EDID is a Bitch

      No Comments on EDID is a Bitch

EDID AdapterSetting up my Steam Deck turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  Not because of my deck.  That was easy and while it’s meant to be a handheld device.  I really want to be able to also use it on my TV while at home.  I soon learned of the challenges of simply connecting it to a TV isn’t so straight forward.

Because the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) of my deck wasn’t recognized by the Samsung TV I have.  The TV is a 2020 Smart UHD model.

I knew I’d have to limit the frame-rate of my Steam Deck to 60.  That was a given.  But I was only able to get the TV to recognize it twice and as soon as I’d turn the TV off, the information was lost.  It wasn’t easy to realize that it was a communication of something I’ve never had an issue with before.  So not knowing much about the issue, I spent hours searching the web for people with the same issue and how they fixed it.

Side Note: Have you ever noticed that doing internet searches are far less useful than they used to be?  You search for something and you’ll find a plethora of other people asking the same question but no answers.  Or you get results that are completely unrelated to what you are searching for but somehow are related to the latest media nonsense?  I digress…

After changing my search query multiple times and weeding through endless pages of useless results I finally got educated on EDID and how you sometimes need to fake the info in order for your device to be recognized.  In short you need an EDID Adapter.

I bought the recommended device from Amazon and a few days later it arrived and now my deck works like a champ on my TV.  Though I have been thinking I might want a new TV.  My 55″ looks small in comparison to my living-room.  Might splurge on a holiday deal and pickup a 65″ TV.

I work a lot.  So my time with my Steam Deck has been very limited.  Plus it seems I can’t have a day off without someone needing my attention.  I was hoping living alone would alleviate this nonsense and I could enjoy some solitude.  I mean after working 50+ hours a week, it would be nice to relax in my own home.

I’m excited to see what I can do with a Steam Deck.  I have successfully installed all my favorite games, just haven’t spent much time playing on it.  Also I need to write up how to install World of Warcraft on a Steam Deck.  The videos I found where convoluted at best.  There’s a seriously easier way.

Please Share:
Shortlink:

My Top 5 Favorite Guitarists

      No Comments on My Top 5 Favorite Guitarists

Top 5 Favorite GuitaristsAs I said before, I don’t follow trends.  I make my own way and my own rules.  I’m not like many others in this world and choose my friends carefully.  Same goes with my heroes.  Today I’m going to share my top five favorite guitarists.

First let me say I’m so happy the ‘Guitar Solo’ died.  I love an electric guitar, but a screeching twang solo was never my idea of goodness.  Especially the 20 minutes solos of the 60’s and 70’s.

Alex Lifeson – Sure Alex has a lot of guitar solos.  Once upon a time I enjoyed them and others.  But over the years solos just became noise to me.  But when it comes to unique sound and catchy riffs.  Alex Lifeson produced some of the most iconic in the history of Rock.  I can hear 2 seconds of his guitar and know it’s a Rush song.

Roy Clark – I have to say, Mr. Clark to me, was Eddie Van Halen of his time.  Even right into his old age, this man could shred with the best.  I’ll never know why when there is a best guitarist list, I almost never see him on it.  There’s no denying that Roy Clark was one of the absolute greatest guitarists.  And damn he’s funny!

Phil Collen – Not to belittle Steve Clark who was also a phenomenal guitarist, but Phil turned Def Leppard into what it is today.  His tone and licks were some of the best in Rock History.  Still one of my most favorite bands today.

Eddie Van Halen – I feel like I’m just regurgitating the same verbiage everyone does when it comes to Eddie.  No denying he was at the top of his game.  It’s a shame his time was cut short and so many years wasted on silly band issues.  There’s so much more he could’ve done before he passed.

Ted Nugent – I’ll never know why Uncle Ted can’t get more love in this world.  He’s a world renowned guitarist and a true blue patriot.  Yet when top guitarist lists come out, he’s rarely on one.  To me the lists are biased.  Ted’s riffs and techniques are freaking flawless.

Please Share:
Shortlink:

New Blog – Geeks Den Dot Me

      No Comments on New Blog – Geeks Den Dot Me

I decided I still want to talk about my life.  But some of it’s not geeky or tech filled.  So I launched a new blog.  Geeks Den Dot Me.  OR gden.me for short.

I’ll be talking about my successes and my failures in life.  Moving all my non-geeky things from this blog to that one and crossing links so that all folks can enjoy either side of me 😊

Geeks Den Dot Me

Please Share:
Shortlink:

My Top 5 Favorite Drummers

      No Comments on My Top 5 Favorite Drummers

Top 5 Favorite DrummersI don’t follow trends.  I make my own way and my own rules.  I’m not like many others in this world and choose my friends carefully.  Same goes with my heroes.  Today I’m going to share my top five favorite drummers.

Dave Grohl – Dave is the drummer I wish I could be most of the time.  Though I’m more into pop-punk than I am other genres.  His playing style is ultimately cool.

Meg White – I know that this is an unpopular choice for so many.  But if you watch her play when the White Stripes were at the top of their game, she looked like she was in a state of euphoria.  I’ll be honest, her drumming made the music what it was.  I’d take her place in a heartbeat if I could.  To be in a highly successful band with a unique sound is precisely what I aspire to be.  I don’t want to be the next Dave Grohl or Neil Peart.  I want what makes me special.

Buddy Rich – My opinion.  Greatest Jazz Drummer Ever.  All drummers can learn and be inspired by Buddy.

Travis Barker – While my son would disagree, I find Travis a complete inspiration.  I only wish I had his discipline and vision.  The moment I heard the the intro to After Midnight I was completely hooked on his style.  The more I listened, the more I wanted to hear.

