Fry’s Electronics permanently closes all stores nationwide

[DB]

I got kicked out of high school chemistry.

(Redneck + chemicals)= Guess why... You'll be right.

Did the school survive?

[Cyber Liberty]

OH, good heavens, wire wrap. The first real product I ever created was an electronic device to read the plastic cards used in Malcom Ving mechanical locks. I wire wrapped the prototype. You would connect one wire, and another one would break. I vowed "never again".

Wire-wrapping was all in the stripping.  The tiniest nick and the wire breaks right at the edge of the insulation.

[bigheadfred]

My high school chemistry teacher was the Unabomber.

[Elderberry]

I do rember Quatro Pro, but don't think I ever used XYWrite. I do remember a program named "WordStar" (IIRC, that was the name).

Also, one of my favorite programs of all times - Micrografx Designer.

I used WordStar a lot. I hated to see it go. Another program I used a lot was Interleaf.

[Hoodat]

I got kicked out of high school chemistry.

Same here.  Chemistry II.  It's amazing what you can do with some powdered aluminum and ferric oxide.

[Elderberry]

Same here.  Chemistry II.  It's amazing what you can do with some powdered aluminum and ferric oxide.

I'm more partial to powdered aluminum and copper oxide.

[roamer_1]

Anyone remember XyWrite?

Yes I do...



That fateful little 386sx i fixed became an immense game  changer for my business...
It contained a little DOS business suite called PFS: First Choice.



My flailing about in that computer finally found me in Deskmate, which was Tandy's DOS GUI, which held links to PFS: First Choice. There I found eventually, the power of a rather rudimentary spreadsheet system... one that wholly changed my bidding and take-off practices, turning much of that process into boilerplate automatic calculations.

I could probably still make a decent living doing take-offs for construction. But that was where it really started for me... Along with a need for a laptop so my partner and I could continue to do our takeoffs late at night at the big round table in the back of Perkins over chili fries...

What a magnificent ride.

[roamer_1]

Did the school survive?

Yes. It was FINE. My buddy Rory lived across the street from the high school... There was a big stump in the back yard. It did not survive. Nor did the shed it landed on... Which was in the neighbor's yard... And a few shattered windows... No more than thirty or so... Your basic fertilizer bomb, it turns out.

As restitutions go, it was perhaps my least costly. I had replaced all the glass I could, paid for the rest, and rebuilt the shed, all by the end of that summer.

Still, considering my obvious talent, I was forever banished from any sort of mixing of things... Till I started working road crew and became a powder monkey's assistant. I had thought it my calling, blowing sh*t up... Till I discovered that it was a common thing among my peers. 

[DB]

Yes I do...



That fateful little 386sx i fixed became an immense game  changer for my business...
It contained a little DOS business suite called PFS: First Choice.



My flailing about in that computer finally found me in Deskmate, which was Tandy's DOS GUI, which held links to PFS: First Choice. There I found eventually, the power of a rather rudimentary spreadsheet system... one that wholly changed my bidding and take-off practices, turning much of that process into boilerplate automatic calculations.

I could probably still make a decent living doing take-offs for construction. But that was where it really started for me... Along with a need for a laptop so my partner and I could continue to do our takeoffs late at night at the big round table in the back of Perkins over chili fries...

What a magnificent ride.

I used XyWrite for many years...

Anyone use Mouse Systems mice way back when? They were the first optical mouse and required a pad with faint horizontal and vertical stipes that were different colors. They were precision mice excellent for engineering work. One of the first PC based PCB schematic capture and layout tools was PCAD. It came out about the time the IBM AT was released. Used that for many years too...

[DB]

Yes I do...



That fateful little 386sx i fixed became an immense game  changer for my business...
It contained a little DOS business suite called PFS: First Choice.



My flailing about in that computer finally found me in Deskmate, which was Tandy's DOS GUI, which held links to PFS: First Choice. There I found eventually, the power of a rather rudimentary spreadsheet system... one that wholly changed my bidding and take-off practices, turning much of that process into boilerplate automatic calculations.

I could probably still make a decent living doing take-offs for construction. But that was where it really started for me... Along with a need for a laptop so my partner and I could continue to do our takeoffs late at night at the big round table in the back of Perkins over chili fries...

What a magnificent ride.

ZyWrite was really good at search and replace in big files. It was very fast compared to just about everything else.