Dos_Box

Well, I went for that and it arrived yesterday. It's a very good controller and has played well on various emulated platforms so far. It's just a shame it isn't (currently) natively Xbox compatible, which is strange as the wireless dongle that comes in the box appears as an Xbox controller receiver in device manager. I may have a play later to see if I can't make it work in some way. Also confusing (and of course I didn't read the setup instructions!) is that you have to select in the controller interface if you are using Bluetooth or the supplied dongle. You also have to select between PC, Android and Switch in the menu to connect between platforms. I have to give particular credit to the A-B-X-Y buttons, which now use mouse button switches. They feel amazing!

I'm not a very crafty person and every time I covered a new book it looked like a very badly wrapper present.

I remember making book covers out of wallpaper!

Yes, that's the method I was using. It just didn't want to connect at all. It would see it, but would never pair. By all accounts Windows 10 would do it natively without fuss, but something had changed in Windows 11. I may give it another try now that I've got all of the awkward parts of setting up the PC out of the way.

I'm a big fan of shmups, but with bullet hell now a feature in a large chunk of offerings I find myself going back to a couple of very good shooters from a Polish game house called Infinite Dreams. They made two Sky Force games, Sky Fore Reloaded and Sky Force Anniversary. Both are very solid shooters with a great game mechanic to ease you in. I'm also playing a lot of Wii U and Switch games, and lets face it, Nintendo are the masters of single payer gameplay these days. I really do have to get back into Minecraft too! I've been away from there far too long.

I do have PS1/2/3 controllers, but they are getting on a bit now, and I don't mind spending a bit extra for the better features and components and build quality. Out of all the console controllers I have (far, far too many), I still prefer the Wii U pro controller over all the others. It's just a shame about the Windows 11 connectivity issues.

Well, I can say one thing. None of these appeared on the Amazon lists (most popular, highest reviewed etc.), so it really does pay to ask those who know 😊

I do like the look of the Mamba One. May have to check out some reviews of it.

I've been getting quite a bit us use out of my emulator PC since it started to live under my living room TV, but one thing that is annoying me now. I've been using my Xbox Series X controller with it, but it is not quite suited to various platforms, and, TBH, feels very awkward in regards to button\controller feedback and overall 'feel'. I would have preferred to use my Wii U Pro Controller, but Windows 11 has issues with this and I can't get it to connect or (with the use of a third party program to force the drivers and controller to work correctly). Can anyone recommend a third party controller I could use? Ideally it should follow the modern controller layout and be wireless. I have taken a look on the Amazon best sellers, but am very cautions of these, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just a bit of a thread necro, but I've been running my B580 for just over a month now and am very happy with it. I decided to go for the Acer Nitro B580. It's a bit of a budget option @£229, but more than does for me. I mainly play older games and it really does make them sing, especially as they have been working very hard with the drivers (always nice to see) and they have just recently got rid of the overhead when using older CPU's (think Ryzen 2600 era). So if you do need a GPU upgrade, but don't want to spend a fortune, I would definitely recommend you give the B580 a looking at.

Beech's Fine Chocolate here in Preston has had to close due to the international price of cocoa going through the roof 😞 A real shame as they did some very, very good chocolate. https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2025/09/prestons-beechs-fine-chocolates-closes-after-125-year-of-trading/

Bit of a thread resurrection, but I am looking at this case now, but will probably wait until Black Friday to see if I can get a better deal on it. What I do need is a recommendation for a decent Bluetooth adaptor as the Ugreen one I bought - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CJXVM1JJ does not have the range I'd like. It says 'long range' on the ad, but unless you sit in a certain way facing the pc (the dongle is mounted on the front) it can sometimes cut out. So if anyone knows of a Bluetooth dongle\card that has a good range, then please let em know. I'm also in the market for a decent wireless controller. I'm currently using an Xbox Series X controller, and it just feels clunky and not very responsive, and it's really hard to get my Wii U Pro Controller to connect to Windows 11 now. Any recommendations greatly received. Oh, and I upped the graphics by putting my old RX580 in there. This setup emulates everything like a beast. Not bad for a load of leftover components!

I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who attended EDIT 2025 on Friday. It was a great day for everyone and we'd just like to give a huge thanks to SalamanderSoft for sponsoring the conference, LGfL for organising the evening social and EntrySign for providing the event check in machine. And a special thanks to all the event staff at the National Space Centre for ensuring the day ran smoothly and looking after us We should be back to our May slot next year, and we shall be asking you for venue\location ideas once BETT is out of the way at the end of Jan.

