I’ve been working on a Presario SR2011WM. It’s a basic, low-end, single-core Celeron D system from 2006 or so. It can take up to 2 GB of RAM, runs Windows XP adequately, and has SATA ports, so you can put an SSD in it if you want. But don’t be fooled by the name–the Celeron [...]
All posts tagged USB
Notes on the Compaq Presario SR2011WM
Posted by Dave Farquhar on May 12, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/05/notes-on-the-compaq-presario-sr2011wm/
In defense of telework
I work from home one day a week. Most of my coworkers do as well. So I was interested when I read about Yahoo! doing! away! with! telecommuting! (with apologies to The Register. I couldn’t resist.)
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 27, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/in-defense-of-telework/
New Raspberry Pi this week
The Raspberry Pi Model A (the cheaper, stripped-down version) was just released for $25. How is this news? Well, I thought the Model A was already available. It has half the memory of a Model B, and no Ethernet, and only a single USB port. If you’d like to be able to mess around with [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 7, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/new-raspberry-pi-this-week/
How to be a hero next Christmas (or your next family get-together)
My mother in law didn’t have wifi set up, but she picked up a smart TV this year, so she asked me if I could help her with it. So I picked up a D-Link DIR-615 on sale, brought it with me and set up wi-fi securely (hints: set the SSID to whatever time it [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 25, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/12/how-to-be-a-hero-next-christmas-or-your-next-family-get-together/
A cheap upgrade for obsolete computer cases
The ATX standard has changed very little in the last 15 years, which means some rather old computer cases can still accept new motherboards, as long as you also replace the power supply. The bad news, as I stare at the case that once housed a Micron Client Pro 766 Xi (a 266 MHz Pentium [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on October 31, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/10/a-cheap-upgrade-for-obsolete-computer-cases/
How to migrate to an SSD
A longtime reader asked me to verify the easiest way to migrate from an obsolete hard drive to a new, shiny SSD: Is it to use the SSD migration tool included with the drive? Yes. Yes it is. And it may even be able to help you if it doesn’t come with the drive.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on October 29, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/10/how-to-migrate-to-an-ssd/
How to add a second SSD to a laptop optical bay
A longtime reader asked me recently about putting an SSD into a laptop optical bay. The idea has crossed my mind–the extra storage is increasingly more useful than the optical drive as time wears on. Thinkpad warriors have been doing this for a long time, though IBM’s caddies were a bit pricey. It’s not an [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on October 21, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/10/how-to-add-a-second-ssd-to-a-laptop-optical-bay/
Don’t let what happened to Mat Honan happen to you
Technology journalist Mat Honan infamously had his entire digital life hacked and erased this week. Slate published some advice to keep the same from happening to you, and my former classmate and newspaper staff mate Theo Hahn asked me to comment.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 9, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/dont-let-what-happened-to-mat-honan-happen-to-you/
Cleaning up a venerable and battle-worn IBM Model M keyboard
I’m notoriously picky about keyboards. My weapon of choice is an IBM Model M, also known as the battleship or by its model number 1391401, which went out of fashion sometime in the mid-1990s. You either love them or hate them, and I love them. People keep trying to tell me that I won’t be [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on May 27, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/05/cleaning-up-a-venerable-and-battle-worn-ibm-model-m-keyboard/
Save memory and speed boot time by removing ghost device drivers
When you change or remove hardware from a Windows system, Windows keeps the old device driver lingering. You don’t see it in Device Manager, but the time Windows spends chasing ghosts increases boot time, in addition to consuming some memory, registry space, and disk space. It’s not as much of a problem as it used [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on May 14, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/05/save-memory-and-speed-boot-time-by-removing-ghost-device-drivers/