Author: Dave Farquhar

Roku buffering all the time

Dave Farquhar Video
Roku buffering all the time

Is your Roku buffering all the time when you try to watch streaming media? While it can be frustrating, usually these buffering problems are solvable. Here are six things to try to fix Roku buffering before you switch to another streaming device like an Apple TV or Fire TV stick in frustration.

Some streaming apps are more demanding than others, so if you experience buffering in some apps but not others, that’s not unusual. Watching TV on Netflix always works great for me, for example. And while some people find Hulu occasionally problematic, I don’t think I’ve ever had more than a minor hiccup in Hulu. But I have friends who have issues with HBO Go and I have issues with MLB.tv.

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Excel row height must be between 0 and 5.68″

Dave Farquhar Office
Excel row height must be between 0 and 5.68″

Last Monday, Excel greeted me with a new error message on my work machine, which happens to be a Mac. When I imported a CSV file and tried to change the row height to the default 16 points, I got the message that Excel row height must be between 0 and 5.68″.

I’ve been changing the default row height back to 16 for decades so I don’t know why Microsoft changed it. But they didn’t ask me. Complaining about it doesn’t help either. So I set out to find a workaround. While I observed this on Excel for a Mac, I would expect some versions of Excel for Windows will behave the same way as well. My copy of Excel 2013 on my Windows box hasn’t changed, but that’s the most recent version I have.

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CPM operating system

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
CPM operating system

The CPM operating system (or CP/M operating system) was the first popular operating system for personal computers. Its rise and fall has been fairly well documented, if not well understood, and its author, Gary Kildall, is a tragic hero in the early history of computers.

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Using a multimeter in model railroading

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains
Using a multimeter in model railroading

A multimeter is an inexpensive tool that has several great uses in model railroading, especially if you deal with used or vintage trains a lot. Knowing how to use one will save you a lot of time and frustration.

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How secure is Chrome?

Dave Farquhar security
How secure is Chrome?

How secure is Chrome? While IT professionals may be divided on it, most security professionals I know prefer and recommend it. There are a number of good reasons for that.

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Low cost computers

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Low cost computers

Many people don’t realize it, but we are living in a golden age of low cost computers right now. A veritable flood of off-lease computers is driving down prices for quality, good-performance equipment. These are ideal for low income individuals or others on tight budgets. They’re PCs for people–ordinary people.

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Why is Wikipedia not a reliable source?

Dave Farquhar Writing
Why is Wikipedia not a reliable source?

I have mixed feelings about Wikipedia. Maybe that makes me unique, as it seems most people think either too highly of it, or give it zero respect. In its early days, I was a top-1,000 contributor. But I have serious problems with the site. So why is Wikipedia not a reliable source? Let’s dig into the problems.

The problems are serious enough that you’ll never see it cited directly in an academic journal, or in most good research papers. But it can still be useful. You just need to know how to use it with caution.

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Commodore 1541 disk drive: Slow. Unreliable. Cheap enough.

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Commodore 1541 disk drive: Slow. Unreliable. Cheap enough.

The Commodore 1541 disk drive was the most common Commodore 64 floppy drive. Commodore fans from the 1980s loved to hate it. It was the first disk drive priced low enough to gain mainstream acceptance. But it was slow and loud and unreliable.

We put up with it anyway. A home computer was a luxury in those days and most of us had some idea how lucky we were to live through that time and experience it firsthand.

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Watch home movies on Roku

Dave Farquhar Video
Watch home movies on Roku

Streaming content is great for watching movies and TV shows. It almost makes it unnecessary to keep a DVD player around, except for home movies. What’s the modern solution for those? Actually there is one, and it’s likely to have better longevity than recorded DVDs or VHS tapes as long as you’re careful. Here’s how to watch home movies on Roku.

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Original Atari 2600 heavy sixer

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
Original Atari 2600 heavy sixer

The Atari heavy sixer, also sometimes called the Atari 2600 heavy sixer, is the earliest version of the popular 1970s and 1980s game console. While not super rare or valuable, it is more valuable than most of the later versions of the Atari Video Computer System. You can think of it as the original original Atari 2600.

The earliest Atari 2600, released September 11, 1977 and nicknamed the heavy sixer, has six switches on the top, distinct from later units that had four. It weighs 1.2 pounds more than later six-switch models.

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