emachine Archives - The Silicon Underground

The State Department is just one of many examples of IT gone rogue

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:00:43 +0000

Much has been made of Hillary Clinton’s use of her own mail server, running out of her home. It didn’t change my opinion of her, and I don’t think it changed anyone else’s either–it just reinforces what everyone has thought

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Snickering at the Emachine

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 11:00:44 +0000

For several years, I administered a command and control system for the U.S. Air Force. I sat in a datacenter, surrounded by racks jam-packed full of servers, and they kept the building at 64 degrees year round. I quickly learned

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Happy 30th birthday, Commodore 64

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:30:43 +0000

The C-64 sort of turns 30 this week. It was introduced 30 years ago this week, though it wasn’t until August or so that you could actually buy one. It took that long for memory prices to come down to

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Windows for Morons

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:04:03 +0000

Microsoft is considering a numeric ratings system for PCs for the upcoming version of Windows--The Operating System Formerly Known As Longhorn, that is. I believe it's going to be called Windows LH.

I smell marketing.

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The Microsoft Killer

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 30 May 2005 13:30:06 +0000

Yet another story about what's going to kill Microsoft popped up on Slashdot today. This time it's cheap solid-state computers running open-source software. I didn't bother reading it.

Here's what I think the Microsoft killer will be: Windows.

Say what?

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Hard drive upgrade tips for older PCs

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:08:14 +0000

A hard drive upgrade is one of the best ways to extend the usable lifespan of a computer.

A lot of people come to this site looking for hard drive upgrade advice, but I realized that it's been a long time since I've written anything about that. Since there are some gotchas, I need to address them.

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Beware the “flat screen” scam

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 28 Dec 2003 15:41:39 +0000

I was just pricing out some parts for the pending Compaq Presario upgrade when I remembered the latest scam--well, it's not technically a scam, but it's definitely deceptive advertising. Many stores offer a bundle with a low-end PC and a 17-inch "flat screen" for an unbelievable deal, like $499. Chances are, if you read this site, some relative of yours is going to be asking about that, if they haven't started asking already. And I'm pretty sure you know that right now $399 is a pretty good deal for a 17-inch LCD flat panel alone.

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Straight talk on cheap laptops

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 11 Dec 2002 03:36:44 +0000

I've been getting lots of traffic ever since we started talking about the Sotec 3120x laptop here last week. It looks like an era of inexpensive laptops is about to arrive, because the Sotec isn't your only choice.

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Upgrading an eMachine

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 05:22:58 +0000

One of the most common search engine hits on this site involves the words "emachine" and "upgrade" or "upgrades."

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Vintage PCs and bubblegum and Unix and Windows server crashes

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 06:26:20 +0000

Mail. Svenson wrote in, a little bit disturbed at the "vintage" label I hung on Pentium IIs this week. Here's what he said:

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