David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
I see a few misleading articles out there promising to tell you how to scan your router for malware or viruses. Unfortunately they don’t really explain the problem. They also don’t explain the alternative way to solve the problem you want to solve. What you really want to do is clean malware from a router–and viruses too. And that’s something you can do pretty easily. For free.
Yes, that’s right. You won’t have to pay 50 bucks a year for a subscription to keep your router clean.
Gary Kildall’s memoirs are legendary vaporware. Until now. Today, the Computer History Museum released 79 pages of it. What was released today isn’t the whole manuscript. But it’s better than what we had yesterday.
Gary Kildall is one of the unsung heroes of early computing. As such, he’s one of my favorite people to write about.
Late in his life, he started to write a memoir. I’ve only had a chance to read parts of the first two chapters, but they explain the man and his motives. It’s not the whole manuscript, and some people aren’t happy about that. But it’s better than what we had yesterday.
Most of what exists of computing history came from the victors’ point of view. Gary Kildall wasn’t one of the winners. But without his contributions, the winners wouldn’t have had much to build on.
Maybe someday Gary Kildall will get his due. Releasing his story in his own words is a start.
Undoubtedly I will have more to say after I read all 79 pages myself. But this release is too important not to mention.
Wifi interference is still a common problem, so sometimes people ask me about DECT wifi interference. I have good news. DECT doesn’t interfere with wifi. This is by design.
It’s pretty widely known that the Commodore 64 was the first 64K computer to sell for under $600. But what did a Commodore 64 cost over time? And what was the exact Commodore 64 launch price?
Sometimes a vinyl tile pops loose. When it happens, it’s best to replace it with a new one. But if the tile is old enough, replacements may not be available. When that’s the case, here’s how to fix loose vinyl tiles.
First things first: if the tile is asbestos, just glue it back down, disturbing it as little as absolutely possible. That’s the safest thing to do.
I get a lot of questions about the DD-WRT firewall. There’s a lot of talk out there that goes deep into theory and advanced firewall usage, but what if you just want to know how to set up your firewall to protect your network and open up a few ports?
Here’s how to set that up.
Note: If you have multiple DD-WRT boxes running as access points like I do, only the one directly plugged into the Internet needs to be configured this way. Disable the SPI firewall on your internal access points.
Plasticville buildings in less than stellar condition are dirt cheap, but restoring them is often possible. There is no need to be afraid of a dirty lot of Plasticville from a train show or Ebay–cleaning up Plasticville is easy.
Of course these tricks work for Plasticville-like buildings from the 1950s as well, such as Littletown, Skyline, Ideal, and Marx.
Wiring an old house for Ethernet can be challenging but offers real benefits. Wired Ethernet is faster and more reliable than wireless, so devices that have a wired connection can take advantage of it. Having wired connections also allows you to distribute wireless access points throughout your house for better, faster coverage.
So you even if you’re a heavy wireless user, there’s a lot to gain from having good wired connections. Believe it or not, you can do it with simple tools and very little tearing into your walls.
You had to know a command to load Commodore 64 games, because, unlike many other computers of its day, it didn’t automatically boot game disks when you turned it on.
Things worked best if you followed a process.