xyguy

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?

At the end of the day, its pretty clear to me that Youtube is going to lose the war on adblocking. Either by hook or by crook those that want to use Adblockers are going to keep doing it no matter what.

And to be clear, I am not trying to equate Adblocking to video piracy. To me, the fact that I choose to go to the bathroom during a commercial of a tv show doesn't constitute piracy and Adblocks just automate that process for me on Youtube. I would also never click on an ad purposefully, no matter what it is for.

With all that being said, I am a hopeless cause and I don't think that anything will convince me to buy YouTube premium, but I also used to think that about MP3s.

My real question to anyone reading this is, as the devil's advocate, what could YouTube do with ads or otherwise that would solve the "service problem" of "YouTube piracy"? And furthermore, is there any situaton where you would do anything other than block all Youtube Ads immdediately and with extreme prejudice?

This is an old article but this is Gabe Newell describing video game piracy as a service problem and why he believes that in case anyone is unfamiliar with it.

Apologizes in advance for the wall of text.

I wanted to let people know my experience about the Razr+ because I don't think it's got a ton of reviews out there and I "bought" one impulsively the second I could because of how cool it looked. Im not going to go into a ton of technical stuff, more just the experience of using it.

The time of the flip phones is on us once again and the Razr+ and the upcoming Galaxy Flip 5 are finally adding something that to me, is a legitimate game changer for smartphones.

To me the Galaxy S3/iPhone 4 solidified the smartphone as we know it and since then, other than the last gasps of BlackBerry, there hasn't been much innovation other than features/price. Fundamentally we are still using touch-screen rectangles with 3 buttons.

Even the first generations of the smart flip phones were just a folding version of the same rectangle. With this latest generation, the large second screen is finally changing the game again.

The mini second screen on the front comes with several preloaded Motorola apps with the promise of more on the way. Luckily in my experience it hasn't been necessary at all because a simple permission allows any Android app to display on the front screen. Any as in Jellyfin, Newpipe, Games, Homeassistant, K9 Mail, the works. And most of the time it works without a hitch. The only caveat is that the only keyboard currently supported on the front screen is Gboard. Something tells me that won't be the case for long though.

Basically what I learned is that what I actually need is a thicc boy phone with a 4 inch screen again.

Coming from a Pixel 4a, the other thing I appreciate about the screen when it's open is the tall aspect ratio. I can actually run 2 apps side by side and I can have a video app running on the top half and bend the phone to watch it sitting on my belly or on a table.

I can't speak a ton to the camera quality because I have never once cared about the camera on my phone but compared to my Pixel 4a it's better and the OIS is significantly better. The gimmick of using the second screen as the camera viewfinder is somewhat useful but it for me it's mostly been a cool feature to impress people.

I got the Pantone Pink color from T Mobile and I will say it is pink pink. It's the pinkest think I'll ever own and the leatherette back does make it look a lot like a makeup compact. If I could pick again I'd go for the black or blue.

This phone fits super well in my front pocket. One of the reasons I held onto my Pixel 4a was because of how compact it is but really this one is even smaller. It's smaller and thinner than a tri-fold wallet and easily fits in either a side pocket or a leg pocket of carpenter pants. But then bam! 6 inch screen.

The speakers on this phone are pretty good: loud with no distortion but I feel like the difference between the second loudest level and the loudest are too quiet and then too loud for most of my listening environments.

So far the bendy screen is doing fine no weirdness and on a black background the crease is invisible. There is a slight left to right movement of the top half when the phone is closed that seems concerning but if the hinge can handle it, only time will tell. The battery is easily getting me through a whole day without battery saver mode and I am constantly on my phone playing games or working on something or listening to news or a podcast.

All in all I love this thing. I feel like I just got my first cell phone all over again, and of course I'm biased because I bought it myself and I am justifying my own purchase in my head but seriously this thing is cool and unlike the last 6 phones I've had (4 Android 2 iPhone) this one is genuinely different. And since I never got a Razr the first time around in 2008, it's been pretty cathartic for me.