Author: Dave Farquhar

Fix slow hard drive access on early PCs

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Fix slow hard drive access on early PCs

The prevailing wisdom regarding hard drives and early PCs is to keep your C drive small, ideally no bigger than 128 MB, and maybe even as little as 32. Otherwise, disk activity becomes unbearably slow. But what if I told you there is another way to fix slow hard drive access on early PCs?

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Fix a black screen in Firefox

Dave Farquhar Software
Fix a black screen in Firefox

Occasionally when using Firefox, it will interrupt you by blanking the screen momentarily, and then The screen returns, and it may or may not show the same window it was showing before the screen blanked. Here’s how I fixed my black screen in Firefox.

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Write a downloaded img file to compact flash

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Write a downloaded img file to compact flash

Thanks to the MiSTer project and a number of other retro computing initiatives, there are a number of DOS disk images floating around containing a bootable operating system and a compilation of software. While these are intended for use on devices like the MiSTer, there is no reason you can’t use them on regular hardware as well. It’s possible to write a downloaded img file to compact flash.

Here’s how wrote a pre-configured image of 1981 to 1987 software to a compact flash card to use on a Tandy 1000 equipped with a 3-in-1 adapter.

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A cheap home alternative to electroplating

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
A cheap home alternative to electroplating

After decades of hard play, the shiny tin plating on old electric train parts can wear off, leaving a dull surface that doesn’t look great, and is prone to rust. You can get plating kits so you can replate the parts, but the kits are expensive and can involve chemicals you don’t necessarily want to keep laying around. Here is an inexpensive alternative to replating that you can do at home to restore old tin parts.

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Are LED light bulbs recyclable?

Dave Farquhar DIY
Are LED light bulbs recyclable?

It’s pretty common knowledge that compact fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury and need to be recycled rather than throwing them in the trash. But what about LED light bulbs? Are LED light bulbs recyclable? And should they be recycled?

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Qualys superseded updates and caveats  

Dave Farquhar security
Qualys superseded updates and caveats  

The vulnerability scanner Qualys has the ability to filter superseded updates in its reports and over the API. This is a popular feature. Unfortunately, it does have some caveats that aren’t always very well understood. Here’s what you need to know about Qualys superseded updates and its caveats.

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Tandy 3-in-1 expansion review for the 1000HX and EX

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Tandy 3-in-1 expansion review for the 1000HX and EX

The Tandy 3-in-1 expansion for the Tandy 1000 EX and HX make these compact vintage PC compatibles much more useful. Here is my experience with this device, and some tips.

Two versions of this device exist. The first expands the memory to 640K and provides UMBs, compact flash for mass storage, and an RS 232 port. These are usually available on Ebay for around $100 US. The newer version 2 of the device adds all of that as well as a standard parallel port.

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Lionel scenic plots

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Lionel scenic plots

Lionel scenic plots debuted in 1927 with the #195 illuminated terrace, a 19×22 inch platform built to provide a landscape for three houses, two #56 lamp posts, and a #90 flag pole.

The plot, and the various others that followed, solved two problems. They provided instant scenery for temporary floor layouts, and instant scenery for more permanent layouts for those who didn’t have the ability or confidence to attempt to scenic their layout themselves.

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Add serial and PS/2 ports to a Dell Optiplex computer

Dave Farquhar Hardware
Add serial and PS/2 ports to a Dell Optiplex computer

A lot of modern computers don’t come with PS/2 ports anymore, the reason being that USB replaced most of the ways we used to connect external peripherals to computers. But sometimes you need those ports on a modern or modern-ish computer. Here’s how to add PS/2 ports to a Dell Optiplex computer.

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Watermelon KPI meaning and examples

Dave Farquhar security
Watermelon KPI meaning and examples

A former Microsoft executive referenced watermelon KPIs the other day on social media. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that term, but I see examples of watermelon KPIs frequently. Let’s talk about what watermelon KPIs are, how to recognize them, and why they are bad, but people still love them.

A watermelon KPI is a statistic or metric that looks good, but upon further examination, is actually bad. Like a watermelon, these KPIs are green on the outside, but red on the inside.

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