Be Excellent To Each Other

Yeah, I certainly don't think it's as important as I did a couple of years ago. If Windows 8 had been mega-successful and critically-lauded for its metro interface and Win10 had ditched the desktop altogether then SteamOS would be a much more appealing prospect. But that never happened.

I'm not even sure why that would make a difference? I'm as big a hater of Metro as you'll find but, ultimately, it was just a UI change; you would've still been able to just launch Steam as an app from the Start Screen and then carried on as normal. What people were worried about IIRC was Windows becoming a closed platform with the App Store becoming the only way to get stuff onto your machine (and, presumably, apps that could install other apps like Steam getting the boot). Anything less than that ultimately makes no real difference as far as gaming is concerned.

That's exactly what I was saying.

I agree with Bamba. But not Myp.

New chair time.

Ages and ages ago I remember posting on here about chairs. In the end I went for a cream, almost white leather office chair. I had it for a couple of years and then I moved in with my lady so basically a desk and all that was out. I put my PC in storage for ages, then when we moved into the flat about two years back I brought it over. Sadly the bum foam had gone and I was sitting on plywood (a trait of cheap chairs) and the hydraulic went too so I was constantly getting this sinking feeling. I decided I needed something a little higher in quality and started doing my research. It wasn't long before I found Herman Miller and ended up finding a Sayl in sage green locally. The guy had only owned it for six weeks and I got it for £130, a fraction of the £500 or so new cost. This is what it looks like.



Overall it's been a very good chair to own. The only complaints I have are that it feels kinda small (I've put on weight) but I'm sure it was a size A, which is a bit small for me. Then the armrests split and one of them has began to crumble. I have tried fruitlessly to glue it back but now lumps are falling out of it. Given what I paid I decided it was time for something newer and possibly better. I spent ages looking at the Mirra, Mirra 2 and Aeron but they are all mesh chairs and with me being as clumsy as I am I was worried about ripping the mesh. Once it's gone the chair is useless. I looked around a bit and found some for £360 delivered, a fraction of the £1000 ticket price. However, none of the sellers of the chairs second hand will offer you any warranty at all on the mesh.

So I kept looking and after reading about Humanscale chairs I found one I particularly liked the look of, the Freedom Headrest. A headrest is something I had in my wish list also..



What makes it different is that there are only three adjusters. One for the height, one for the seat itself (it slides to create or remove depth depending on how long your legs are) and then one to slide the back and headrest up and down. What makes it different though is that it acts like a car's suspension when you sit in it and lean back.

They're not cheap either. Prices start at around £600 with no arms and by the time you add in a custom colour and so on they easily match the Aeron for price. However all was not lost, because I found a guy called Barry who owns a company in London. They bring in office chairs and then reupholster them. Most of the Freedom's frame is carbon graphite but they repaint the base, then give you a choice in colour. This was something I did not get with the Sayl and it doesn't really go with our cream/duck egg/seaside colour scheme.

So for £250 delivered and completely recovered I chose this colour



I got a phone call yesterday to tell me that the work was done and it should ship soon. Really looking forward to it

Nice chair. Star Trek-y

Future Warrior, where you streaming from your Macbook with Steam?

I was, but on Windows 10 via Bootcamp.

Did the Mac's screen stay on while you were playing?

*cough*

My main display is my external monitor and I have my Mac in clamshell mode. The TV mirrors what's on my monitor screen, but I just turn it off.

Sorry, missed this. I've only tried Arkham City so far, but the sound seems fine. It did go through some updates though, so maybe that's been fixed?

One thing that is weird is that it says some games are not controller-supported but actually are. Arkham City is one of them.

I was talking about this one the Steam thread the other day, I've had Big Picture Mode flag up a few games as not being controller compatible but they really are. I suspect a lot of games miss 100% controller compatibility by having things like one-off config pop-ups that need KBAM even though all subsequent launches will be fully controller compatible. The problem is Steam still flags even these cases as 'requires heavy use of keyboard and mouse' even when it's bollocks. The Steam store pages have some flexibility in terms of describing games as having partial controller support but that subtlety gets ditched when in BPM it seems.

Yeah, it makes filtering by controller support completely useless.

Want to see a guy review and discuss the Steam Link? BOOM.

I thought it was quite interesting. I won't be getting one but that's cause I've a TV PC which is THA BOMBIZZLE.

I'm sad Sat has me blocked.

Did you post the same video?

Thanks for sharing this. If you need to chat about it, I'm here for you.

No, just that I was a guy who reviewed and discussed my Steam Link earlier this week.

Yeah, but that guy had interesting things to say about using a PS4 controller, init. I didn't know whether you knew as it wasn't mentioned in your review.

Wireless PS4 controllers work natively? That's excellent news.

Y'see? Y'see what I did? I totally, like, PC'ed some hardware, um, news, Steam, link ... stuff.

No, it was useful, I'm just teasing.

Bluetooth innit.

It has occurred to me that if Steam released an in-home streaming app for Android TV, I would be best pleased.

Had my first problem with it last night. I pressed the Xbox button on the pad to turn on the console, there was network activity and the TV turned on and selected the correct input, but the screen was blank. I had to hard reset it.

