Author: Dave Farquhar

Marx steam freight train set 21336M and 21337M

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx steam freight train set 21336M and 21337M

Marx train set 21336M and 21337M are a pair of similar train sets from 1971 and 1972 sold through Montgomery Ward. Let’s walk through these sets, which featured a 2-4-2 steam locomotive with a slopeback tender pulling three freight cars and a caboose.

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Why the Imagination Machine failed

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Why the Imagination Machine failed

Ed Smith, the designer of the Imagination Machine, says it failed because Apple released its floppy drive in 1979 and that made the Imagination Machine obsolete. I think Smith is selling himself short a bit, or perhaps he’s giving people the answer he knows everyone wants to hear. In this blog post, we’ll explore what went wrong with the APF Imagination Machine.

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How to conduct a technical interview

Dave Farquhar Careers
How to conduct a technical interview

I’ve conducted a dozen or so technical interviews in my career. All of them panned out, and some of them ended up being exceptional. And during that same time frame, I’ve seen others fail, sometimes spectacularly. In this blog post, I’ll explain how to conduct a technical interview, including how to weed out charlatans and identify talent with a high upside.

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Marx diesel freight train set 9629

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx diesel freight train set 9629

The Marx diesel freight train set number 9629 was an early 1950s electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 7-inch freight cars. It’s an attractive set and a very good example of post-war tin lithography, which was becoming something of a lost art at the time.

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Store controllers and cables safely without damaging them

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Store controllers and cables safely without damaging them

It’s something I think we’ve all done before. You get done playing video games and you don’t want to just leave the controllers plugged into the console and laying around somewhere. So you pick up the controller, unplug it, wrap the cable around the controller, then set it aside or even put it in a box. Maybe you even disconnect the console and wrap the video cable around the console. But did you know that doing that can damage the plastics? In this blog post, I’ll show you a better way to store game controllers and consoles neatly without the risk of damage.

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PC mouse connector types

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
PC mouse connector types

The last several vintage computer mice I’ve bought on Ebay were not properly described. So I figured I would write this guide because it will help people find the right mouse for a computer, and if you are trying to sell one on Ebay, properly describing the mouse connector type will help you sell it more quickly, and potentially get more money.

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Hash collisions in computer security

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, security
Hash collisions in computer security

Last week, Robin of the YouTube channel 8-bit Show and Tell wondered out loud on Twitter why Chrome flags Netracer 1.1, a modern indie Commodore 64 game, as malware. I think this is a classic case of hashing algorithms having gone wrong. In this blog post, I’ll explain what a hash collision is, using this collision of my hobby of retro computing and my day job of information security as an example.

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Marx Pioneer Express electric train set

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx Pioneer Express electric train set

Marx train set 15630 was an electric train set from 1973, sold by Sears. While some Marx collectors joke that the only rare Marx train set is the one that doesn’t run, this old-timey 1970s train set cobbled together from Marx’s leftovers is rare and valuable today.

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80s computer brands

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
80s computer brands

A small number of 80s computer brands are the same as today, but a lot more companies played in the field than now. Profit margins were higher then, so industry consolidation wasn’t the matter of survival that it is now. You might be surprised to see all of the most popular computer brands of today were around in the 80s. But many popular 1980s computers no longer exist in any form.

There’s a human element to 80s computing that the 90s erased. In this list, besides the familiar stories, you’ll find a computer designed by an engineer who grew up in public housing, computers designed by two women, and a company that didn’t survive its CEO dying in a car crash celebrating its IPO. While some survived the 80s and into the 90s or even today, others only lasted a few years. The 1980s were a make or break time, and many broke.

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Resume hacks for your first (or next) security job

Dave Farquhar security
Resume hacks for your first (or next) security job

It’s hard to get a job, especially a security job, when everyone is looking for a unicorn. What your guidance counselor in college told you probably isn’t enough to make your resume look like one from a unicorn. So in this blog post, I’ll share you the resume hacks you need to help you stand out so you get the interview, and in turn, land your first (or next) security job.

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