I set gfx.wayland.hdr to true and tried opening this video. It says HDR around the cogwheel, but the colors are washed out. With this option disabled the video looks great.

I tried enabling other options, like native_srgb and compositor as suggested online, but no difference.

I have 8BitDo to control my PC remotely. But sometimes I need mouse navigation for browser. In KDE in accessibility settings I can enable mouse navigation with numpad and bind numpad keys to the dpad. But I'll lose regular keyboard navigation this way.

So I wonder if there is a device for remote mouse control that doesn't require surface (like a BT mouse) and somewhat compact.

I wish 8BitDo Micro had the ability to dynamically switch profiles. Then I would just switch between mouse navigation and keyboard.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34012299

Background

For those who don't know, I'm trying to create a FOSS life simulation game — something similar to The Sims.

I haven't posted updates in !projectharmonia@lemmy.ml about the project for a while, only updates to the related crates I maintain. It's just me and my wife didn't have enough motivation to work on it. Mainly because of the overwhelming amount of things we need to make - both assets and code.

Lifesims Are Hard

A life simulation game needs at least one customizable character mesh (which is a huge project on its own), a lot of clothes, animations, textures, and world objects. And coding it isn't easy either — it's basically like making 3 games:

1. Life simulation.
2. Building mode.
3. Character creation. It's probably the smallest part, but still quite complex.

Plus, I'm using Bevy, which is a great engine but still quite immature. This means I have to implement many things myself, even basic features like UI widgets. Some of my work is available as standalone crates: bevy_replicon, bevy_replicon_renet and bevy_enhanced_input. On the bright side, people seem to like them — the input crate is even planned for upstreaming into Bevy. But this also takes time and distracts me from the game.

I guess that's why we don't have many life simulation games — they're quite hard to create even for big companies. For example, Life By You from Paradox got cancelled.

So, is it an impossible task for hobbyists? It would be a shame, because I recently asked which game people would most like to see a FOSS alternative for, and most people voted for The Sims.

A Different Approach

At first, I considered switching to creating a reimplementation that requires the original game assets, like OpenMW or OpenLara. But it's even harder to implement and for me it's not as fun as creating something from scratch. So I continued thinking.

When I created bevy_replicon, it originally used bevy_renet under the hood. But it’s not actively maintained, so after each Bevy release, I had to wait a while for it to be updated. Instead of switching to another messaging library, I decided to abstract the messaging layer completely and move the renet-specific logic into a separate crate called bevy_replicon_renet. I documented the API, and people started creating their own integrations. I decided to embrace this strategy by keeping the crate minimalistic but extensible. Now we have a small ecosystem of crates. I think it's great because more people are getting involved and I have less to maintain.

There also games like Garry's Mod and Luanti (formerly Minetest). They are basically empty by default and players just install mods that add mechanics, objects, story, etc., all made by the community.

All of this got me thinking: why not create a project like this, but in the life simulation genre? From the game menu, players could download character models, clothes, objects, scripts, etc., created by passionate modders. To avoid downloading each mod individually, I could provide mod lists for one‑click installation. This will significantly reduce the scope of the game. Also, I enjoy creating APIs: even when I lost motivation to work on the game itself, I still actively developed the crates. So developing a game like this should be similar.

I even came up with a name — SimGine, short for "simulation engine."

During development, I can test things on free assets wrapping them as mods. For example, I can use character meshes and clothes from the awesome MakeHuman. But this could be anything, even a loader for CCs originally made for The Sims games.

As for the game engine, I still think that Bevy is the right choice:

• It uses ECS, which is perfect for parallel simulation of many entities.
• It's incredebly flexible and modular, kinda in the spirit of the game.
• It's just fun to use for me. When you making a game as a hobby - it's very important, otherwise I'll lose my motivation.

I mentioned that the engine is still immature, but we're getting there. The upcoming 0.17 release will feature hot reloading and finally adds built-in widgets. Plus, the crates I already made are close to feature-completion.

