I like to periodically audit my home computer infrastructure for upgrades/replacements. Mostly this is so I don't have to make an impulse purchase when something inevitably fails, but it's also nice to keep up to date on the state of the art.

I'm currently trying to reassess my home home networking, and I am a bit overwhelmed by everything. So I'm hoping that the residents of Tildes can help me out a bit with recommendations.

I would classify myself as a fairly budget consumer. I'm on a less than 1Gbit Xfinity plan, and have mostly cobbled together my current system from collected parts over the years. My DNS/DHCP is handled by my primary router, an aging T-Mobile Asus device I picked up years ago and loaded with Merlin. A few years ago I picked up an Eero system on discount, and I have been using that in bridge mode to provide mesh Wifi around the house.

The system I have in place is working great. It occurs to me though, that most of the parts are getting old enough that I can't replace them directly. I'm definitely not going to be able to find my specific router easily, and the first gen Eeros are also getting harder to find. I also think I might not be doing myself any favors with the chain of multiple devices being cobbled together. Perhaps it's time to look for a mesh system with the flexibility that my Asus/merlin router offers.

So let's hear it. What sort of networking equipment is everyone using these days? What do you like about it? Any killer features that I have been missing while living under a rock?

I'm looking to better organize all the computer and electronics parts I have laying around and am looking for recommendations for software from people who are already doing this. I saw InvenTree but wasn't sure if there are other alternatives I should look at. Most of what I found so far is focused on companies and is therefore a bit more than I need. My only major requirement is that I can self-host it, or at least easily export all my data out of it. Ideally, the same software would work well for organizing home workshop parts as well (e.g. bolts, sockets, glues), though that's not a hard requirement.

Also, I'm not sure if this makes more sense here or in ~hobbies, but I figured the computer/electronics focus means it makes more sense here.

I need a new place to buy electronic components and some mildly niche circuits/products that's not Amazon. I'm currently looking for an adjustable temp fan controller for an indoor green house. It's sitting in front of a Window on a shelf covered in plastic. I want to add a 12v dc fan to the top to turn on when gets somewhere around 90 degrees farenheit.
I used to use parts-express.com, but it looks like they mostly just do audio now. Does anyone have any good recommendations for purchasing things like this in the USA.

My partner has a old 2003 Ford Focus and I want to change the radio from stock to something that has bluetooth.
Here's my understanding on aftermarket radio:

• Every car is different, depends on the dashboard and the radio harness thing
• Finding out what what radio to buy/how to fit it is usually done by finding old YouTube videos from someone with 100 followers from 2008
• Sometimes it can be really easy and sometimes it can be really annoying to fit

Is my understanding correct?
I've tried this before with another car I had (a 2009 Mitsubishu Lancer) and it was such a nightmare I gave up. So I want to double check with any car nerds that I'm not missing anything obvious or there's no source of truth or something to go checkout/learn.

Any help would be appreciated, otherwise I'm going to go and find some 180p videos from 2008 to watch.

Edit @smithsonian, @Weldawadyathink, @scottc
Thabks for your replies, the site looks great for what I'm looking for. I'm not US but they do ship internationally. Plus it will at least help me work out what parts I might need!
Glad something like this exists, thank god.

This is a community I've missed since leaving Reddit, but I didn't expect to find or create such a /~group here given Tildes is a much smaller community (I figured, statistically, there wouldn't be enough users with overlapping interests in Right to Repair / Electronics / 3D Printing / Makerspace / etc... for such a community to be present or to naturally form here.

With the recent post asking for advice on a soldering station, and the number of users that participated in that discussion, I've been rethinking those assumptions of 'not enough users / not enough interest'. Then I further reflected on the significant number of people we have here that have fluently discussed other technical areas such as Linux, Programming, servers / Homelab topics and I realize upon reflection that a fair many of our users here are pretty high on tech literacy...

So, as a prelude to requesting a new group like /~electronics or /~makers or some group name along that philosophical theme, I wanted to ask the community at large first as to how much interest there might be in this.

Do you, dear reader, have an interest in electronics repair? In a garage workshop or other space at home where you fix or build things? Makerspace topics like 3D printing? Right to Repair law? If you want to know how to replace your cell phone screen, or ask about soldering or Raspberry Pi or Arduino, are you interested in having a place here on Tildes specifically for these things? Please, if you have such interests, let's discuss here.

Pinging those who participated in the soldering discussion:
@AugustusFerdinand @PraiseTheSoup @teaearlgraycold @Banazir @chocobean @elight @Plik @lynxy @Akir @TheD00d @pallas @ShroudedScribe @em-dash @luks @Tannhauser @kmcgurty1

Soldering/electronics repair enthusiasts: I am in need of a soldering iron/station for electronics repair and wiring, preferred budget is under $150, perfection can raise the budget to $250.

First line of this post is all that's really needed if you just want to provide advice on what to buy (which is just fine, people don't need to know how a car works for me to explain that they probably just need a minivan).
Below is what I have gathered thus far if perhaps there's more that you'd like to know about what I've seen and perhaps misunderstood so far.

At present I have a no-name, non-adjustable, extremely basic soldering iron that is more fire hazard than anything and a Weller soldering gun that is obviously not meant for electronics and small wires. The iron has been good enough for the occasional need to solder a couple of wires together to get something broken back up and working, but is not something I'd use on anything critical.

I'm in the process of moving apartments, and I'm realizing I don't have an elegant solution to all of the tech gadgets/accessories/junk my hoarding tendencies refuse to let go of.

By electronic accessories I mean all the cables, flash drives, SD cards, dongles, headphones, power bricks, etc. that have I've gathered over the years. There are some larger items like musical instrument cables, wireless speakers, an computer mouse, even an old PS3 I don't really know what to do with. While most don't get used frequently, there have definitely been times where one of these items comes in clutch.

I'm not opposed to getting dedicated furniture like an under-desk cabinet, although I would want to make sure the space is used efficiently, and that it can be sturdy enough to be multipurpose (e.g. my work office cabinets have a cushion that can be used for sitting on top of). I'm in NYC so space is a premium and there's a low likelihood that I'll have extra space in existing drawers/closets, so I'd prefer a standalone solution.

Hoping there might be some clever solutions/suggestions Tilerinos find handy, even if it's accepting that a Marie Kondo-style purge of unused electronics is necessary.

Sorry about the headline. (not really) I know it doesn't make all that much sense. The thing is, I bought a Dubreq Stylophone Beatbox (review here) and it's really quite fun to play around with. At its core, it lets you record and play your own rhythms in a loop. It sort of feels like an unholy mix between a musical instrument and an editor.

The problem is that I can't save as an editable format (midi or ... whatever) or import new instruments, so while its great fun and quite powerful (I composed this) I still feel the need for something more flexible. Also, I accidently borrowed it away, so while I still "own" it, I don't actually have it as such.

So, are there any other thingie which (gonna repeat the headline here) are fun and intuitive, yet still grants me some more power compared to what is offered by the Stylophone Beatbox? I don't mind if it is a program of a physical thing.

EDIT: Thanks all! I had expected one, maybe two suggestions, so, wow! This is pretty much a new world to me, and I'm floored that there's so much music stuff available. I'm slowly beginning to get some sort of overview of it all.