ARogan

Meta Quest App Referrals

2023-12-01T14:50:00.008-06:00

I picked up a Meta Quest 3 and have been really enjoying it. I bought a bunch of apps and games so here are my referral codes if you want to save 25%.

Meta Quest Headset ($30 off)

Rift (PC VR only)

Lone Echo
Lone Echo II
Asgard's Wrath

Meta Quest

Underdogs
Stranger Things VR
Lego Bricktales
Asgard's Wrath II
Virtual Desktop
Assassin's Creed Nexus VR
Beat Saber
Dungeons of Eternity
Demeo
Synth Riders
Red Matter 2
Zenith: The Last City
Robo Recall: Unplugged
Onward
NFL Pro Era
Iron Man VR
Mothergunship: Forge
Little Cities
Knockout League
ForeVR Bowl
Espire 2: Stealth Operatives
Eleven Table Tennis
Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
Resist

Steam Deck

2022-06-16T09:32:00.019-06:00

Here is my comprehensive guide and reference for both new steam deck owners and those who just want to get more out of their device. I also wanted to demonstrate just how incredibly capable and flexible this little device is. Here you will find many details mentioned in the video for easy reference

Disclaimer: Anything you do from this video or blog post is at your own risk. I am not responsible for anything that happens to your steam deck.

Detailed Index:

Overview 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:45 Unboxing, Overview 00:03:14 Switch size comparison 00:04:04 Switch weight comparison 00:04:41 Switch speaker comparison Proton GE, Flatpak 00:07:34 Proton GE Explanation 00:09:35 Installing Proton GE 00:10:21 Other useful apps 00:11:20 Flatpak source 00:11:37 Choose proton version 00:12:05 File transfer Steam Games 00:14:01 Steam games 00:15:46 Ace Combat 7 00:18:12 Control 00:20:53 Cyberpunk 2077 00:23:32 Dead Space 00:24:34 Doom Eternal 00:25:53 Elden Ring 00:26:40 Skyrim Special Edition 00:27:37 Mirror's Edge Catalyst 00:28:21 Dark Souls 3 00:29:53 Dragon Age II 00:31:39 Fallout 4 00:32:35 Fallout: New Vegas 00:33:07 Mass Effect 3 00:35:27 No Man's Sky 00:36:05 PC Building Simulator 00:37:07 Persona 4 Golden 00:38:35 Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered 00:39:57 Resident Evil Village 00:41:27 Saints Row the Third Remastered 00:43:15 Sword and Fairy 7 00:44:47 Tales of Arise 00:45:45 Terminator: Resistance 00:47:17 Tomb Raider 00:50:05 Gujian 3 00:53:04 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 00:54:08 Geometry Wars 00:55:41 Gris 00:56:42 Half-Life 2 00:58:26 Hollow Knight 00:59:31 Horizon Zero Dawn 01:06:01 Panzer Dragoon: Remake (FMV now works with proton experimental!) 01:08:19 Remember Me 01:10:49 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 01:15:33 Street Fighter II 01:16:47 Street Fighter V 01:17:47 Final Fantasy XV 01:21:58 Final Fantasy XIV 01:23:37 The Ascent 01:25:01 Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered 01:26:11 Monster Hunter Rise 01:28:14 Monster Hunter: World 01:29:53 Middle-earth: Shadow of War 3rd party launchers install 01:31:45 3rd party launchers, folder structure 01:32:29 Flatseal 01:34:04 Mouse click issue on desktop 01:34:39 Install 3rd party launchers overview 01:35:57 Installing 3rd party launchers 01:41:13 Epic launcher settings 01:42:15 Origin Launcher 01:42:56 Ubisoft Launcher 01:43:39 Battle.net Launcher 01:44:14 GOG Launcher 01:44:56 Streamgriddb (pretty icons) 3rd party launcher games 01:47:01 Sonic Mania (epic) 01:48:28 GTA V (epic) 01:51:30 Sifu (epic) 01:53:25 Sifu (heroic) 01:55:18 Overwatch (battle.net) 01:57:24 Absolute Drift (gog) 01:58:43 Need for Speed Heat (origin) 02:01:16 Watch Dogs 2 (ubisoft) Streaming Setup 02:06:23 Streaming

Streaming Games 02:08:16 Destiny 2 (geforce now) 02:11:15 Destiny 2 (stadia) 02:12:59 Halo Infinite (xbox cloud) 02:16:05 Game pass for cheap 02:16:36 Destiny 2 (local steam streaming) 02:18:46 Moonlight 02:19:27 Sifu (moonlight) 02:20:58 Chiaki (ps4/ps5 streaming) 02:21:35 Horizon Forbidden West (ps5 via chiaki) Emulation Setup 02:24:31 Emulation Setup 02:26:55 Emulation Station Settings 02:28:02 Dolphin Settings 02:28:25 RPCS3 tips 02:28:57 Citra tips 02:29:54 Steam Input Emulation Games 02:34:35 Final Fight (arcade) 02:36:12 Galaxy Force II (Arcade) 02:37:11 After Burner II (Arcade) 02:38:12 Total Eclipse (3DO) 02:38:54 Demon Attack (Atari 2600) 02:39:28 Rescue on Fractalus! (Atari 5200) 02:40:26 Ballblazer (Atari 7800) 02:41:22 Aliens Vs Predator (Atari Jaguar) 02:41:48 Blue Lightning (Atari Lynx) 02:42:27 Cosmic Avenger (Colecovision) 02:43:31 Atlantis (Magnavox Odyssey 2) 02:43:55 The Dreadnaught Factor (Intellivision) 02:44:38 Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16) 02:45:16 Forgotten Worlds (Turbografx-cd) 02:45:50 Final Lap 2000 (WonderSwan) 02:46:29 Mr. Driller (WonderSwan Color) 02:46:56 Armor Attack (Vectrex) 02:47:28 Parachute (Game & Watch) 02:47:53 Tetris (Game Boy) 02:48:25 Mario's Tennis (Virtual Boy) 02:49:05 1942 (GBC) 02:49:51 Sonic Advance (GBA) 02:50:39 Sonic Rush Adventure (NDS) 02:51:24 Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) 02:52:11 Open World Pocket Creature (Switch) 02:52:32 Sega Ages - Phantasy Star (Switch) 02:53:11 Sega Ages - Virtua Racing (Switch) 02:54:05 Sega Ages - Outrun (Switch) 02:55:10 Punch-Out!! (NES) 02:55:56 Choujikuu Yousai Macross (NES) 02:56:46 Choujikuu Yousai Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie (SNES) 02:57:56 Super Mario 64 (N64) 02:58:25 GoldenEye 007 (N64) 02:59:14 Metroid Prime (GameCube) 03:00:43 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) 03:02:08 Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 03:02:54 Punch-Out!! (Wii) 03:04:26 Gasp of the Overgrowth (Wii U) 03:05:16 Black Belt (SMS) 03:06:01 After Burner (SMS) 03:06:36 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (game gear) 03:07:13 After Burner II (genesis) 03:08:25 Raiden (genesis) 03:09:24 Sonic the Hedgehog (genesis) 03:10:27 Thunder Force III (genesis) 03:11:19 Virtua Fighter (32X) 03:11:47 After Burner II (32X) 03:12:47 Shadow Squadron (32X) 03:14:27 Night Trap (Sega CD) 03:15:09 Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Sega CD) 03:16:19 Panzer Dragoon (Saturn) 03:17:58 Sega Rally Championship (Saturn) 03:19:13 Daytona (Dreamcast) 03:20:29 Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast) 03:21:41 King of Fighters R-1 (Neo Geo Pocket) 03:22:30 Fatal Fury F-Contact (Neo Geo Pocket Color) 03:22:54 Metal Slug (Neo Geo CD) 03:24:05 Jet Set Radio Future (xbox) 03:24:47 Battle Arena Toshinden (PS1) 03:25:46 Ridge Racer (PS1) 03:27:15 God of War (PS2) 03:29:30 Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 10: After Burner II (PS2) 03:31:13 God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) 03:32:51 Persona 5 (PS3) Windows 11 Install 03:36:26 Windows 11 Install Tips 03:37:07 Windows 11 Initial Setup Tips 03:42:58 Native controls with non steam games 03:46:39 Export game pass games to steam (UWPHook) Windows 11 Games 03:48:58 Destiny 2 (win 11) 03:52:28 Forza Horizon 5 (game pass) 03:56:39 Tunic (game pass) 03:57:31 Genshin Impact Docked and Desktop Mode 03:58:43 Xbox Controller 03:58:58 Docked Game Mode 04:00:10 Docked Game Mode Change Resolution 04:01:36 Hotshot Racing (docked game mode) 04:02:38 Doom Eternal (desktop, keyboard & mouse) 04:03:07 Desktop Display Configuration Other Benchmarks 04:03:37 60 fps vs 40 fps (The Ascent) 04:04:05 40 fps 04:04:55 Sleep Battery Drain 04:05:25 Boot Times 04:06:03 Fast Suspend / Resume Micro SD Cards and Accessories 04:06:38 Micro SD Cards 04:08:17 SD Card Slot 04:09:18 SD Card Write Speeds 04:10:14 SD Card Read Speeds 04:10:51 SD Card Holders 04:12:32 Included Accessories 04:13:10 Other Accessories 04:24:46 iFixit Parts Final thoughts and conclusion 04:25:19 Final Thoughts, Conclusion, Menus

