'No Stupid Questions' (NSQ) Internet & Technology Edition

Anyone have any earbud recommendations for the following requirements:
Sony still makes some decent wired headsets that I think will fit what you're looking for. You can find them at most Wal-Marts and Office Supply Stores and they generally run $10-$20.

I have a set of MDRZX310AP Sony Headphones that I love to death. Those ones aren't earbuds, but they make similar sets that are.

I want to ask you guys about soldering.
Man, I'm going to be honest with you. I've recapped a few old game consoles, soldered some new wires to old controllers, installed a few mod chips, wired new IPS screens to a few handhelds, that kind of thing and I've never used anything fancier than a $10 ali express special that lets you set the temperature. I think you're overthinking it. As long as you have a good tip and lots of flux you'll be OK.

Also FYI the expensive ones at the hardware store are generally more for automotive work.
 
Last edited:
Man, I'm going to be honest with you. I've recapped a few old game consoles, soldered some new wires to old controllers, installed a few mod chips, wired new IPS screens to a few handhelds, that kind of thing and I've never used anything fancier than a $10 ali express special that lets you set the temperature. I think you're overthinking it. As long as you have a good tip and lots of flux you'll be OK.

Also FYI the expensive ones are the hardware store are generally more for automotive work.
just my 10 cents in but people learning to solder are advised to practice on dead eletronics you can find on recycling centers, once you get your motor skills good for decent soldering jobs then you will be able to do it with the standard chink solderset you can find (some might even include wick and flux too), you will feel the need on flux rather than the other parts once you get good enough, i don't even solder that much but i used a generic iron for a few RGB strips on my cabinet because the fucking thing is too dark.

i mean you also need to make sure you aren't fucking shit up when soldering, some people train and end up wasting more solder than flux because they didn't look at the tin percentage... practice makes perfect to a degree but knowledge helps practicing better.
 
So since AI and reddit have ruined google searching for diagnosis I have no idea what is going on. So far only happening once the pc will start up but will not display anything to the monitor (yes it is plugged into the gpu) at the same time while playing video games the game will visually freeze up but audio will continue to play (for example, the radio keeps playing in cyberpunk as normal despite visually freezing) I am able to alt tab and open things like task manager, but clicking to close the program does not close it, it continues to be stuck in its frozen state. I have rolled back drivers to an earlier version for the nvidia card (5060) and the issue persists. This particular goybox is running windows 11, does this issue sound like something that could be coming from the shitty os? I got the pc on a deal right before AI killed the market so I really hope it is not a component failure as I really do not want to spend money on expensive pc replacement parts when all this machine does is play video games the once a month I feel like playing one.
 
@JimJams1998 Task manager probably indicates what the issue is. Low on memory? High disk usage? CPU Usage? You need to find somewhere to start digging.
It doesn't sound like a GPU issue.
Memory usage and CPU usage appears to be fine, although task manager does tend to freeze when the issue occurs. It could be a bottleneck issue as it only seems to occur with a few programs, ARMA 3 just ran fine for 2 hours without crash or stutter. It also could have been that I rolled the drivers even further back to a more stable version than simply going back one iteration like I did previously. The weird black screen issue only occurred at start up once so far (hopefully) and was fixed by hard booting the pc.
 
So since AI and reddit have ruined google searching for diagnosis I have no idea what is going on. So far only happening once the pc will start up but will not display anything to the monitor (yes it is plugged into the gpu) at the same time while playing video games the game will visually freeze up but audio will continue to play (for example, the radio keeps playing in cyberpunk as normal despite visually freezing) I am able to alt tab and open things like task manager, but clicking to close the program does not close it, it continues to be stuck in its frozen state. I have rolled back drivers to an earlier version for the nvidia card (5060) and the issue persists. This particular goybox is running windows 11, does this issue sound like something that could be coming from the shitty os? I got the pc on a deal right before AI killed the market so I really hope it is not a component failure as I really do not want to spend money on expensive pc replacement parts when all this machine does is play video games the once a month I feel like playing one.
jeetindows is putting programs to hibernation it seems, look at the task manager and if t here is a leaf next to the process then that's what's happening and you need to check the power management on windows to stop it from being so aggressive to a point of putting high-demanding apps to hibernation.

yes, even PC Desktop windows has fucking power saving options like it's some fucking notebook.
 
Seem to be in stock in EU but double the price (seems like tax and shipping are in the price).
Did some research on pinecil v2. It can take T12 soldering tips but will short it out and destroy it. You need to get this thing so it doesn't blow up. Pinecil specific tips have a collar to prevent this. Also regular T12 tips are about the same or more expensive than the pinecil ones.
Attached the part file just in case.
 

Attachments

@JimJams1998
If you have an HDD, check the disk usage as well.
You can try disabling sysmain which is a service that tries to load frequently used stuff into memory but can sometimes do this poorly and cause problems. High disk usage out of nowhere is a symptom but you can try disabling it as a test and if it doesn't solve anything, re-enable it.
 
USB-C soldering iron would be my go to. Tbh I should buy one as my gun shaped one is a pos.
Man, I'm going to be honest with you. I've recapped a few old game consoles, soldered some new wires to old controllers, installed a few mod chips, wired new IPS screens to a few handhelds, that kind of thing and I've never used anything fancier than a $10 ali express special that lets you set the temperature. I think you're overthinking it. As long as you have a good tip and lots of flux you'll be OK.

