The Silicon Underground

Marx train set 3994: A classic combination

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:00:43 +0000

The Marx train set 3994 is an early postwar set, dating to 1948-49. A number of retailers sold it, including Sears, Montgomery Ward, and others. It was a mid-priced electric train set, O gauge, headed by a Commodore Vanderbilt Art

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First CD-ROM drive: Philips CM-100

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 11:00:33 +0000

The first CD-ROM drive is generally credited as the Philips CM-100, a product announced in 1985 for the IBM PC/XT. It cost $1,495 when it was new and its requirements were straightforward: An IBM PC/XT with 256K of RAM and

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How to use Commodore disk drives

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 11:00:54 +0000

If you’ve used other types of computers, Commodore disk drives can be a bit confusing. In this blog post, I will give an overview of the essential commands concepts you will need in order to use Commodore disk drives. All

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Emerson Arcadia 2001: Peak 1982 video game console

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 11:00:36 +0000

It wasn’t the only console released in 1982. It certainly wasn’t the best console released in 1982 either. But the Emerson Arcadia 2001 wrapped the state of the home video game console industry up into a tight package of a

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Marx diesel freight train set 9644

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 11:00:02 +0000

The Marx diesel freight train set number 9644 was a 1958 electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 6-inch freight cars. It’s an attractive set and a very good example of post-war tin lithography, which was becoming something of

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NEC V20 vs Intel 80186

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:00:16 +0000

An acquaintance recently asked me what the difference was between the NEC V20 and the Intel 186 and why the NEC V20 makes a better PC clone than an Intel 80186. The V20, after all, was compatible with the Intel

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HP 200LX and related palmtops

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 11:00:28 +0000

The HP 200 LX was a successful palmtop computer introduced in 1994. HP continued to sell it through 1999, an unusually long run for a 1990s computer model. In this blog post, we’ll dig into this largely forgotten form factor

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Second-generation video game consoles

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 11:00:43 +0000

The second generation of video game consoles dates from approximately 1977 to 1983, or from the Fairchild Channel F to approximately the ColecoVision, although the years of release can vary slightly from country to country. In this blog post, we

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Interact Home Computer from 1978

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 11:00:26 +0000

When you think of the Intel 8080 CPU, the computer that springs to mind probably doesn’t look like the Interact. The prebuilt Interact, designed for home use, with an integrated keyboard and tape drive, doesn’t look much like an Altair

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Marx diesel passenger train set 9639

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:00:15 +0000

The Marx diesel freight train set number 9639/9607/9608 was an electric train set featuring a plastic diesel locomotive pulling 6-inch tin passenger cars. It dates to 1958-1961, showing that even in the 1960s, even though tin lithography was becoming a

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