Rick Allen – This is a man I truly admire.  Not only is he part of a band I still consider one of my absolute favorites.  He overcome having losing his arm and still fills stadiums to this day!

All of these drummers I wish I could meet and pick their brains.

Please Share:
Shortlink:

My First Console

      No Comments on My First Console

Steam DeckTry as I might have in the past.  When it comes to gaming; I just could never get into using a controller.  I’ve always been a Keyboard and Mouse man.  I’ve predominantly used a Microsoft Windows based computer for the majority of my life.  I’ve since experienced the freedom of using Linux as my 99.9% only daily use Operating System.  Including gaming!!  I couldn’t be happier 😁

Then I got hit with a double hernia surgery.  Stuck sitting in comfortable chairs and not my office chair.  I got a hair-brained idea.  Since I now use Steam to play games on my desktop PC, I figured I could build a console from a mini gaming PC that I had laying around from my server setup.  This way I can sit in my comfy living-room chair and play games on my TV (pictured below).

So I created my own Steam Deck console using a mini gaming PC.  Picked up an Xbox controller.  Hoping that I could game while on my 2 weeks plus recovery from surgery.

Home Made Steam Deck

Home Made Steam Deck

Sadly my homemade steam deck failed.  I tired with both my mini PC’s I had.  The first box booted fine, but when installing large files.  They seemed to become corrupt large.  Likely due to a bad SSD controller.  The drive itself tested fine.

The second box, the blue tooth goes spastic turning on and off rapidly.  Hence the controller wouldn’t stay connected.  I could’ve just used a keyboard and mouse wirelessly, but that would’ve mean being uncomfortable while my body heals.

Also with both of them having problems, it proves the Mini PCs I bought on Amazon are junk.  No wonder they were so cheap.  Ah well, still might have some use.  But only had the CPU integrated graphics anyway.  AMD Ryzen 7 5700U

When I used keyboard and mouse to test the games, they actually played decent.  But only at medium settings.  If I’m gonna only have that, may as well use my desktop.

Looking into the cost of building a decent box is the same as buying the 1TB Steam Deck OLED itself.  So I’ve decided to order one after I return to work.  Just would’ve been cool to pull it off before my recovery.  If it wasn’t for the blue tooth controller, I think I could’ve.

Let’s see if I take to playing my favorite games using a controller in the next couple of months!

Please Share:
Shortlink:

My Tattoo

      No Comments on My Tattoo

TattooI have been stuck at home for the past 6 days.  Which is going to be just over 2 weeks.  Thanks to needing to have 2 hernia repaired.  I had hoped to return to work in 10 days, but it’s gonna push to 17.  Still in a lot of pain and can’t do a lot without causing issues.

The other day I had explained the origin of my tattoo to an old friend.  I only have 1 tattoo.  I’ve often thought of getting a Bugs Bunny holding drumsticks as a second tattoo as well as a third that says “Trust is Earned”.  But so far I just have the one and it’s fading 😕

But I chose my tattoo well.  It’s based on a clan of Vampires from The Masquerade game.  Called the Toreador.  Of which my character in the game was associated.  I played when I was in my 20’s.  I customized it from there.

Black for the cold and dead I feel inside. The pedals of my shattered heart. The thorns to keep people at arms length. The blood is I’m still alive but not completely healed and may never be.

Please Share:
Shortlink:

Series Endings

      No Comments on Series Endings

That's All FolksI don’t know what everyone else has experienced.  But I swear that every single TV series I actually make it to the end of, ends horrible or silly.  I’m not talking abruptly canceled shows.  But shows that ran their course and knew they were going to end.  Then either the story was butchered by the writers, the writers got super lazy or ended on such a down note that it makes re-watching the series depressing knowing how it all ends.

My mere opinions of course.

The shows I find with horrible series endings are:

Angel – Lazy writer’s ending.  Just place all the remaining characters in a sure fire losing battle.  Then go black.  No knowing if it’s a happy ending or not.  But just leaves you thinking that you wasted a lot of time just to feel empty.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer –  Lazy writer’s ending, but not as bad as Angel.  Every woman is now a slayer.  Yay.  So I guess the it goes from excitement to evil is doomed.  The end.

Game of Thrones – Everyone knows what happened there.  Holy shit was a last season.  Murder spree followed by what the f*ck final choices for the future 😳

Merlin – Great show.  Loved it until the last episode.  Time goes by and Merlin is just walking down the road and a truck passes him.  I have no idea what kind of artsy bull-pucky that was supposed to give me.

Peaky Blinders – I had so hoped someone could’ve had a happy ending.  Instead it was a clock strike and he mutters something about peace and walks away.  Huh?

The Originals – All that stuff of fighting for family and it ends in them just ceasing to exist.

The Sopranos – This one I sort of get, but for once can’t a gangster get a happy ending?

Just makes me not want to get invested in another series.  I have yet to finish Lucifer for fear it will just end poorly.  I haven’t looked up the episode info as the show ended a time ago.  I’ll get around to it I’m sure.

Please Share:
Shortlink:

Starting Over

      No Comments on Starting Over

power buttonWelcome to Geeks Den!  Previously My Linux Life.  Having made the complete move from Windows and Mac to Linux only, my life has never been better!  I love it!  Gaming is actually better in many cases.  But I’m not good at a focused content site.  I ran out of things to say.  So I’m rebuilding again for my new site.

Geeks Den will include my love of Linux, Privacy, Tech, Gaming, Music and much more!  Stay tuned!

Please Share:
Shortlink: