Author: Dave Farquhar

Refurbishing a Lionel 6014 boxcar

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Refurbishing a Lionel 6014 boxcar

One morning in December, I got a text message from my wife. She’d found some trains in a secondhand store, cheap. They were damaged, but I like fixing up old trains. The highlight of the find was a Lionel 6014 boxcar. It had a busted truck, but was otherwise in reasonable condition. I didn’t have to feel bad about modifying it, and I had just the thing in mind. Restoration is a strong word for what I ended up doing, but some might call it a restoration or a customization.

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Panasonic Business Partner 1650: Tandy in disguise

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Panasonic Business Partner 1650: Tandy in disguise

The Panasonic Business Partner 1650, also known as the FX 1650, is a PC clone from 1989. Everyone was making 286 based PC clones in 1989, but this Panasonic is a little bit different. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on when you bought it. The label on the back provides a clue.

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Plug falls out of outlet? Here’s how to fix it

Dave Farquhar DIY
Plug falls out of outlet? Here’s how to fix it

If a plug falls out of an outlet after you plug it in, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. A plug is supposed to fit firmly in an outlet so that it doesn’t fall out on its own. You shouldn’t have to exert very much force to remove it, but you are supposed to need to exert a small amount. If your plug falls out of an outlet, here’s how to fix it.

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SCCM vs WSUS

Dave Farquhar security
SCCM vs WSUS

Since I work for a vulnerability management company, I get tons and tons of questions about patch management. I don’t speak for my employer, and they probably don’t have an opinion since neither product comes close to meeting their needs. But I’m glad to share what I know. Recently, someone asked me which is better, SCCM or WSUS. My answer probably was not what they were expecting me to say.

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Marx train set 4318 for W.T. Grant

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx train set 4318 for W.T. Grant

The Marx 4318 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.

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Stomper 4x4s: Miniature off-road 80s fun

Dave Farquhar 1980s
Stomper 4x4s: Miniature off-road 80s fun

Stomper 4x4s were an extremely popular battery powered motorized toy in the early 1980s. They were the first miniature battery powered self-propelled toy vehicle with four-wheel drive, although imitators were very quick to follow.

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Intel 80186 CPU: So misunderstood

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Intel 80186 CPU: So misunderstood

Back when a 386 or 486 PC was hot stuff, I remember a common insult for a slow PC being, “What is that thing, a 186?” But no one we knew had a 186 PC, and no one really knew why either. In this blog, post, we will explore the Intel 80186, the CPU the PC industry forgot, why a misconception exists that it was a failure, and how both things can be true at the same time.

Although the 80186 powered two infamous PC-compatible flops in the early 1980s, a company founded by two Californians in a garage did use a 186-compatible CPU in a pioneering handheld computer about a decade later. Additionally, the 186 saw use in other embedded applications.

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Marx Happi-Time 9640 train set

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Marx Happi-Time 9640 train set

Marx train set 9640 was an electric train set Marx that Sears sold in 1952. You may also hear collectors refer to it as Happi-Time train set 9640, because that’s what Marx printed on the box. It featured Marx’s best locomotive pulling 3/16 scale metal cars. This set marked the farewell for that locomotive, as Marx bundled the set to use up remaining discontinued inventory, to clear the way for its 1953 product refresh.

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What happened to Adaptec?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
What happened to Adaptec?

For about 20 years, Adaptec was synonymous with SCSI controllers for PCs. Their controllers were frequently imitated, and its competitors undercut them in price. But the reliability, performance, and compatibility of Adaptec products was tough to beat. So if you wanted the very best, you bought Adaptec. In this blog post, I’ll uncover what happened to Adaptec. Hint: they didn’t go out of business.

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Reduce the pinginess of a mechanical keyboard

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Reduce the pinginess of a mechanical keyboard

A mechanical keyboard will always be louder than a membrane keyboard because of their physical characteristics. A membrane keyboard involves a plastic tray with some keyboard sliders striking a rubber membrane to make contact with a circuit board. Mechanical keyboards almost always have a metal plate that holds mechanical switches with springs in them, so even a linear switch that doesn’t click still makes a tapping noise when it bottoms out, and when bottoming out, it can make that metal plate vibrate and make a pinging noise. Here’s how I reduced the pinginess of my mechanical keyboard.

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