Video Notes:

Steam Deck Shortcuts

https://www.makeuseof.com/steam-deck-shortcuts/
Steam + B (long press) Force the game to shutdown
Steam + X Show the on-screen keyboard
Steam + L1 Toggle magnifier tool on/off
Steam + R1 Capture screenshot
Steam + L2 (soft pull) Right mouse click
Steam + R2 (soft pull) Left mouse click
Steam + Right joystick Joystick mouse
Steam + Right trackpad As mouse
Steam + Right trackpad (click) Left mouse click
Steam + Left joystick up Increase screen brightness
Steam + Left joystick down Decrease screen brightness
Steam + D-pad right Enter key
Steam + D-pad down Tab key
Steam + D-pad left Escape key

Proton GE: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-proton-ge-on-the-steam-deck

Flatpaks

ProtonUp-Qt
Notepad Next
VLC
Discord
OBS
Flatseal
Edge
Chrome
Heroic Games Launcher

ProtonDB: https://www.protondb.com/
Final Fantasy XIV

https://goatcorp.github.io/faq/steamdeck

3rd party launchers

Suggested SD Card folder structure

/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Games (E:\Games)

Battlenet
EA
Epic
EpicCache
Gog
Heroic
Origin
OriginCache
Ubisoft
UbisoftCache

Desktop mode mouse click issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/utallz/steam_decks_desktop_mode_no_longer_registers/

Epic Launcher:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/how-to-install-epic-games-launcher-on-steam-deck
Target: (your number after compatdata will be different)

"/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/4027607285/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Epic Games/Launcher/Portal/Binaries/Win64/EpicGamesLauncher.exe"

Start in:

"/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/4027607285/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Epic Games/Launcher/Portal/Binaries/Win64/"

Launch options for sd card support (use this for all 3rd party launchers)

STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS=/run/media/mmcblk0p1/ %command%

Heroic Launcher:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/heroic-games-launcher-now-on-flathub-even-easier-to-run-epic-games-on-steam-deck/

Ubisoft:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/ubisoft-connect-on-steam-deck-guide-with-sd-card-access/
Target: (your number after compatdata will be different)

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3471027971/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Ubisoft/Ubisoft Game Launcher/UbisoftConnect.exe

EA Origin

Download installer on windows
Target: (your number after compatdata will be different)

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3598860176/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Origin/Origin.exe

Battle.net

Target: (your number after compatdata will be different)

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3297083381/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Battle.net/Battle.net.exe

Gog Galaxy

Download installer on windows
Target: (your number after compatdata will be different)

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3304032574/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/GOG Galaxy/GalaxyClient.exe

Streaming

Cheap Game Pass

https://www.pcworld.com/article/397667/get-3-years-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-tip.html

Edge (Xbox Game Pass)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/xbox-cloud-gaming-in-microsoft-edge-with-steam-deck-43dd011b-0ce8-4810-8302-965be6d53296
Konsole:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.microsoft.Edge

target (bold is what you need to add):

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/edge --file-forwarding com.microsoft.Edge @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "https://www.xbox.com/play"

To quit a game use mouse shortcut to click on the tiny tab in the top left corner. That pops out an xbox button icon. Click that and then you can use your controls to quit the game.

Chrome (Geforce now, Stadia)

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/chrome-on-steam-deck-now-supports-the-deck-controller-with-geforce-now-working/
Konsole:

flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.google.Chrome

Target: Geforce now (bold is what you need to add) (currently bugged, search for game)

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/chrome --file-forwarding com.google.Chrome @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk https://play.geforcenow.com/

Target: Stadia (bold is what you need to add)

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/chrome --file-forwarding com.google.Chrome @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk https://stadia.google.com

Target: Amazon Luna (bold is what you need to add)

run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=/app/bin/chrome --file-forwarding com.google.Chrome @@u @@ --window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk https://luna.amazon.com

Genshin Impact

Go to desktop mode
Run Chrome
Install this user agent switcher chrome extension:

User-Agent Switcher and Manager

Choose the first one (chrome xxx.x.x.x, windows 10)
Apply (all windows)
Genshin Impact should now show up in geforce now. Once in game go to settings and switch from keyboard to controller and everything should work fine.

