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Fixing Lionel locomotives that run erratically and have flickering lights

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 19, 2011August 30, 2017american flyer, conductivity, KCS, lionel, lionel train, Rail Zip

If you have a Lionel electric train whose lights flicker and (possibly) runs erratically, I have an easy fix.
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How to make a single page landscape in Word

Dave Farquhar Office, Software November 19, 2011March 28, 20231990s, microsoft word, Page Layout

Can I make one page landscape in Word? Yes you can. In Microsoft Word, it’s not difficult, but it’s anything but obvious. Here’s how to make a single page landscape in Word. It takes three steps.

This is useful when the document contains an image that’s wider than it is tall, and you need to make it fill the page to make it easier to see.

There are buttons on the ribbon to switch between portrait and landscape. But they switch the whole document, not your selection or the page you’re on. I’m sure you have already tried that. Here’s how to switch it for part of the document.
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Hey, AT&T! Don’t send clumsy oafs to bury my cable!

Dave Farquhar ISPs November 18, 2011August 3, 2017AT&T, cissp

Late Thursday morning, AT&T sent a subcontractor out to bury the cable strung across my yard for U-Verse. He buried the cable, but tore it up in the process. He knocked on the door and asked my wife to see if anything worked. It didn’t. Then he told her to contact AT&T and left.

That’s customer service. Poor customer service. But customer service, nonetheless, right?
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How to buy a sub-$100 Android tablet and not get burned

Dave Farquhar Hardware November 17, 2011November 16, 2011amd, android, intel, Media Player, overclocking

Last year, a flood of $99 tablets built with extremely low-end hardware running dated versions of Android appeared. This year, slightly better tablets running slightly less dated versions of Android are readily available, sometimes for as little as $60. And I have to admit, these devices got me thinking. I didn’t quite pull the trigger. But here’s what to watch (out) for on the low end.
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How to mount a USB drive in Turnkey Linux

Dave Farquhar Linux November 16, 2011December 6, 2015mysql, turnkey, Turnkey Linux, ubuntu, unix

I like Turnkey Linux, which is a collection of pre-built server appliances based on Ubuntu. When you need a server fifteen minutes from now, it’s about the only way you can make it happen.

But as far as I can tell, it doesn’t mount USB drives automatically. That’s fine; these servers are designed to have the minimum necessary for their stated purpose in life and nothing more. Here’s how I mount a USB drive to use for making backups.

Milestone: Enterprise SSDs are cheaper than enterprise HDDS

Dave Farquhar Hardware November 15, 2011cissp

Partly due to flooding in Thailand pushing up disk prices, and no doubt partly due to the natural progression of new technologies driving down the prices of flash memory and related components, enterprise SSDs are now cheaper (at around $2 per GB) than enterprise 15K RPM HDDS (at around $3 per GB).

Nginx, a leaner, meaner web server

Dave Farquhar Linux, Servers and Networking November 15, 2011November 3, 2025apache, debian, PHP, pogoplug, ubuntu

Ars Technica posted a nice writeup on Nginx, a cut-down webserver that does less than Apache does, but does the few things it does much faster. That’s nothing particularly new, as smaller and faster webservers have existed for as long as I can remember.

What makes Nginx different is that it can work with PHP. And therefore, it can run WordPress.

Things I wish I’d known about AT&T U-Verse before I signed up

Dave Farquhar ISPs November 14, 2011February 8, 2018antenna, AT&T, AT&T U-verse, caller id, phone service, VOIP, western electric

As I wrote earlier this week, I’m a new AT&T U-Verse customer. Prior to that, I was using old-school POTS with a DSL connection. Between the phone service, DSL, and long-distance calls, I was spending around $75 a month. So it looked like I could switch to U-Verse with the 250-minute voice plan and 3-megabit Internet, save some money, and get a bit of an upgrade in connection speed.

I was mostly correct.

Review: The Definitive Guide to Marx Trains, by Walt Hiteshew

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 13, 2011December 1, 2015greenberg, Joy Line, marx, marx trains, reference book, train show

A week go I wrote about the newest Greenberg Pocket Guide, which I recommended as a useful, if flawed, resource. Today I’ll talk about one of the best ways to fill in the gaps.

Several years ago, Walt Hiteshew released his Definitive Guide to Marx 6″ and Joy Line Trains on CD-ROM, priced at $29.95. The Definitive Guide covers every known 6″ car Marx produced and includes photos, pricing, and production history. Basically, everything known or that can be reasonably inferred about Marx’s most prolific line. When Mr. Hiteshew says Definitive Guide, he means it.
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How I secured my new wireless router

Dave Farquhar security November 12, 2011December 6, 2015lowercase letters, passwords, RIAA, vulnerability, WEP

For the first time ever, I actually have a wireless router that can cover my whole house. I’ve been interested in wireless security for a long time, but haven’t actually had to do much with it because I wasn’t running any wireless networks at home.

I spent a few minutes securing my network after I got it up and running. I talked at rather long length about that in the past, but on a really practical level, here’s what I did in a mere 10 minutes that will make a big difference.