Random Tech Questions you want answered.

I've got a 2+ year old 5-port Anker, all type A with 2 Qualcom quickcharge ports which is what my now 'old' phone (Galaxy S9+) uses even via the OEM charger.

What I'm wondering is if anyone uses something like this charging station (first result when searching at Amazon) or has something that helps make things look better as our area is about 5 feet from the front door and in plain sight. Mounting to the back of the furniture probably will not work, either.

I have a couple of these that work really well. They don’t super-fast charge, but I use them mostly for overnight storage/charging. I’ve had no issues over the years that I’ve had them. I’ve only had my kids break the dividers on one but otherwise they’ve lasted. This specific model is currently unavailable but the same brand has others of varying sizes.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I've got a 2+ year old 5-port Anker, all type A with 2 Qualcom quickcharge ports which is what my now 'old' phone (Galaxy S9+) uses even via the OEM charger.

I use something similar, not sure of the model, and the 4 cables I need run through a hole in the desk so you only see the cables popping up.

PaladinTom wrote:
EvilHomer3k wrote:

Whenever I change my mouse settings on one computer, all the computers I am logged in to my windows account change as well. I have one PC I want to swap mouse buttons but only on that computer. Windows is being "helpful" by changing it on all my computers. Is there a way to set that for just one computer? All my searches find ways to change basic settings.

Maybe try and disable syncing settings...
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/sync-wi...

Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Do other people have a device charging station at home where they can plug in thing sand keep all their cables in one place? I've got a fairly rudimentary one with a 5 port charger and a basket on a shelf below, but at least it consolidates things.

Any recommendation on a holder for devices / the charger?

You might be looking for something like this. I have no idea on the quality, this came up in my Google feed on my phone a few days ago. I do not own or use it, therefore I do not endorse it.

Well, if NSMike likes it!

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I've got a 2+ year old 5-port Anker, all type A with 2 Qualcom quickcharge ports which is what my now 'old' phone (Galaxy S9+) uses even via the OEM charger.

What I'm wondering is if anyone uses something like this charging station (first result when searching at Amazon) or has something that helps make things look better as our area is about 5 feet from the front door and in plain sight. Mounting to the back of the furniture probably will not work, either.

Hm, I've got several Anker 4 and 5-port chargers in strategic locations, but the cables are everywhere. I didn't even know stands like that were a thing, going to have to look into them now.

I suspect, but am not 100% certain, that my video card may be dying. What's a good way to verify this suspicion that doesn't involve swapping in a spare? Something like a memchk for video cards?

I have an old stereo (philips mx3900D) and a new TV with only a optical digital audio out. I'm trying to figure out how to connect the two but i'm not sure what will work. I'm wondering if something like This will work BC i have a digital input in on the stereo even though it looks like a normal RCA connection.

FiveIron wrote:

I have an old stereo (philips mx3900D) and a new TV with only a optical digital audio out. I'm trying to figure out how to connect the two but i'm not sure what will work. I'm wondering if something like This will work BC i have a digital input in on the stereo even though it looks like a normal RCA connection.

That specific cable won't work for your usecase because it's optical on both ends. What you need is something in between that converts the toslink optical cable to a coaxial connection like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Optical-Con...

You'll still need an optical (toslink-to-toslink) cable to go from your TV to the adapter, but the adapter to your receiver can use any standard RCA cable. You might need to fiddle with the TV's settings so that it outputs a compatible signal; it might not even support full 5.1.

beanman101283 wrote:

I suspect, but am not 100% certain, that my video card may be dying. What's a good way to verify this suspicion that doesn't involve swapping in a spare? Something like a memchk for video cards?

https://www.ocbase.com/

I had really good luck with this stress test program when trying to figure out my PC issues last year. It turned out to be a CPU issue for me, and the program was key to helping me figure out that's what the problem was. But the program has several different testing parameters that can test power supplies, CPU, Memory and GPU.

When the program does the test it will spit out errors that show up and for my issues the errors were specific to a CPU problem as far as I could tell and when I sent it in for RMA it was confirmed to be bad.

It's possible running the GPU test could let you know what if anything might be causing problems if the card is bad.

Gaald wrote:
beanman101283 wrote:

I suspect, but am not 100% certain, that my video card may be dying. What's a good way to verify this suspicion that doesn't involve swapping in a spare? Something like a memchk for video cards?

https://www.ocbase.com/

I had really good luck with this stress test program when trying to figure out my PC issues last year. It turned out to be a CPU issue for me, and the program was key to helping me figure out that's what the problem was. But the program has several different testing parameters that can test power supplies, CPU, Memory and GPU.

Just chiming in to say that this is a good recommendation, and also probably one I should add to the top post of the PC builder's thread.

My wife would like a multi-function printer, one that can print, scan, and copy. Fax is not needed. I want it to be laser and she wants it to be color.

We've talked about laser printers here before and there was a consensus that Brother makes a good (B&W?) laser.

Do they make good color laster multi-function devices? Is there another brand you would recommend?

-BEP

Out of curiosity, do you anticipate needing to scan/copy a LOT of documents, or is it more of a one-off rare circumstance? I ask because there are some excellent "scan" apps for iPhone/Android that likely do everything that an AIO can do, and possibly better.

I've been using TurboScan Pro ($7) on iPhone for years following a recommendation from a friend, and it's done a great job for all sorts of documents. It can bundle together multiple scanned pages into a single PDF, then send it via email or securely save it to iCloud documents - or send it directly to the printer, emulating a copier.

