David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
Occasionally someone comes on a hardware forum and asks for help with the terms video card vs graphics card, and apologizes for possibly asking a n00b question. The thing is, it’s not a bad question at all. While there’s technically no difference between them today, in retro computing, there was a difference. And even in modern times, the two words certainly imply different things. So let’s dig in.
Let’s tackle a controversial computer hardware question. How much RAM do you need? There’s a difference between how much RAM you want and how much you need. You may very likely need less RAM than you think.
I want 128 gigabytes of RAM. But there isn’t a lot of point to it. Almost 20 years ago, I was buying 128 megabytes of RAM when most people had 32 or 64 megabytes. There was a benefit to being beyond the pale then. Not so much today. At least not that far out.
If you have a large collection of music or movies, it’s nice to have a server to put it on. And having a server lets you do some other cool stuff too. But if you’ve priced an enterprise server, it might scare you off. Let’s talk about cheap home server options.
If you want a gaming PC but have a super-tight budget, a $100 gaming PC isn’t ideal and isn’t easy. But it’s possible to put together a PC for gaming on a budget that small. You can even leave some room for improvement for upgrades as your budget permits later on, which I recommend.
The basic formula for a $100 gaming PC is a used computer, ideally an old office PC, that’s old enough to be cheap but still new enough to run some games. Then add in a video card that fits your budget but is fast enough to run some games.
Today let’s tackle the most fundamental question a new landlord might ask. Ideally, it would be one of the first questions to ask: How much rent should I charge?
The math is surprisingly easy. So I’ll tell you the math first, then I’ll tell you the reason.
A discussion with a couple of people who went to the same high school I did brought up a few dark topics from that era. One of them mentioned a place called “Charter.” I asked him if he meant Charter Hospital and/or Charter Behavioral Health.
He said yes. He didn’t know much else about it. It turns out the company still exists, though not under the same name and not under the same line of business. The Charter name and business model disappeared in 2000, even though the company who owned it still survives today.
TVs have changed a bit since 1986, and memories have faded a bit too. So just in case you’ve lost some cables, or just need a refresher, here’s how to connect a NES to a modern TV so you can get a Zelda or Mario fix. You have a couple of options for this, including AV cables.
Keep in mind your vintage 8-bit Nintendo NES will work fine with a modern LCD or LED TV, but the light gun won’t work with newer TVs. The light gun requires a CRT to operate. Also, while it is possible to modify an NES to output something resembling a modern digital video format, I assume you just want to connect an unmodified Nintendo console to an unmodified TV.
The NES’s design lends itself better to modern TVs than some other retro gaming consoles, such as the Atari 2600. This is good, since Nintendo systems aren’t backward compatible.
What is a network interface card? What is a NIC? It’s a term you may not hear as much anymore as you once did. But a network interface card is the computer component that lets you plug it into an Ethernet network or connect to a wireless network to get LAN and/or Internet access.
Network interface cards can come with anywhere from one to four ports. One port is the most common. Multi-port cards allow you to bond more than one port together for greater speed. Or you can use them for failover, or to dedicate a port to a specific virtual machine in virtual environments.
There are some questions you really don’t want to answer, because there’s no way you’re going to answer it without making enemies. I heard one of those questions the other day. Between a Dell or HP laptop: Which is better?
HP and Dell are two of the most popular computer brands, and both have endured. Both entered the business in the 1980s and survived the brutal 1990s, which was an achievement. There were several good companies that failed to survive the 90s or emerged from the 90s mortally wounded. Both companies did something right to make it this far.
I’ve been building PCs for more than 20 years and I tend to keep them a very long time, so it occurred to me that someone might be interested in what I look for in a motherboard to ensure both a long, reliable life and a long useful life.
Technology has changed a lot but what I look for has remained surprisingly consistent over the years.