Project Plans

Right now, I'm planning to wait for the release of Bevy 0.17 and, in the meantime, add a few important features to bevy_replicon. After that, I think I'll start working on the game. I'll also start from scratch, since we'll need a different architecture — though I'll borrow some of the old code. And this time, I'll start from the character creator. It's a smaller part, and if I fail with the rest, at least we'll still have a cool app for creating digital avatars 😅

Not looking for any collaborators or mod developers yet — I need to create an MVP first. I expect this will take a quite some time. But I would like to hear your opinions about the idea in general.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33701868

Backstory

I have quite an old LCD monitor and wanted to buy a new one for quite some time. But I was planning to travel and wouldn't be able to bring the monitor with me. Then a friend of mine shared an article with an intriguing title: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses.

I had never heard of AR glasses before. Turns out they're basically a "dumb" monitor with a USB‑C connection, but the image is projected into your eyes, so it looks like it's floating. No additional software is required, and I can take it anywhere with me. So I decided to order one. The same friend later asked me for a review, but I decided to post it here and just share the link - maybe someone else will also find it useful.

Impressions

I went for the Xreal One. They are quite pricy, but I wanted to try something cutting-edge. There's also a Pro version, but according to this review on Reddit and this review on YouTube, it has several drawbacks - mainly reduced sharpness, which is important for coding.

The glasses aren't as comfortable as regular sunglasses — they're a little bit heavier, but I got used to them. They also generate quite a bit of heat on the top part of the frame. It can cause slight discomfort when it touches face, but I've gotten used to wearing them properly to avoid that.

They have three levels of electrochromatic dimming (the lenses physically get darker). On the lowest setting (disabled), it's not fully transparent — more like a sunglasses with a slight dimming. At the maximum level, it's extremely dark; even in a well‑lit room I can't see what's on the edges. With dimming disabled, it looks the coolest — like an actual floating screen with a bit of transparency. But the darkening is useful for a more immersive experience since it removes that transparency. They also have "Auto transparency" option that automatically disables dimming when you turn your head away from the screen. Also, the brighter the room is, the more noticeable the reflection on the bottom of the glasses due to the lens's prism design. It's not an issue with the Pro version, but I didn't find it distracting at all, even in a well-lit room.

The screen is great. From video reviews, I was a bit worried that the colors would look like from a projector, but it's just impossible to capture this properly on camera. In reality, the colors are nice. They also allow you to configure the color temperature, and I found the coldest setting the most comfortable. The picture isn't very sharp — there's a bit of motion blur when I move my head around, and thin red or pink text on a black background looks slightly off. I think it's a limitation of the technology, plus the screen is only 1080p. But it's not as bad as it sounds — I can still use it comfortably for coding.

By default, the screen is 16:9 with 120Hz, but you can switch to 32:9 or 21:9 with 60Hz. I use 16:9 for gaming and 32:9 for productivity — 32:9 is so large, it's like two monitors glued together. I usually keep my browser on one side and something else on the other. I also love playing retro games, and I can say that 4:3 content looks great. Since the screen is OLED, the black pixels don't emit any light, so the letterboxes fully transparent.

However, it's not the same as having an actual ultra‑wide monitor. The screen doesn't fill the entire surface of the glasses — that's what the FOV is about. On my model, it's 50 degrees, which is quite large. But in ultra‑wide mode, I still have to rotate my head to see the other half of the screen. So there's no peripheral vision like there would be on an actual ultra‑wide monitor. Also, other people can't see what you're seeing, even if they're close — which can be both a good and a bad thing.

You can also configure how far the screen appears — anywhere from 1m to 10m — and its size in inches. There are five size levels, and the values depend on the selected distance and whether ultra‑wide mode is enabled. I usually use 1m for productivity and 4m for gaming and multimedia. My preferred size is the "middle" (third) level, which is designed to fit the entire screen without me needing to rotate my head (except when ultra‑wide mode is enabled). For 1m these sizes are 35″ for 16:9 and 64″ for 32:9; at 4m they're 140″ and 255″ respectively. The large screen feels very immersive — it's like being in a cinema.