Chiaki (PS4/PS5)

https://sr.ht/~thestr4ng3r/chiaki/

Parsec in game mode. I got it to work but it was a laggy mess. Moonlight and steam remote play both worked a LOT better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOlUwOUmEgQ

Emulation

Reddit is a great place to search for certain files you typically need.
Emudeck

https://www.emudeck.com/
full list of hotkeys and file types supported

https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck

There was also an icon on the desktop to just update the emulators vs re-running the emudeck installer again.
hotkeys

L3 + R3 RetroArch menu
Select + Start (x2) Quit RetroArch
Select + A Pause emulation
Select + R2 Fast-forward
Select + L1 Load save state
Select + R1 Save state

Roms folder:

/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/roms/

Bios folder:

/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/bios/

PCSX2 (PS2)

https://pcsx2.net/
Hotkeys with my suggested steam input button mappings

Shift F1 - save state (L5 R1)
Shift F3 - load state (L5 L1)
Esc - quit (R5 R4)
F6 - cycle aspect (L5 select)
F9 - toggle hw/sw (L5 start)
F2 - cycle save slost (L5 L4)

RPCS3 (PS3)

I launch this directly (outside of emulation station)
Make sure you install the firmware first
Each game folder must end in .ps3

example: my game.ps3

BLUSXXXXX

fix controls by clicking pads and saving. Do this anytime rpcs3 is updated.

Citra (3DS)

google: Batch CIA 3DS Decryptor - A simple batch file to decrypt CIA & 3DS
hotkeys with my suggested steam input button mappings

X - exit (R5 R4)
F - full screen (L4)
S - Swap screens (L5 L4)
E - toggle layout
Shift + L - save to oldest slot (L5 L1)
Ctrl + v - load from newest slot (L5 L1)

Saturn

each rom should be in its own folder
cue/bin format

Dreamcast

M3u multi disc. Rename each disc file to .chd and edit m3u
example:

mygame.m3u

mygamedisc1.chd
mygamedisc2.chd
mygamedisc3.chd

Dolphin (Wii)

Great video from Moskeeto:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EV63gw0o6I

Controllers | emulated will remote 1 configure
Motion simulation

Shake Z: R2
Point

Up: right click, clear, input2/0/virtual core pointer, curosr Y-
Down: Y+
Left: X-
Right: X+

Extension nunchuk

Buttons

C: L1
Z: R1

Profile give name: deck click save
Load deck profile every time after you update emudeck

Cemu (Wii U)

I launch this directly (outside of emulation station)
Google Cemu USB Helper
Make sure you download and install shader cache file for your games
download graphicPack inside cemu and enable FPS++

Xemu (Xbox)

/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/saves/xemu

eeprom.bin
xbox_hdd.qcow2

google: XDVDMulleterBeta10.2
https://altarofgaming.com/how-to-play-xbox-1-games-on-pc/
https://github.com/XboxDev/extract-xiso

Yuzu (Switch)

/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/bios/yuzu/firmware
/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/bios/yuzu/keys
google: emusak
suspend/resume: Bind a button chord of your choice to F4 which pauses/unpauses the emulator.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/tf2dbl/yuzu_emulator_do_sleep_and_resume_work_for_you/

actually pause/unpause is already bound to select + B.
exit: select + start
toggle framerate: select + r2 (unlocks framerate)

emudeck sets this up with global settings for rendering at half resolution (.5). I find this makes text really hard to read in text heavy games. I changed this to .75 global and then on an individual game basis tweaked to .5 or 1 depending on how demanding the game is and how text heavy it is.

Windows 11

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-steam-deck
Volume down + power = boot menu
remove drive letters/mounts

mountvol f: /d

reduce disk access

https://beebom.com/how-fix-100-disk-usage-windows-11/

synctime.cmd

net start w32time
W32tm /resync /force

Controls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_lFmtSSEnQ
https://github.com/Alia5/GlosSI/releases
1-install vc_redist
2-install vigemBusSetup
3-install HidHideMSI
4-open GlossiConfigg
5-add notepad

https://github.com/BrianLima/UWPHook

Accessories

Sd cards, Sd card holders

Sandisk extreme 1tb $170 ($140 historical low)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P9W5HJV

Sandisk ultra 1tb $130 ($110 historical low)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HCPTMJG

Sd card holder credit card $7

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T6SWXK5

30 slots $9

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093KTV796

Sd card tester

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/5qjm4k/psa_verify_that_your_sd_card_isnt_a_fake_before/

Stand, fan vents

TGDPLUE stand $11 adjustable

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y1FTR1H

KUNSLUCK ($14)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TW292LK

Screen protector: $9 for 3. amFilm

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TPF6NQ8

usb c hub (untested)

anker no ethernet $35

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZVKTP53

anker with ethernet $60

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C9HZ5YT

Gigabit ethernet usb adapter $13

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YUU3KC6

Keyboard/mouse

RK royal kludge rk61 ($50)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PC117G5

Logitech m510 $27

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Computer-Unifying-Receiver/dp/B087Z5WDJ2

razer orochi v2 $70

https://www.razer.com/gaming-mice/Razer-Orochi-V2/RZ01-03730100-R3U1

Renewed $35 white

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Orochi-Mobile-Wireless-Gaming/dp/B0953V1TXF

Logteich k400 plus $28

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/k400-plus-touchpad-keyboard.920-007119.html

G305 $38

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-LIGHTSPEED-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B07CMS5Q6P

Zscmalls $130 Portable monitor

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VFF4TZG

Pd charger 100w NekTeck $43

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MD9HJG6

Power Bank (20K mah, 20w pd, $70, untested)

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Portable-PowerCore-Essential-Compatible/dp/B08LG2X98F

Rynx $12 capture card (sold out but seems other identical ones are $15-20)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097JJH7FZ

usb lapel mic $18

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077VNGVL2

ifixit parts

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Steam_Deck

Misc

Battery issues

After 2 months of almost daily use I finally ran into a battery issue. It showed 96% but would show 1 minute left of power and then would auto shutdown due to low battery. Battery calibration was all screwed up. This happened when I tethered the deck to my iPhone for internet. I've also been using other chargers recently like slow usb chargers. So I'm not sure exactly what caused it yet. Here is what fixed it for me:

Plug in power (use original charger only) so you can turn it on. Hold down volume + while pressing power to get into the bios menu. Unplug and leave it on this screen until it completely drains the battery and shuts down. It might take several hours.
Plug power back in and it will immediately boot into steam os. Let it finish booting and unplug.
It will power down again due to lower battery. As it shuts down and it goes to the first blank screen (backlight still on) but before the steam deck logo displays plug back in the power. The timing is important.
If done correctly the steam deck should be charging (white led on) but completely powered down (steam os NOT running).
Let it charge for 8 hrs without touching it. The white led should go off when fully charged.
Should be fixed now.

Here are more details: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/vfxuc9/for_anyone_struggling_with_battery_issues_random/

Low sound

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/vn4wsr/how_to_fix_extremely_quite_audio/

Nekteck 100W USB C Charger PD 3.0 Review with the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (2021)

2021-11-15T11:10:00.004-06:00

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (Fukashigi no Carte) - Piano Solo

2021-11-15T11:09:00.005-06:00

Gigabyte Aorus FI32U Review (32", 4K, 144hz)

2021-08-12T09:58:00.003-06:00

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro Review (2021)

2021-06-14T09:01:00.006-06:00

Wireless Apple CarPlay Dongles

2021-04-21T16:53:00.005-06:00

New model on the left, older one on the right

So my Honda Civic si 2018 has wired carplay but doesn't have the new wireless carplay. I recently discovered there are dongles that act as a wireless to wired bridge. This of course only works if your car already supports wired carplay.

