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Commodore 64 motherboard revisions

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing October 19, 2018August 31, 2024

Commodore made the C-64 for about 11 years, so it’s probably no surprise they went through several Commodore 64 motherboard revisions during that time. Collectors enjoy the challenge of trying to get a machine with each type and revision of board, and knowing the characteristics of each board can help someone puzzle out the history of a machine, such as whether it had been repaired in the past.

Commodore made a lot of changes to the 64’s outward appearance over the years, but they made a lot of changes internally as well. This helped them drive the price down from $595 to $149 over the course of about three years.

What is the difference between SSD and HDD?

Dave Farquhar Hardware October 17, 2018October 17, 2018

When you’re shopping for computers, you may find some computers have an SSD and some list an HDD in the specs instead. What is the difference between SSD and HDD? And should you care? In a word, yes.

Applying for a job with no experience

Dave Farquhar Careers October 16, 2018October 13, 2018

You want to move onward and upward with your career? You see an opportunity you want to take, but you don’t have experience? Let’s talk about applying for a job with no experience.

Merge CSV files with header in Windows, OS X and Linux

Dave Farquhar security October 15, 2018October 13, 2018

I do a lot of work with CSV files, sometimes very large CSV files, for a living. And sometimes it’s not practical, or possible, to do what I need to do entirely in Excel. Merging files is an example. So here’s how to merge CSV files on various platforms from a command line so you can get it done quickly and efficiently.

Train show tips

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains October 12, 2018September 29, 2019

I like to support my local dealers, and of course Ebay makes it easy to buy trains, but there’s still nothing like an old-fashioned train show. Here are my train show tips that I’ve found helped me in the past. Hopefully they’ll help you too.

You may recognize some of these from my tips for garage sales and estate sales, but some of the methods are unique to shows. Also, not all shows are the same, and my tips may work better for local shows than traveling shows but most of them should work for both types.

Abit BP6: In memoriam

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing October 11, 2018December 30, 2024

Somewhere around here I still have my old Abit BP6 motherboard. Abit is a long-dead manufacturer of enthusiast motherboards, and the BP6 was one of its landmark achievements. It was the first cheap dual-CPU board.

The Abit BP6 is a bit obscure today, but hardware enthusiast sites like Tom’s Hardware Guide were pretty excited about it in 1999.

Can SNES play NES games? Sort of.

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming October 10, 2018September 15, 2025

Can SNES play NES games? That question is older than the SNES itself. But the two systems aren’t backward compatible, unfortunately. At least, not when the two systems were still on store shelves together. That’s changed in modern times to a degree at least. More on that in a minute.

There are physical limitations that prevent an NES cartridge from even fitting in an SNES. But there was a technical reason to make the two physically incompatible. Even if the cartridge would fit, it wouldn’t work.

How long should a router last? It depends.

Dave Farquhar Hardware October 9, 2018October 3, 2018

In 2016, I got spiffy new Internet service that promised to be a little faster than 100 megabits. So I got a spiffy new gigabit router to work with it. It worked for six months. That got me thinking about how long should a router last.

For a while, routers were so cheap I didn’t really care how long they lasted. You could get a good-enough router for 20 bucks. But to get the features we want today, you’re looking at $100 or more. And at that price point, you should expect it to last a while.

Nessus false positives

Dave Farquhar security October 8, 2018November 23, 2022

Dealing with false positives is a fact of life for a vulnerability analyst. So here are some tips for investigating and dealing with Nessus false positives from a system administrator turned vulnerability analyst. Read more

Hyperx Alloy FPS Pro review

Dave Farquhar Hardware October 5, 2018March 8, 2023

I want a quiet keyboard that doesn’t feel like typing on overcooked oatmeal. Ideally I want it to be tenkeyless to save space on my desk. I need the desk space more than I need the keypad these days. I realize I ask for an awful lot. My quest led me to the Hyperx Alloy FPS Pro. It’s designed to be a gaming keyboard, but I’m using it for work. Here’s my Hyperx Alloy FPS Pro review.