The glasses also have three view modes:

• Anchor. I can rotate my head freely and The screen stays fixed in space. However, if I walk around, the screen moves with me (which is what 3 DoF means). This is the mode I use most of the time.
• Follow. The screen rotates along with your head. I don't use this mode much.
• Side view. Similar to Follow, but the screen is positioned in the corner. I use it when I'm doing chores and want to watch something. They also have a stabilizer enabled by default, which smooths the screen movement when you move your head.

To use the glasses, you need a USB‑C video output. My motherboard supports it, but to enable it I had to connect my video card to the motherboard via DisplayPort. I never heard about a connection like this before, but it's from my motherboard manual. It does make sense, though — the GPU provides the video output, and the motherboard wouldn't know about it otherwise. Software‑wise, it works out of the box with my KDE Plasma setup on Arch Linux. The only issue I'm noticing is some small visual glitches for the first few seconds after connecting. On PC I use it together with my regular monitor. The mentioned "Auto transparency" pairs nicely with it. However, it's not perfect, since I'm still looking at the second screen through what's basically a pair of light sunglasses. So I usually don't put anything important on it.

As for phones, neither mine nor my wife's supports video output. But from reviews, I think it wouldn't be very convenient to use with a phone anyway. First, the phone's screen has to stay on, otherwise the glasses won't display anything. Second, you can't interact with the phone through the glasses, so you have to look at the phone itself.

But I found a great option to use the glasses with. I have a Retroid Pocket Flip 2 — a pocketable retro console that runs Android and supports video output. Unlike a regular phone, it automatically turns off its built‑in display when a second screen is connected. It also has physical controls, so I don't need to use a touchscreen. The Android UI isn't perfect for a gamepad, but it works. Streaming to it also works great because, even though the screen is disabled, the touch input still works — so it basically becomes a touchpad. Since the device is a clamshell, I sometimes use an 8BitDo Micro as an input device to avoid opening it, which is especially convenient for quickly pausing videos. This gamepad can also act as a keyboard via a special switch on it, so it works nicely when I stream from my PC too.

I also have a Steam Deck, but there's not much to add — it just works without any issue.

The glasses also have built-in speakers. I like their design: you don't put anything inside your ears — the speakers are integrated into the frame near where your ears are, so they kind of "whisper" to you. Others can hear them only at high volume. This affects the sound quality, so music doesn't sound as good as on quality headphones, but I think it's a worthy compromise. And it's still possible to wear regular headphones with the glasses.

They also have a shortcut button on the frame. I assigned screen off on regular press and ultra-wide mode on hold.

The firmware is proprietary, but it doesn't use the internet. And what I liked is that updates are installed through a web browser. However, it has to be a Chromium‑based browser on Windows or Mac. Luckily, I have a dual‑boot, so I rebooted to update the firmware. The update added support for 16:9, so it looks like it's not just for bug fixes.

The glasses can be equipped with prescription lenses, but I wear contact lenses and those work as well.

They also have a camera add‑on called Xreal Eye. It's a small camera that unlocks 6 DoF tracking and can also take photos and record videos. The media is stored directly on the glasses, which have 2GB of space, and can later be transferred to a phone or PC over a cable. I haven't bought it yet, but I'm considering it since I'm interested in having 6 DoF.

Conclusion

I love these glasses, it's easily my favorite portable option. It's a huge screen I can take anywhere with me. I don't mind that it's only 1080p, none of my portable devices can fully handle 4k anyway.

Since they are better then my current monitor, I use them with my PC too. But I don't think it's a proper replacement. If you don't need portability, regular screen will be better and cheaper.

Backstory

I have quite an old LCD monitor and wanted to buy a new one for quite some time. But I was planning to travel and wouldn't be able to bring the monitor with me. Then a friend of mine shared an article with an intriguing title: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses.

I had never heard of AR glasses before. Turns out they're basically a "dumb" monitor with a USB‑C connection, but the image is projected into your eyes, so it looks like it's floating. No additional software is required, and I can take it anywhere with me. So I decided to order one. The same friend later asked me for a review, but I decided to post it here and just share the link - maybe someone else will also find it useful.