The first one I bought was apparently an older model even though it is labeled as carlinkit 2.0.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089W6NR12
It seems to work fine and is around $100 currently.

The newer TRUE 2.0 model is also around $100 with the current coupon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FG2XRBP/

The main differences is the newer model has a detachable usb-c cable and a much easier to see status LED. Having a removable cable might be important to you especially if you have specific placement needs. Both seems to boot in around 30 sec and both seem to perform about the same with responsiveness very similar to wired. The newer version is suppose to be faster but with the price about the same just go for the newer one. They both have a usb pass through port if you want to still go wired.

Setup is basically the same. Just plug it into your carplay usb port and pair over bluetooth. After that, every time you start your car everything just works. I've heard it can crash occasionally requiring you to unplug and replug the adapter into the usb port but I haven't had it long enough to experience any issues.

Updating is done by navigating to 192.168.50.2 in safari. I had to update twice to get to the latest version. There are some reports of bricking so proceed with caution. I did notice the website would say update is complete but it actually wasn't. Accessing carplay on the head unit would show that it was still updating and the same with the status lights. So just make sure it's completely updated and carplay is tested and working before shutting off your car or unplugging it.

So far this thing is amazing. It's such a nice quality of life change especially if you have wireless charging built into your car. Now I just start the car and toss my iPhone XS Max onto the charging pad and carplay just starts working automatically. I probably won't be using the phone holder much anymore. Well worth the $100.

Recommended apps:

Maps
Google Maps
Waze
Spotify
Audible
AVSub with airsonic server running on a raspberry pi 4
Podcasts
Apple Music
Zoom

UPDATE: 4/25/2021

Took a day trip so about 5 hrs with the wireless carplay adapter.

Carplay is a combination of bluetooth and wifi. Bluetooth is what is initially used to establish the handshake over wifi passing credentials and such. Once wifi connection is established the bluetooth connection is no longer needed and dropped. All audio/video is transmitted via wifi to the head unit. All this happens seamlessly in the background.

So while I had my wife's phone plugged into the usb passthrough odd things happened. First, it seems it's for charging only and my phone was still the one in use with carplay. About every 15-30 min the head unit would just go blank. Rebooting the carplay adapter would fix it but then it would eventually go blank again. Either the usb pass through is pulling too much power or something weird was going on having a different phone plugged in vs the one that was paired. Either way once I no longer used the usb passthrough it seemed to work fine for the most part.

2nd issue, once during a 2.5 hr drive I had audio drop out while listening to the avsub app. It just dropped to phone speaker. After rebooting it held the rest of the drive.

While doing all this my iphone was in the wireless charger and the phone got pretty hot but was charging but slowly. Overall still pretty satisfied but it does have a few glitches.

UPDATE: 5/24/2021

Ok, the usb pass through is indeed very glitchy. I recommend you do NOT use it.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950x Nvidia RTX 3090 FE PC Build

2020-12-30T19:49:00.017-06:00

https://youtu.be/P02GrAY7OY8

So it's been over 7.5 years since I've done a a completely new desktop PC build for myself. With the huge generational leap in CPU (zen 3) and GPU (RTX 3080) and Cyberpunk 2077 release I figure it was the perfect time to pull the trigger on a new pc. It was the best and absolute worst time to build though. Great as far as technological advancements and a target application/game that can take advantage of it creating a perfect storm but horrible from a product availability standpoint with demand way out stripping supply and scalper bots gobbling up a lot of the scarce inventory.

I have to say Best Buy really came through for me. It is where I was able to get both the PS 5 and Xbox series X pre orders in, rtx 3080, and now finally the ryzen 5950x. The cpu took almost 2 months to finally acquire. I'm so glad I was able to buy everything at retail prices. I did use alert bots (does NOT auto buy, just alerts) like this one running on a dedicated pc with mullvad vpn with kill switch on. There are also several discord shopping bot servers like this one. Finally, I wrote my own bot because I could.

In the past I've typically targeted mid to high end with a budget of $1300 or less. This time I kind of went all out. The hope is this PC will last a LONG time with the typical GPU upgrade every 2-3 years.

Here is the complete parts list:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/arogan/saved/#view=N6mHGX

This is by far the most insane and expensive build I've done clocking in at $3,100 and after taxes closer to $3,355. But it runs Cyberpunk 2077 so totally worth it! Seriously, I'm loving it with 60 hrs in so far and still in Act 2.

Some notes on the parts I chose:

Rzyen 5950x: Pretty much overkill for purely gaming but I want this cpu to last a long time and to use it for more productivity tasks, virtualization, and coding. First cpu I had was a 5600x which partially broke in the first 4 hours. You can read more about my painful experience if you are curious. I know the 5600x are the lowest bin parts but I think this one fell out of the bin, got smashed under the bin, was found and shipped to me. So far the 5950x has been working great though.
Noctua NH-D15: It's massive but so effective, quiet, and surprisingly really easy to mount. Just a really well designed cooler. Worth it if you've got the space but again probably overkill if you are running stock (which I plan to for quite a while).
Arctic MX-4: Spread method for LIFE.
Asus TUF Gaming x570 pro. Has all the headers I wanted to plug in all the connectors for my case including front usb-c. Wifi is pointless so that part is a waste but I like having bluetooth built in. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend.
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB 3600: Went for higher speeds vs lower latency since higher clock speeds directly impacts infinity fabric in a 1:1 scenario.
Samsung 970 evo Plus 2TB: Got a pretty good price and I wanted to fill all the nvme holes since filling it later would be difficult with that Noctua in place. I stuck a cheap little heatsink on it since the motherboard only came with one nvme heatsink. Not sure if it helps all that much but might as well.
Sabrent Rocket 4.0: Gen 4 speeds for the boot drive
~~Evga RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra: It's a 3080.~~
Upgraded to a RTX 3090 Founder's Edition. See details below. DLSS and ray tracing were very important features for me. I run a 4K 32" display so the more GPU the better.
Phanteks p500a: First time working with a phanteks. I love the overall build quality with a lot of nice cable management features. I HATE that this particular model is missing a HDD LED and reset button which I had to add on myself and just have it tied to one of the gpu pcie power cables. The phanteks fans are really nice too and having all the RGB synced up is cool. Good Temps, Good looks, Good low noise levels. If you find it a bit confusing on how to wire up all the fans and rgb take a look at this video.
EVGA 850w: Spent a bit more here for more headroom to accommodate any future gpu upgrades.
Seagate 16TB: Immediately shucked it and installed it internally. It's always nice to have a large amount of local storage.

Bios Settings (currently on version 3001). Download latest from here:

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/TUF-GAMING-X570-PRO-WI-FI/HelpDesk_BIOS/

Install latest chipset drivers directly from AMD.
Start from optimized defaults
AI over clock tuner: DOCP
SVM Mode: enabled
Wifi controller: disabled
Resize BAR: ON

NVME:

So there wasn't a huge difference between gen 3 and gen 4. Gen 4 isn't really cost effective right now but I got one just to be more future proof.

