Author: Dave Farquhar

Atari 7800 vs NES

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming
Atari 7800 vs NES

Both the Atari 7800 and NES were third generation game consoles, and they competed directly with one another. Furthermore, they shared a common influence. So the Atari 7800 vs NES is a natural comparison. But one was much more successful than the other. Here’s why.

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Gmail subscriptions flooding? How to deal.

Dave Farquhar security
Gmail subscriptions flooding? How to deal.

One Wednesday a little after 8:30 AM, my phone dinged. And it dinged four more times that minute. Some bot was signing me up for subscriptions at the speed of light, and my inbox was floding. Here’s how to deal with Gmail subscriptions flooding.

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Make a simple pivot table in Python

Dave Farquhar security
Make a simple pivot table in Python

One of the first things I do when I open a vulnerability scan is make a pivot table on the title of the vulnerability and the count of that title. Then I do the same for all the systems. It’s easy to do in Excel once you’ve seen someone do it once, but if you have a lot of data it can be crash prone. Here’s how to make a simple pivot table in Python.

This example is for Qualys data but it’s easy to adapt it to another scanner. Just change the names of the columns. Python is so much faster and more reliable for this that I rarely make pivots in Excel anymore. I make them in Python, then load the output file in Excel for viewing.
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Cattle vs pets in IT security

Dave Farquhar security
Cattle vs pets in IT security

Cattle vs pets refers to two philosophies of server management. As an IT veteran who’s worked in the field since 1995, I’ve seen the transition. I’m very familiar with the problems of pet servers, and also familiar with the trickiness of replacing them with cattle servers.

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MOS 74LS logic chips

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
MOS 74LS logic chips

Commodore (in)famously owned its own chip manufacturer, MOS Technology, later known as Commodore Semiconductor Group. MOS was pivotal to helping Commodore keep prices low in the early 1980s, as it lowered Commodore’s overhead, and ensured a steady supply of chips. In 1983 and 1984, MOS produced 74LS logic chips. These chips are very failure prone. Here’s how to find MOS 74LS logic chips, and more importantly, what to replace them with.

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Ryobi 13 inch ONE+ Lawn Mower review

Dave Farquhar DIY
Ryobi 13 inch ONE+ Lawn Mower review

So I bought the Ryobi 13 inch ONE+ cordless lawn mower that I warned you about. I had my reasons for buying it. And I have to say, if you go in with the right expectations, it’s pretty great for what it is.

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Game box repair

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Toy trains
Game box repair

Vintage computer games and vintage toys display better in their original boxes. But frequently those boxes are in less than ideal condition, especially if you got it at a good price. A pristine box can be worth more than the contents. I recently lucked into a couple of vintage Commodore game cartridge boxes. Their best days were behind them, but I was able to make them presentable again. Here’s my approach to game box repair.

I fixed up quite a few battered books in my day to make them more suitable for resale. The tricks I learned fixing books helped me with fixing game boxes and toy boxes as well.

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Error 0x8007025d installing Windows 10

Dave Farquhar Windows
Error 0x8007025d installing Windows 10

I was installing Windows 10 on an HP Z210 workstation and kept getting error 0x8007025. There’s not a lot of information about that error, so here’s how I fixed it.

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Marx presidential figures

Dave Farquhar Model Building
Marx presidential figures

In the 1960s, the once-great Louis Marx toy company produced a line of plastic figurines of U.S. presidents. These Marx presidential figures garnered a bit of a cult following, and they retain one today.

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Is collecting retro games worth it?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Is collecting retro games worth it?

I saw an interesting perspective this week on the hobby of collecting retro games, from another retro enthusiast. Prices on retro games, he observes, are increasing. That’s making him ask a tough question: Is collecting retro games worth it?

Any hobby seems like a waste of time to the right (or wrong) person. If a hobby, such as collecting retro games, helps you to unwind and get focused, and you can get some of your money back out of it as you lose interest or approach end of life, then I have to argue that hobby is worth it.

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