Impressions

I went for the Xreal One. They are quite pricy, but I wanted to try something cutting-edge. There's also a Pro version, but according to this review on Reddit and this review on YouTube, it has several drawbacks - mainly reduced sharpness, which is important for coding.

The glasses aren't as comfortable as regular sunglasses — they're a little bit heavier, but I got used to them. They also generate quite a bit of heat on the top part of the frame. It can cause slight discomfort when it touches face, but I've gotten used to wearing them properly to avoid that. I can wear them for quite a long time, but I wouldn't use them for 100% of my screen time.

They have three levels of electrochromatic dimming (the lenses physically get darker). On the lowest setting (disabled), it's not fully transparent — more like a sunglasses with a slight dimming. At the maximum level, it's extremely dark; even in a well‑lit room I can't see what's on the edges. With dimming disabled, it looks the coolest — like an actual floating screen with a bit of transparency. But the darkening is useful for a more immersive experience since it removes that transparency. They also have "Auto transparency" option that automatically disables dimming when you turn your head away from the screen. Also, the brighter the room is, the more noticeable the reflection on the bottom of the glasses due to the lens's prism design. It's not an issue with the Pro version, but I didn't find it distracting at all, even in a well-lit room.

The screen is great. From video reviews, I was a bit worried that the colors would look like from a projector, but it's just impossible to capture this properly on camera. In reality, the colors are nice. They also allow you to configure the color temperature, and I found the coldest setting the most comfortable. The picture isn't very sharp — there's a bit of motion blur when I move my head around, and thin red or pink text on a black background looks slightly off. I think it's a limitation of the technology, plus the screen is only 1080p. But it's not as bad as it sounds — I can still use it comfortably for coding.

By default, the screen is 16:9 with 120Hz, but you can switch to 32:9 or 21:9 with 60Hz. I use 16:9 for gaming and 32:9 for productivity — 32:9 is so large, it's like two monitors glued together. I usually keep my browser on one side and something else on the other. I also love playing retro games, and I can say that 4:3 content looks great. Since the screen is OLED, the black pixels don't emit any light, so the letterboxes fully transparent.

However, it's not the same as having an actual ultra‑wide monitor. The screen doesn't fill the entire surface of the glasses — that's what the FOV is about. On my model, it's 50 degrees, which is quite large. But in ultra‑wide mode, I still have to rotate my head to see the other half of the screen. So there's no peripheral vision like there would be on an actual ultra‑wide monitor. Also, other people can't see what you're seeing, even if they're close — which can be both a good and a bad thing.

You can also configure how far the screen appears — anywhere from 1m to 10m — and its size in inches. There are five size levels, and the values depend on the selected distance and whether ultra‑wide mode is enabled. I usually use 1m for productivity and 4m for gaming and multimedia. My preferred size is the "middle" (third) level, which is designed to fit the entire screen without me needing to rotate my head (except when ultra‑wide mode is enabled). For 1m these sizes are 35″ for 16:9 and 64″ for 32:9; at 4m they're 140″ and 255″ respectively. The large screen feels very immersive — it's like being in a cinema.

The glasses also have three view modes:

• Anchor. I can rotate my head freely and The screen stays fixed in space. However, if I walk around, the screen moves with me (which is what 3 DoF means). This is the mode I use most of the time.
• Follow. The screen rotates along with your head. I don't use this mode much.
• Side view. Similar to Follow, but the screen is positioned in the corner. I use it when I'm doing chores and want to watch something. They also have a stabilizer enabled by default, which smooths the screen movement when you move your head.

