Author: Dave Farquhar

AT&T Gigabit not fast? How to troubleshoot

Dave Farquhar ISPs
AT&T Gigabit not fast? How to troubleshoot

Last week I traded some tips with a neighbor who signed up for AT&T Gigabit on my recommendation. His speeds just weren’t as fast as mine. Is your AT&T Gigabit not fast? Here’s some advice that may help.

I’m able to consistently get speeds in both directions above 900 megabits on my AT&T gigabit connection, at least on my best hardware. Some of my older hardware lags behind that a bit, but still does much better than 500 megabits. So I’ll share my secrets.

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How to check computer usage

Dave Farquhar Windows
How to check computer usage

I saw an interesting question the other day. A sysadmin had a department asking for more computers, and he suspected the department wasn’t using the machines they have. His IT department didn’t want to go to the trouble and expense to provide more computers to a department that didn’t need them. So here’s how to check computer usage.

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How to make a hanging indent in Word

Dave Farquhar Office
How to make a hanging indent in Word

There are several reasons to use hanging indents when writing. Proper use of hanging indents include numbered or bulleted lists, citations, and dialogue lines in scripts. Here’s how to make a hanging indent in Word.

This works in Word 2013, Word 2016, and virtually any other version of Word you’re likely to be using.

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What is WebOS on a TV?

Dave Farquhar Hardware
What is WebOS on a TV?

If you’re shopping for a smart TV, you might find the word WebOS and perhaps a version number listed in the features. That raises a question. What is WebOS on a TV, and should you care? Possibly.

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Commodore 64 motherboard revisions

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Commodore 64 motherboard revisions

Commodore made the C-64 for about 11 years, so it’s probably no surprise they went through several Commodore 64 motherboard revisions during that time. Collectors enjoy the challenge of trying to get a machine with each type and revision of board, and knowing the characteristics of each board can help someone puzzle out the history of a machine, such as whether it had been repaired in the past.

Commodore made a lot of changes to the 64’s outward appearance over the years, but they made a lot of changes internally as well. This helped them drive the price down from $595 to $149 over the course of about three years.

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What is the difference between SSD and HDD?

Dave Farquhar Hardware
What is the difference between SSD and HDD?

When you’re shopping for computers, you may find some computers have an SSD and some list an HDD in the specs instead. What is the difference between SSD and HDD? And should you care? In a word, yes.

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Applying for a job with no experience

Dave Farquhar Careers
Applying for a job with no experience

You want to move onward and upward with your career? You see an opportunity you want to take, but you don’t have experience? Let’s talk about applying for a job with no experience.

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Merge CSV files with header in Windows, OS X and Linux

Dave Farquhar security
Merge CSV files with header in Windows, OS X and Linux

I do a lot of work with CSV files, sometimes very large CSV files, for a living. And sometimes it’s not practical, or possible, to do what I need to do entirely in Excel. Merging files is an example. So here’s how to merge CSV files on various platforms from a command line so you can get it done quickly and efficiently.

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Train show tips

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains
Train show tips

I like to support my local dealers, and of course Ebay makes it easy to buy trains, but there’s still nothing like an old-fashioned train show. Here are my train show tips that I’ve found helped me in the past. Hopefully they’ll help you too.

You may recognize some of these from my tips for garage sales and estate sales, but some of the methods are unique to shows. Also, not all shows are the same, and my tips may work better for local shows than traveling shows but most of them should work for both types.

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Abit BP6: In memoriam

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Abit BP6: In memoriam

Somewhere around here I still have my old Abit BP6 motherboard. Abit is a long-dead manufacturer of enthusiast motherboards, and the BP6 was one of its landmark achievements. It was the first cheap dual-CPU board.

The Abit BP6 is a bit obscure today, but hardware enthusiast sites like Tom’s Hardware Guide were pretty excited about it in 1999.

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