Gen 3 (Samsung):

Gen 4 (Sabrent):

CPU Temps:

Cinebench R23 multi core:

OCCT:

Idle:

Additional Parts:

Ducky One 2 Midnight TKL Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches
Logitech G Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse
SeelSeries QcK mouse pads
Grifiti wrist pad
Xbox Series X Controller in Shock Blue with wireless adapter. I think it has lower latency than bluetooth.
Jabra Evolve 40 Mono headset. I prefer to keep game audio on speakers and only have chat through the headset.
32" 4K 60hz monoprice monitor with freesync.
Cheap HP and LG 1080p 60hz IPS 27" monitors (each were around $100-120)
Logitech Z-5300e THX-Certified 280-Watt 5.1 Surround Sound PC and Gaming Speaker System. I don't have the rear speakers hooked up just because I don't have a good place to put them.
Logitech c920s webcam

Overall I'm super impressed with this rig. I thought my old machine still felt pretty fast but this machine is so much faster. Highly recommended if you have the money and the patience to get the parts.

UPDATE: 05/24/2021

I picked up a RTX 3090 Founders Edition from Best Buy at retail price. I got pretty lucky. I gave my son the 3080. Now there is literally nothing left in my system I would want to upgrade. It's about as top of the line as it gets for me at least. I think it's time I stop fiddling and enjoy the system.
Updated pcpartpicker list. Now it's up to $3842. So around a bank breaking $4160 after taxes. Uggg!!!

That 3090 is a beast compared to the already large 3080.

New Consoles - Xbox Series X, PS 5, Nintendo Game & Watch

2020-11-17T09:50:00.000-06:00

Xbox Series X - Arguably the most powerful console well at least on paper anyways. Feels fast, polished, complete, finished. Seems very stable. Silent. Nothing really to play since it really doesn't have any big exclusives since Halo got pushed back to next year. Amazing backwards compatibility. Game pass is probably the best value in gaming right now (netflix of gaming).

Playstation 5 - A behemoth! Also fast and silent. Less ssd space (667 gb usable). Buggy, rushed, unfinished. Currently it is recommended you do NOT use an external hdd and also disable rest mode. I had one power shutdown the first night when I had my external hdd connected. It actually has good exclusives like Spider-Man (performance mode FTW), Demon Souls remake, and Astro's playroom which is free and really really good. Amazing haptics on the controller that feels truly next gen. Hand candy! Badly needs a firmware update to fix issues.

Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros - Nintendo doing its own thing. It's my favorite desk clock. Cool easter eggs.

Casio Digital Piano (CDP-S150)

2020-10-26T11:51:00.006-06:00

So we normally play on our Kawai KG2 Baby Grand which is really an amazing instrument. We've had it for over 20 years now, and it still sounds really nice for the most part. The hammers are hardening a bit making higher notes sound a bit off but other than that it is still pretty great. It's a bit heavier action especially when compared to like a Yamaha.

So why a Digital Piano when we already have a nice piano? Mostly it is to have a portable option. We wanted something we could bring to the parents house and our kids could still practice if they wanted to. My youngest is now much better than I am. We also wanted something that could be battery powered so that limited our options much further. If the power ever goes out you can still play! Also, having headphone option so as not to disturb the rest of the house is great too. No need to tune it every year either so that's quite a nice maintenance cost savings.

We first tried a Roland GO:PIANO88. It sounds good and has some great modern connectivity options like bluetooth midi and speakers. It has semi weighted keys and well if your are intermediate or better I would say that's just not going to cut it. The weight and action all just felt way light, cheap, and plasticky. Remember, we are coming from only really ever playing on that Kawai so for a beginner who hasn't had much play time with a particular piano this might not be that big of a deal. So I returned it and grabbed this Casio. It has fully weighted scaled hammer action keys and they feel SO MUCH BETTER. I really like the texture on the keys too. Everything felt so much more premium. It costs and weighs quite a bit more than the Roland but I feel it is definitely worth the money. Also, it can run 6-13 hrs on 6 X AA batteries. I didn't like the sound quite as much and I felt the samples were way too short but those are pretty easily fixed. The one thing you can't fix/upgrade on a digital piano are the keys so I think that is where you should spend the money. The short pivot point does make it bit harder to play deep into the keys but it wasn't that bad and with a bit of practice you get use to it.

Full Setup:

Casio CDP-S150: $479.
M-Audio SP2 Sustain Pedal: $25. The included pedals on all these cheaper pianos are hot garbage. Definitely get an upgraded one.
PageFlip: $90. A must have if you use an iPad for all your sheet music. I use my left foot to turn pages with this incredibly handy bluetooth device.
Yamaha UD-BT01 - Wireless MIDI Adapter: $55. This will convert the standard usb midi on the Casio to wireless bluetooth midi to easily work with iOS devices. If you have a newer iOS device then this is must since you will need to use a lightning to headphone jack adapter. Works well with GarageBand and Ravescroft 275.
Piano Stand: $119. Built for this piano model. Pretty sturdy though there is still a little bit of front to back movement. Side to side is very stable. Uses 4 big oversized thumb screws to attach the piano to the stand so it's very easy to remove by hand.
Piano Bench: $45. Cushioned, lots of height adjustments.
ForScore: $15. Amazing iOS app for all your sheet music needs.
Ravenscroft 275: $36 Amazing sounding piano samples.

So to overcome the short samples and sound of the Casio (which really isn't that bad to begin with) I use the Ravenscroft 275 app. It can run in the background. I have an iPad Air 2 connected to the keyboard using the bluetooth midi adapter. Just go into the midi settings in the ravenscroft app and connect to the UD-BT01. Then, make sure you tick the checkbox. If you don't check the device after pairing it won't actually use it. This had me stumped for a while. After that just use a standard stereo 3.5mm cable to connect it from the ipad headphone jack (or lightning adapter) to the aux in on the keyboard. Turn the volume all the way down or change the midi setting on the keyboard so you only hear the sounds from the iPad which is then piped into the keyboard aux in and out the built in speakers. I leave everything at default settings in the app. It sounds really good especially on headphones and the samples are nice and long for much better sustain pedal use. It does occasionally glitch in sound with a bit of crackle but it's very rare. It could be it's because this is a pretty old model of iPad. Overall, it's a very noticeable improvement over the built in keyboard sound. I use around 10% iPad battery for about an hour of practice.

I spent around $760 total for this setup (some things I already had and are also really useful with the real piano). I've done a few long practice sessions with it, and no it's still not the same as a real piano but it's darn close and really quite good for the money. Any practice on this setup will translate very nicely to a real piano.

UPDATE 10/31/2020:

So for the ultimate low latency solution you can go all wired:

a cheap usb sound card like this one. I haven't tested that particular model but I had a logitech one lying around and it worked fine: $8
USB 3 camera adapter: $39
I had this cheap little unpowered usb 2.0 hub sitting around but I'm sure any usb hub would work: $8

So lightning to usb (didn't need to add power. worked fine without). Then the usb hub and finally connect the casio and usb sound card to the hub. Then headphones to the sound card. It all worked great and I was able to use my newer iPhone XS which I'm happy to report produced a clean glitch free sound. I still use my iPad but only for forscore now. It's a little less convenient than the bluetooth midi dongle, and really it's still only one lightning cable you need to plug into your iPhone, but overall I feel the results are worth it: Zero lag and cleaner sound!

