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Timex Sinclair 1500: The ZX81 in Spectrum clothing

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 24, 2020July 30, 2024

The Timex Sinclair 1500 was Timex’s ill-fated attempt to fix what went wrong with the Timex Sinclair 1000. It was completely compatible with the 1000 and the Sinclair ZX81, but sported 16K of RAM and a better keyboard. These were welcome improvements, but they weren’t enough in the hyper competitive 1983 U.S. computer market.

The Timex Sinclair 1500 was essentially a Sinclair ZX81 with more memory in a Sinclair Spectrum case. Released in July 1983 at a price of $80, it wasn’t successful and Timex withdrew from the market in February 1984.

Trash-80: What it meant and why it stuck

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 21, 2020September 20, 2023

One of the first computers I ever used was a Radio Shack Color Computer. Or should we say, a TRS-80 Color Computer. But everyone I knew called them Trash-80s. Why?

Trash-80 was a pejorative for Radio Shack’s TRS-80 line of computers. Tandy executives didn’t like the nickname, but most of its competitors had one too.

GT 710 vs GT 1030

Dave Farquhar Hardware August 20, 2020August 2, 2020

If you need a budget video card, there are probably two cards on your radar: The GT 710 and GT 1030. While the 1030 costs twice as much as the 710, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. The GT 710 vs GT 1030 comes down to a battle for the cheapest card worth having. Here’s how to decide which one is for you.

Both the GT 710 and 1030 are really intended for casual computing. But both of them have their use cases, especially in SFF desktops.

Are police scanners illegal?

Dave Farquhar security August 19, 2020March 13, 2021

I don’t think it’s news to anybody that there’s been some civil unrest in 2020. And in many cases, when protestors have been detained, cops and feds have cited possession of police scanners as proof that they were up to no good. But are police scanners illegal?

Police scanners are not illegal. A police scanner is just a radio, picking up broadcasts on radio waves, which belong to anybody, some of which happen to be used by police. So-called police scanners have uses other than listening to police broadcasts, and listening to police broadcasts is not illegal.

Buying computer gear in the 80s and 90s

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 18, 2020November 30, 2024

Today we take buying online for granted. You pull up a web site, find what you want, and in a couple of clicks, you put it in your virtual cart and pay for it. It’s fast and convenient. It was very different in the 80s and 90s. Better? Maybe. Maybe not. But definitely different.

The difference between CVE and CVSS

Dave Farquhar security August 17, 2020August 9, 2020

What is the difference between CVE and CVSS? It can be confusing, especially if you’re not a security professional. Here’s how to make sense of the alphabet soup you hear from security analysts like me.

Both CVE and CVSS are industry standards that refer to vulnerabilities in computer software. Think of CVSS as the tracking number, and CVE as a measure of severity.

TRS-80 MC-10: Radio Shack’s cheapest computer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 13, 2020September 27, 2024

The TRS-80 MC-10 Micro Color Computer was a really cheap beginner’s home computer from 1983, designed to compete with cheap computers from Timex. It was a little bit too limited and perhaps not quite cheap enough, so it only lasted a year on the market. But it has a devoted following today.

Initially priced at $119 and eventually discounted to as little as $49.95, the TRS-80 MC-10 Micro Color Computer was Radio Shack’s entry-level computer in 1983 and 1984. Like much of the computer industry, Tandy overestimated the demand for cheap, limited computers and the MC-10 flopped.

1983 video game crash

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming August 12, 2020January 20, 2025

The 1983 video game crash is something most retro gaming enthusiasts are familiar with. But it didn’t necessarily happen exactly the way people remember it today. To Atari, it certainly felt like a crash. But to its consumers, it was much less sudden than that.

The video game crash was a swift and dramatic loss of interest in video game consoles, as consumer mindshare shifted to home computers. But it wasn’t an overnight event.

x16 GPU in PCIe x1 slot: The caveats

Dave Farquhar Hardware August 11, 2020September 19, 2023

Can you put a x16 GPU in a PCIe x1 slot, and will it work? It depends. There are several reasons you may want to do this, but you may run into some issues.

A x16 GPU functions just fine in a PCIe x1 slot. However, in most motherboards it doesn’t fit unless you modify the card or the slot.

How to use Excel VLOOKUP

Dave Farquhar Office August 10, 2020August 11, 2022

VLOOKUP is a very useful tool in Excel but can be difficult to get right. Here’s how to use Excel VLOOKUP, including an example and what to do when it doesn’t work right.

VLOOKUP is a useful tool for data analysis in Excel, especially merging data from multiple sources. It’s a frequent question in job interviews for business analysts and other jobs that handle data.