David L. Farquhar

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Disassemble and reassemble a Lionel 600-series NW2 locomotive

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 11, 2024January 1, 2024

Lionel 600-series NW2 switcher locomotives are pretty easy to work on once you get them disassembled. But if you’ve never taken one apart, it may not be clear where to start. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through the steps to take one of these apart and put it back together.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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DEC Rainbow 100

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 10, 2024January 6, 2024

The DEC Rainbow 100 was an early MS-DOS computer that wasn’t 100% IBM compatible. In retrospect, this seems like an obvious mistake. But they took a different strategy, betting that they could win by providing a degree of compatibility, but that the market would choose their solution if they provided some amount of technical superiority. In this blog post, I’ll explore what DEC tried, and why it ultimately failed.

Dave Farquhar

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Rough Riders toys 1980s

Dave Farquhar 1980s January 9, 2024January 1, 2024

Rough Riders toy trucks were popular line of motorized toys in the 1980s, introduced in 1981. They competed directly with Stompers, which were made by Schaper. Rough Riders were made by LJN. The first-generation Rough Riders were fairly blatant ripoffs of the first-generation Stomper design.

Dave Farquhar

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Ryobi PBP002 battery review

Dave Farquhar DIY January 8, 2024January 6, 2024

Ryobi’s 1.5 Ah batteries have never had the best reputation. But all of my experience was with earlier model. I bought into the Ryobi tool line around 2009 and I’ve accumulated a few batteries and chargers over the years. So I usually just buy the tool alone and use the better, heavier duty batteries. But last year I purchased a tool bundle that included a pair of the new PBP002 1.5 Ah batteries. Is the Ryobi PBP002 battery any good? Read this review to find out.

Dave Farquhar

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Marx train set 4218 for W.T. Grant

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 4, 2024May 2, 2024

The Marx 4218 was a low end train set that was the result of a long time collaboration between two large companies while times were still good for both of them. It was an inexpensive electric train set exclusive to W.T. Grant, which was one of the fastest growing retailers in the United States at the time.

Dave Farquhar

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What network drivers are

Dave Farquhar Software January 3, 2024January 1, 2024

What are network drivers? What is a network driver? It’s a valid question, no one’s born knowing this stuff. In this blog post, I’ll explain network drivers, why they’re important, and where to find them.

Dave Farquhar

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The best type-in I ever typed in: Crossroads, by Steve Harter

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 2, 2024January 1, 2024

A question has been going around on social media about the best type-in you ever typed in. I remember it like it was yesterday. Crossroads, from the December 1987 issue of Compute!’s Gazette. Second place wasn’t close. Crossroads was an arcade-style game for the Commodore 64 that I think of as a sort of top-down 2-dimensional Doom-like game.

Yes, I am aware there was a sequel, Crossroads II, published a year later. I didn’t type that one in. I bought the disk. So while Crossroads II was better, I can’t call it the best type-in I ever typed in myself.

Dave Farquhar

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Marx freight set 4205

Dave Farquhar Toy trains December 28, 2023May 9, 2024

Circa 1958, Marx introduced a steam freight train set, catalog number 4205, that went on to become one of its best sellers. The set remained in production into the 1960s, but with some changes. It provided an introduction to electric trains at an unbeatable price.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 8250 disk drive

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 27, 2023December 12, 2023

The Commodore 8250 disk drive was the highest capacity floppy drive Commodore made for its 8-bit computers. It was a dual drive unit the connected to the IEEE-488 bus used on the PET and CBM line of computers. Each drive stored one megabyte of data on 5.25 inch double sided quad density disks. When you listed the directory on a Commodore equipped with an 8250, the disk read 4133 blocks free.

Dave Farquhar

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