Author: Dave Farquhar

Dredging up some old Commodore trivia

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing , , , ,

I’ve seen a couple of Commodore-related search queries hit lately, so I’m going to take a stroll down memory lane with two questions:

Can you connect two computers to one single 1541 or 1571 disk drive?

And what was the fastest Commodore modem? Read more

Farewell, Crestwood Plaza

Dave Farquhar Retail, St. Louis , , , , ,
Farewell, Crestwood Plaza

The Sears anchor store at Crestwood Plaza near St. Louis closed in May 2012. It was a long, slow decline, and nobody knew what was next. More than five years later, there’s still nobody who knows what’s next.

I went there a couple of weeks before it closed, and I bought a multimeter at a heavy discount, but most of the kinds of things I would have been interested in buying were long gone. The rest of the old mall was mostly empty. The last of the smaller tenants left in 2013. Read more

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson needed to explain himself

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

I understand Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s predicament. I don’t agree with how he handled it.

You see, both Scott Thompson and I work in the technical industry, and neither of us have a degree in computer science, computer engineering, some other kind of engineering, high mathematics, or another socially accepted relevant-to-the-industry field. Read more

Speed up Windows XP, Vista, and 7

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , ,

I was looking for something else entirely when I found this PC World article: Speed Up Windows by Stripping it Down.

That’s a familiar concept. It includes several tips that apply to XP, Vista, and 7.
Read more

Income inequality now equals debt inequality

Dave Farquhar Saving money

There aren’t a lot of surprises in this CNN/Money article about debt. On the surface, it shows that wealthy people borrow less money than non-wealthy people. I don’t think that’s news to many people. I also don’t think it’s news that wealthy people’s incomes are growing faster than non-wealthy people.

What I found very surprising, though, is that the non-wealthy used to borrow less money than the wealthy did.
Read more

The new Nook partnership is a strange alliance

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

Barnes & Noble is creating a subsidiary to handle its Nook business. And Microsoft is sinking $300 million into it, making it a joint venture.

Remember, last year, Microsoft sued B&N over its Android-based devices. And B&N put up more of a fight than anyone expected. Read more

PC Magazine has its reader’s choice awards for home networking equipment online

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , , ,

PC Magazine posted its reader’s choice awards for home networking equipment Monday. PC Magazine‘s reader surveys aren’t gospel, but they’re valuable. They’re a cross-section of the opinions of people who care enough about technology to read the magazine, and as such, I give it more weight than what, say, Consumer Reports says. Read more

What to do with an old laptop hard drive

Dave Farquhar Hardware

So you replace the hard drive in your laptop with a bigger model, or better yet, an SSD. What do you do with the old drive if it still works?

It’s good to keep the drive for storing backups or for extra storage when you’re working on storage-heavy projects. It’s a lot more convenient for both if you put the old drive in a USB enclosure. Read more

Point of clarification: Links are always welcome

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

A longtime reader asked me today if it’s OK if he links to me from another forum. He happens to know I don’t especially care for that particular forum, or at least haven’t in the past.

I said that linking to content here is always welcome, and for any purpose. Read more

A preliminary review of the Inland warm white A19 LED bulb

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , , , , ,

Micro Center had the Inland warm white A19 LED bulbs on sale this week and had a hard time keeping them in stock. I snagged an 800 lumen (60W equivalent), non-dimmable bulb, which uses 10 watts, for $13. It’s not the state of the art in 10W LED bulbs, but the price is right and it has a 3-year warranty. Read more