Author: Dave Farquhar

VA Linux’s transformation after leaving the hardware business

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
VA Linux’s transformation after leaving the hardware business

In the wake of the dotcom bubble bursting, the record-setting startup VA Linux made a difficult decision. On June 26, 2001, it exited the hardware business. It was a curious decision but probably the right decision, because it survived nearly 14 more years as an independent company before being acquired by Gamestop.

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Windows 98 shipped June 25, 1998

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Windows 98 shipped June 25, 1998

It was late and it was overhyped. But it was better than Windows 95. On June 25, 1998, Microsoft shipped Windows 98, and while it didn’t get the fanfare Windows 95 did, it was better than Windows 95. And if you want a retro PC box today, you’re usually better off running Windows 98 or, better yet, 98SE on it than Windows 95.

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What went wrong with 3DO

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
What went wrong with 3DO

3DO sounded like a great premise. Several great minds came together to design a game console that they could license to any consumer electronics manufacturer who wanted to make it. It could have been the VHS or the IBM PC clone of the video game console market. But it didn’t catch on and 3DO exited the game console market June 24, 1997.

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AMD Athlon: AMD’s game changing CPU from 1999

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
AMD Athlon: AMD’s game changing CPU from 1999

On June 23, 1999, AMD announced its much anticipated Athlon CPU, the successor to its very successful K6. It launched less than two months later, on August 9, 1999. The Athlon proved to be the CPU that separated AMD from all of the other x86 CPU manufacturers who fell by the wayside. It was the first non-Intel x86 CPU that outperformed Intel’s fastest CPU at the time.

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Jay Miner, Atari and Amiga computer designer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Jay Miner, Atari and Amiga computer designer

I’m just going to put this out there. Jay Miner is my hero. He designed the Atari 2600 game console, the Atari 8-bit computers, and the Amiga computer. But he made contributions to humanity outside of that, working on medical devices when he wasn’t making the greatest computers of whatever decade he was working in. He did this in spite of not being able to invent something to save himself, and he died much too soon, aged 62, on June 20, 1994.

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Coleco Adam computer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Coleco Adam computer

The Coleco Adam computer was a 1983 attempt by toy and game console maker Coleco to enter the growing home computer market. Critics and consumers looked forward to the computer after Coleco unveiled it June 5, 1983, but it never lived up to that anticipation. Coleco discontinued the Adam in 1985. Nevertheless, the Adam remains an interesting might-have-been.

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Electronic Arts founded May 28, 1982

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
Electronic Arts founded May 28, 1982

Electronic Arts was founded May 28th, 1982. It was founded to be a different kind of software company, a reaction to what was happening at the time in the software industry.

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When Chrome passed Internet Explorer for the first time

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
When Chrome passed Internet Explorer for the first time

It was on April 30, 2012 that Chrome passed Internet Explorer in market share for the first time. It took nearly 14 years for someone to pass the former afterthought in the Microsoft Plus pack to become the dominant browser. The two browsers jockeyed for the lead for two weeks, with Chrome overcoming IE for good on May 14, 2012.

With Chrome taking over, we traded one monopolist, Microsoft, for another, Google.

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Run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

Dave Farquhar Windows
Run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

Windows 10 is going end of life in mid October, less than six months from now. It’s not supported on PCs with less than an 8th-generation Core i series processor, which leaves a huge number of systems that run Windows 10 more or less fine out in the cold. But there is a way around that. I’ve been running Windows 11 on unsupported hardware for a few months. And believe it or not, I almost like it better than Windows 10.

There’s no guarantee this will work forever. Microsoft may release future updates that require features present in newer CPUs. But this buys us some time beyond October 2025, at the very least.

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Webvan: The too much, too early dotcom

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Webvan: The too much, too early dotcom

Some dotcom-era startups were just bad ideas, and others were bad timing. I think Webvan was in the bad timing category. Today there is nothing especially odd about the idea of ordering groceries over the Internet. Several successful companies use some kind of variant of that business model today with success. On April 26, 2001, Webvan had an especially bad day. It pulled out of the Atlanta market, laid off 885 employees, and planned a 1-for-25 reverse stock split in a desperate attempt to keep its stock listed. This was just 13 days after its CEO, George Shaheen, resigned, on April 13, 2001.

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