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Tandy 1000 value

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 16, 2022August 8, 2024

The Tandy 1000 was an important early IBM compatible PC. It was by no means the first IBM PC compatible, nor was it the first successful one. But it was notable for being what the IBM PCjr should have been, and it was widely available at Radio Shack stores, making it one of the first mass market PCs. It has some cultural significance, and that cultural and historical significance drives its value.

Today, a Tandy 1000 is generally worth around $250 US. However, that amount does come with some caveats, including condition and whether the unit works.

Filmora not recognizing MP4 files? The fix.

Dave Farquhar Video February 15, 2022February 6, 2022

My son does a lot of video editing. His friends recommended Wondershare Filmora as being more stable than the other things he’s been using. But he had a problem. It wouldn’t see his MP4 files. If you have a problem with Filmora not recognizing MP4 files, here’s how we fixed it.

How Bill Gates became rich

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 14, 2022February 3, 2026

There are a lot of misconceptions and, shall we say, incomplete information about how Bill Gates became rich. But it’s an interesting and important story, so let’s cut through some of the misconceptions and the conspiracy theorizing of Gates and his early years.

Bill Gates made his money through software, first programming languages, and then operating systems. By getting into position to sell one or both products to virtually every computer manufacturer, Gates became a millionaire by age 23 and a billionaire by age 31.

Marx Standard Gauge – believe it!

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 10, 2022March 3, 2022

Marx Standard Gauge? Surely there’s no such thing. Marx was the king of cheap trains, and Standard Gauge trains were the big, over-the-top trains for the wealthy. But near the end of the Standard Gauge era, Marx did made a Standard Gauge train, sort of.

Save as in Office 365

Dave Farquhar Office February 9, 2022September 28, 2022

I was working on some documents in Word and Excel last week and needed to know where the files were. Figuring that out used to be easy: Just use Save As. But that looks really different in Office 365. Here’s what happened to save as in Office 365, and where to find the old one.

The key to not getting frustrated with Microsoft is knowing that when useful functionality goes missing, they usually didn’t get rid of it entirely. They hid it, and in this case, it’s hiding behind the Browse button.

Why the hard drive is called C

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 8, 2022January 29, 2022

The hard drive or solid state drive on your PC is called drive c, which implies the existence of a drive A and B. So what are drives A and B? What does the C drive stand for? Why is the hard drive called C?

Drive letters are a holdover from early microcomputers. The letters A and B went to floppy drives, so if you had a hard drive, it went to the earliest available drive letter, which was C.

Radio Shack fire chief’s helmet: a passive aggressive gift

Dave Farquhar Toys February 7, 2022April 4, 2026

One of my friends asked me about a toy space pistol his son found at a comic book shop that originally came from Radio Shack. I told him what I was able to figure out, and he said it made a pretty annoying noise. And that reminded me of my favorite toy when I was five. It was a Radio Shack fire chief’s helmet with a real working light and real annoying siren.

The Radio Shack electronic fire chief’s helmet boasted of a real rotating light and loud siren. Unfortunately, they forgot to recommend playing with it outside rather than indoors, which is probably why so many of them fell victim to sabotage and are scarce in working condition today.

Bing: Masters of Nuremberg lithography

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 3, 2022March 28, 2022

Bing was a long running German manufacturer of inexpensive tin toys. Like many of its competitors, they were based in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded by two brothers, Adolf and Ignaz Bing, they remained a family owned company from 1863 until their demise in 1933. Originally a maker of kitchen utensils, Bing became a pioneer in what we today call model railroading, creating the standards we today call O gauge and OO scale.

What does Unix like mean?

Dave Farquhar Linux February 2, 2022January 28, 2025

I used the phrase Unix like operating system in a discussion the other day and quickly realized and not everyone knew what I meant. So what does Unix like mean?

Line count in Notepad

Dave Farquhar Windows February 1, 2022February 1, 2022

Sometimes you need to count the number of lines in a plain text file. And sometimes notepad is all you have. Here’s how to do a line count in notepad.