Got the opportunity to plug in and play an XBOX series X, yesterday. Spent several hours with a new Hogwarts Legacy character. I’ve played many dozens of hours on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. I was surprised that there is so much more visual detail and terrain detail, comparing between platforms. I knew the Nintendo port required almost an additional year, but now I know why.

Then I thought I’d check out Minecraft. I bought the stand-alone game because I wanted to ensure that it didn’t fall out of availability from Game Pass.

But then, I wanted to play my Minecraft Realm world. And even though I’ve had a Realm for years and haven’t needed Game Pass to connect from my Nintendo Switch or my Windows PC, I had to subscribe to Game Pass for the ability to connect the XBOX. The option is visible but you can’t use it until the subscription is live. So I do have Game Pass for the moment, but grudgingly. At the base level, I don’t know that I need cloud game play, but 5 hours per month seems ludicrously low.

Maybe Microsoft’s practices are the reason I got my current unit the way I did. The console’s capabilities are impressive, coming from the Nintendo universe, but I don’t know that Microsoft has endeared me the way that Apple and Nintendo have.

I see governments working on data sovereignty. I believe we need personal data sovereignty and, further, we need to ensure our ability to communicate with our communities and loved-ones is also unbreakable.

I’m watching and learning.

I get such a kick out of articles online describing non-Apple products as competitors to Apple products. Once you have had an experience, it’s going to set a bar. It’s going to change how you evaluate additional experiences. You don’t have to like what Apple does, ever. You don’t have to like retail prices. But if you’re comparing products, they are going to influence you.

One of the things I have started logging this year, to help me maintain a connection to the natural, is sunrise, sunset, and daylight hours. I’ve really been amazed at the relative speed of change, day to day. Nothing has changed in the world, but my awareness is now different.

Sony, if no one can own what everyone else can also have, then certainly you have no ownership, either?

I do not believe they are making the argument they think they are making.

Trying out Atomic desktops. Bazzite and Silverblue are pretty easy, coming from Ubuntu and Gnome. I read about the Cosmic desktop environment and have decided to give that a shot. Atomic desktops have forced some relearning of habits, and Cosmic is good but I wouldn’t say I love it, today. I’m not a developer, just a curious person and hobbyist. I support Windows, MacOS and iOS professionally–so I have opinions.

I have made it an imperative to keep myself agile in the sense that I can do most things I like no matter what operating system is in front of me. There are some things inside of the Apple ecosystem that I do prefer every bit as much as I prefer Apple Hardware. But I have to say that being able to run a reasonably secure OS and modern applications on a modern kernel on hardware that isn’t supported any longer from the commercial operating systems is pretty lovely.

Oh, also trying a rolling release: OpenSuse Tumbleweed. I like the speed they incorporate Linux kernel updates. I already have kernel 7.2 running there.

Mind you, I’m not running production services on these personal laptops. Firefox, Edge (for when I have to do something work-related, I can set up and use profiles), Discord, 1Password. All of these have flatpak installs.

I do have a project in mind to migrate my Windows-based Plex server to Linux, but I want to build that in parallel with my current machine so that I’m not down while I bring the new machine up. It’s looking a lot like there are good Linux versions or substitutes for MakeMKV, Handbrake, and ExactAudio Copy. I feel I can support my current habits without major news expenses on equipment or software.

Sitting on the deck tonight. Lights are off. Crickets are singing. Burning down a cigar. Watching the moon change.

It takes a long time for me to work through a very basic planning session due to my motivation, attention span and bringing myself back from tangential research. It’s part of my process but not something I can easily state will only occupy a certain amount of my Sunday.