Getting to Legend Glory rank and Not Forgotten in Destiny 2 (survival freelance)

2020-10-05T08:40:00.009-06:00

So I just got NF 2 days ago pretty much all freelance.

It was a long road for me. I use to be a fabled person but over the last say 6 months and playing with purpose I slowly raised my glory ceiling every season. 2700-3000, then 4200, and then finally this season I've been bouncing around 5000. This Saturday I fell back down to 4850 and then hit a 7 win streak to end at 5498. It wasn't easy. There were some real close matches at the end there. Several games went to 7 rounds.
Get a feel for the size of the pool of players is. I like it when the pool is larger. If it takes a long time to queue and you keep getting matched with the same players and losing a lot I would call it a night. Saturday afternoons worked well for me (xbox).
I stayed away from PC which is where I usually play PvE. It's just way faster pace, sweatier, and there is always the threat of cheaters.
Get comfortable carrying and having to pull off clutch final 1v1 or 1v2 wins. Get use to playing well under pressure. In solo queue it's going to happen.
I watched a lot of youtube videos and streamers and of course read this subreddit. It helps to some extent but try not to focus too much on just their mechanical skills. Yes, I can sometimes pull off some of those moves but never as fast or smooth. I'm just flat out old at 49 and my reflexes are no where near where they were at 20. Instead I focused on their game sense, map awareness, radar, positioning, always having the right weapon out, etc. These are areas I knew I could make much bigger strides in.
I'll bring up positioning and right weapon out again since I think this is pretty critical. Being able to read the radar and the player and predicting what they are going to do next is huge. When I die it's usually because I expected them to do one thing or be in some spot and they weren't.
Stick close enough to your teammates that you can help with team shooting in a moments notice but not necessarily holding hands. Learning to support your teammates without voice is huge no matter how good or bad they are.
Get comfortable with 2 different loadouts and practice, practice, practice with them. Don't keep cycling through like 20 different weapons. One for close range/aggressive teams and another for bigger maps/more passive teams. After a while you should know which loadout you prefer based on which maps. I pretty much stuck to mostly meta: hunter - suros, felwinter/beloved, hammerhead, stompees, middle tree void, 100 mobility, 80 recovery, 80 int.
Learn to recognize EARLY when you are going to lose a 1v1 and immediately get OUT (slide, dodge, dash). Survivability is key....well in survival.
So with shotgun I really don't ape. I know I don't have the mechanical skills to really pull it off consistently. But I did get good using it defensively. I got pretty good at judging distance, baiting, let apes come to me, backpedal and finishing them off with suros if they were far enough way or quick swap to felwinter to kill them first.
That was key for me. My style is generally defensive. I don't mean passive either. I'll push when I see the advantage but I don't often if ever go for those big montage clip type of plays because I know I would most likely be just throwing my life away or a trade at best. Learn to recognize and pick fights or create situations you know you will win.
I grinded out the last 1000+ points in longer sessions. I like to set limits like ok if I'm down 300 points I'm out for the day or if I've been playing a while and starting to feel a bit fatigued (say 4+ hrs), and I'm on a solid win streak I will say I will keep playing until I lose.
The worst is AFKers and a close second is people who drop. You can kind of work with people who NEVER use their super, don't understand playing life advantage, feed like crazy (love it when you get knocked out after your first death), don't play for heavy, doesn't challenge the overtime capture point, try to 1 v 3 instead of regroup with your respawning teammates, don't sit passively when it's a 1 v 3 (or worse) and you are the last guardian letting 3 enemy team members charge their supers, but man AFKers are the worst in this mode. (The tip here is make sure you are NOT one of those people!)

I know everybody says it but really if I can do it almost anybody can. I'm old and not all that fast, my aim isn't too bad but nothing amazing. My lifetime glory stats are .92 KD and 42.1% win rate. Jump to the current season and I have a 1.10 KD and 55.2% win rate. Nothing amazing but apparently good enough.

Remove Sticky Rubber from electronics

2020-09-15T11:20:00.001-06:00

I hate electronics especially mice covered in that grippy rubber that we all know eventually turns into a sticky mess. Here is how to remove it.
Above pictured is an original Razer Orochi bluetooth gaming mouse. It still works fine but the entire surface was a sticky mess.
You will need:

Some finger/toe brushes. I guess a toothbrush would work too
Goo Gone Adhesive Remover
Baking Soda
Isopropyl Alcohol - I used 70% but I'm sure higher would work fine.
Gloves
Rags, paper towels.

Add just a little water to some baking soda until it has a consistency of toothpaste.
Start with some goo gone. Spray 2-3 times on a folded paper towel. Thoroughly wipe the sticky rubbery surface. Scrub it with the brush vigorously.
Next, dip your brush into the baking soda paste and scrub the surface again.
Finally, wet a folded paper towel with the alcohol and remove all the remaining rubber.
Repeat everything again as many times as need to completely remove all the rubber. Usually twice should be enough.
In the above picture I scrubbed really hard with the alcohol and removed some of the plastic I think but the point is the mouse is nice and smooth now and still works great.
Isopropyl Alcohol can be absorbed through the skin so gloves would be a good idea.

Handheld Game Consoles

2020-09-14T11:22:00.002-06:00

More Photos

I just got nostalgic and decided to get all my handhelds together for a group photo. Most are in great condition with screen protectors and cases so no scratches.
I thought I still had my MicroVision but I'm having issues locating it. I'll update if I find it.

Top row (left to right)

Game Boy
Game Boy Pocket
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance SP
Game Boy Micro

Second Row

Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS Lite
Nintendo DSi
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS XL with Circle Pad Pro

Third Row

Sega Nomad with the battery pack that clips on the back holding 6XAA
Game Gear with the TV tuner adapter, Sega Master System adapter, and magnification lens
PSP
PS Vita

Bottom Row

Nintendo Switch
Game.com

Raspberry pi 4 Laptop / SBC Mobile Workstation

2020-08-27T16:33:00.018-06:00

Lots more photos

https://youtu.be/aoa6KEVt-g8

Goals:

Build a dirt cheap raspberry pi 4 laptop or really just a mobile workstation for any sort of single board computer (SBC).
No permanent modification to any of the parts so it can be easily disassembled and used for other purposes or projects.
Completely battery powered.
Large screen.
Use as many parts as I could that I already had lying around.

