David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
The DEC Rainbow 100 was an early MS-DOS computer that wasn’t 100% IBM compatible. In retrospect, this seems like an obvious mistake. But they took a different strategy, betting that they could win by providing a degree of compatibility, but that the market would choose their solution if they provided some amount of technical superiority. In this blog post, I’ll explore what DEC tried, and why it ultimately failed.
Rough Riders toy trucks were popular line of motorized toys in the 1980s, introduced in 1981. They competed directly with Stompers, which were made by Schaper. Rough Riders were made by LJN. The first-generation Rough Riders were fairly blatant ripoffs of the first-generation Stomper design.
Ryobi’s 1.5 Ah batteries have never had the best reputation. But all of my experience was with earlier model. I bought into the Ryobi tool line around 2009 and I’ve accumulated a few batteries and chargers over the years. So I usually just buy the tool alone and use the better, heavier duty batteries. But last year I purchased a tool bundle that included a pair of the new PBP002 1.5 Ah batteries. Is the Ryobi PBP002 battery any good? Read this review to find out.
The Marx 4218 was a low end train set that was the result of a long time collaboration between two large companies while times were still good for both of them. It was an inexpensive electric train set exclusive to W.T. Grant, which was one of the fastest growing retailers in the United States at the time.
What are network drivers? What is a network driver? It’s a valid question, no one’s born knowing this stuff. In this blog post, I’ll explain network drivers, why they’re important, and where to find them.
A question has been going around on social media about the best type-in you ever typed in. I remember it like it was yesterday. Crossroads, from the December 1987 issue of Compute!’s Gazette. Second place wasn’t close. Crossroads was an arcade-style game for the Commodore 64 that I think of as a sort of top-down 2-dimensional Doom-like game.
Yes, I am aware there was a sequel, Crossroads II, published a year later. I didn’t type that one in. I bought the disk. So while Crossroads II was better, I can’t call it the best type-in I ever typed in myself.
Circa 1958, Marx introduced a steam freight train set, catalog number 4205, that went on to become one of its best sellers. The set remained in production into the 1960s, but with some changes. It provided an introduction to electric trains at an unbeatable price.
The Commodore 8250 disk drive was the highest capacity floppy drive Commodore made for its 8-bit computers. It was a dual drive unit the connected to the IEEE-488 bus used on the PET and CBM line of computers. Each drive stored one megabyte of data on 5.25 inch double sided quad density disks. When you listed the directory on a Commodore equipped with an 8250, the disk read 4133 blocks free.
We’ll leave the TV and the radio behind is one of the more distinct and memorable lines in Joe Jackson’s 1982 hit single Steppin’ Out.
One morning in December, I got a text message from my wife. She’d found some trains in a secondhand store, cheap. They were damaged, but I like fixing up old trains. The highlight of the find was a Lionel 6014 boxcar. It had a busted truck, but was otherwise in reasonable condition. I didn’t have to feel bad about modifying it, and I had just the thing in mind. Restoration is a strong word for what I ended up doing, but some might call it a restoration or a customization.