Author Topic: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide  (Read 3583 times)

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Offline roamer_1

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #50 on: February 28, 2021, 05:53:19 pm »
I had WordPerfect and Borland QuattroPro, too.  Once, I successfully converted a WordPerfect document into MS Word, but was never able to replicate it.

I was conversant with QuattroPro, but I supported Lotus. Till I didn't anymore (one of the last), and became an MS Office guru. I still get calls for Excel and Access. Even though I threw Office away years ago for Ooo. I just don't need office apps all that much anymore.


Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #51 on: February 28, 2021, 05:56:12 pm »
No SHit! that is cool.  They made the best aerosol pot cleaner back in the day.  It would clean and lubricate the contacts.  Can't remember the name of it now.  But I need some to clean up my Marantz 2270.

Edit:

They have it!   This is great.

https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-control-contact-cleaner-and-lubricant

I could use some of that.  Back on the Test Floor we called that TIC spray.  "Technician In a Can."
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
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BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #52 on: February 28, 2021, 06:02:16 pm »
No SHit! that is cool.  They made the best aerosol pot cleaner back in the day.  It would clean and lubricate the contacts.  Can't remember the name of it now.  But I need some to clean up my Marantz 2270.

Edit:

They have it!   This is great.

https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-control-contact-cleaner-and-lubricant

Best stuff for that is DeOxit. They have a spray and brush on version, and make a cleaner/lube and a lube/preservative. One of my former hobbies was fixing and restoring old electronics test gear, and I've use a ton of that stuff. Works great on guitar pots and pickup switches too.

Offline Wingnut

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #53 on: February 28, 2021, 06:11:14 pm »
Best stuff for that is DeOxit. They have a spray and brush on version, and make a cleaner/lube and a lube/preservative. One of my former hobbies was fixing and restoring old electronics test gear, and I've use a ton of that stuff. Works great on guitar pots and pickup switches too.
@BassWrangler  Thanks
I'll look into that.  The RS site said thier brand was OOS. 
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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #54 on: February 28, 2021, 06:19:31 pm »
Best stuff for that is DeOxit. They have a spray and brush on version, and make a cleaner/lube and a lube/preservative. One of my former hobbies was fixing and restoring old electronics test gear, and I've use a ton of that stuff. Works great on guitar pots and pickup switches too.

I ordered me some of that DeOxit.  I have a all-house sound system with pots in every room, and an older stereo to drive it that has dirty contacts all over the front panel.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Offline Elderberry

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #55 on: February 28, 2021, 06:41:14 pm »
That was one of them places my ability to abide by the law kinda hit a gray area. I had 100 amp bi-linear running out of the pickup till maybe 10 years ago, and over 600 watts out of my base...Till uncle charlie came to town, of course.  :whistle:

Probably just as well... Buying my neighbors TV filters was getting to be expensive.

That reminds me of a shipmate I had. He ran 2kw in his car. And his home rig was a 600w ham rig paralleled up to 10kw. He's just fire up more tubes if he was getting walked on. He had equipment seized by the FCC and he'd build more. He prided himself of being an active member of the Illegal Radio Operators of America.

BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #56 on: February 28, 2021, 07:06:54 pm »
That reminds me of a shipmate I had. He ran 2kw in his car. And his home rig was a 600w ham rig paralleled up to 10kw. He's just fire up more tubes if he was getting walked on. He had equipment seized by the FCC and he'd build more. He prided himself of being an active member of the Illegal Radio Operators of America.

I've got a great story, from a former coworker, related to the TRS-80 and radio.

My friend had just gotten one of the new personal computers. I think it was a TRS-80, or similar model. Now this was Back in the days when personal computers were very new, and so the only option for permanent storage was cassette tape. So this guy had written his first program, and at the end of the evening he wrote it out to tape.

This guy had a neighbor that was big into CB radio and had a big fixed installation antenna and a fairly powerful transmitter.

The next day, he wanted to work on his program some more, so he went to load it from tape. This wasn't working, and he got really frustrated that all his work was lost. He was curious if anything had made it into tape at all, so he popped the cassette into an audio cassette deck and pressed "play". Out over the speakers came "breaker breaker, come on back" (or something similar). Apparently the neighbor had been transmitting when my friend was saving his program, and there was enough interference to completely overwhelm the signal from the computer.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2021, 07:08:23 pm by BassWrangler »

Offline Hoodat

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #57 on: February 28, 2021, 08:31:55 pm »
The heart of the TRS-80

« Last Edit: February 28, 2021, 08:44:03 pm by Hoodat »
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

-Dwight Eisenhower-


"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."

-Ayn Rand-

Offline Elderberry

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #58 on: February 28, 2021, 08:50:17 pm »
I never had the TRS-80. My first machine was the SYM-1 a 6502 machine that also stored to cassette. My next machine was a used 386.

Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #59 on: February 28, 2021, 08:55:37 pm »
The heart of the TRS-80



I believe the Z80 was a child of the 8080, by Motorola?
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Offline Wingnut

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #60 on: February 28, 2021, 08:57:30 pm »
I believe the Z80 was a child of the 8080, by Motorola?