If any of you are at the hotel now, then we are all in the Heathley Park, sat at the very far end of the pub!

It's casual, come in whatever is comfortable...within reason! 😄

We know there are more than a few of you turning up for the conf tomorrow night, if you want to let us know what time you will be arriving, we'll meet you in the Heathley Park for a pre-conf catch-up ZeroHour and I should be there by 6pm.

Added, along with some more! The final EDIT information article which also has the parking permit attached (as well as on here) can be found on our homepage - www.edugeek.net

As an addendum, it came back on again after I posted my last. It eventually went off when I removed the sensor cover and replaced it. No idea at all what happened there!

Now I have (almost) all of the information from our speakers for the EduGeek EDIT 2025. I think it best I give you all some information for next week. There will be a more through article going up soon including a list of all the exhibitors at the conference (ParentPay have just confirmed) and other details: Speakers: Salamandersoft: Keynote Schools Broadband: “The Rise of the Alt Nets” (This is an updated to the popular talk they gave at EDIT a few years back) Smoothwall: “AI Can’t Solve Safeguarding: Why the Future of Digital Monitoring is Still Human” Kyocera (with partner Redstor): “Backup Strategies for Hybrid Environments and Setting Realistic Recovery Expectations” Nellcote: "Securing The Digital Classroom" Travel: If you are coming by car, you have free car parking for the day if you use the pass we shall be sending out to your registered email address. We shall also be posting them up on the site for those who book late. After conf social: London Grid for Learning have very kindly sponsored the after conf social at the Heathley Park (Groby Road, LE3 9QE). This is due to start around 18:30 and all are welcome, so please come and join us for some great company, chat and networking. There are not a lot of tickets left, so if you do wish to attend, you can book your free space here - https://edugeek.me/to/edit25tickets and if you do have any questions about the day, then please feel free to post them up below. See you there 😊

Well, I went up in the attic, and it was indeed working (like I couldn't get it to do). I tried tripping the house mains just to put it in an off state, which worked for about 45 seconds before it sprang back to life. What seemed to work was my opening the cover on the sensor which is on my sons old bedroom ceiling, which made it switch off. Before it came back on again. I then managed to set the speed to minimum, which didn't seem to make a difference to the fan speed. It has (just) now gone off though. I did find an installation sticker whilst I was in the loft though and it says it was installed in 2004.

Well, this is weird, the PIV unit in my attic, which hasn't worked since I moved in 8 years ago has suddenly fired up. I have no idea how to turn it off!

RIP Robert. 89 Is a pretty good innings, as well as leaving us with a raft of legendary films. Always loved him as Major Julian Cook in A Bridge Too Far. Awaits someone posting up a pic of him as Sundance!

I do like G-Shocks, but only the 'traditional' models, the new versions with dials and a gazillion LED windows are very off-putting IMO. I've always tried to avoid 'fashion' watches and usually buy one new watch per year, but for some reason this year have been putting it off, although, this Baltany, based on the Omega Constellation Pie-Pan from the 50's and 60's, and pretty much an upscaled direct copy, has my eye - https://baltany.co.uk/product/classic-pie-pan-vintage-watch/ It is currently about £280, although should go down to about £220 on the next AliExpress sale. It has a high-beat Miyota movement, sapphire glass and looks amazing!

They've been doing it ever since I started in education, over 25 years ago now. I blame The Matrix! It was quite innocent back then though, NT4.0 systems with Win 98 clients were never going to be secure...ever, but as has been mentioned earlier, the kids were doing it more so out of curiosity, and especially back then, the awareness of how much damage this could do and the trouble they could get in was still not at the forefront of youngsters minds. In fact many kids, as said before, would tell you about what they had found so you could fix the problem. When I started in my first school, I was rather shocked to find one of the brighter pupils had an admin account! I soon put a stop to that. TBH, he was rather smart and went off to uni to study computer science.

A bit like Kiwi shoe polish, which was withdrawn from UK\EU markets a year or so back. I think that keep it quiet so there is no consumer backlash. I used to use T-Gel occasionally (my glasses arms irritate the skin at the back of my ears and it helped greatly).