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Scale vs gauge: Not quite interchangeable

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains August 18, 2017September 29, 20191:64 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.

Commodore computer models

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 14, 2017August 16, 20181980s, 1990s, 6502, amiga, apple, CBM, Chuck Peddle, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, IBM, IEEE, KIM, MOS, motorola, Tandy, Texas Instruments, XT

The Commodore 64 is by far the most famous and successful computer Commodore ever made. But there were numerous Commodore computer models over the years. Some were also successful. Some were complete flops. Overall Commodore had a good 18-year run, but it could have been so much longer and better.

Let’s take a walk through the Commodore computer models from the beginning in 1976 to the bitter end in 1994.

Commodore 64 Z80 cartridge

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 9, 2017November 3, 20181541, 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?

Most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s

Dave Farquhar Baseball August 7, 2017December 13, 20171950s, 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.

Why did old PCs have a turbo button?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 1, 2017August 21, 20181980s, 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. 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.

Coleco Gemini: An Atari 2600 clone from 1983

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 31, 2017April 6, 20191980s, atari, atari 2600, CES, Jay Miner, NES, sears, video game

I spotted it on page 597 of the 1983 Sears 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. And then Coleco poked the bear by making an outright clone. Sears had sold Atari 2600 clones before, but they were actually a private-label version of the real Atari 2600. The Gemini was more of a true Atari 2600 clone.

90s computer brands

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 27, 2017August 23, 20181980s, 1990s, acer, amd, apple, apple ii, AT&T, best buy, Circuit City, commodore, compaq, consolidation, DEC, dell, hp, IBM, intel, micron, model m, Packard Bell, philips, radio shack, resellers, samsung, sony, Steve Jobs, survivors, Tandy, Texas Instruments, TI, toshiba, windows nt, XT

Some 90s computer brands are the same as today, but a lot more companies played in the field than now. Profit margins were higher then, so industry consolidation wasn’t the matter of survival that it is now.

Here’s a look back at some of the brands of old, including some famous PC brands, some not-so-famous, and some notorious. The 1990s were certainly a make or break time for many of them.

Commodore 256: The 8-bit that never was

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 21, 2017September 7, 20181980s, 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.

1981 Fleer baseball cards

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 20, 2017July 18, 20171950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, 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.

Most valuable baseball cards of the 1980s

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 10, 2017December 10, 20181980s, 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.