Ixion is a colony-building survival game features a colony ship. As an administrator of a space station Tiqqun, the player is tasked with the survival of the colony on the station and finding the next habitable planet for the humanity. I was introduced to the game as space-comparable of the original Frostpunk, and while I see some merits in the comparison, I must dissent. Ixion is more comparable to Surviving Mars or Surviving the Abyss as a colony-builder, Simcity (2013) as a survival.
Tagged Windows
App to Test Internal Network Bandwidth
As I was upgrading to a new router this week, one of the things I immediately wanted to test was the existing ethernet cables and ports. As reliable as they are, cables and ports are also physical objects with lifespans. If cables running behind the walls are damaged, that’s a major headache; and if one of the cables running between switches is damaged, albeit minor, it’s still a headache to find out which.
How I Tried Leaving 1Password in 2025
I’ve been using password managers for a while, and I believe I started using 1Password beginning with either version 3 or 4. Inevitably when I say I am using 1Password, I’m not just talking about simply using an app; I’m talking about the entire password manager platform. 1Password has gone through series of audits, bug bounties, and survived rounds of security breaches other password managers had to suffer through. I believe, at the very least, we can confirm a good password manager is more than an encrypted spreadsheet full of login infos.
App to Remove Windows 11 Bloatware
Windows needs a lite version. When I’m working with different Linux distros, at least the community comes together to create a lite version, headless version, or a server version, depending on who is the wordsmith in town; we came to terms with the fact such thing is needed. So from where I stand, I find it counterintuitive Microsoft doesn’t do the same while still charging for their proprietary operating system.
How to Fix AirPods Playing One Channel Only on Windows
This problem has plagued me for the past few months. As some of you are aware, I have an Intel Mac, not the latest Apple Silicon hardwares with GPTK or else. This meant that whenever I booted up to Bootcamp Windows, I was facing several challenges. One of them was Bluetooth accessories; I needed to pair them again. My solution to this was to use a Bluetooth audio dongle for USB-C devices. Surprisingly it wasn’t the pairing that I should have worried about.
How to Change Windows Hibernation Behavior
Did you know Windows 11 is shipped with power button replaced with hibernation? If you are starting a computer from cold boot, the computer isn’t starting a boot up process from scratch; in fact, it’s reloading the cache from what was on the previous session.
Microsoft Office, Windows, and Subscriptions
Subscription is the new bane of the internet. It’s been the bane of the modern technology as many users would wail. We are living in a world where some products and services are inherently subscription-based, where it is simply not possible to acquire the said products or services without subscription, say Netflix. But this isn’t about some shows exclusively on Netflix. No, this is about products that were originally sold as one-time-purchase, now in the process of rough transition to subscription model.
Windows 10, Subscription, and Security Update
Microsoft announced that the company will provide a subscription-based security updates, $30/year for “legacy” PCs. It is truly a diabolical plan considering Windows 11 has the infamous TPM requirements, thereby the older PCs simply became obsolete. On Bootcamp side of the business, we are yet to hear from neither of the companies on whether or not Windows 11 will finally be supported on Mac machines. (reminder: although it is possible, officially Bootcamp does not support Windows 11)
How to Troubleshoot Steam Stuck at “Reserving Space”
This is one of the odd balls I found with Steam client. As the client hasn’t seen major improvements since release, apparently it’s a common knowledge Steam has marginal support of exFAT — unreliable even at the best of times. Back in the good ol’ days when I used HDD as the one and only drive for the computer, I probably wouldn’t have experienced it either.
How to Setup Expanded Storage for Steam
Recently I moved the m.2 SSD from a NAS to a Mac. A NAS running on Linux was better served with expanded memory, so I thought to use the SSD to expand the internal storage of my workstation. Upgrading process was straightforward, but there was a problem moving games from Steam Library to the newly expanded storage.
How to Fix Error 173 on Intel Mac Pro dGPU
Of many things Apple Silicon brought, I am still curious whether or not Apple is willing to bring dGPUs into Mac Pro lines of their products. Despite how useful other PCI-based cards may be, most users, at least the ones that are most vocal, express their desire to use more powerful graphics card on Mac Pro, like it used to be.
Native Support, Bootcamp, and GPTK
As much as I appreciate native Mac supports in PC gaming, there is something to be said about the overall quality of the support. Some games are simply not optimized. Its performance is either subpar or some advanced settings are simply unavailable for native versions. Some games run into glitches that are unique only to Mac players. Bugs are bound to happen differently on each platforms, but it becomes problematic when the game chooses not to address it. Some games even drop the ball on cross play and cross progression, in order to release their PC version first.
How to Disable Windows Web Search on Start Menu
For unknown reason, Microsoft can’t stop shipping its OS without more bloatware. Both Mac and Linux can be guilty of the same crime, but I am more surprised that Windows doesn’t have a dedicated ‘lite’ version available for .iso on the website. To reiterate, Windows is shipped with Bing search embedded on the start menu. And there is no on-off switch button.
How to Remove “Today” Grouping from Windows 11 and Windows 10
Today’s special for Windows is weird grouping found in Windows Files Explorer. Microsoft has made a questionable choice here, whereby adding third axis of sort into existing 2D-friendly UI. If you have seen “today” or “yesterday” grouped separately under the regular lists of files, that’s the one we are planning to remove or disable.
Duskers Quicksaver Housekeeping Update
I am yet to finish Duskers, the sci-fi survival game where you must survive using nothing but your drones to scavenge other, hopefully abandoned willfully, ships. General atmosphere of the game resembles much of Alien franchise, where computers so ancient are running probably most sophisticated programs ever written known to mankind.