Honkai: Star Rail Main Character at Maximum

 It hasn't been a year but here is version 2.0 now and my main character is at maximum.  That took a while, especially since I didn't use any real money.  Am I the only one?  Probably, that is the case.  Still, the main character on the other account needs more Eidolons to be complete, but I'll take one complete over none.

Update 2024.02.14: Both accounts are at maximum, as well.

Update 2024.04.24: On the account where my main character is at maximum, I also have Yukong and Dan Heng at maximum.  They don't have all of the Eidolons, so they could go higher in the future.  I'm almost afraid to do a warp, in case I get another character to take to level 80.

I'm still working on my other account's main character, which is on the path of Preservation.  With Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae, who is much more powerful, I'm trying to balance progress on all characters.  I want my main character to be more powerful, but he doesn't always seem that powerful.

Update 2024.05.05: It's been a year since I started Honkai: Star Rail.  Given my trouble learning Genshin Impact, I didn't think at the start of Honkai: Star Rail that I'd have much progress, let alone, have all of my characters at level 80 and have my accounts at maximum.  I'm still struggling with Genshin Impact, although those accounts are at level 42 and the main characters are at the maximum level but it still feels as though I'm just out of the tutorial stage.

I'm still waiting for the Year of Linux

 Back around 2005, I got my parents x86 machine because my adoptive dad was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and wasn't really coherent enough to handle a computer.

I'd been experimenting with BeOS on my PowerPC 604e-based Mac Clone from Power Computing.  The Power Center 120 was fairly powerful but at some point, I bought the upgrade processor card, which was quite an enhancement.  Still Mac OS 8.5 was slow.  BeOS certainly showed me how good it could be.  However, BeOS was lacking almost everything except an internet connection.  Mac OS X was coming along but wasn't quite finished.

When I got the x86 machine, it was running some version of Windows that wasn't very reliable.  Having run Windows NT at work and finding it only somewhat more reliable, I decided to replace Windows at home with Ubuntu Linux or FreeBSD.

After trying multiple times to install FreeBSD and having 90% success and not being able to fix it, I installed the Ubuntu distribution of Linux.  It was a more user-oriented version atop the Debian distribution.

It was sufficient.

About the time I became familiar with GNOME, they introduced Unity, which was their own User Interface.  It was better, and worse.

However, people kept shouting "This is the Year of Linux!" and I kept wondering how they were going to get grandma and grandpa onto machines running Linux, if I was taking time finding out how to use it.

A lot of time has passed and a lot of releases have been released and macOS is past X and both Macs and Windows machines are running 64-bit operating systems.

There is also a handheld Linux-based machine called Steam Deck.  You can regularly find machines running Linux and buy them easily, if you know where to look.  If you want to count them, anything running ChromeOS is a Linux-based machine.

 

I spent some time with KDE on Steam Deck after adding a keyboard and mouse.  It's quite comfortable, although I didn't do much.  Things are better, if you get the best desktop environment for you.

I always thought that a simple machine for e-mail and web browsing would help grandparents deal with family.  Why isn't there a self-contained family machine or perhaps, recycled machines re-purposed for that?  The only reason I need Windows or macOS is so that I can run specific software.

Certainly, Linux is better for everything than it used to be.  Valve's work on Proton and funding of related software has assured that gaming on Linux is the best it has ever been.  SteamOS in handheld mode and desktop mode is quite good at running games.

I've been looking at converting my mid-2012 MacBook Pro with GeForce 650M to a Linux distribution, but I can't decide which.  I considered Kubuntu and Arch.  Kubuntu will probably be easier to install, but will it accept the Nvidia driver for my 650M?  Arch is used for SteamOS but will it be easy to install for Mac?  SteamOS itself has too many requirements for newer equipment that it won't work.

I'm currently looking at an article on Gaming on Linux that Linux is in second place on Steam, above macOS.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that macOS users on Steam are playing less.  Those paying for Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), found that their game had been removed and all the money they spent was just gone.  There was a download to Counter Strike 2, without an executable.  All of the Valve games that introduced Steam to Mac users were 32-bit, so no more Half-Life 2, Portal, or Portal 2.  Yes, Mac users are not playing on Steam as much.  Linux is doing better.

I really hope that there will be more than Steam Deck pushing Linux distributions forward.

Update 2024.02.27: I've been in Steam Deck desktop mode today.  Like a successful operating system, the Discover application presented me with software updates to be installed.  I didn't have to fight with anything.  I clicked "Update All" and everything was fine.

I also wanted to download the Heroic Games Launcher for Linux.  That was a bit more tricky.  I downloaded the wrong version at first and it asked how to open it.  My first thought was to find "tar" and use that, but it didn't seem to be that kind of archive.  Then, I was reading the page and noticed "and Steam Deck", and that one ended up showing up in Discover, and the installation was easy from there.

There is a new Linux-based gaming device like Steam Deck, the Orange Pi Neo that runs Manjaro Linux Gaming Edition with an AMD 7840U.  That's more powerful than Steam Deck and hopefully, better organized than the ASUS ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go devices running Windows.  Ayaneo started to do something similar and then, installed Windows instead.

Update 2024.10.05: Arch Linux is going to be collaborating with Valve.  This is an important step, not just for Steam Deck but for Arch Linux users in general.  With so many distributions and a few attempting to be "the game distribution", this may show everyone the way.

We need easy-to-use alternatives.  I can live without Windows, except for gaming maybe, but I can't give up my Mac just yet.

I'm glad to see that AMD has posted a new timeline for Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go APUs.  Hopefully, a graphically stronger Steam Deck will be available in 2025.