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Quoting: pb

Quoting: Liam DaweEven if it isn't yet, there's not much to stop governments forcing ISPs to block IRC servers. We've barely begun to see the effects of all this yet, it's going to expand.

I'll just reconfigure my bouncer tyvm.

Sure, but that's nothing something average people do which this will all affect. Although, as with a lot of these laws, they do end up pushing people to alternatives to find workarounds. It will be a never-ending battle.

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Quoting: Liam DaweEven if it isn't yet, there's not much to stop governments forcing ISPs to block IRC servers. We've barely begun to see the effects of all this yet, it's going to expand.

I'll just reconfigure my bouncer tyvm.

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I love this guy, now watch them implement GLIDE + every D3D version under the sun… 😆

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: pb

Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

Is IRC blocked anywhere?

Even if it isn't yet, there's not much to stop governments forcing ISPs to block IRC servers. We've barely begun to see the effects of all this yet, it's going to expand.

And like every time this happens, VPN / Tor usage goes up, people learn to adapt and overcome. We even have access to mesh networking technology, and could even go back to point-to-point microwave antennas for backhaul (think Ubiquiti AirFibre). Lots of authoritarian countries try to block and censor the internet, with varying (but rarely, if ever total) success.

I'm similarly pessimistic about governments trying to do this, but it honestly just means we have to be ready with those fallback options, and unless they're going to stop selling WiFi cards and Pringles cans to the general public entirely, they can't win. 😉

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I guess the other option alluded to is to run something like nGlide to 'pre convert' that path to OpenGL? I also seem to remember something called dgVoodoo2 [External Link] but it looks like the maintainer there has recently stopped & archived it.

dgVoodoo2 still gets updates, but its author doesn't provide tech support since a few years (no issues or even PRs). It's also proprietary (no source code available). Therefore, the author unarchives the repository, tags a new release then archives the repository again to prevent any new community activity on GitHub, although old issues can still be searched.

dgVoodoo2 also no longer works in WINE since a few years ago, so you need to use an older version (2.81.3 IIRC).

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Quoting: pb

Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

Is IRC blocked anywhere?

Even if it isn't yet, there's not much to stop governments forcing ISPs to block IRC servers. We've barely begun to see the effects of all this yet, it's going to expand.

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Wasn't 6.18 about to be the new LTS kernel?

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Quoting: WMan22This is gonna suck because there is no other platform that is as fully featured as discord is. Trust me, I really looked.

Root App and Stoat Chat (formerly Revolt Chat) are the two that seem most comparable to me. somehow Root App isn't even listed on AlternativeTo (also who is handling UI/design over there, what a mess). Stoat seems like it's having growing pains. just heard of Root for the first time today and it looks like Discord for more seriously structured gaming communities, but I'm guessing you can ignore/avoid/disable those features for a very Discord-like experience. I'll be testing and sharing with my friends this week in case we decide to jump ship away from Discord.

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Quoting: sonic2kkWhat are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)

Element is just the frontend client of Matrix. I don't know if the usage limit is in Element or just the server you chose (Matrix is a federated platform, so anyone can create one kind of like old Battlefield servers) but you can check out the clients here:
https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/
And servers here:
https://servers.joinmatrix.org

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Quoting: KimyrielleYes. Politicians wanted to end anonymity on the internet since it became a thing, because they hate it when they can't control or see what their subjectscitizens do. The "there is too much crime on the internet" argument didn't work at first, so it's now "for the children!!!!"

As a friend of Blåhaj, even if my ID is 'right' (that was a headache and a half...), I certainly wouldn't to share it with *any* American corporation these days. It just sucks to feel like we're being pushed underground, but I guess I'm 'lucky' to have the stereotypical computer-touching neurospice.

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Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

Is IRC blocked anywhere?

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Quoting: sonic2kkWhat are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)

I spun up a NextCloud instance locally for my wife and I, and while we just use it to de-Google things like sharing photos and the grocery list and such, I believe it's meant to be groupware that can do those things. It's just... not trivial to deploy and kind of overkill.

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Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

Anything corporate and open to the public, sure, but an invite-only thing one hosts for their friends and no one else? They can certainly try... 😉

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Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

Yes. Politicians wanted to end anonymity on the internet since it became a thing, because they hate it when they can't control or see what their subjectscitizens do. The "there is too much crime on the internet" argument didn't work at first, so it's now "for the children!!!!"

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Quoting: BrokattI miss my Mumble server. Too bad there is no streaming support.

you can always make a teamspeak server they are still around and the new teamspeak6 client has 1440p 60fps screen share streaming

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What are the options for video calls and multi-participant screenshare (with audio) without usage limits and with support on Linux and Android? I checked out Element but the usage limit is a bit of a turn-off. TeamSpeak 6 looks interesting and seems to have the features mentioned, but wondering what others have to say :-)

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The problem is that Discord wasn't even vaguely private to begin with, and as the biggest general-audience tech platform they have no incentive to resist or even engage responsibly with (see the leaked IDs thing) these anti-privacy laws.

