Author: Dave Farquhar

What nickel silver track is

Dave Farquhar model railroading
What nickel silver track is

If you are into model trains, you’ve probably seen the words nickel silver on the packaging for track, or you’ve seen track advertised as being made of nickel silver. But what is nickel silver, and is it a good thing or a bad thing?

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What happened to Sega

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
What happened to Sega

When I was in high school, the console to have was the Sega Genesis. While Nintendo thrived, Sega carved out a niche for itself catering to a more mature audience that had outgrown Mario. And for a few years, it worked really well, until it didn’t anymore. What happened to Sega? Why did Sega stop making consoles? Does Sega even still exist?

Sega hasn’t made a game console since 2001. After the commercial disappointment of the Sega Dreamcast, Sega tried, successfully, to reinvent itself as a software publisher.

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What is solder made of?

Dave Farquhar DIY
What is solder made of?

Solder is a mixture of relatively low melting point metals, designed to melt at a lower temperature than metals like copper. This allows you to join components, providing a strong chemical bond that is electrically conductive. So what is solder made of? It’s made of a special mixture of metal. Frequently it also contains a core with chemical additives to make it easier to work with.

The precise formulation of both the solder alloy and the core varies depending on the application. But, generally speaking, solder is made of an alloy of low melting point metals.

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f strings in Python

Dave Farquhar Software
f strings in Python

When you first encounter f strings in Python, they can seem like a dark art. And you can use them without understanding them. I’ve used f strings to get myself out of a bind, based on a code snippet I found on Stack Overflow or some other discussion board, with a comment saying not to ask me why it works. But here’s what they do and how they can help your code.

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In memoriam: Angel, 2005-2022, best dog ever

Dave Farquhar Personal
In memoriam: Angel, 2005-2022, best dog ever

It was the summer of 2006. We had been married a little over a year, and we decided together it was time to get a dog. We started looking, and buying the stuff we needed. Then one fateful Saturday, we took a trip to the Humane Society on Macklind Avenue.

We had a good idea what we were looking for. We had no idea we were going to find all that and more.

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No Ox ID for model railroading

Dave Farquhar model railroading
No Ox ID for model railroading

In 1965, Linn Westcott, the longtime editor of Model Railroader magazine, wrote an article about how he never cleaned the track on his layout. His secret was a product called No Ox ID A Special. Let’s talk about No Ox ID for model railroading.

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What flux is made of

Dave Farquhar DIY
What flux is made of

Flux is a chemical compound that makes soldering much easier. Flux serves two purposes, cleaning oxides and other impurities from metal surfaces and helping the solder to flow. What flux is made of varies depending on the purpose.

Frequently you can tell what flux is made of from the color. If it’s white, it’s probably acidic and meant for plumbing, and if it’s a weird shade of amber, it’s made of rosin and suitable for electronics.

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What is a DOS game?

Dave Farquhar DOS, Retro Computing
What is a DOS game?

It seemed like an innocent enough question to me. Two game developers were talking, one older than the other, and the older said something about developing a DOS game, and then the younger asked, what’s a DOS game?

A DOS game is a game that runs on PC hardware but under MS-DOS or PC DOS rather than Microsoft Windows.

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Why circuit boards are green

Dave Farquhar Hardware

Why are circuit boards green? It’s a matter of practicality. While circuit boards aren’t always green, green provides technical advantages. So that makes green the most common color for printed circuit boards, or PCBs.

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Unique Art Manufacturing Co of New Jersey

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
Unique Art Manufacturing Co of New Jersey

Unique Art Manufacturing Co of New Jersey was a manufacturer of tin lithographed toys, based in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. It was founded in 1914 and faded away between 1951 and 1955. Its president, Samuel Berger (not Bergman), was an inventor with at least four patents to his name, and his company was one of the few U.S. makers of tin lithographed toys in the postwar era.

There is a great deal of incorrect information floating around about the little known company, including the name of its president and founder.

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