If you need to scan many documents with many pages each, this app may not be a practical option - but I also see that PCMag's recommended "Best Budget Color Laser (All-in-One)" is a Brother machine which does not have an Automated Document Feeder (ADF) - meaning you'd need to place each page on the glass individually, anyway. If this is indeed your use-case, make sure to check for not only a good AIO device, but one that includes an ADF.

We’ve got a Canon multifunction color laser printer/scanner that we’re really happy with. I’ll try to remember to look up the model number when I’m back home from my folks’ house.

I've used an Epson EcoTank for literally years and have no complaints. It's go sooo much ink and it never expires lol. You just pour it in. Great picture quality and build quality, fast networking. A champ.

Robear wrote:

I've used an Epson EcoTank for literally years and have no complaints. It's go sooo much ink and it never expires lol. You just pour it in. Great picture quality and build quality, fast networking. A champ.

I was going to say the same thing. Color lasers are great but super expensive on toner cartridges. The Epson eco tank produces great print outs at a fraction of the cost.

I liked the idea of the EcoTank printers but wasn't sure how the quality of the prints would be on an inkjet. I'd have a color and B7W laser for over 15 years and love the quality I get from them.

I read more about the EcoTank printers and decided to go with it.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

-BEP

ps. That TurboScan Pro app looks rather handy. I will probably get that for myself, anyway.

I hope you're as happy with it as we are, Bepnewt!

Anyone recommend a bit of software to drive all the RGB nonsense inside my PC case? It's a prebuilt from HP and the HP Omen Gaming Hub bit of software that came pre-installed to do that job was so sh*t that it was causing uncommanded reboots several times a day, so I'm looking for a replacement.

I've got a Razor keypad and their software sees some of the RGB bits in my new rig. Of course the Razor software is something one begrudgingly uses when one has Razor hardware, so this probably isn't the best suggestion.

I would probably try configuring the lights with the HP software and then killing it so it wasn't in the background to mess things up. There's a decent chance you've tried this already, but I figure it's worth mentioning anyway.

Hmm... I should try that with the Razor software and see how my lights behave.

Someone off-forum suggested Open RGB which seems to be working so far - it'll even drive the Corsair keyboard and taser most lights in addition.

merphle wrote:

I've been using TurboScan Pro ($7) on iPhone for years following a recommendation from a friend, and it's done a great job for all sorts of documents. It can bundle together multiple scanned pages into a single PDF, then send it via email or securely save it to iCloud documents - or send it directly to the printer, emulating a copier.

I'm not familiar with TurboScan so it may have extra features, but Apple's built-in Notes app can do all of that. I regularly use it as my go-to scanner.

T-Prime wrote:
FiveIron wrote:

I have an old stereo (philips mx3900D) and a new TV with only a optical digital audio out. I'm trying to figure out how to connect the two but i'm not sure what will work. I'm wondering if something like This will work BC i have a digital input in on the stereo even though it looks like a normal RCA connection.

That specific cable won't work for your usecase because it's optical on both ends. What you need is something in between that converts the toslink optical cable to a coaxial connection like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Optical-Con...

You'll still need an optical (toslink-to-toslink) cable to go from your TV to the adapter, but the adapter to your receiver can use any standard RCA cable. You might need to fiddle with the TV's settings so that it outputs a compatible signal; it might not even support full 5.1.

thanks for your help!

I didn't find a car thread, so i'll post here i guess?

i'm thinking about getting a 2015 prius C for about 19k. As you might guess, im looking at purely economics when considering a vehicle. The Prius C seems to go overkill from what i can tell though. From the reviews, it seems like i'll get bored of it after about a year, then have another 20 years to power through until it completely dies.

For 19k, does anyone have a better suggestion for a used car? looking mostly at MPG and reliability.

thanks!

CaptainCrowbar wrote:
merphle wrote:

I've been using TurboScan Pro ($7) on iPhone for years following a recommendation from a friend, and it's done a great job for all sorts of documents. It can bundle together multiple scanned pages into a single PDF, then send it via email or securely save it to iCloud documents - or send it directly to the printer, emulating a copier.

I'm not familiar with TurboScan so it may have extra features, but Apple's built-in Notes app can do all of that. I regularly use it as my go-to scanner.

Yeah, I learned about this Notes feature earlier today when sanity-checking my TurboScan recommendation. I did debate mentioning it, but since I haven't used it, opted not to; the Notes-scanning feature is a relatively recent addition (2020ish?), and I've been using TurboScan since like 2014. There's a free version of TurboScan (non-"Pro") if you want to check it out, but I don't know what the feature differences are between it and the Pro version.

FiveIron wrote:

I didn't find a car thread, so i'll post here i guess?

Here is a thread for cars:
https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/...

-BEP

amazing. thanks for the helps

FiveIron wrote:

I didn't find a car thread, so i'll post here i guess?

For 19k, does anyone have a better suggestion for a used car? looking mostly at MPG and reliability.

A few possibilities:

2023 Chevy Volt MSRP starts at $26,595. All electric. City 124, Highway 102

2023 Hyundai Elantra MSRP starts at $20,500. City 33, Highway 42, Combined 37

I'm just not sure I would buy a 8-9 year old car for 19k, when I can get a brand new car for just 1-7k more. And likely get far better financing options and rebates.

astralplaydoh wrote:

2023 Chevy Volt MSRP starts at $26,595. All electric. City 124, Highway 102

The Volt was a hybrid, the Bolt is the all electric car.