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Using AC and DC at the same time on a train layout

Dave Farquhar Toy trains July 18, 2024July 14, 2024

I was talking with someone who’d rather remain anonymous regarding AC and DC power on train layouts. When using AC power, a common trick to reduce the amount of wire you need is to run a power wire to each loop of track, and feed that loop of track from a dedicated loop of wire. Then you can run a second loop that each of your loops of track use as a common ground. His question was, if you wired your layout like this, would it be possible to switch to DC power?

The answer is yes, with a possible caveat.

What ruined thrift stores

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 17, 2024July 25, 2024

I was watching LGR’s retrospective on making retro videos on YouTube and one of the things he said struck me. He said thrifting is a lot different now than it was in 2009. In this blog post, I’ll tell you what ruined thrift stores. I saw it happen while it was happening.

One last run

Dave Farquhar Toy trains July 11, 2024November 28, 2024

Last week I helped an old friend, Dan, get his dad’s Lionel train layout running for one last time. Dan’s dad, David, had built the layout sometime in the 1970s using traditional methods, but had partially disassembled the layout sometime around 1988 and could no longer remember how it went together. In the process of helping, I learned that a Lionel layout doesn’t have to be permanent to be special. A temporary layout can be just as memorable.

A USB floppy drive for retro computing

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 10, 2024July 14, 2024

One of the reasons people keep a bridge PC around is the difficulty of writing 720k double density floppies with a modern USB floppy drive. In this blog post, I’ll share the secret of the MPF82E, a USB floppy drive that can write double density 720K disks, making it ideal for retro computing.

Using a dual fan GPU in a Dell Optiplex 3010

Dave Farquhar Hardware July 3, 2024June 30, 2024

I recently went to install a modern dual fan GPU in my Dell OptiPlex 3010. It is an outmoded machine for gaming, and it’s not supported for Windows 11, but with a powerful enough GPU, I can do some other types of cool GPU work. It can still be a Folding at Home monster, and I can do some AI based image editing with it. But I ran into some challenges trying to install my RTX 3060 in my aged Dell Optiplex. In this blog post, I will tell you how I overcame them.

Chips and Technologies Super 386: A forbidden CPU

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 2, 2024March 2, 2026

UMC wasn’t the only company with a forbidden CPU in the 90s. Fellow chip set maker Chips and Technologies took a somewhat similar approach late in the previous generation, with an independently created clean room implementation of the 386. This short-lived CPU may be the rarest 386.

Commodore 2031 disk drive: Last of its kind

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 1, 2024June 30, 2024

Later revisions of the Commodore 2031 look just like the 1541. But was this drive just the IEEE version of the 1541? And what about this drive almost made the 1541 not happen at all? In this blog post, we will dig into the last 170k IEEE drive Commodore made for the PET series, from 1981 to 1983.

Marx steam type freight set 9363

Dave Farquhar Toy trains June 27, 2024May 25, 2024

Marx’s steam freight train set catalog number 9363 is an unusual 4-wheel plastic set from 1957. In this blog post, I’ll explain what makes it special. Because two things make this one special.

Intel Pentium Pro: How it could succeed and fail simultaneously

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 26, 2024May 9, 2025

Intel’s Pentium Pro was the successor to the very successful Pentium. It was the direct ancestor of the much more successful Pentium II. But you’ll find mixed opinions of the chip. In this blog post, I will cover how the Pentium Pro could be both a failure and a triumph simultaneously.

CMD FD-2000 and 4000: High density and beyond for the C-64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 25, 2024October 5, 2025

In 1992, the Commodore 64 was fading. You may be surprised to hear it was still the number three gaming computer in terms of market share in the United States, but its growth years were in the distant past. That year, a new third party disk drive appeared or the C-64. Sometimes when you do something for the last time, you don’t realize it will be the last. In this case, I think everyone knew these drives were the end of the line. But what a finale they were.