David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
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’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’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.
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.
In 1981, a Philadelphia-area company called Franklin Computer had a good idea that didn’t work out so well for them. They decided to clone Apple computers. They ended up on the wrong end of a landmark lawsuit and yet they succeeded at reinventing themselves. In this blog post, I will go through the rise and fall and rebirth of Franklin Computer Corporation.
The Marx diesel freight train set number 9622 was a 1958 electric train set featuring twin diesel locomotives pulling 8-wheel plastic cars. It’s an attractive set and and one you don’t see every day. Marx made it for Sears and they sold it under the Allstate brand name.
It was 1985. Just 3 years before, Commodore had made telecommunications affordable, releasing the first modem on the market that retailed for $100. They weren’t just making it possible to live in the future, they were making it affordable. But the industry was passing them by. Commodore needed to catch up, and the 1670 modem 1200 was what they came up with.
In 1974, Marx introduced a diesel freight train set it called The Champion, catalog #52750, that ran on AC electric power and sold through catalog retailers. If you have a Marx 52750 train set today, it’s worth considerably more than its original retail price, even adjusted for inflation.
Marx’s Champion train set was part of the Great American Railroads series. It had catalog number 52750 and was manufactured only in 1974. Today it is one of the most valuable Marx train sets ever made.
Marx thrived for years selling low budget electric trains with an inexpensive locomotive pulling 4-wheel cars made of plastic. The Cannonball train set, part of its Great American Railroads series, carried catalog number 4362 and was the last of that breed.
The Marx Cannonball train, set number 4362, was part of the Great American Railroads series. It had two variants sold by discount retailers, but only in 1974.