Also FYI the expensive ones at the hardware store are generally more for automotive work.
I like the Pinecil v2 as my 2nd iron, after my proper Hakko. About US $30 for the iron and $30 for the fine tip set.
You know what? Fuck it. I'm gonna go with what you mad lads suggest and get a USB-C soldering iron, specifically the Pinecil V2.

On other forums discussing soldering, the Pinecil V2 has a bad reputation for being too expensive and not being as good as other soldering irons that are cheaper, but I reckon that's the sort of considerations that are afforded only for those who know their shit, which I don't. While I'm not gonna pay exorbitant amounts of money for a soldering iron made for professionals in their workshop, I find the price point for the Pinecil V2 to be acceptable. The guy on the YouTube-channel SDG Electronics doesn't like it very much, but again, he's a professional whose standards and needs are probably way above mine.

As good ol' @Never Scored said, I'm probably overthinking it. I tend to do that when I invest in something that I consider to cost a pretty penny, in which case I certainly want to get the most bang for my buck.

As long as it does a good enough job, and I don't get electrocuted, I'm good.

Thanks for the feedback, you guys!
 
What is this shit and why does it never completes the "verification"?

Screenshot.jpg

I'm just trying to watch a damn movie!
 
Sorry for being the dumb but I genuinely don’t know where else to go with this question. Well other than reddit but I’m not a faggot so that just leaves here.

Anyway, I recently got the urge to revisit an iOS game that I loved as a child. Sadly it was removed from the App Store however I managed to find it on itch.io. Unfortunately, it requires flash and that has been gone for a while. I got the SWF (I think that’s what it is, I know it has those letters but I’m posting this while taking a dump so I can’t check) file and while I was able to get it working somewhat with ruffle, I can’t progress. I can press start but that’s it.

I really loved this game and I’d love to play it more. I’m not sure if I just wasted a couple of bucks on the SWF file or if there’s a way to play it. I heard that ruffle might not work properly when you have to open it in a new tab which is what I had to do, however I tried loading the SWF file into ruffle rather than the redirect but nothing so maybe it’s a duffle problem. Idk, I’m just so disappointed because I only just remembered the name of the game a half an hour ago.

TLDR: Please explain to a retard how to play flash games in 2026.
 
Sorry for being the dumb but I genuinely don’t know where else to go with this question. Well other than reddit but I’m not a faggot so that just leaves here.

Anyway, I recently got the urge to revisit an iOS game that I loved as a child. Sadly it was removed from the App Store however I managed to find it on itch.io. Unfortunately, it requires flash and that has been gone for a while. I got the SWF (I think that’s what it is, I know it has those letters but I’m posting this while taking a dump so I can’t check) file and while I was able to get it working somewhat with ruffle, I can’t progress. I can press start but that’s it.

I really loved this game and I’d love to play it more. I’m not sure if I just wasted a couple of bucks on the SWF file or if there’s a way to play it. I heard that ruffle might not work properly when you have to open it in a new tab which is what I had to do, however I tried loading the SWF file into ruffle rather than the redirect but nothing so maybe it’s a duffle problem. Idk, I’m just so disappointed because I only just remembered the name of the game a half an hour ago.

TLDR: Please explain to a retard how to play flash games in 2026.
What all was in the game files? Just the SWF? (that is the right file extension btw, u got that right). A lot of times flash games expect to be launched in a web page and trying to launch them outside of that context can cause issues. I wonder if it would be possible to add it into Flashpoint or something to take advantage of their ecosystem.
 
You can check to see if it is already in the Flashpoint Database. If it is, just install it and play it through there. Otherwise you may be able to add it to Flashpoint from what I'm reading.
It's not on the database. How would I add it? Also I did not develop it, I just like purchased it. I don't want to do a piracy.
What all was in the game files? Just the SWF? (that is the right file extension btw, u got that right). A lot of times flash games expect to be launched in a web page and trying to launch them outside of that context can cause issues. I wonder if it would be possible to add it into Flashpoint or something to take advantage of their ecosystem.
SWF, a music folder, and a fx folder.
 
It's not on the database. How would I add it? Also I did not develop it, I just like purchased it. I don't want to do a piracy.
Their main suggested way of bringing games into their ecosystem is by submitting them to be “curated” aka downloaded and redistributed via their system. It seems like there must be a way to add files locally, but it may involve some dodgy stuff like editing databases directly. Hmm
SWF, a music folder, and a fx folder.
What was the intended way to play it? Did the author expect you to host it on your own website or play it locally? Strange. Out of curiosity, what game are you trying to play?
 
If I'm in the wrong place, my apologies.
Can anyone recommend a good VPN to me? My current one's yearly subscription is up next month and I'm interested in finding something else because I currently use Nord, replacing it for obvious reasons.
I am in the US, and I would need one that works with a 5 year old android phone, my desktop is busted to shit, so this is all I have. I have the Nord app so I can use it for as much as humanly possibly without having to fuss with it too often.
If it's a subscription based service, I would prefer to pay a yearly rate, and one that isn't too expensive, I have a tight budget. Privacy and data security is obviously a must, defeats the point of a VPN without that.
I am not the most tech savvy person in the world, but I'm not completely tech illiterate, if that matters.
Please bestow your wisdom upon me.
Thanks in advance, TechKiwis.
 
Back
Top Bottom