Author: Dave Farquhar

Set up a Marx train set

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Set up a Marx train set

If you’ve lost the original instructions, it’s certainly not obvious how to connect a Marx transformer to track and otherwise set up a Marx train set. Especially if someone else always set it up. But don’t be intimidated. It’s low voltage wiring. And it can be as few as two connections. Here’s how to set up a vintage Louis Marx electric train set.

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Intellivision launch titles

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Intellivision launch titles

When looking at the contrast between the Atari 2600 and Colecovision launch titles, Mattel’s initial lineup of four Intellivision launch titles gives some insight into their thinking. Since they had to build a new market, they produced a mix of two traditional games, an action/combat video game, and an educational title in an effort to appeal to a fairly broad audience. Not to mention each title competed directly with a title in Atari’s library.

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The white walnut: Butternut

Dave Farquhar DIY
The white walnut: Butternut

Walnut is an expensive hardwood, desirable for its durability, attractive green pattern, and rich color. But it has a relative that is well known for being less expensive while having a similar appearance. It’s called butternut, also known as the white walnut or the poor man’s walnut.

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What a pocket veto is

Dave Farquhar security
What a pocket veto is

A pocket veto is a political term, but it doesn’t strictly apply only to governments. It is also a concept or practice in business politics. It’s something I deal with quite a bit as a security professional.

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Wire an American Flyer whistling billboard

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Wire an American Flyer whistling billboard

If you have an American flyer whistling billboard and didn’t get the instructions, or misplaced the instructions sometime over the decades, here’s how to wire one. And if you want to use it with another brand of transformer, this will also help.

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Does mowing leaves work? Usually

Dave Farquhar DIY
Does mowing leaves work? Usually

I bought my house 20 years ago in October, and I remember telling one of my co-workers I needed to rake the leaves, and that was a first time I’d done that in years. And he gave me a puzzled look. You don’t mow your leaves, he asked. It felt a little like cheating, but it didn’t take him long to sell me on the idea. Here’s why mowing leaves works, and is actually a pretty good idea.

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Atari 800 vs Commodore 64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Atari 800 vs Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 was the most popular computer of the 8-bit era, and I will argue that the Atari 800 was the most underrated computer of the 8-bit era. Ironically, some of the key designers from each system ended up changing companies when the time came to design successors to these two products, so they are forever intertwined. How did these two systems stack up? Let’s look at the Atari 800 vs Commodore 64.

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Milton Bradley Bumpalow village

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Milton Bradley Bumpalow village

About 20 years ago, I posed a question. What did train enthusiasts use on their train layouts before World War II, when they didn’t have Plasticville? There’s no single answer to that question, but one of the things they might have used was a Milton Bradley product called Bumpalow.

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Lithium grease vs silicone grease

Dave Farquhar DIY
Lithium grease vs silicone grease

Unless they are something you use everyday, or at least every weekend, it can be difficult to know when to use silicone grease versus lithium grease. Here are their strengths and weaknesses compared to one another.  So let’s take a look at lithium grease vs silicone grease.

Although they are sometimes interchangeable, the important thing to remember is that lithium grease is not for plastics but it’s better for metals. Silicone grease is compatible with plastics.

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Intellivision System Changer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Intellivision System Changer

In 1982, Coleco dropped a bomb on the game console industry. Atari led the industry in sales, with Mattel, the toy maker, taking the number two spot with a slightly more advanced console called the Intellivision that enjoyed reasonable if modest success. Then Coleco came along with its own high-end console. One of Coleco’s gimmicks was an expansion module to make its console compatible with the Atari console, immediately making it have more cartridges than anyone else. Mattel decided to counter.

The Mattel System Changer was essentially the equivalent of the Coleco Expansion Module 1, just for a different console. The function is the same, but the outcome was a bit different.

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