Author: Dave Farquhar

How to disassemble an Atari 2600 VCS

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
How to disassemble an Atari 2600 VCS

Whether you’re looking to clean it or service it, sometimes it’s necessary to take apart an Atari 2600 console. The iconic older models can be a little tricky to open up or take apart and put back together, but they aren’t super difficult. Here’s how to disassemble an Atari 2600 VCS.

An Atari 2600 or VCS is held together by 4-6 screws on the underside. The two screws at the front of the console sit at a conventional 90-degree angle, while the rear screws sit at a tricky 60-degree angle.

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Titebond 2 vs 3

Dave Farquhar DIY
Titebond 2 vs 3

When you need wood glue, there are a lot of good choices you can use. Maybe too many. Titebond is a popular choice, but there are three different kinds at three different price points. What’s the difference? Why buy the original vs Titebond 2? Why buy Titebond 2 vs 3?

Both Titebond 2 and Titebond 3 are for outdoor use. The differences you’re most likely to notice are that Titebond 3 dries about half as fast and can work at a minimum temperature of 45 degrees vs 55 degrees.

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Bobson Dugnutt: The man, the meme, the legend

Dave Farquhar Baseball, Retro Computing
Bobson Dugnutt: The man, the meme, the legend

Bobson Dugnutt was a fictional baseball player in the 1994 console game Fighting Baseball, the Japanese version of MLBPA baseball published by EA. He was a bench player for the Milwaukee franchise, a backup outfielder and pinch hitter.

Lack of a license to use the real names of baseball players led to a Japanese baseball game where they made up American names, with uneven results. Bobson Dugnutt was the most absurd name in the meme inspired by the game Fighting Baseball.

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Roth 401(K) vs traditional

Dave Farquhar Saving money
Roth 401(K) vs traditional

My employer started offering a Roth 401(K) option this year. I was pretty excited about it, but it confused most of my coworkers. I walked them through the Roth 401(K) vs traditional 401(K), and my explanation helped them enough that some of them opted to take that route. Let’s look at the differences so you can decide which is right for you.

A traditional 401(K) is tax-deferred, which means you get a tax deduction this year for contributing, and you pay taxes on it in the future when you withdraw it. A Roth 401(K) offers no tax deduction this year, but you owe no taxes when you withdraw it, no matter how much it grows.

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How much weight can a train table support?

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains
How much weight can a train table support?

Truth be told, most of our train tables are probably overbuilt. The size and strength of them isn’t the only consideration, and overbuilding them probably does make construction a little easier. But we also don’t need to go crazy with our materials. Here’s how much weight a train table can support.

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SSD vs HDD: Advantages of SSDs over hard drives

Dave Farquhar Hardware
SSD vs HDD: Advantages of SSDs over hard drives

If you want to start a religious war, go on a forum and ask about an SSD vs HDD and why you should buy one over the other. I’m not quite sure why this is so controversial. But it is. Let’s look at the advantages SSDs have over hard drives, and when hard drives make more sense. I’ll also go into when I think this will no longer be true.

SSDs have numerous advantages over hard drives. They have faster seek times, faster read and write speeds, lower power consumption, less noise. they fail predictably, and are more reliable. The main disadvantage is cost, though even that is changing.

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What is infosec?

Dave Farquhar security
What is infosec?

When I first started interviewing for security jobs, I remember some of the jargon confusing me. “Infosec” was one of those terms. Getting that first job is hard enough without getting your resume binned over not knowing the word infosec. So what is infosec, what does it stand for, and how do you talk intelligently about it?

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Enter BIOS setup in HP computers

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Enter BIOS setup in HP computers

I recently upgraded the memory in my HP Z210 workstation, and had a really hard time verifying everything was working right afterward. Here’s how to enter BIOS setup in HP computers.

It’s usually the F10 key that enters the BIOS in HP computers. But several things, including network boot, can interfere with this, so it helps to know my tricks.

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How much weight can a screw in a stud hold?

Dave Farquhar DIY
How much weight can a screw in a stud hold?

If you’re attaching shelves to a wall, you need to pay attention to weight. How much weight can a screw in a stud hold? And is there any way to increase the amount of weight it can hold?

A screw in a stud can generally hold 80-100 pounds, depending on the grade of screw. There are tricks to increase the amount of weight it can hold.

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Code 100 vs Code 83

Dave Farquhar model railroading

Model railroading track is measured in numeric values, called a code, that indicate rail height in thousandths of an inch. In HO scale, Code 100 track is the most common. But Code 83 is more realistic, making it popular among those who crave realism. Let’s look at Code 100 vs Code 83.

Largely the difference comes down to cost vs realism. Code 100 is more widely available and cheaper, so you pay a price for Code 83’s better realism, or you might decide the difference isn’t noticeable enough to you.

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