Author: Dave Farquhar

Awesome Ads broke my blog

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking

So I thought I’d experiment with a plugin to help me better manage the ad blocks on my blog. The WordPress plugin Awesome Ads looked promising, so I tried it. Not only did it not work, it also threw my admin page into an endless loop of errors. This function not found in this php file. That function not found in another php file. Line 175 seemed like a problem.

Here’s how I fixed it. I won’t say it’s the right way, but it worked.

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Installing internal media readers in old Compaqs

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

I had a Compaq Presario S5140WM case that I wanted to reuse for a new system build. There’s nothing really wrong with the case, but in the 8 years since the S5140WM was a mainstream PC, we’ve started putting things like card readers and audio jacks on the front of the PC. This machine only had USB in front.

Rather than replace the case, I installed an internal card reader that includes audio jacks, an eSATA port, a Firewire port, and three more USB ports, bringing it right up to 2011 standards. It fit in a 5.25″ bay, which is fine. The system has two bays, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever want to put another 5.25″ device in the second one.

But installation wasn’t as straightforward as it could be. Wouldn’t you know it?
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Don’t let debt cripple you

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , , , , , ,

Sometimes people ask me for help with their finances. And I’ve seen the effects that debt can have on people. I believe having no debt is best. Having debt that you’re paying off is second-best. Festering debt, however, is crippling. That’s what you want to avoid, before it catches up with you. Not only can bad debts keep you from borrowing more money, it can also make it more difficult to sign a lease or get a job.

Here’s how to make a plan to pay off that debt and improve your credit score.

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Advice on scraping by

Dave Farquhar Saving money , , , , , , , ,

Here’s a good, timely Google search query: scraping by advice.

I looked, and I’ve never written anything that matched that query well. I know a lot of people are hurting right now. I’ve been in some tight spots and I’ve gotten out of some, so let’s talk about what I would do, on a really practical level, if I ran into another tight spot next week.

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Use Powercfg to troubleshoot Windows 7 power management

Dave Farquhar Windows ,

I found this short guide today to troubleshooting Windows 7’s power management.

You can use powercfg.exe, a command-line utility, to figure out what programs are keeping your computer from suspending, and if your computer is waking up at weird times, what program is waking it up. Useful, and non-obvious.

Confessions and rememberances of an Amigaholic

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Confessions and rememberances of an Amigaholic

My name is Dave. I am an Amigaholic.

I thought I was recovered. But I don’t think you ever recover. Not really.

You see, this week I was trolling Craigslist for garage sales. I look for trains, toys for my boys, and other things that strike my fancy. I spotted a sale that advertised an Amiga computer. I shouldn’t have put it on my list, but I did. I didn’t want to buy it, but I had to see it. I had to. Like I said, you don’t recover.

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My latest publication tackles the Lionel gateman

Dave Farquhar Toy trains , , ,

Yesterday I saw (and edited) the final proofs for an article that will be appearing in the January 2012 issue of Classic Toy Trains, due on newsstands 6 December.

The article, “Smart wiring for the gateman,” shows some different ways to wire the venerable Lionel gateman accessory, first introduced 75 years ago.
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RIP, Dennis Ritchie

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing , , , , , ,

Dennis Ritchie died this weekend, aged 70. You may not know who he is, but if you’re reading this, you’re using something he invented.

Dennis Ritchie was, among other things, co-creator of Unix and the C programming language. Even if you run Windows, Windows was heavily influenced by Unix, and a lot of programs you run were written, if not in C, in its successor, C++.
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Review: The Utilitech Pro 430 lumen 7.5 watt LED bulb from Lowe’s

Dave Farquhar Saving money
Review: The Utilitech Pro 430 lumen 7.5 watt LED bulb from Lowe’s

LED lighting is slowly getting cheaper. Home Depot has its 40W equivalent bulbs under $10 now, and Lowe’s countered with a $13 40W equivalent. The Lowe’s bulb uses less wattage, so I think that’s the better value.

I bought some.
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What you should know if you want to write a book

Dave Farquhar Writing

And here’s some first-person testimonial about book-writing in the 21st century. Most of it rings true. It took me 9 months to write a book, vs. 2.5 years. But my advance was smaller than what she got. I don’t know my sales figures, but she seems happy with sales figures that I would have thought were disappointing. Royalties of a dollar a book are about right (mine were closer to $1.75), and working for less than minimum wage is definitely a possibility. She’s also right that publishers will not promote you. You absolutely, positively have to promote yourself. They’ll put your book on store shelves and send a few copies to reviewers, but from there you’re on your own to sink or swim. Read more