Parts:

Raspberry pi 4 - 4gb. I would probably spring for an 8gb if you have the budget. $60. https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Model-2019-Quad-Bluetooth/dp/B07TC2BK1X
Raspberry pi 4 case with fan. $16: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TTMQ4PH
Monitor 15.6" 1080p IPS with stereo speakers. USB-C powered. $110 when bought. First one broke in the first hour. Replacement seems good. I stress tested it for 13 hours. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VFF4TZG
Plastic art supplies box: $12. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PD4I3C
26800mah battery with usb-c pd. I ran it for 2hrs+ and the battery still showed full bars. I haven't fully tested but I'm guessing you would get MANY hours of use with this battery. $40. https://www.amazon.com/Portable-RAVPower-26800mAh-Double-Speed-Recharging/dp/B07793KSV4
700 pairs of adhesive velcro dots. These are handy for many different projects. $11. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V2BYM2/
elastic cord: $9. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V1MPSDZ
M.2 sata enclosure for the 128GB ssd (you can get one for around $20) I pulled from an HP laptop. $14. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MKCG5ZG/
If you prefer to use a 2.5" hard drive this usb to sata cable works great. $8: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0716JKJ68
Logitech K400 Plus keyboard: $25. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014EUQOGK/
Cables: micro hdmi to mini hdmi. usbc to usbc to power the rpi. usb-a to usb-c to power the monitor.
Rotary cutting tool: I already had a Dremel but it was battery powered and the battery was old. I wanted to upgrade to a wired one. This one worked pretty well and the metal cutting disc for wood/plastic worked great on the art box. $34. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FSBY9GV/
Optional drill: make more holes for venting!
Twister OS is really neat and you can easily swap the skin to look like windows 10 or mac os: https://twisteros.com/

Details:

It took forever to find a box the right size. It is 14X9X2 which pretty much fits everything perfectly.
I had already owned everything else on the parts list before starting this project except for the plastic box, monitor, and the dremel. I wanted a new dremel and monitor anyways. So I'd say I dedicated $12 specifically to this project. The monitor makes a nice secondary monitor for a regular laptop or a bigger screen for Nintendo Switch.
It weighs about 5.5 lbs total.
I wanted a large 15.6 screen. Portability was secondary. I'm getting old and small screens are much harder on the eyes for me.
My dremel skills are horrible, and the cuts are really rough. I didn't really care about looks that much.
I cut the corners off the velcro dots so they fit better on the corners of the lid.
Make sure you put the soft side of the dots on the monitor cover (both the side to attach to the box and the inside for the keyboard)
You can open the box with the monitor still attached. Just be careful it doesn't flop backwards hard.
I used elastic cord to keep everything together when moving it around. You could just as easily add some more velcro dots instead.
Cutout on the left for easy access to ethernet and usb ports. Cutout on the right to get to the battery so I can unplug the monitor and rpi 4 to save battery. I had a little usb-c power switch dongle that worked great with an ac adapter but doesn't seem to work with this battery. So I just unplug everything from the battery on the right side when not in use. I can also easily charge the battery through the cutout.
I have 2 dividers attached together with duct tape and cut down half height. I use it to separate the rpi 4 and the battery so I can plug cables into the battery without pushing it into the case. It's half height so cables can still be laid on top.
I routed the cables out and back in the back side of the case for micro hdmi and usb-c power to the rpi 4 to prevent bending the cable so much.
Temps stay under 60c under load.
Lots of room for improvements. I need to find a better way to stabilize the monitor cover hinge. Still, it works pretty well on your lap for the most part.
Typing is a little cumbersome mostly because of how thick it is.
Totally NOT worth building from scratch. You can easily get a real laptop that is a lot more portable and usable for the money.

iPhone 7 plus Mount for Honda Civic Si 2018

2018-05-24T15:23:00.000-06:00

Lots more photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DjdbcNq9LiIXSU2j1

Items used:
Amazon Basics Case for iPhone 7 plus
TechMatte CD Car Mount

That's all you really need for a basic magnetic mount. Use the big square metal plate and put it inside the case. See this post for more info. I didn't think the CAW CAR was needed. It worked just fine with just the TechMatte.

More advanced with wireless charging:
Wireless Charging Receiver Module
Renbon Magnetic Wireless Car Charger Mount

So the nice thing about the wireless car charger mount is it comes with a metal ring that you can mount inside your case around the wireless charging receiver module. It also comes with an optional sticky base mount. So what I did was take the round metal plate from the TechMatte, peal off the back end to expose the adhesive, do the same on the bottom of the Renbon base, and stick the round metal plate to the base. What I've done now is created a nice metal base plate for the Renbon base. Now I just stick the Renbon base to the TechMatte magnetically. NOTHING PERMANENT! Nothing sticking to the car. Easy to remove. Doesn't directly block my vents and covers less of the screen and is nicely in view at a good angle.

So it's techmatte wedged behind the infotainment screen, then the Renbon base has a metal plate stuck to the bottom and is magnetically attached to the techmatte, the renbon charger is then clipped to the base. It works pretty well but there are some things I don't like about it. The whole thing seems to be pretty sturdy and the phone or the mounts won't come flying off even with spirited driving and you can wireless charge while it is mounted BUT the whole thing shakes a bit more than I like. The ball and socket on the Renbon doesn't have enough friction. The Rebon clip sometimes starts to work its way out of the base. Sometimes (but not often) you have to unplug and replug the renbon to get it charging again. It's not easy to gain back access to the lightening port so that means no easy car play. I use an anker wireless charging pad and stand in the house and those work fine with the wireless charging receiver module.

All in all I'm not sure it's worth converting an older iPhone like mine to have wireless charging. It will be much better when I get a new phone later this fall with built in wireless charging. So for now I think just having the techmatte mount is definitely worth getting.

Acuity Pedal Spacer

2018-04-23T09:43:00.006-06:00

Just installed an acuity pedal spacer. I can really tell the difference. It’s so much easier to blip the throttle while braking. Time to get good at this heel toe business. I used position C.

Valentine One (V1) Rear View Mirror Mount

2018-04-14T12:03:00.001-06:00

Upgraded my valentine one to the latest hardware version and picked up this nice rear view mirror mount. I love the v1 hardware trade in and upgrade program. I think this is the third time I’ve done it. I might consider doing a mirror tap but I’m also using the Bluetooth adapter and running the V1Driver app.  The mount has many position adjustments and seems sturdy. I programmed my v1 with these custom sweeps.  

V1 with V1Driver app and waze I can now drive it like I stole it......I’m kidding......sort of.

2018 Honda Civic Si Sedan (modern steel)

2018-03-20T23:36:00.002-06:00

I just picked up a 2018 Civic Si Sedan (modern steel). I'm loving it so far.

My first car out of college was a black 1993 Acura Integra GS manual. It was probably my favorite car. Sadly, I sold it to a co-worker who's daughter then promptly totaled it. From there I moved on to an accord coupe and then a 2007 TL Type-S. I've been driving that for 11 years, and it still runs great. My oldest son just got his driving license so I passed down the TL to him (I know, it's a crazy amount of car for a teenager) so I could find something new to drive. I wanted that feeling I had back with my Integra: a smaller, lighter, more nimble driving experience, and manual. Well, I think I've found it in the Si and is even more fun and exciting than that Integra (though I really think that year of Integra was a great looking car). I did look at the CTR but my wife side "R" stood for Ridiculous which is what she said I looked like in it. I'm fine with the CTR looks but it really is hard to beat the Si value. So much car and economy for a very reasonable price.

