I run 16 Bit Virtual Studios. You can find more reviews from me on YouTube youtube.com/@16bitvirtual or other social media @16bitvirtual, and we sell our 3D Printed stuff on 16bitstore.com

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  • 154 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • For me, Windows 11 mandatory account, and Internet on setup. Yes there are bypasses, yes I could upgrade from 10. But where I’m from, having the internet isn’t always a given.

    So imagine dropping $500-$1000 on a new laptop booting it up for the first time, and learning that its now a brick since Windows refuses to let you use it since you have no internet. No Pro license can unbork you from this.

    Even MacOS isn’t that dumb (for now).

    The account thing is a personal beef I have with windows. I.e. my PC my account, why does it need to be online, I have no reason for it.

    So my plan was to migrate to FOSS or proper cross platform software for work, see if Linux works, and if it doesn’t move to MacOS. So far Linux Mint has been stable.




  • This is how switched, though I’d recommend properly platform agnostic software (Windows, Mac, and Linux support) since if you don’t find Linux proper works for your workflow, you could switch to a Mac.

    Another thing which helped me was switching my Laptop first before my Desktop since if I had problems (which I did) I could loose my laptop and not worry about data loss.

    As of now, I am 2 year with Linux on my laptop and 6 months on my desktop with no noticeable difference between my Windows experience and Linux.




  • This ^

    Use to sell on eBay for years, and remember a time when we shipped a Scuzzy drive to Australia only to find ourselves in eBay court. Thankfully we kept receipts and won. But as a seller you need to be extremely cautious with what you list.

    I don’t like eBay but for other reasons like 3d printed model resellers who rip models and pictures from thingiverse and sells it like its theres. Even if the model is under a noncommercial license.




  • I like giving the seller the benefit of the doubt, not everyone can be on their a game everyday.

    Honestly while eBay was a nuisance it understandable why it’s set up this way. I was on the other side of this where we shipped a thing and the buyer claimed it never arrived. Which we later proved it did. And considering how rare or hard to find some items are it’s a good service.

    That said I support local sellers in my area before I check eBay. Then eBay but local to my country, the international if the price is right.





  • I have a Poco X3 Pro running custom android. Running a phone with custom Android is the only way I can run the OS now. I have a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4x which has finally given up the ghost that started with Android 6 and I can install Android 14. What killed it was the screen delaminating from the digitizer probably because of battery swelling.

    With that being said, I know my next phone is probably going to be an iPhone. Unlocking phones these days is not as easy as it use to be, and many of my issues of iOS of the past are gone. The only thing I am waiting on is that third party app store support.




  • I’m going to be honest. I am of the opinion that I don’t want MacOS on my iPad. iPadOS when I didn’t have a keyboard attached made sense and worked great. But it’s missing core functionality.

    If I was to associate it with Linux. The Desktop Environment of iPadOS is excellent and I don’t want it to change. But it’s missing key features in the kernel or missing key drivers which would make it a better experience.


  • I thought I mentioned it. But I had a Logitech Combo Touch Keyboard case for this, and you are correct a Keyboard + Touchpad combo is absolutely needed for a comfortable experience.

    I’ve only reverted back for long typing sessions, my hand craps are only just going away now. I need a more sturdy keyboard accessory and I don’t think they exists. And since the case is already falling apart, I’ll probably just make my own replacement with what I can salvage from here. Need to make a 3D Printable friction hinge that doesn’t break and is thin. I have a long list of things I want to do first.




  • For me, Retro gaming has always been the budget option. And outside of a few rare example where the value of the game was about to sky rocket (see Pokemon XD), I usually wait for the price to make sense to me.

    For me that price is between $5 and $30 depending on the game, system, and how good that game is.

    When I see Cars for the PS2 for $3.99 at a thrift store, I’m not going to say no. But $300 for the SNES version of Chrono Trigger, and the sellers, and the idiots influencers that buy from them, are out to lunch.

    For these games with hyper inflated price points like Chrono Trigger, or Conkers Bad Furday, what I usually look at is re-releases or ROM collections. For a game like Conkers, you can literally buy an Xbox One and Rare Replay for less than what the cart is selling for. If you get lucky you might even get OEM controllers.

    With most retro games outside of license titles getting remakes, and re-releases you should look at remakes before the original. You can probably build a sizable retro game library from the various ROM collections on steam alone. But if you want to play on the original hardware, I do advocate for Piracy of Hyper Inflated games like Pokemon Emerald. Especially since those scalped prices are not going back to the developers who made it, and Nintendo appears to have no desire to ever re-release them. So in my books they are as good as abandon ware, and one foot in the door to the public domain.