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It doesn't really matter what alternatives there are - anything chat / social media will end up having to use these types of controls. Otherwise, they will end up getting blocked by various governments.

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Ooh, Carmageddon 2? It felt so... 'edgy' for its time, but would probably barely draw attention these days. (Admittedly I was way too young to be playing it - and the first one before it - but my parents didn't mind as long as I kept my grades up, and I did... 😅)

I think the original was pure software rendering, anyway, but by the time 2 came out I think we either had a Voodoo Banshee (slightly nerfed Voodoo 2 plus 2D card built in, no VGA loopback required!) or a Voodoo 3 3000 with this then newfangled 'AGP' interface... (that wasn't compatible with the lower voltage AGP... 2x/4x of the Radeon 9800 Pro that I still have in a 'retro' PC!).

I guess the other option alluded to is to run something like nGlide to 'pre convert' that path to OpenGL? I also seem to remember something called [dgVoodoo2](https://github.com/dege-diosg/dgVoodoo2) but it looks like the maintainer there has recently stopped & archived it.

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Quoting: GoEsrI'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.

Mine is 21 years old, so it can drink! lol

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Quoting: williamjcm

Quoting: ArehandoroMost people will prefer to accept their fate rather than looking to move to platforms like Mattermost or Element.

I've heard a few horror stories about Mattermost, especially from bot developers, and Element is just a client for Matrix, a chat protocol that's so focused on security that they forgot to implement safety features (like banning/muting accounts and servers).

Is Matrix that bad? That's where I was hoping to direct some friends.
They're currently looking at Revolt (or, Stoat, as it's called now). I don't like them, but it's like 1/4th because their only socials are Bluesky/Reddit without a Mastodon, and I see Bluesky as emblematic of "marketable, but questionable big tech alternatives"...

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Verify this, Discord etc.

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Quoting: GoEsrI'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.

I'm only 13yo in steam years. No sakura games for me. :-/

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Quoting: apocalyptech

Quoting: JarmerOMG I love this so much because it will destroy discord. YESSSSSS I ragehate discord so much so anything that takes measures to destroy it is the best thing ever.

Heh, while I don't hate Discord with the same fervor as you, I am certainly not a fan. Perhaps this'll end up encouraging more people to start adopting open platforms for online discussion, over corporate-controlled walled gardens! Though through the cynical eye of historical observation, I think it's more likely that the majority will just grumble about it and acquiesce anyway. Alas!

That's most likely the case. The majority will go along with it and move on. The guy raging is in the minority.

What I'm more worried about is how they are going to ruin discord usability from going public. I'm expecting them to begin shoving ads in anywhere they can into the client and possibly locking features behind a paywall to push people onto Nitro+. I'm expecting BetterDiscord will be C&D'd or blocked in the not-too-distant future. If that happens, then I'm out. It would become unusable for me.

I did the whole rise up and leave the platform in protest thing with Reddit when the blocking third-party apps thing happened and I ended up being one of the very few who actually did it and I regret it all the time.

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A new ASUS Armoury driver to bring more ASUS hardware tweaks directly on Linux.

I've been waiting for this, as a ROG Ally owner who uses rog control center. Though, the Decky Desktop GUI is more relevant there since I started to use Ally Center plugin.

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I'm left wondering when governments will come for Steam accounts. My account is over 18 years old, so maybe they'll implement the same system Nexus Mods did.

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I get to be a teen again, nice!

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Well, guys, maybe take a look at https://stoat.chat/. It is a great alternative for my usage of Discord.

I refuse to give sites my ID. What if it gets leaked? I'm not going to risk identity theft!

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Quoting: williamjcm

Quoting: ArehandoroMost people will prefer to accept their fate rather than looking to move to platforms like Mattermost or Element.

I've heard a few horror stories about Mattermost, especially from bot developers, and Element is just a client for Matrix, a chat protocol that's so focused on security that they forgot to implement safety features (like banning/muting accounts and servers).

Damn, I wasn't aware of this :(

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This is gonna suck because there is no other platform that is as fully featured as discord is. Trust me, I [really looked.](https://alternativeto.net/software/discord-app/) It's always lacking some essential feature that is used regularly, like streaming, embedding youtube videos and file uploads, long term message history, etc.

Sure do hate that so many communities decided they were too good for classic forums and decided to centralize all their valuable information on a non-open internet searchable IRC. There is information about game engine development I can ONLY find on discord.

Wish Valve would hire a team to improve the group chat feature on Steam to give it feature parity with discord.

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