require a proprietary hub but it seems like there are limited options anyway and I am having trouble finding almost any good options that dont require a neutral.

Anybody using anything they really like?

I have a Motorola Razr+ 2023 from T-Mobile that I have had for 2 years and is now paid off and unlocked.

It works with physical sims from other carriers but no esim will begin to activate. It only pops up with a message to call T-mobile which I did but, they won't help me because I am no longer a customer.

The carrier unlock in the settings of android says unlocked so I don't know what to do next.

Any ideas or fun ADB things I can try?

I've been watching the Rockford Files on Samsung TV and the commercials and syndication cuts have been getting on my nerves. I decided to get the series on Blu ray and ordered a set on eBay that I didn't realize was from Mill Creek.

I figure I'll just rant and post my warning here.

The Packaging-Not as bad as I have seen in the past from Mill Creek, but there are 4 discs per season and only 2 disc spindles per case. This is annoying and may or may not scratch the top discs over time. There are also 2 of the Blu Ray cases that have slightly different cases than the rest. Not the biggest deal in the world but still just a lack of attention to any kind of detail. The cardboard case that holds all the Blu-ray cases is incredibly flimsy and not glued or printed with any gloss. The slipcovers are kind of shoddy too.

The Content-No special features, no commentary tracks, NOT EVEN SUBTITLES! Half the reason I like physical media is stuff like that. At least the scans are nice. Clean and pretty with DTS-HD audio that sounds as good as its going to at this point. It's just what I assume is the original stereo track and doesn't have a 5.1 or 7.1 remaster. Its a good thing the picture is clear because our deaf friends are going to have to read lips and thankfully it is at least in the original aspect ratio.

Other Annoying Stuff-The DVD release of Season 1 contained the original TV movie pilot in its original release format. This Blu-release only has the chopped up "Season 0" 2 part episode with cuts and alterations. Again, not the end of the world, just highly annoying to have the Blu-ray release not be the superior version.

The printing on all the Blu-rays has a huge section of the artwork covered up with an ad for Mill Creek's website.

The Menus are lame too but what can I expect when there are no features to select from They don't have to be amazing but they just suck.

This is the only HD release of the Rockford Files. I understand that I am probably one of the few people who gives a crap about the Rockford Files but it's a shame that such a good show that was shot on film on location in LA is treated in such a slipshod manner by a fourth rate company like Mill Creek.

--WARNING FOR POSTERITY-- Mill Creek sucks. This is far from their worst release but frankly, all of their stuff is just crap. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here but seriously? NO SUBTITLES? That sucks.

I don't know whether it's a popular opinion or not, but I think Dr. Pulaski was a great character and I found her much more interesting than Dr. Crusher. I don't know if it was down to the writing or the performance but Pulaski is one of the best parts of season 2 and I would have been happy to see her character continue.

She wasn't very nice to Data but that bit of friction between some of the main characters of the show was welcome, especially in the early seasons. And her performance in Unnatural Selection is a moment in the series my mind returns to often.

How about it? Do we like Dr. Pulaski? What's her best moment on the show?

I use heliboard for my keyboard and quite enjoy it but on the 2023 RAZR+ it only allows Gboard to be used on the outer display. No other keyboard will fail to crash on the front screen.

I know its a niche issue but this is Android. Surely there's a way around it. Either with some kind of context-aware keyboard that only used Gboard on the outer display or some way to get other keyboards working on the front display.

I run a Windows 11 VM on xcp-ng to do testing and Windows specific graphic and video work. I use an old R9 390 in passthrough mode right now but it's running out of steam.

I'm particularly interested in the A380 series of gpus as they have a lot of the modern compute and video encoding features for around $100.

Before I pull the trigger I just wanted to know if anyone has had much experience with ARC GPUs in a VM passthrough scenario. I see in their official docs that resizable BAR is a requirement and I didn't know whether that is handled properly in a virtual environment or on XCP-NG specifically.

Any experience you're willing to share would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

I went out and got the AMD 7800xt to do ultrafast AV1 encoding of large h264 and hevc files.

I am able to select VCN acceleration options in Windows but not Linux Handbrake.

I have tried the flatpak and both the Pop_OS and ppa deb packages of Handbrake. I have the latest mesa driver and am running the most current version of PopOS 22.04. I've had no issues gaming at all, just with picking the hardware encoder in Handbrake. Any ideas or rabbit holes I can go down?

My first Android phone was the HTC One M8. I got it because at the time it made my iPhone 5 look like a chump. Bigger screen, unrivaled stereo front speakers, much more internal storage you name it.

I also got the LG G series after that because I loved that the battery was removable (I ended up with an enormous aftermarket battery pack that lasted 3.5 days of constant use) and the buttons were all on the back of the phone.

I got the Essential PH1 because the ceramic body was nice and the promise of the 2 pin magnetic accessory port was really neat (only a 360 camera was released for it but still).

I got a Pixel 4a because every Android phone at that point was a 6 inch rectangle with side buttons and a fingerprint reader but at least it was cheap and still had a headphone jack.

I'm glad to see flip phones returning because I think it is giving Android back what has always been its biggest advantage to me which is unique hardware features.

Personally, the HTC M8 speakers with the button layout of the LG G4 would be an intsa-buy for me to this day.

What kind of hardware features have you guys fallen in love with over the years and what do you value or would like to see return?

Of course the real-world reason is that it's cheaper to shake the camera and set off a firecracker than to build a scale model just to paint a burn scar on the side.

But my thoughts were always that the in-universe reason had to do with the modular nature of federation starships.

In almost every episode, someone on a starship either suggests rerouting something, shunting power from one thing through another, bypassing something, compensating for one power source with another etc.

It seems that in space, being able to re-configure everything at a moment's notice is important, and to be able to do that, you need easy, fast and direct, access to everything, therefore it needs to be immediately accessible, ergo high voltage power directly behind the controls.

The lack of seatbelts goes right along with it. If a console blows up in someone's face, the next guy over needs to be able to quickly move down and take over. Don't need to have to be fighting with seatbelts when nobody is steering the ship.

I don't know why they don't have safety glasses however....