Author: Dave Farquhar

Floppy disks for Commodore and other vintage computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing , , , , , , ,

It’s been many years since 5.25-inch floppy disks suitable for Commodore, Apple, Atari, and other vintage 8-bit computers (not to mention IBM PCs and PC/XTs) have been something you can buy at the store down the street. I found some 360K DS/DD disks on Amazon, but they aren’t available in huge quantities.

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Putting blog updates on Facebook

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized ,

Some unknown percentage of my Facebook friends are interested in my blog posts. And some other unknown percentage of them would be if they knew what I was posting. There are several ways to get WordPress to put blog post links on Facebook, but some work better than others. I’d like to thank Rob O’Hara for doing 90% of the R&D for me on that, by telling the world about FT Facepress II.

There was just one problem for me: My web server can’t send e-mail.

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How and why to fix your Facebook privacy settings

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

Right now, by default, when your friends upload photos to Facebook and they start tagging people, the software will recognize you and suggest, “Hey, that looks like Dave! Do you want to tag him?”

That may or may not be desirable behavior. Here’s how to turn it off.

And here’s why I think you might want to turn it off.
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Our call is very important to us

Dave Farquhar Humor/Satire

A coworker got a phone call today, from something resembling a reverse answering machine. He answered the phone and got a recorded message apologizing that there aren’t enough agents available to speak with him, and please leave a name and number and the first available agent will call back.

We discussed the irony, and the evil, of such a thing. Then my coworker said something brilliant.
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SSD tweaks and why they sometimes don’t work

Dave Farquhar Hardware

Tom’s Hardware has an interesting study on various SSD tweaks and the effects they have. Along with a very good insight.

If you’ve ever wondered why certain tweaks are a matter of fierce religious debate, it’s because some tweaks make things better on some drives, and worse on others.
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The many troubles with e-books

Dave Farquhar Copyright , , , , , ,

A brief essay by free software pioneer Richard Stallman on the problems with e-books made the front page of Slashdot today. It’s everything I’ve come to expect from Stallman. I found myself vigorously agreeing with parts of it, and vigorously disagreeing with other parts of it.

But mainly I found myself disappointed that he didn’t really elaborate much. Maybe it’s because he covered similar ground once before in his 1997 dystopian 1984-ish short story, The Right to Read.

And, to me, that’s the problem. We’re on a slippery slope. Today it sounds ridiculous that it could be illegal to loan your laptop or your e-reader or your tablet to someone else. But prior to 2009, the idea that you could buy a book and then at some point the party that sold it to you could take it back from you without permission sounded ridiculous.
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Linguistic analysis isn’t hooey

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , ,

For the second time in two months, I’ve seen a case where a linguist analyzed writing and tried to conclude whether someone was or wasn’t the author of a suspicious e-mail message. The first was a threatening letter purportedly sent to Christopher Coleman, who was convicted last month of murdering his family, and the other was Paul Ceglia’s attempt to prove he owns a substantial share of Facebook.

The inevitable flood of comments calling such analysis “black magic” followed. But as an author, I have to give validity to it.

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How to find IDE pin 1 and floppy pin 1

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing
How to find IDE pin 1 and floppy pin 1

If you mess around with old PCs, you’ll need to know how to find IDE pin 1 and floppy pin 1 on old drives. Sometimes there will be a mark by pin 1. The connector should even be keyed so you can’t insert the connector upside down. Usually it’s one or the other, but sometimes it’s neither.

Typically a red stripe indicates pin 1 on the cable side, and either a silk screened indicator or a square solder joint on the connector side. 

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Punishing heat.

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

Yesterday it was a record-setting 98 degrees officially, with heat index well over 100. According to some weather stations near me, the temperature topped out at 102. Honestly, I don’t think a couple of degrees one way or the other makes much difference at that temperature.

This morning it was a comparatively brisk 82 degrees out, so I mowed the lawn. I lowered the mower as far as I could without the mower stalling, because 90-plus degrees is probably going to be the norm until August or September. Shorter grass will be easier to mow, and if it turns brown on me, then it’s easier still.

In defense of college and 4-year degrees

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , ,

College is a waste of time?

I disagree with Mr. Stephens’ statement that college is a waste of time. I don’t know what college he went to, or what he studied there, but I certainly didn’t spend four years at the University of Missouri copying my professors’ thoughts.

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