To use the glasses, you need a USB‑C video output. My motherboard supports it, but to enable it I had to connect my video card to the motherboard via DisplayPort. I never heard about a connection like this before, but it's from my motherboard manual. It does make sense, though — the GPU provides the video output, and the motherboard wouldn't know about it otherwise. Software‑wise, it works out of the box with my KDE Plasma setup on Arch Linux. The only issue I'm noticing is some small visual glitches for the first few seconds after connecting. On PC I use it together with my regular monitor. The mentioned "Auto transparency" pairs nicely with it. However, it's not perfect, since I'm still looking at the second screen through what's basically a pair of light sunglasses. So I usually don't put anything important on it.

As for phones, neither mine nor my wife's supports video output. But from reviews, I think it wouldn't be very convenient to use with a phone anyway. First, the phone's screen has to stay on, otherwise the glasses won't display anything. Second, you can't interact with the phone through the glasses, so you have to look at the phone itself.

But I found a great option to use the glasses with. I have a Retroid Pocket Flip 2 — a pocketable retro console that runs Android and supports video output. Unlike a regular phone, it automatically turns off its built‑in display when a second screen is connected. It also has physical controls, so I don't need to use a touchscreen. The Android UI isn't perfect for a gamepad, but it works. Streaming to it also works great because, even though the screen is disabled, the touch input still works — so it basically becomes a touchpad. Since the device is a clamshell, I sometimes use an 8BitDo Micro as an input device to avoid opening it, which is especially convenient for quickly pausing videos. This gamepad can also act as a keyboard via a special switch on it, so it works nicely when I stream from my PC too.

I also have a Steam Deck, but there's not much to add — it just works without any issue.

The glasses also have built-in speakers. I like their design: you don't put anything inside your ears — the speakers are integrated into the frame near where your ears are, so they kind of "whisper" to you. Others can hear them only at high volume. This affects the sound quality, so music doesn't sound as good as on quality headphones, but I think it's a worthy compromise. And it's still possible to wear regular headphones with the glasses.

They also have a shortcut button on the frame. I assigned screen off on regular press and ultra-wide mode on hold.

The firmware is proprietary, but it doesn't use the internet. And what I liked is that updates are installed through a web browser. However, it has to be a Chromium‑based browser on Windows or Mac. Luckily, I have a dual‑boot, so I rebooted to update the firmware. The update added support for 16:9, so it looks like it's not just for bug fixes.

The glasses can be equipped with prescription lenses, but I wear contact lenses and those work as well.

They also have a camera add‑on called Xreal Eye. It's a small camera that unlocks 6 DoF tracking and can also take photos and record videos. The media is stored directly on the glasses, which have 2GB of space, and can later be transferred to a phone or PC over a cable. I haven't bought it yet, but I'm considering it since I'm interested in having 6 DoF.

Conclusion

I love these glasses, it's easily my favorite portable option. It's a huge screen I can take anywhere with me and put where I want. I don't mind that it's only 1080p, none of my portable devices can fully handle 4k anyway.

Since they are better then my current monitor, I use them with my PC too. But I don't think it's a proper replacement. If you don't need portability, regular screen will be better and cheaper.

I'm considering buying a robot vacuum cleaner, but I'm not a fan of the idea that it would scan my apartment and send data to the cloud.

I came across the Valetudo project, and it looks promising. It doesn’t replace the firmware - just replaces the cloud connection with local automation systems instead. Has anyone here used it? Or are you using something else for local control? I'd love to hear your experience 🙂

It's a pretty popular romhack for Super Mario World that was released in 2021. I recently discovered that the dev made a full walkthrough with commentary about a year ago. It was really interesting for me to watch :) Link to the hack.

Received the new screen and want to share my impressions about the device.

New screen

For those unaware of the screen drama, I'd suggest to read this article first.

Once Retroid announced they will send free new screen replacements, I immediately filled a request for one. They prioritized US citizens due to upcoming tarifs, so I had to quite some time until they shipped mine.

It arrived in a Retroid Pocket 5 box - looks like they just reused existing packaging. I saw some people on Discord got theirs in a Retroid Pocket Mini box instead. The package includes a full black shell, since that's the only color they offer. So, owners of other colors now have a black RP Mini with different button colors 😄

But honestly, black is the best color for this device. Combined with the OLED screen, it makes the letterboxing practically invisible, which is perfect for retro gaming.

