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Scale vs gauge: Not quite interchangeable

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains August 18, 2017March 3, 20221:64 scale, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, american flyer, HO, ho scale, lionel, Lionel 675, n scale, o gauge, o scale, s scale, Standard Gauge

Wondering about scale vs gauge? You’re not alone. It’s a common question, and I’ll try to provide a simple answer. The two terms may appear interchangeable, but they aren’t quite.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Commodore 64 Z80 cartridge

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 9, 2017April 3, 20231541, 1980s, 6502, apple, apple ii, commodore, commodore 64, intel, MOS, spartan

One of the most popular add-ons for an Apple II added CP/M compatibility. So I guess it should be no surprise that Commodore tried the same thing. But the Commodore 64 CP/M operating system and the associate Commodore 64 Z80 cartridge was a flop. Why?

Dave Farquhar

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Most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s

Dave Farquhar Baseball August 7, 2017October 11, 20231950s, 1980s, 1990s, andre dawson, baseball cards, cardinals, Kansas City, Topps, Willie Mays

Although the 1970s may not have been quite the golden era for baseball that, say, the 1950s were, the decade produced a good number of stars. An important thing to consider, too, is that many players Generation X grew up watching came up in the 1970s. That, along with lower production numbers, makes it an important decade in today’s market. Let’s take a year by year walk through the most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s.

Dave Farquhar

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Why did old PCs have a turbo button?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 1, 2017March 25, 20241980s, 1990s, benchmark, compaq, IBM, XT

Old PCs, especially PCs from the 1980s to the mid 1990s, have a button with the curious label “Turbo.” On some PCs, a number on the front changes when you push it, or an LED toggles on or off. Why did old PCs have a turbo button?

Turbo buttons are a quirk of old PCs, kind of like their beige color that tends to turn yellow, but it served a functional purpose.

Dave Farquhar

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Coleco Gemini: An Atari 2600 clone from 1983

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming July 31, 2017June 20, 20251980s, atari, atari 2600, CES, Jay Miner, NES, sears, video game

I spotted it on page 597 of the 1983 Sears Christmas catalog. “Two big names play the same games,” the headline boasted. Next to the venerable Atari 2600, Sears presented the Coleco Gemini video game system, an Atari 2600 clone.

In 1982, Coleco built an add-on to make its Coleco Vision game system Atari 2600-compatible. Atari sued. Coleco poked the bear by making the Gemini, an outright clone. Sears had sold Atari 2600 clones before, but they were actually real Atari 2600s with a different label on them, supplied by Atari itself. The Gemini was more of a true Atari 2600 clone.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 256: The 8-bit that never was

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 21, 2017November 15, 20241980s, amiga, CBM, commodore, commodore 64, DEC, IBM, IRA

In 1985, Commodore followed up on its best selling Commodore 64 with a model with twice as much memory. The design of the 128 offered the possibility of following up with a Commodore 256. It never happened. Instead, Commodore moved on from 8-bit machines after the 128. Here’s why.

Dave Farquhar

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1981 Fleer baseball cards

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 20, 2017February 6, 20231950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, 202, 216, 28, 29, 32, 41, 483, 5, 514, 547, 7, 79, AVG, baseball cards, cardinals, cardstock, Fleer, New Jersey, Topps, willie wilson

It’s just my opinion, but I think 1981 Fleer baseball cards get less respect than they deserve. It ended Topps’ 25-year monopoly on baseball cards and, frankly, I think it’s a nicer set than the Topps or Donruss sets from the same year.

Yes, compared to the smooth and polished Topps, the Fleer set at times looked like amateur work. But they didn’t make as many mistakes as fellow upstart Donruss did. And they tried some things with their set that Topps had been unwilling to do. The 1981 Fleer baseball cards got some critical accolades at the time, and frankly I think it’s an underrated ’80s set. It didn’t contribute a lot to the most valuable cards of the 1980s, but it certainly helped shape the decade.

Dave Farquhar

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Most valuable baseball cards of the 1980s

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 10, 2017March 13, 20211980s, 1990s, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, baseball cards, billboard, Cal Ripken, cardstock, Fleer, Jose Canseco, New York, Star Wars, Topps

In the 1980s, almost everyone I knew collected baseball cards, at least briefly. When we think of the 1980s today, baseball cards aren’t what comes to mind but they probably deserve to be up there with video games, Rubik’s cubes, G.I. Joe, and Star Wars. With so many of us buying and preserving cards during that decade’s baseball card bubble, there aren’t a lot of super-valuable cards from the 1980s. But that doesn’t mean all 1980s baseball cards are worthless. So let’s take a look at the most valuable baseball cards of the 1980s.

If you’re like me and thought you’d fund your retirement with baseball cards someday, this could be depressing. More depressing than 1970s baseball card values. Possibly more depressing than 1990s baseball card values, even. But there’s a flip side too. If you didn’t have all of these cards back then, you probably can afford all of them now. None of the most valuable baseball cards of the 1980s are worth what we thought they’d someday be worth.

Dave Farquhar

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Why did IBM fail at PCs?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 3, 2017October 4, 20211980s, 1990s, acer, AIX, apple, compaq, datacenter, dell, hp, IBM, intel, lenovo, mainframe, Packard Bell, Personal Computer, proprietary unix, thinkpad, unix, VHS, XT

If you ask why did IBM fail, I assume you mean why did IBM ultimately fail in the personal computer market. IBM is still in business, after all. But its exit from the PC market after 24 years, including a period of dominance in the 1980s, does seem curious. And it raises another question: What does IBM do now?

I experienced IBM’s fall in this market firsthand. I sold computers at retail in 1994 and 1995. IBM’s computers at that time were no worse than anyone else’s, but I had an extremely difficult time selling them. Many consumers didn’t trust IBM and didn’t want to get somehow locked in. There was nothing wrong with those machines, but it sure was a lot easier to just sell them a Compaq.

Dave Farquhar

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Where to buy vintage computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 28, 2017April 19, 20261541, 1980s, commodore, dell, electric trains, estate sales, garage sale, garage sales, IBM, ibm pcjr, intel, Kansas City, Missouri, recycling, survivors, Tandy, Texas Instruments, TI, Value Village, vintage computer, vintage trains

Collecting vintage computers can be fun. I also personally think it’s great that people are interested in preserving that history. Where to buy vintage computers hasn’t changed much over the years. It just may take a bit more work than it used to.

Some people think old computers are priceless. Others think they’re worthless. I don’t recommend wasting your time with people who think a Dell Pentium III laptop is worth $300. Think of the times you found a jewel for five bucks and keep moving.

Dave Farquhar

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