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What happened to Digital Equipment Corporation?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 20, 2017October 3, 2018

Digital Equipment Corporation was perhaps the second most important computer company in history, behind IBM. Its minicomputers challenged IBM, and, indeed, Unix first ran on a DEC PDP-7. DEC’s Alpha CPU was one of the few chips to make Intel nervous for its x86 line. It created the first really good Internet search engine. In a just and perfect world, DEC would still be dominating. Instead, it faded away in the 1990s. What happened to Digital Equipment Corporation, or DEC?

There’s a short answer and a long answer.

Replace your UPS battery

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 19, 2017May 22, 2022APC, Batteries Plus, best buy, home depot, Micro Center, recycling, red wire, usb port

My UPS started squawking one Friday evening, the tell-tale sign that the battery was dead or dying. When that happens, it’s time to either replace the UPS battery, or replace the entire UPS. Hopefully you can just replace the battery. Here’s how to replace your UPS battery.

Vulnerability scanning best practices

Dave Farquhar security June 16, 2017September 29, 2019

As a vulnerability management professional, I talk about vulnerability scanning best practices a lot. There’s a lot more to vulnerability management than just scanning, but if you don’t get scanning right, the rest of the program suffers.

I’m going to talk about a lot of technical controls here, but don’t forget the nontechnical side. People and processes have to support all technology.

How to take apart Hot Wheels without a drill

Dave Farquhar Model Building June 14, 2017November 24, 2018Hot Wheels, Plumbing

I get the question all the time how to take apart Hot Wheels without a drill. This trick doesn’t work on older cars with metal bases. But you can indeed take apart newer cars with plastic bases without drilling the rivet. The trick is to use a soldering iron to heat up the rivet and the plastic base enough to let you take it apart. So here’s how to open a Hot Wheels car with a soldering iron.

What is a game cartridge?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 13, 2017April 30, 20241980s, 1990s, atari, atari 2600, cloak and dagger, colecovision, NES, nintendo, pennies on the dollar, radio shack, Top Secret, VCR, video game

What is a game cartridge? If you’re asking, you must not have grown up in the 1980s. But that’s OK. We’re happy to share our generation’s fun with you.

A game cartridge is a plastic case containing a circuit board, a connector, and a ROM chip. CDs and DVDs ultimately displaced them because they offered higher capacity at a lower cost. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the only lasers our game consoles had were the ones they drew on the screens in games about aliens. We liked our cartridges, even if we called them tapes sometimes.

Commodore 64 models

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 12, 2017September 15, 20251541, 1980s, Aldi, amiga, apple, apple ii, atari, Australia, CES, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, IBM, infoworld, intel, Japan, MOS, nintendo, Personal Computer, public domain

Over the course of its 12 years on the market, Commodore released a number of Commodore 64 models. The computer’s capability changed very little over time, but the technology did. The world changed a lot between 1982 and 1994, and that gave Commodore some opportunities to lower costs, chase other market segments, or both.

Here’s an overview of the various Commodore 64 models that hit the market over the machine’s long life.

IBM PS/2 vs PC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 9, 2017May 7, 20241980s, 1990s, apple, apple ii, asus, compaq, IBM, intel, VGA, x86, XT

The IBM PS/2 line was a fairly radical departure from the older IBM PC line. This was deliberate, as IBM wanted to disrupt the clone industry, which it saw as a threat to its business. Here’s a look back at the IBM PS/2 vs PC, the line it replaced.

IBM succeeded with the PC because it created an ecosystem, not just a PC. IBM’s misstep was creating an open architecture and then trying to close it back up after the fact with the PS/2. In IBM’s defense, it’s not clear whether they knew this at the time. If nothing else, in the case of the IBM PS/2 vs PC, IBM created a classic case study of open architecture vs closed.

What is a 3D SSD?

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 8, 2017August 1, 20171990s, hp, intel, micron, toshiba, Western Digital

Some SSDs, particularly Western Digital and Sandisk-branded drives, have the words “3D SSD” on the label. This isn’t purely a marketing term. But what is a 3D SSD, exactly?

Compaq Deskpro 386

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 7, 2017January 28, 2025

The Compaq Deskpro 386, announced in September 1986, was a landmark IBM PC compatible computer. The first fully 32-bit PC based on the Intel 386, its release took the leadership of the PC ecosystem away from IBM, and Compaq became the leader.

Compaq was no upstart by 1986. Its Compaq Portable was a runaway success earlier in the decade, and Compaq was a darling of the industry. The Deskpro 386 solidified Compaq’s position as an industry innovator.

Connect a 2 wire light fixture to a 3 wire ceiling box

Dave Farquhar DIY June 6, 2017September 1, 2017led bulbs, red wire

If you’re changing out a light fixture and find two wires on the fixture and three wires in the box, you’re not out of luck. Here’s how to connect a 2 wire light fixture to a 3 wire ceiling box.