The replacement process was easy for me. I just followed their official video. It's not very optimal, though. Sticks and fan disassembly is completely unnecessary, you can skip those. I also occasionally checked this disassembly stream recording.

The screen has rounded edges, but I actually like it. The taller screen (31:27) makes Android interface less painful.

But most importantly, it plays nicely with most retro games. In RetroArch I enabled Integer Scale and set Integer Scale Scaling to Smart. This way games will use overscale, but fallbacks to underscale if when the image is cropped too much. Retro games was designed with overscan in mind, so no important content is cut, the image occupies maximum possible space and everything is pixel perfect. I usually don't enable integer scaling on high resolution screens like this, but it works great for this specific device.

No surprise, GB, GBC and Pico8 looks great. They won't take fullscreen with integer scaling, but it's very close.

But the best systems to play for me are actually SNES and NES! They were played on 4:3, but their actual aspect ration is close to a square. So for SNES9x core I set the aspect ratio to Uncorrected and for Mesen (NES) I set it to No Stretching. I know they were developed with 4:3 in mind, but this way they occupy the entire screen and look pixel perfect!

Systems like Dreamcast and PS1 look exactly the same, I don't have to turn integer scaling off, they take all horizontal space.

In Dolphin, widescreen hacks work well with the taller screen, so you can fill the entire display. However, I usually play Dolphin on my Steam Deck, since the Android version doesn't support RetroAchievements.

PS2 widescreen hacks don't work well with this screen, but it still looks fine in 4:3 - identical to how it looked before the screen swap, except with now properly aligned pixels.

PSP isn't a great fit for this device, but thanks to the OLED and black color, the letterboxing is barely noticeable. I've seen some people stretch the image, but I'm not a fan of that.

Device

Here's what I like about it:

1. Great battery life when using Android. I usually leave a game running, and it barely drains any battery while idle. This makes it easy to earn RetroAchievements in hardcode mode.
2. Pocketable. The sticks protrude a bit, but I found it pretty comfortable to carry in my jacket.
3. The stock OS is fairly clean, though I do wish I could install LineageOS.
4. It can run mainline Linux.
5. Powerful enough to handle all my favorite games.
6. Ergonomic. I can play for hours without my hands hurting.
7. And now it also has a great screen.

However, I would't recommend this device. Here is why:

1. ABXY buttons feel awfull. It's hard to explain, but I simply don't like pressing them. Even swapping to more quite PSX-style buttons from Etsy didn't help. I think it's because of the membrane and glass front. Controls are very important for me.
2. Glass front looks nice, but it's marky. Also dirt easily accumulates on edges on edges and its hard to remove it. I prefer to keep my devices clean.

I ordered the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 after asking for a screen replacement, and somehow they managed to deliver it earlier. But I'm enjoying it much more - it's more pocketable, has a bigger screen, and avoids the drawbacks of the Mini. And it's only $20 more.

After reading this article, I started thinking about buying AR glasses. Could anyone share their experience with them? Also, does anyone here own AR glasses and wear contact lenses? I know it's possible to add prescription lenses to such glasses, but it would be inconvenient to remove my contacts every time I want to use AR glasses.

This Mario hack is so cool! The story is inspired by the Bowsette meme, and by the end, you even get to make a choice 🙂

The level design is excellent. I really appreciate small details - like coins that guide you where to fall, or how all the dragon coins are placed either before or after the checkpoint.

The difficulty is similar to the original game. Some of the Special World levels were pretty tough, but the hack has an adaptive difficulty system: coin blocks sometimes turn into power-up blocks if you have 5 lives or fewer. If you're down to your last life, the level even adds a few Starman power-up blocks!

There are also a bunch of quality-of-life improvements. I especially loved the removal of the timer and the fact that falling into a pit doesn't immediately result in a game over.

And the soundtrack is absolute banger. Most of the songs are well-known hits ported into SNES. Here is the link to the playlist.

And here is the link to the hack.

What’s your favorite SMW hack? 🙂