David L. Farquhar

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What happened to Faraday Electronics?

Dave Farquhar Hardware July 15, 2021January 12, 2025

Faraday Electronics was, for a brief period of time, a leading maker of integrated chipsets for XT-class PC clones. But if you’re fixing an old XT clone and need a Faraday chip, they can be hard to come by. Knowing what happened to Faraday Electronics can help you in locating spare parts.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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What does the Qualys cloud agent do?

Dave Farquhar security July 14, 2021July 11, 2021

If you work in a corporate environment, there’s a chance you see something called the Qualys Cloud Agent running on your computer. And information about this mysterious agent can be hard to come by? What does the Qualys cloud agent do? How does it work? I’m glad you asked.

Dave Farquhar

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Windows Zip folders slow? The fix.

Dave Farquhar Windows July 13, 2021March 3, 2024

The other day my son was working with a Zip file and getting frustrated. He was trying to delete a large number of files from it, and the CPU went to 100% usage and never finished. Here’s how I got him around the problem of high CPU usage with Zip files, or Windows Zip folders being slow.
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Dave Farquhar

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Ryobi Brushless 20 in. Walk Behind Push Lawn Mower review

Dave Farquhar DIY July 12, 2021May 1, 2023

After a good experience with a smaller model, I bought a larger 20-inch Ryobi lawn mower. This is my Ryobi Brushless 20 in. Walk Behind Push Lawn Mower review.

Dave Farquhar

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Who makes Masterforce hand tools for Menards?

Dave Farquhar DIY July 8, 2021March 22, 2022

Masterforce is Menards’ house brand for power tools and hand tools. As a house brand, they are less expensive than the big name brands. But are Masterforce hand tools good? And who makes Masterforce hand tools for Menards? I did some digging to find out.

Masterforce hand tools are made by Apex Tool Group, a company owned by Bain Capital. Apex also makes several brands you may have heard of, including Wiss, Allen, and Weller.

Dave Farquhar

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Force a Qualys Cloud Agent scan

Dave Farquhar security July 7, 2021March 15, 2022

Unlike its leading competitor, the Qualys Cloud Agent scans automatically. This means you don’t have to schedule scans, which is good, but it also means the Qualys agent essentially has free will. The latest results may or may not show up as quickly as you’d like. How to initiate an agent scan on demand was easily the most frequent question I got during the five years I supported Qualys for a living. Here’s how to force a Qualys Cloud Agent scan.

You can force a Qualys Cloud Agent scan on Windows by toggling a registry key, or from Linux or Mac OS X by running the cloudagentctl.sh shell script.

Dave Farquhar

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Is a dryer worth repairing? Yes, and here’s why

Dave Farquhar DIY July 6, 2021September 13, 2023

Is a dryer worth repairing? Is it cheaper to repair or replace a dryer? I argue it is cheaper to repair and worth doing, even if you have to pay someone to come do it. I’ll also explain where the thought comes from that a dryer might not be worth repairing, and why that thought is wrong.

You can generally repair a dryer for $125 by replacing a heating element or thermal fuse vs replacing the whole thing for $350. Since there’s little difference in life expectancy between the two options, it’s generally cheaper and more practical to repair a dryer than to replace it.

Dave Farquhar

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What was MR BIOS?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 5, 2021September 20, 2023

In the summer of 2021, Youtuber Adrian Black was restoring an IBM 5170. And he lamented that he wasn’t able to get all of the original parts working together and have a machine that would do what he wanted. It wasn’t a pure IBM 5170 anymore. One of the things he did was put a Quadtel BIOS in it, which received mixed reactions. But that brought to mind another option someone who needed to soup up a 5170 in the late 80s could have used: MR BIOS. What was MR BIOS?

Dave Farquhar

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How much weight drywall can hold without a stud

Dave Farquhar DIY July 1, 2021June 13, 2021

When you want to hang something on the wall, it can be a hassle to find a stud to hang from. Or maybe you know where your studs are, but they’re too far from where you need to put your hanger. So how much weight can drywall hold without a stud?

A cheap wall anchor can only hold about 20 pounds. But there are tricks to get additional strength and still position your decoration or your furniture where you want it.

Dave Farquhar

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How to use command line FTP

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 30, 2021October 22, 2022

FTP is a useful way to get files to your retro PCs once you put them on your network. You can use a GUI FTP client, but command line FTP isn’t hard and doesn’t require you to install anything additional. Here’s how to use command line FTP.

Dave Farquhar

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The Silicon Underground

Author: Dave Farquhar

What happened to Faraday Electronics?

What does the Qualys cloud agent do?

Windows Zip folders slow? The fix.

Ryobi Brushless 20 in. Walk Behind Push Lawn Mower review

Who makes Masterforce hand tools for Menards?

Force a Qualys Cloud Agent scan

Is a dryer worth repairing? Yes, and here’s why

What was MR BIOS?

How much weight drywall can hold without a stud

How to use command line FTP