Author: Dave Farquhar

What is Dedicated Band Control?

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking
What is Dedicated Band Control?

I was reading about wireless mesh networks and kept finding reviews that penalized devices for not having dedicated band control. But they never explained what this thing meant. Why not explain it if it’s important? What is dedicated band control, and do you need it?

Dedicated band control is simply having the ability to create separate settings, including SSIDs, for your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Whether you need dedicated band control depends on the types of devices you have, or expect to have in the future.

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Buying Cull Lumber at Home Depot

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money
Buying Cull Lumber at Home Depot

Buying cull lumber at Home Depot is a great way to save money on your projects. If you aren’t familiar with cull lumber, here’s where to find it, what you can expect from it, and how much money you can expect to save. It’s less work than salvaging lumber from palettes and you can get greater variety.

Cull lumber is damaged or scrap lumber that the store marks down at a steep discount to make room after it receives a shipment of new lumber. Cull lumber always has problems that kept it from selling at full price. Sometimes the flaws are minor. Sometimes they’re significant. But if you can live with the flaws, cull lumber offers you significant opportunity for savings. 

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Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

When the weather turns cold, people frequently ask me where they can buy a Lionel train these days. Then they check prices on their phone and follow up with a second question: Why are Lionel trains so expensive?

There was a time when Lionel built electric trains in the kinds of quantities that game consoles are today. That isn’t the case anymore. But even considering today’s smaller economies of scale, Lionel trains never really were inexpensive once you factor for inflation.

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Netstat foreign address

Dave Farquhar scams
Netstat foreign address

Netstat foreign address

What is a netstat foreign address, and is it something to be concerned about? If someone is yammering about it on the phone with you, unsolicited, they’re probably not explaining it correctly.

Netstat is a standard utility to list all the computers your computer is talking to. It’s a normal diagnostic tool, normally used by network professionals to make sure two computers that are supposed to be talking are able. Netstat output is not conclusive evidence that your computer has been hacked.

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Roku Internet speed is poor? Here’s what to do

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Roku Internet speed is poor? Here’s what to do

If your Roku Internet speed is poor, or you think it might be inadequate, there are some things to do about it. Here’s how to run a Roku Internet speed test and how to interpret the results it gives you.

The key to managing your Roku Internet speed is knowing what constitutes good or poor speed. Sometimes we overestimate how much bandwidth we actually need to stream, and what seems like poor speed may be a different problem.

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Best way to store Lionel trains

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Best way to store Lionel trains

I was talking to a friend the other day about trains and especially about rust. He was very concerned about being able to get the trains out next year and enjoy them without having to clean or refurbish them again. Here’s the best way to store Lionel trains.

The best way to store Lionel trains is in the living space of your home. Try to avoid storing them in a garage or attic if you can. A basement is OK if it’s not too damp. The box they came in is ideal, but there are acceptable substitutes. You also need to be careful how you wrap them.

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Increase powerline speed with these weird tricks

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking
Increase powerline speed with these weird tricks

For Christmas we replaced the entertainment center in our living room we’ve had for 10 years. That meant disconnecting and untangling 10 years’ worth of wiring. I also ran into some problems with my networking. One problem was absurdly low speed. So I looked into ways to increase powerline speed. While it’s still not great, it’s much more usable now.

Generally speaking, to increase powerline speed, you need adapters with a top speed that seems reasonable to you. Assuming you have fairly quick, up-to-date adapters, you should plug them directly into the wall, place them as close to each other as possible, try to avoid using them on circuits that have arc fault breakers on them, avoid having motors and other heavy appliances on the same circuit as the end that plugs into your switch or router, and, ideally, plug them both into outlets on the same circuit breaker.

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Outlet sparking when plugging in? What to do

Dave Farquhar DIY
Outlet sparking when plugging in? What to do

An outlet sparking when plugging in is scary when it happens, so I don’t blame you for asking. Is it normal to see a spark when you plug something in?

A spark, also called an arc, happens when electricity jumps from one surface to another, and is usually too small to even notice. If you routinely see a big spark when plugging something in, you need to do something about it, but the cost is frequently very low or even free.

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Rock Island train set from the 1980s

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Rock Island train set from the 1980s

The Rock Island train set was a cheap battery-operated train available at discount and toy stores from about 1988 to 1990.

The set was made in Mexico from old Plastimarx tooling. A small company called Great Lakes Promotions imported it into the United States and distributed it.

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AT&T U-verse bridge mode

Dave Farquhar ISPs
AT&T U-verse bridge mode

AT&T home gateway devices don’t have a true bridge mode that you can use if you want to use your own router with their service. But there is an acceptable substitute. So here’s the closest thing you’ll find to AT&T U-verse bridge mode and how to enable it. This also works with AT&T Fiber and everything else AT&T calls AT&T Internet.

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