[mew barios]

emulators are just a convenience, i have to move around and reorganize a lot so using a single machine for a maximum amount of different things is appealing to me.

solder doesn't stick to surfaces that are dirty or oxidized, and the heat of a soldering iron causes things to oxidize extremely fast. flux becomes slightly corrosive at high temperature and counters the effect of rapid oxidation.

you can go to a radio shack and get a tub of rosin soldering flux or just get a tube of rosin core solder. if you tin every every wire and contact you shouldn't have any troubles