I haven't driven a stick in over 20 years. It really is like riding a bike. I'm still working on that rev hang and trying to wait a bit longer on letting up the clutch especially from 1-2 and 2-3 and remembering to blip going down. Manual really is so much more of an engaging driving experience, and I look forward to actually practicing and getting better. I almost went the other direction in getting something really techy with all the assist dodads or electric but I'm super happy with my decision to go with the Si.

I love how practical this sporty compact sedan is. It's got great gas milage, very livable back seats, seats 5, and a nice sized trunk with 40/60 fold down seats. It also has a bunch of standard features like heated seats, moon roof, dual zone auto climate control, apple carplay and android auto, and lanewatch camera. I also added the auto dimming rear view mirror and wireless phone charger.

Carplay works really well and with most of the apps I use like downcast, audible, and spotify. I wish apple would let third party map apps work but alas you are stuck with apple maps which isn't horrible anymore. At least it works really well with carplay. And of course Siri but Siri and I don't get along so well. One thing I didn't realize is for carplay to work you must plug in a lightning cable. Newer versions of iOS does support wireless carplay but apparently few cars do. The only other feature I really miss is homelink.

Phone mounting becomes a bit of an issue since there is no cd player at all and therefore no slot to mount to. The solution I'm thinking about doing is found here. UPDATE: The techmatte alone works really well. I don't think you really need the car.claw since the techmatte has enough angle.

Love Them from Dirty Pair (piano cover)

2018-03-01T12:47:00.003-06:00

From the Dirty Pair Project EDEN movie soundtrack. Composed by Takashi Shôji

Horizon Zero Dawn - Main Theme (piano)

2018-01-19T16:11:00.002-06:00

Easily my favorite game of year!

The Leftovers - Departure (Lullaby) (piano cover)

2018-01-17T12:00:00.001-06:00

Destiny 2 - The Farm (piano cover)

2017-12-12T12:58:00.002-06:00

Destiny 2 - The Farm.
So many great songs in the Destiny 2 soundtrack.

Destiny 2 - Journey (piano cover)

2017-11-30T15:31:00.003-06:00

Such an awesome soundtrack.

Hammerspoon

2017-05-24T16:02:00.000-06:00

So after upgrading to macOS Sierra one of my most critical utilities Karabiner stopped working. I used it to map a bunch of shortcut keys on the mac to be the same as windows. I switch between the two OS's all the time and it drives my muscle memory crazy having to use two different sets of keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately, Karabiner isn't supported under sierra. Karabiner elements doesn't have the features I need like many to many key mappings (mod key combos to different mod key combos). There is a fork that wwwjfy did that solves the one to many mapping but doesn't solve the man to many mappings. In the end I completely ditched karabiner elements and uninstalled it.

In comes Hammerspoon and with a little scripting I think I have it all tweaked the way I like it. My goal was to duplicate this mapping but use Hammerspoon instead:

First thing is to swap the option and command keys (the usual keyboard settings) if you are using an external keyboard. I do this for all external keyboards but leave the apple internal keyboard as default:

Once you install hammerspoon and enable accessibility, choose open config. You should get a blank init.lua file. Just paste the following. Leave off the visual studio section if you don't use visual studio for mac. Then, reload the config.

-- home/end

hs.hotkey.bind({''}, 'home', nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'command'}, 'left')end)

hs.hotkey.bind({"ctrl"}, "home", nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "up")end)

hs.hotkey.bind({""}, "end", nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "right") end)

hs.hotkey.bind({"ctrl"}, "end", nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "down") end)

-- home/end + shift

hs.hotkey.bind('shift','home', nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'shift','cmd'},'left')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('shift','end', nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'shift','cmd'},'right')end)

hs.hotkey.bind({'shift','ctrl'},'home', nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'shift','cmd'},'up')end)

hs.hotkey.bind({'shift','ctrl'},'end', nil, function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'shift','cmd'},'down')end)

-- cut/paste

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','c',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','c')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','v',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','v')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','a',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','a')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','z',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','z')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','x',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','x')end)

--file ops

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','s',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','s')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','o',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','o')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','n',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','n')end)

-- search

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','f',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','f')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','g',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','g')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','r',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','r')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('','F3',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('cmd','g')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','F3',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'shift','cmd'},'g')end)

--visual studio

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','h',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke({'alt','cmd'},'f')end)

hs.hotkey.bind('ctrl','.',nil,function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke('alt','return')end)

UPDATE: 11/30/2017

I no longer use hammerspoon. I highly recommend Better Touch Tool instead. It's well worth the few dollars.

Nintendo Switch

2017-03-04T00:09:00.002-06:00

A few initial thoughts. I've put a few hours in and just finished the Great Plateau area in Zelda.

- Hardware is really nice. It feels like a quality tablet.
- I applied the screen protector that comes with the official case successfully with spot on alignment and no air bubbles or dust. This is the first thing I did after taking it out of the box. Just run the shower to steam up the bathroom slightly and lots of scotch tape and make sure you lift every spec of dust off first.
- You do initial setup in portable mode.
- Setup wifi, apply day 1 patch
- Stuck in a 200gb micro sd card. Patch again. Odd that after inserting an sd card you get prompted for a second system update. Screenshots by default save to sd when there is one.
- Switch sound to surround.
- No way to pair bluetooth headphones. Seriously Nintendo?
- Pro controller is awesome. It feels very similar to the xbox one controller. It's very comfortable, the size is just right, and you get a real d-pad. The price is a bit insane though when you can get an xbox one type-s controller for < $40.
- The frame rate drops in dock mode are noticeable. It doesn't kill the experience but it does become annoying occasionally. I hope they can fix it with a patch.
- Playing in portable mode is ok. The Joycon analog sticks feel very similar to the ps vita. That is it is small, short, with less travel distance. It's better than nothing but not nearly as nice as the sticks on the pro controller. Right analog stick is a bit of a stretch for my thumb. You can't really use your middle fingers for the lower triggers while holding the switch since you need those fingers to support it. So you are left using your index fingers to hit the triggers and bumpers.
- I bought an anker usb-c to usb-a 3.0 cable and it works fine charging while on the go from this battery. It took the battery from 93% to 100% while playing zelda so it had no problems keeping up.
- Motion controls MUST DIE. Good thing you can turn it off in the options.
- Switching between dock and portable mode is completely seamless.
- System updates happen SUPER FAST. Everything feels faster than the clunky wii u.
- Loving Zelda so far: open world that isn't ubisoft or bethesda. It really is refreshing.

The more I play the more I'm impressed. If you approach this as a home console first you might be a bit disappointed. It's not going to be able to compete with my ps4 pro. But if you look at it as the most advanced portable gaming system that also easily hooks up to your TV and has a nice full size pro controller then it really is a nice piece of tech. Being able to game on my 80" for a couple of hours, getting to the last dungeon in the starter area, having the wife come home, then pop the switch out and join her on the couch downstairs and finish off the dungeon.....yeah I see the appeal. Finally we have a portable game system that truly is no compromise with real AAA games errrr.....game so far.

Having the pro controller lets you leave the Joy-Con on the switch where they will charge while in the dock while you play with the pro controller. Then when I go portable I just plug the pro controller into one of the dock usb ports and it charges while I'm playing portable.