The Silicon Underground

What is Delrin?

by Dave Farquhar
May 12, 2022May 13, 2022
1 Comment

Perhaps the most lasting legacy of Model Products Corporation on the history of Lionel trains was its use of a material called Delrin. And their competitors, including Marx and K-Line, quickly started using it too. But what is Delrin, and why was it better than the tried and true stuff Lionel Corporation used?

Delrin is a trademark of DuPont, a type of plastic called Polyoxymethylene POM. You can cast parts from it like other plastics such as styrene or ABS, but it is slippery and self-lubricating.

Are electric lawn mowers quiet?

by Dave Farquhar
May 11, 2022April 30, 2022

Proponents of electric lawn mowers talk about the sound they make as an advantage. But are electric lawn mowers quiet for real, or is it just marketing talk?

Can dogs spell?

by Dave Farquhar
May 10, 2022April 30, 2022

Dogs can learn somewhere between 50 and 250 words or phrases. So that means humans will sometimes speak in code to avoid getting a dog excited. One of the most common forms of code is spelling the words. That works until dogs learn the spelling of those words. Wait. Dogs can spell?

Is Windows XP obsolete or is it retro?

by Dave Farquhar
May 9, 2022April 30, 2022

Windows XP is hard to classify. I still remember when it was brand new, and technologically it’s closer to today’s versions of Windows than it is to Windows 98. To my kids, it’s ancient history. But what should we call it? Is Windows XP obsolete? Or is it retrro?

Whatever you call it, it shouldn’t be your everyday operating system anymore. I’ve talked before about what to do if you are still running XP and need something else to migrate to.

How soon is too soon to get another dog? It depends

by Dave Farquhar
May 5, 2022April 30, 2022

How soon is too soon to get another dog? Unfortunately I have experience in this area. But most dog owners do. And the amount of time I’ve waited varied. Here’s why.

Qualys duplicate assets

by Dave Farquhar
May 4, 2022April 30, 2022

One of the most frequent problems people ask me about when doing a health check on their vulnerability management program is duplicate assets in Qualys. If you simply run the tool with the defaults, it is definitely possible to end up with duplicate assets. But with a few configuration changes, you can mostly eliminate this problem.

Why electric lawn mowers are better than gas

by Dave Farquhar
May 3, 2022May 12, 2022

Over the course of two decades of home ownership, I’ve gone through several gas mowers. Last year, after my friends bought electric mowers and raved about them, I decided to buy one myself. So are electric lawn mowers better than gas? Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Marx Oak Park station

by Dave Farquhar
May 2, 2022May 1, 2022

The Marx Oak Park station is one of three tinplate train stations Marx produced during the post-war era. They replaced an earlier, smaller, and less ambitious station from the pre-war era, and solved more than one problem for Marx.

The Marx Oak Park station had a long production run, from around 1950 to 1973. Marx named the station after the home of a Sears executive they were negotiating with.

Lionel 115 station

by Dave Farquhar
April 28, 2022April 18, 2022

The Lionel 115 station is a popular centerpiece for pre-war tinplate layouts. While best suited for standard gauge trains, its design does lend itself to o gauge, and it was one of Lionel’s pre-war designs that went back into production during the post-war era. Its first run lasted from 1935 to 1942, with a revival from 1946 to 1949.

The Lionel 115 is the second largest station Lionel produced, second only to the 116 station, which has a similar appearance. Its design was inspired by New York city’s Grand Central station, but it used selective compression to give the impression of a big city station without taking the space that would be required of a true scale model.

Pros and cons of Compaqs as retro computers

by Dave Farquhar
April 27, 2022May 1, 2022

Compaqs get mixed reviews among retro computer enthusiasts. I had one in 1994 so I get it. They have quirks. But the news with Compaq isn’t all bad. So let’s look at the pros and cons of these machines, and why you may or may not want one.