PlzGivHugs

Often, its asked what the fediverse or lemmy needs more of in terms of content, but are there any specific features or functionality you really feel are lacking?

Personally Im enjoying the War Thunder Halloween event. Its just races with weapons disabled, but its silly fun.

Edit: before buying

After spending the last few days, tinkering and trying to put together an HTPC for my family, I wasn't able to get a smooth enough experience to match even our old, ad-filled, laggy, Roku. In particular, every streaming service I tried needed to be controlled almost exclusively by mouse, as everything has been reduced to electron apps/websites with little-to-no keyboard or controller navigation support. As such, I'm looking for other options, although considering how quickly these platforms change and how outdated a lot of the information available on them is its hard to single out the best options.

In particular, I'm looking to be able to:

• Use Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. Ideally other services too, since we tend to juggle subscriptions.
• Control it with a remote, controller, or similarly simple device
• Be able to cast to it from a phone

Does anyone have much experience with options for this - esspecially if you've tried multiple and can compare?

I'd like to switch from a smart TV to an HTPC, but trying to navigate a standard desktop enviroment regularly with no desk is a royal pain. Is it realistically possible to set up an HTPC that won't require this for regular use? I expect it'd have to be controlled with a game controller, given that there is probably better (or the same) support compared to using a remote, but thats just a guess.

In particular, I'd like to be able to use a few of the larger streaming services, my own video files, and YouTube. Are there apps with controller (or remote) support for these? I'd also like to be able to browse the web when needed, or better yet, be able to cast to the TV from a phone.

For reference of my own skill level, I'm not tech illiterate by any means, I've worked in low-level IT jobs, but when people start talking about recompiling software or that, I tend to start getting lost.

Edit: After extensive testing, it isn't viable. Almost nothing has support for non-mouse control, so I'll have to just get a Roku or something.

It grows into vines a few feet long, not very tangly, that run along the ground and don't seem to climb. It seems to grow in large numbers of smaller vines that don't seem to be connected in the roots.

Its completely blanketing my garden, choking out even other weeds, trying to expand into my lawn, and growing almost as fast as I weed it.

I'm wondering what it is, and/or if there are any particularly good ways of dealing with it. I've been tilling the ground, flipping over the soil (down to roughly a foot) and putting a layer of mulch over it, but Im still having stuff grow back.

Edit: solved: its periwinkle.

I've been trying to find any information on this at all without luck. 3rd party search engines like Google and DDG still don't have much of Lemmy indexed, and the built in search seems to just grab everything whether it matches the search or not. Is there search parameters you can use like Reddit's "title:" or "flair:", or some other way to effectively search?

I'm in a rental right now with a useless landlord, so I'm trying to fix the problem myself (or at least find the cause). My home's central air AC unit is working, but doesn't seem to be working well. There is cool air coming from the vents, but its less than I would expect, and when its 80f/27c outside, its rarely more than a single degree cooler. I'm looking for ideas to track down the problem. In particular, between the landlord's neglect and the last tenant's seemingly willful destruction I expect it'll be something maintenance related.

So far I have checked:

• The unit size relative to the property (its about 2.5 tons for a 2,500 ft² property) which the internet seemed to say was fine. That said, its a bungalow with no attic and high-cielings, so Im not sure if that could have enough effect to account for this.

• Intakes and outlets inside the out aren't blocked by furnature (although what I can see looking into them looks pretty dirty)

• I tried removing the furnace filter (which, from my understanding, is also used by the AC inside the house) temporarily, although didn't notice a significant difference.

• I checked the cooling fins on the unit outside the house for obstructions, but there was little more than a bit of webs

I'm not an expert on these things at all, but is there anything else I can check or try?

Edit: unfortunately there is some condensation and frost on the coil box, so sounds like its a leak. Guess I'm looking at a fight with my landlord.

Are there any good casual/low-stress mobile games that aren't filled with microtransactions? For example: easy puzzle games, match-3 games, low-difficulty adventure games, or clicker-style games.

So far, the only good examples I've found are Monument Valley, Suika Game, and (sort of) Vampire Survivors.

I'm personally looking for games that have more progression or variety, but any suggestions are welcome.