Author: Dave Farquhar

What to do if a ground wire comes off your light fixture

Dave Farquhar DIY
What to do if a ground wire comes off your light fixture

I had an interesting question the other day. What should you do if a ground wire comes off your light fixture while you’re installing it? You have several options.

If you can’t return the fixture, you can reattach the wire a couple of different ways. Or you can ground the fixture without that wire. But if all that fails, the ground wire is a safety feature and the light fixture will work properly without it.

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Lionel vs American Flyer wiring

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Lionel vs American Flyer wiring

Enough has been written over the years about Lionel wiring to fill volumes. Not so much for American Flyer, though. Fortunately, when it comes to Lionel vs American Flyer wiring, there’s a lot of similarity. Most of the advice you find about Lionel wiring applies.

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Why does the government require CISSP or Security+?

Dave Farquhar security
Why does the government require CISSP or Security+?

Why does the government require CISSP or Security+ for certain jobs? While requiring people to pass a test can cause problems, I’ve seen it solve bigger problems.

Certification tests establish a baseline set of knowledge that a person filling a role has mastered. It provides a standard, repeatable, and objective third-party measure of a person’s qualifications, even if it’s possible to game the system.

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Incorrect DOS version: How to fix it

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Incorrect DOS version: How to fix it

If you mess around with DOS long enough, you’ll eventually try to run a program and get an error message that says Incorrect DOS version. This means you’re trying to run a program designed for a version of DOS other than the one you’re running.

The best solution is to run programs under the same version of DOS they were designed to run under. But when you can’t do that, as long as you are running DOS 5.0 or newer, you can use the SETVER command to lie to the program and bypass the error check. The program will run, though there is a risk it may not be fully compatible.

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Over the range microwave stuck? This may help.

Dave Farquhar DIY
Over the range microwave stuck? This may help.

I had a 13-year-old microwave quit in a rental unit the other week, so I had to replace it. No problem, I figured. When I changed the one in my house it took less than an hour. But this one didn’t go as easy. If your over the range microwave is stuck, like mine, here’s what to try next.

Over the range microwaves typically hook onto a bracket attached to the wall, then hang from the cabinets on 2-3 large bolts. But some have extra hooks higher up on the brackets, and if yours is stuck, that’s probably why.

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Connect an Apple II to a TV

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Connect an Apple II to a TV

Connecting an Apple II to a modern or modern-ish television is easier than getting a good picture from it. Connecting an Apple II to a 1980s TV is trickier. Here’s how to connect an Apple II to a TV, and some tips for improving the picture.

Apple II computers, from the original 1977 model all the way up to the 16-bit Apple IIgs have an RCA jack supplying standard composite output. This plugs into the composite video jack on a relatively modern TV just like a game console–just ignore the sound inputs, and be prepared to have to adjust the picture for the best quality.

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Are all Lionel prewar couplers compatible?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Are all Lionel prewar couplers compatible?

Lionel changed its coupler designs several times in the prewar era. That leads to a fair question. Are all Lionel prewar coupler types compatible? Can you use the different types together? As always, the answer is, it depends.

The two most common types of Lionel prewar couplers are compatible with each other. But the two later types are not directly compatible with the tab-in-slot coupler, though there are a couple of tricks that can help you.

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What happened to 2.88 MB floppies?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
What happened to 2.88 MB floppies?

For a while in the 80s, floppy disks reliably doubled in capacity every 2-3 years. But floppy disks stopped increasing in capacity at 2.88 megabytes, and some people are surprised that 2.88 megabyte floppies even existed. What happened to 2.88 MB floppies? And why did the industry stop at such a relatively low capacity?

2.88 megabyte floppies never gained adoption outside of very high-end systems, partly due to their high cost. When more cost-effective options became available, 2.88 megabyte floppies and drives faded away.

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How long does a laptop AC adapter last?

Dave Farquhar Hardware
How long does a laptop AC adapter last?

How long does a laptop AC adapter last? In my experience it usually outlives the computer. But not always. Edge cases are certainly possible.

If your laptop AC adapter doesn’t last longer than the computer, the remedy is probably to buy a higher-wattage unit.

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Pi1541 vs SD2IEC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Pi1541 vs SD2IEC

Retro computing is much easier when you don’t have to deal with actual physical disks. Commodore retro computing is that much more so, because you can’t write a 1541 disk image with a standard PC. There are three major ways to use flash-based media on Commodore computers today. People most frequently ask about the two cheapest methods, Pi1541 and SD2IEC. So let’s compare and contrast the Pi1541 vs SD2IEC.

Both the Pi1541 and SD2IEC allow a Commodore computer to use SD cards instead of disks. The major difference is the Pi1541 closely emulates the real 1541 drive, so it works with a larger number of titles than an SD2IEC does.

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