Author: Dave Farquhar

What motivated the FBI e-mail hacker

Dave Farquhar security
What motivated the FBI e-mail hacker

Over the weekend of Nov 13, 2021, the FBI acknowledged unauthorized emails coming from a legitimate FBI email address to about 100,000 organizations warning them about ransomware. It appears to be the work of a self-styled white hat hacker, or security researcher.

I am a security professional. I am going to remind everyone that these are not the opinion of my current or any former employer. I have strong opinions on the, and those opinions are incredibly unpopular among security professionals. They may or may not agree with me privately, but agreeing with me publicly is not a great idea.

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What is a Lionel Pullmor motor?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains
What is a Lionel Pullmor motor?

Various Lionel trains over the years have featured what they call a Pullmor motor. But what is a Lionel Pullmor motor? Let’s look at the surprising origins of this motor and what you need to know about it, especially if there’s anything you can do that breaks it.

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Cheap Windows 11 PC options

Dave Farquhar Windows
Cheap Windows 11 PC options

Microsoft caused a major hubbub when they announced that Windows 11 will not be supported on systems that are more than about 3 and 1/2 years old. That means a lot of still usable systems have to stay on Windows 10 until Windows 10 goes end of life. Here are some cheap Windows 11 PC options. I’ll mostly cover desktops here, as the market for laptops is rather different.

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What batteries don’t leak?

Dave Farquhar DIY, Retro Computing
What batteries don’t leak?

Anytime you are dealing with a battery, there is danger of having to deal with leaking. And the more expensive the devices that you put the battery in, the bigger the problem that is. That raises the question: what batteries don’t leak?

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History of St. Louis style pizza

Dave Farquhar St. Louis
History of St. Louis style pizza

Few things in Missouri are more divisive then St Louis style pizza. From how you define it to who invented it to who copied who to even whether it qualifies as pizza at all is divisive. And the history behind it is surprisingly badly understood. So who invented St Louis style pizza, and when? What is the history of St. Louis style pizza?

Amedeo Fiore, proprietor of Melrose Pizzeria, served a prototypical thin-crust St. Louis style pizza starting around 1945, and created the market for pizza in St. Louis, in addition to probably deserving credit for inventing the style. Joe and Lou Parente, proprietors of Parente’s Pizza, were probably the first to use provel on pizza, sometime in the early to mid 1950s.

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What is basswood?

Dave Farquhar model railroading
What is basswood?

Basswood is a popular hobby wood, but what else is basswood used for? Where does it grow? And where do you buy it?

If, like me, you’ve been buying basswood at hobby shops for years but have never seen a basswood tree, there’s a reason for it. The tree that basswood comes from goes by many other names, including Tilia, Linden, and Lime.

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How to tell which PCI express slot I have

Dave Farquhar Hardware
How to tell which PCI express slot I have

If you want to upgrade your PC, you need to make sure you have room to plug them in. Many upgrades, including GPUs, plug into PCI Express slots. Here’s how to tell which PCI Express slot you have, so you know your options.

You can identify your PCI Express cards visually (x1 slots are 1 inch long and x16 are 3.5 inches long), or using the command line from within Windows or Linux. The command line is more reliable and helps you identify an x4 or x8 slot with an x16 connector.

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When DOS was removed from Windows

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
When DOS was removed from Windows

When DOS was removed from Windows depends on your perspective. For early adopters of Windows NT, it happened as early as July 1993. But for mainstream Windows use, the final removal of DOS from Windows came with the release of Windows XP.

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Check a power supply for safety

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Check a power supply for safety

I’ve written before about checking train transformers for safety. There’s a similar process you can use for power supplies for computers and electronics. Here’s how to check a power supply for safety.

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Private vs public IP address

Dave Farquhar security, Servers and Networking
Private vs public IP address

It is important to know how to distinguish between a private vs public IP address. IT professionals and security professionals frequently have to work with them, and it is a very common job interview question, and certification question. Here are the ranges of private IP addresses, and why we need them.

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