David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
Train engines are much bigger than your car, and their huge size and weight means they aren’t nimble at all. That’s why you should always stop for an oncoming train. But how big is a train engine?
Sizes vary depending on the purpose of the locomotive, but generally speaking, you can stack up about 30 Toyota Camry passenger cars in the space of a typical train engine.
I saw a blog post the other day suggesting you should buy a workstation computer for home use. But I didn’t think it made a very convincing argument beyond saying it was a way to save money. So why buy a workstation computer, then? In a word, quality.
True workstation-grade computers, like an HP Z, Lenovo Thinkcentre or Dell Precision, are expensive computers built with best-of-breed components for reliability, not just performance. As such, once they hit retirement age, they still have years of useful life left in them, so they represent an incredible value.
I was going through my spare parts bins when I found a couple of Atari 2600 consoles I’d forgotten about. It turned out they didn’t work, which is probably why they ended up in those bins. But if your Atari 2600 won’t turn on like mine, you can fix it.
Usually when an Atari 2600 won’t power on, it’s one of four things: a bad AC adapter, a dirty power switch, a loose power jack, or a bad voltage regulator. Two of those problems are super easy to fix, while the other two may require soldering. If you can’t solder, or don’t have the equipment, I still have a suggestion for those fixes too.
Many people regard command line interfaces as old-fashioned. They’re certainly less friendly and much less intuitive than icons and a mouse. Nevertheless, command line interfaces still exist, and even the Macintosh, the computer that introduced the masses to icons and mice, has one. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of CLI?
Command lines can be cryptic but they can be a whole lot faster, and they make automation and dealing with huge data sets possible. Network administrators, system administrators, security professionals, and data scientists may all spend significant time using a CLI for this reason.
Epyx’s Fast Load cartridge did more than just speed up disk access. It also added a fair bit of functionality in the form of utilities and additional commands. Here’s a look at the Epyx Fast Load commands and how to use them.
Most Fast Load commands followed the convention of Commodore’s DOS Wedge, but it only implemented a subset of it. The cartridge also contained some simple disk utilities, including copiers, a disk editor, and simple file utilities. Also keep in mind if you use a Fast Load cartridge with a Pi1541, you need to reconfigure your Pi1541.
What are 1 gauge trains? It’s a fair question, since it’s terminology you don’t see every day. And it’s one, as in the number one, not L gauge or I gauge. It’s not the same as O gauge, and it’s terminology that goes all the way back to the 19th century.
German model railroad maker Marklin introduced 1 Gauge, or Gauge 1, in 1891 as the smallest of five train sizes. Its track measures 1.75 inches across and trains marketed using this terminology are usually 1:32 scale.
This is the question I just can’t shake in my career. Maybe if I answer it in writing, it’ll save me one conversation. What does backported mean, and do I need to be concerned about it?
Backporting is the process of applying bugfixes, especially security fixes, from new software to older, discontinued versions of the same software. This allows businesses to run older software securely while maintaining compatibility that the newer version may lack. This practice is most common on open-source software on Linux systems, so don’t get any ideas about using backporting to make it safe to run Adobe Acrobat 1.0 on Windows 98. That isn’t happening.
LHA was a compression algorithm popular in the early 1990s, especially on Amiga computers. It was similar in concept to Zip on PCs, but was slightly more efficient. Amiga software was frequently distributed in LHA file format.
Most modern PC file decompressors, such as 7zip and WinRAR, can extract the LHA file format. If you need to extract an LHA file on an Amiga or an emulator, the most popular LHA utility was called LhA, written by Stefan Boberg.
If you need to lower your toolbox height so it will fit under a shelf or workbench, you can do it as long as you’re willing to empty and disassemble the toolbox.
Most toolboxes don’t have adjustable casters. But you can swap the casters under your toolbox for smaller ones to gain an inch of clearance, or possibly even two inches.
For many vintage computer enthusiasts, printing is a curiosity. But it can be nice to be able to print from a vintage machine. And there are relatively modern printers that work with vintage computers without the hassle of finding ribbons. The key is to find a laser printer that can emulate older Epson FX-series dot matrix printers. This takes some legwork and some research, but it’s doable.
Some people consider using a modern LCD cheating, but I don’t think using a laser printer is. Laser printers existed in the 1980s. They were just expensive. This means you can team up your vintage computer with a compatible laser printer to build what would have been a dream outfit when your retro computer was new.