Ah shit.  It's about to get all geek in here now!....LOL    999yawn 999yawn
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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #61 on: February 28, 2021, 08:58:43 pm »
Ah shit.  It's about to get all geek in here now!....LOL    999yawn 999yawn

Hey, it led me to a can of good TIC.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Offline Elderberry

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #62 on: February 28, 2021, 08:59:51 pm »
The Zilog Z80 was based on the Intel 8080. My first programming class was assembly of the 8080.

Offline bigheadfred

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #63 on: February 28, 2021, 09:02:02 pm »
The Zilog Z80 was based on the Intel 8080. My first programming class was assembly of the 8080.

 My first programming class was the first grade.  :whistle:
She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

Offline Wingnut

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #64 on: February 28, 2021, 09:04:48 pm »
My first programming class was the first grade.  :whistle:

I see what you did there. 

More true today than back when you were a pup.
I am just a Technicolor Dream Cat riding this kaleidoscope of life.

Offline bigheadfred

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #65 on: February 28, 2021, 09:08:52 pm »
I see what you did there. 

More true today than back when you were a pup.

I don't know.

There was a cold war back then.

There is a cold war now.
She asked me name my foe then. I said the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of Love or God. Ken Hensley

Offline roamer_1

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #66 on: February 28, 2021, 11:11:52 pm »
That reminds me of a shipmate I had. He ran 2kw in his car. And his home rig was a 600w ham rig paralleled up to 10kw. He's just fire up more tubes if he was getting walked on. He had equipment seized by the FCC and he'd build more. He prided himself of being an active member of the Illegal Radio Operators of America.

I never could get that kind of torque out of my pickup.. I regularly burned down antennas as it was... Wound up with twin ugly sticks, plane mounted on the corners of the hood...

BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #67 on: February 28, 2021, 11:21:50 pm »
I never had the TRS-80. My first machine was the SYM-1 a 6502 machine that also stored to cassette. My next machine was a used 386.

Mine was an Apple][+. I worked at Eckerds until I had enough to buy one. My parents chipped in for a small Sony TV that was its monitor. Wish I had kept it. Those also ran in the 6502.

BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #68 on: February 28, 2021, 11:23:39 pm »
I believe the Z80 was a child of the 8080, by Motorola?

Right on the child of 8080, but 8080 was from Intel. Z80 was from Zilog.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2021, 11:24:44 pm by BassWrangler »

Offline roamer_1

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #69 on: February 28, 2021, 11:27:55 pm »
Mine was an Apple][+. I worked at Eckerds until I had enough to buy one. My parents chipped in for a small Sony TV that was its monitor. Wish I had kept it. Those also ran in the 6502.

My first was a busted Radio Shack 386sx... I had to learn everything before I could fix it. For many months I would turn it on, a bunch of stuff would spit on by, and ended it up on a blinking cursor that would do nothing.

Turned out to be a pie recipe in the AUTOEXEC.BAT ... It mostly just errored every line, but it actually choked on something.

Once I figured out DOS, and how to write a standard Autoexec.bat and Config.sys, there I was, with my first free computer.

BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #70 on: February 28, 2021, 11:30:51 pm »
My first was a busted Radio Shack 386sx... I had to learn everything before I could fix it. For many months I would turn it on, a bunch of stuff would spit on by, and ended it up on a blinking cursor that would do nothing.

Turned out to be a pie recipe in the AUTOEXEC.BAT ... It mostly just errored every line, but it actually choked on something.

Once I figured out DOS, and how to write a standard Autoexec.bat and Config.sys, there I was, with my first free computer.

OH man, that is hilarious. I thought you were going to say "turned out to be a bad RAM chip" or "turned out to be a bad power supply". But then I read "pie recipe in the AUTOEXEC.BAT" and nearly spit out my coffee.

Offline Elderberry

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #71 on: February 28, 2021, 11:35:12 pm »
Mine was an Apple][+. I worked at Eckerds until I had enough to buy one. My parents chipped in for a small Sony TV that was its monitor. Wish I had kept it. Those also ran in the 6502.

I still have my SYM-1. Its been a whole lotta years since I've fired it up though.


Offline roamer_1

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #72 on: February 28, 2021, 11:37:22 pm »
OH man, that is hilarious. I thought you were going to say "turned out to be a bad RAM chip" or "turned out to be a bad power supply". But then I read "pie recipe in the AUTOEXEC.BAT" and nearly spit out my coffee.

True story...  :laugh:

... And where I got my affinity for software.  happy77

BassWrangler

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #73 on: February 28, 2021, 11:42:05 pm »
I still have my SYM-1. Its been a whole lotta years since I've fired it up though.



Wow! I had never heard of that one. Had to look it up. Cool!

Offline DB

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Re: Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide
« Reply #74 on: March 01, 2021, 01:21:41 am »
I believe the Z80 was a child of the 8080, by Motorola?

The Z80 had an extended enhanced instruction set based on the 8080 instruction set. It was created by Zilog and was their first product. The first CPU I ever used was a Z80 with all the connections wire wrapped on perf board. That was back in around 1979 I believe. I still have it... I used it to make a touch tone speed dialer where you could press the # sign and two digits on any touch tone phone in your home to speed dial a stored number... I wrote the code in machine language on grid paper... I didn't have access to a computer or an assembler at that time... So I have fond memories of the Z80...