The cool thing is next time people come round we'll be able to play Gang Beasts on my big telly.

Having watched the video I think I will pass. There's quite a few reasons behind this but mainly the fact that Steam Link is not good in Wifi mode (which tbh I expected). My gaming PC is in the same room as my TV and all it would take for me to directly link it to the TV and make it viable is a 3m HDMI cable and a wireless receiver for my Xbone pad, which even with some rechargeable batteries would work out less.

It's a nice try though I have to admit and a very good price

Guys, NAS question !

Can I use it as an accessible server? So for example if I went away for the weekend and wanted to move data to and fro would that work?

See my step kids shoot video all of the time and have a VLOG. However, we are constantly sending memory cards to and fro for photos and videos etc. Is a NAS accessible from the internet with a login like a web server? and would it offer the full up and down speed of my internet?

I've decided to just chuck a 500gb drive in it and be done I really don't need it to be any bigger than that.

Depending on the type and the software available for it yes you can

OK so I want one that does that.. RMD!

Well I know mine does (https://www.synology.com/en-uk/ ) - although I would think a lot do - normally its off by default (for security) so you cant connect to anything from the 'outside' of your network but you can either run an app to connect or open a port on your firewall.

Fallout NV works really well despite saying it doesn't support a controller. The reason for this is that you need a mouse to click 'Start Game' every single time you load it. So I've plugged a mouse into the Steam Link now. Pretty stupid.

Slight change of direction on the NAS perhaps?

Last week I was round at mum's and the nextdoor neighbour knocked on the door asking me to help with her computer. However, it also happened to be my old Alienware. I sold it to her five years ago now. I ran MBAM on it and it came back with 1300 threats so I did my best to clear them. As I was doing this she mumbled something about her husband getting her a laptop and so on. I said "Could you give me first refusal on the PC" and she agreed. Last night mum phoned to say that basically I could have it as they'd now got a laptop..

So yeah, given this is such a stunning PC (it's still in sublime condition just very dirty) I would like to try using it as a NAS/Server.

IIRC it's got a Phenom 2 940 in it with 4gb DDR2. Here is a shot of it in its hey day.





It's not changed much. I removed most of the Noctua fans and replaced them with cheaper ones but I have an enormous stash of Cougar fans that I want to put in it. This will make it quieter also..

So where do I start? What I want is something I can access on the network via a browser or folder window and something I can access when I am away from the house or to allow my step son to up/download from.

So do I want to use Windows for that? or Linux? or something else? I don't need much help on setting it all up because I can read up if I have to, but just a gentle poke in the right direction would be appreciated

That looks like the least efficient NAS in the history of computers. The whole point of them is that they take up a very small amount of power and space. If you're going down this path just add more drives to your existing PC.

Good point. I am going to underclock/undervolt the CPU massively. Probably run it at around 1.5ghz. Same goes for the ram etc, plus I have a almost new Seasonic platinum PSU. I'm not terribly concerned about the power tbh.

It's the tram!

it is !

I've got the new 2014 model and my wife has the 2009 model so I was thrilled to be getting back the tram

I have not looked at it in forever but

http://www.freenas.org/

I was just reading about that one

Sounds perfect Other sites are recommending to use 8.1 Enterprise because it has something 7 doesn't. I will probably leave 7 on it and try that FreeNAS

'ere, Myp, I've got more questions about Steam Link cause I'm thinking about getting my mate one for Christmas. Ready for the questions - here they are:

Y'know that Steam Link thing you've got? Do you have to hook it up to a pooty or can you just plug it in and play? Only reason I ask is, he had a pooty and then he got rid of it and now he's only got one of them shitty macs like what you got. Anyhoo, if he just plugs it in and it works then he's got a Steam account and can play games and shit init or does it not work like that? I thought it needed a pooty and you're just streaming stuff off your pooter to your telly. Anyway, what if you had a mac like what he's got and what youse got, can he plug it into that and let that just link the Steam Link and the Steam or does Apple not like Steam cause they, like, had a bust up over some woman or other? So yeah, about that Steam Link, mac and Steam Link or what then aye? Fanks.

And if Bamba wants to chip in and be patronising when he's responding I'd bloody love that too. Fanks guys.

The PC is doing all the work, the Stream Link is only displaying content that it sends it. So if his Mac is a wimp then his games are going to run badly.

I apologise for being patronising.

That means "talking down to you", Sat.

Nah, I love it really even if it's directed at me. You're an ace poster!

Anyway, question, so Steam Link doesn't give a shit about Mac or PC it's all good in the hood?

Not quite. Though 'soon' apparently:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... h-macs-yet

Ooh, so it should be alright for Christmas. Sweet.

Bear in mind Grims point though, it's only as useful as the machine that's streaming to it so it does come down to how good his Mac is spec-wise.

Oh, also, there's a much smaller selection of games available for the Mac then there is for Windows so he wouldn't be able to play just anything that's on Steam.

I reckon his Mac is pretty decent. I've ordered it now for him anyway and should be a pretty awesome gift.

Oh. Shit.

Ah well, he can figure it out.

EDIT: I see what you mean. It's funny how you miss things like the apple sign on the shopfront.