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The Fujitsu Scansnap iX500 deserves its reputation

Dave Farquhar Hardware January 12, 2015January 10, 2015Microsoft Office, OCR, usb port

I don’t buy a lot of hardware anymore, but we purchased a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 document scanner this month. It has a fantastic reputation, and it only took an hour to live up to it for me.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Fixing an Asus Memopad 7 that wouldn’t power on

Dave Farquhar Android June 13, 2014December 12, 2015asus, Asus Memopad, power button, usb port

One night my son ran down the battery on his Memopad 7 and put it away, but didn’t put it on the charger or tell me about it. The next time he went to use it, it was dead.

I tried several different tricks I found online, including plugging it in overnight to the AC adapter, plugging it in overnight to a computer’s USB port, and holding down the power button for a full minute or even a full five minutes. None of it worked–the unit just wouldn’t power on or show any signs of life whatsoever.

Finally I resigned myself to the possibility I would have to send it in for service. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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You need a Yubikey.

Dave Farquhar security November 14, 2013computer security, lowercase letters, marx, password database, password strength, passwords, Two-factor authentication, usb port, yahoo

I mentioned the Yubikey as the ultimate solution stolen passwords on the excellent Yahoo Marx Train forum, and another member asked me to elaborate on it. Rather than take up a lot of space with some off-topic discussion, I decided it would be better to write about it here.

The Yubikey is the best solution I’ve seen yet for the problem of remembering passwords. I am a computer security professional by trade, but I will try to avoid as much techno-jargon as I can, and explain what I do use.

Dave Farquhar

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How to edit a hosts file in Android

Dave Farquhar Android October 31, 2013November 30, 2018android, malware, Play Store, unix, usb port

Someone asked me how to edit a hosts file in Android, which was a trick I used to recommend in Windows. Editing a hosts file is really two questions: Do you really want to edit it, or do you want to replace it?
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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An upgrade. And an upsell.

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized May 20, 2013November 22, 20181990s, Australia, computer security, podcast, radio shack, resistors, sony, thumb drive, usb port

I bought a new radio for my venerable 2002 Honda Civic this weekend. I want to be able to listen to security podcasts on my commute, which wasn’t practical with my factory radio. So, off to the nearest car audio shop (Custom Sounds) I went, skipping both Best Buy and Audio Express. I looked at a couple of $119 decks, then the salesman mentioned an Alpine HD radio deck for $129, and a Sony deck with Bluetooth for $149. Bluetooth didn’t really interest me much, but HD radio seemed worth the extra $10. To me, the secondary HD stations seem more interesting than the primary ones. Then again, I’m the guy who skips right past the hits on U2’s The Joshua Tree and cues up “Red Hill Mining Town.” The stuff I really like generally doesn’t do all that well on mainstream radio.

But my main motivation was to get a radio with a USB port, so I can snarf down a few hours’ worth of podcasts every week to a USB thumb drive, plug it in, and stay in touch with the security world. Total overkill for an Alpine, but like the salesman said, Alpines aren’t crazy expensive anymore like I remember them being in the early 1990s. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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New Raspberry Pi this week

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 7, 2013February 6, 2013pi, raspberry, Raspberry Pi, usb keyboard, usb port

The Raspberry Pi Model A (the cheaper, stripped-down version) was just released for $25.

How is this news? Well, I thought the Model A was already available.

It has half the memory of a Model B, and no Ethernet, and only a single USB port.

If you’d like to be able to mess around with microcontrollers but prefer a self-contained environment, a Model A has potential, and the price isn’t all that high. I’d still probably develop on the $35 Model B so I can connect to it remotely, then swap the SD card into the Model A and put the Model A into use. But in a pinch, just plug the Model B in to a USB keyboard and the nearest LCD TV.

Dave Farquhar

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Review: GT Max Playstation-USB converter

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 26, 2011commodore, commodore 64, KIM, malware, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, playstation, usb port

After my disappointing experience with an inexpensive–perhaps I should just say cheap— X-Kim USB gamepad, I decided to give the GT Max Playstation-USB converter a try. This inexpensive (under $5) adapter lets you use Playstation and Playstation 2 (PS2) controllers with a PC.

I’m just interested in being able to use it with emulators for older systems, so I can’t comment on its suitability for using Playstation dance pads with PC games, or using inexpensive PS2 controllers with PS3s. Other users report some degree of success for that.

I’m happy to report that I can now play five or six levels of Jumpman or 9 innings of Baseball Stars without my hands hurting.

Dave Farquhar

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The tyranny of consumerization is real

Dave Farquhar security March 5, 2011December 4, 20181990s, 3com, android, apple, CIO, computerworld, dell, excel, hp, IBM, ipad, mainframe, micron, Packard Bell, RIAA, Token Ring, usb port, windows nt

Computerworld cites the Ipad 2 and increasing demand by end users to use such consumer devices in corporate environments as “The tyranny of consumerization.”

This has happened before. And if history repeats itself, the future will be better than today, but the road there is going to involve some pain.
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Thrift-store PCs

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Saving money December 22, 2010October 11, 20191990s, capacitors, dell, estate sales, garage sale, garage sales, IBM, lionel, memory slots, micro atx, recycling, usb port, Windows XP

In the comments of a recent post I did, reader Glaurung Quena brought up a good topic: secondhand PCs, acquired cheaply, strictly as rebuild fodder.

I like the idea, of course, because I’ve been doing it for years. In the 1990s I built a lot of 486s and Pentiums into former IBM PC/ATs, basically until all the board makers relocated the memory slots into a position that wasn’t clear on the original PC/AT due to a beam that supported its drive bays. And of course the adoption of ATX and MicroATX killed that, at least for a while.

But now ATX has been around as long as the old AT architecture had been when ATX came along, and efforts to replace ATX haven’t been successful. So that trick makes more sense again. Buy a secondhand machine cheaply, intending to re-use the case, and regard anything else inside that happens to be reusable strictly as a bonus. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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4 more questions about RAID

Dave Farquhar Hardware November 30, 2010November 30, 2010benchmark, boot disk, CIO, intel, marvell, raid 1, raid array, usb port, windows 2000

Longtime reader Jim ` asked me a few more worthwhile questions while I was procrastinating working on yesterday’s post about RAID. Let’s go to Q&A format. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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