The Silicon Underground

Marx steam freight train set 50875

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:00:53 +0000

Marx train set 50875 is very similar to some variants of another set, 52875, and set 50885. But it has a distinct number on the box, so let’s walk through set 50875, which featured a 2-4-2 steam locomotive with a

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Why we like retro

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 12:00:47 +0000

Why do we like retro? The question comes up from time to time on forums and podcasts and discussion groups. I think there is more than one answer, but none of them are terribly complicated. In this blog post, I’ll

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SvarDOS: FreeDOS for XT-class systems

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 12:00:47 +0000

YouTuber Tech Tangents recorded a video about the difficulty he encountered installing FreeDOS on an IBM 5150. A similar problem will exist on any XT class system. He ended up essentially having to make his own distribution to get around

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Wireshark security risk and how to manage it

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:00:56 +0000

A couple of social media influencers got into an argument over banning Wireshark in corporate environments because Wireshark is a security risk. While I don’t like getting involved in this type of drama, the argument does raise an important point

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Marx Happi-Time 9624 train set from 1953

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:03:16 +0000

Marx train set 9624 was an electric train set Marx that Sears sold in 1953. But you may also hear collectors refer to it as Happi-Time train set 9624, because that’s what Marx printed on the box. It was something

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Drill bits keep breaking? Try this!

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 12:00:53 +0000

If your drill bits keep breaking, I can sympathize. It happens to me too. But I also know how to prevent, or at least reduce, how often this happens. In this blog post, I’ll tell you why your drill bits

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Scratchy the Micron

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 12:00:28 +0000

Have you heard of Crusty the Mac, the indestructable Macintosh SE? Let me tell you the story of Scratchy the Micron. Scratchy was a Micron Transport Trek 2 laptop, one of the best laptops money could buy in 1998. And

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Why Gateway computers failed in the enterprise

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:00:15 +0000

YouTuber Mike Tech was attempting to refurbish a couple of Gateway 2000 desktops recently, and he observed that one of them had features you normally only see in business class PCs. And he expressed surprise, because Gateway is a brand

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Marx steam freight train set 50885

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 12:03:32 +0000

Marx train set 50885 is very similar to some variants of another set, 52875, and set 50875. But it has a distinct number on the box, so let’s walk through set 50875, which featured a 2-4-2 steam locomotive with a

The post Marx steam freight train set 50885 appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Commodore 8050 disk drive

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 12:03:24 +0000

The Commodore 8050 disk drive was the second-highest capacity floppy drive Commodore made for its 8-bit computers. It was a dual drive unit that connected to the IEEE-488 bus used on the PET and CBM line of computers. Each drive

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