Revision 2026 - Compo - PC 64K Intro
2nd place, Squidopus Famelica, a very nice story-driven 64K intro:
And third place - what is it with the Amiga balls ?
Descent by Hork
If 64K is too large, the 8K intros pack more music than a 4K intro.
LIA - Aenigma
I like (watching) live shader programming as a form of interactive programming. These showdowns
aren't that great for displaying the craft IMO because there is no interaction with the music. But obviously
the results still are quite impressive. The live shader programming mildly is what 4K PC intros are
nowadays anyway, except that the 4K PC intros are not created in front of a live audience.
This is my quest to using my Google Pixel 9 Pro Android phone as thin client in a docking station, with GrapheneOS build 2026032001, Android 16.
Using the phone as thin client requires an USB-C 3.x connector with "DP alternate mode" or "HDMI mode" to output a display signal
over the USB-C cable. It also requires a higher quality of USB-C cable that connects all the wires. Some cheap (and not-so-cheap) cables don't connect all the pins and thus will not work.
Experience
With the 2026032001 build, you plug the phone into the docking station, select the display mode to extend the screen to the external display, and it just works. The mouse and keyboard input work anyway,
and the phone asks you whether to connect the screen as a secondary display or to mirror the phone screen to the external display.
Display setup
The mouse cursor can now move between the desktop display and the phone display.
You can even arrange the location of the phone relative to the large screen.
Adding an off-brand magnetic cable connector ("Magsafe") still lets the video
work. I prefer this in situations where I expect to disconnect / reconnect the
phone often. This was a "USB4 40 Gbps USB-C Magnetic Adapter" from
Amazon or AliExpress.
As I wiped my old Samsung S10, I can't really compare the experience with
Samsung Dex, but for mild desktop working, using Android Desktop Mode is OK
as long as you have a mouse and keyboard connected. I couldn't find a way
to make the phone screen act as touchpad for the external screen.
Configuring the DPI for your external screen
My display is a small display with a lot of pixels and I suspect it reports some
ridiculous DPI to Android. On my display, the controls, fonts and buttons were
rather large, crowding out the content. You get a slider in the settings that
changes some display parameter. I pulled the slider for the external display
all to the left, which made the display on the external screen mildly less
grotesque. The phone screen remained as-is, so that setting seems to be
per-display.
The display is a 4K display with 11" diagonal, so the controls and fonts
are rather large:
Weird stuff
Home 4K display is supplied at 1920x1080 , but Android displays everything as
if it were a 1280x800 display. This maybe is due to the display being a 4K 11"
display which I use for videoconferencing.
Launching apps on the home display does not work. It works on the display at
work. Maybe this is also due to the ridiculously low resolution / large icons.
Even with the changed DPI settings, I was unable to properly launch an
application via the task bar on the external screen.
Drawbacks
On my Google Pixel 9 Pro, it makes a difference with one USB-C to USB-C cable
whether it is plugged in upside down. I now have to shop Amazon to find a
trusted Known Good USB-C USB-C cable that supports alternate mode. The USB-C
cable that came with my docking station works in both orientations.
I've ordered a bunch of USB-C cables from Amazon and will try them out,
expecting the cheap ones to fail.
I always thought Teenage Engineering were expensive toys, with their (super
shiny) OP-1 and OP-XY , but the EP-40 series seems comparably cheap at € 400.
Of course, I wouldn't do much more with an EP-40 over an OP-1, but at €400
compared to €1200 , the expense is lower. Not buying either is still cheaper
and my rule of not buying a toy unless I have a concrete plan on when I'm going
to use it and what I'm going to do with it is still a money-saving rule.
I saw Kraftklub 2019 on their "Keine Nacht für Niemand" tour, also in the
Festhalle and came back for their 2026 tour. They are still rocking the house
and are really great as a live performance. The sound is still the same
as on their first albums, but it is a good, pushing sound.
They invested a lot in the stage and lighting. The projections worked well,
especially for a band that does a lot of guitar and non-electronic music.
They lived up to their credo of being a live band and had great interaction
with the audience. Moving into and through the audience two times with
songs that worked really well and other interactions with the audience
also were great.
The pictures were taken from the upper levels, as I feel too old for
going into the pit. Thus I missed out on the band going off-stage
and moving through the audience.
The acoustics in the Festhalle were bad as usual. Understanding the song
texts was hard, but I think it's not easy to work with the echoes in the
hall. But they certainly were not worse than other bands I've seen there.
