I have very hard time learning FreeCad.

[drmacro]

The ZX80 was based on the Z80 processor. They "locked" the BIOS. If you dumped the ROM it appeared scrambled...unless you figured out the "encryption" scheme was swapping 2 of the data lines.

Don't ask how I know.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80

[chrisb]

When I started it in 1973 was my dads "dark-gray & light-gray" TV with a RF adapter to channel 3, punched by a ZX80 SInclair.

According to drmacro's link you must have had a very early prerelease. Anyway, it was ages ago and the radiocarbon dating isn't really that precise .

[jadory]

When I started with computers, all screens were black with greenish text
Ultimately - use it if you like it... if not than leave things as they are

There were screens? When I started it was punch cards and tractor feed paper. I did graduate to black screens and amber text, eventually.

[drmacro]

When I started with computers, all screens were black with greenish text
Ultimately - use it if you like it... if not than leave things as they are

There were screens? When I started it was punch cards and tractor feed paper. I did graduate to black screens and amber text, eventually.

your paper tape had tractor feed? we had to pull our tape by hand...no, I'm serious, we pulled the tape through the reader.

[jadory]

your paper tape had tractor feed? we had to pull our tape by hand...no, I'm serious, we pulled the tape through the reader.

You win. You must be really old!

Any abacus users here? I did get real familiar with slide rules.

[drmacro]

your paper tape had tractor feed? we had to pull our tape by hand...no, I'm serious, we pulled the tape through the reader.

You win. You must be really old!

Any abacus users here? I did get real familiar with slide rules.

old enough to have known baudot code before I learned ASCII.

[chrisb]

Any abacus users here?

I have once visited a chinese restaurant and could get a view into the kitchen. There sat a woman who did the bookkeeping. She used an abacus, with a speed, that would have been impossible to reach with an electronic calculator.

[Brutha]

Hehe, I see that Word still uses those new-fangled non-floppy floppy disks for the save icon - and checking FreeCAD I see something that looks like a hard drive, properly modern that is!

[David ONeil]

Don't know if this will help the OP, but I've only been playing with FreeCAD for 3 days. Tried following an example YouTube vid and it was driving me nuts. The vid was for 0.16, and I was using 0.18. Was going to post a question here, but figured out a key part: MAKE (almost?) EVERYTHING A SEPARATE BODY! And then boolean them together. Yes, it is more mouse clicks, but I finally succeeded after trying several other things to get the tutorial working. Now that I understand that principle, I feel like I could make quite complicated parts. Far more complicated than I though a free program would be capable of! So kudo's to the developers!

[drmacro]

... but figured out a key part: MAKE (almost?) EVERYTHING A SEPARATE BODY! And then boolean them together. Yes, it is more mouse clicks, but I finally succeeded after trying several other things to get the tutorial working. Now that I understand that principle, I feel like I could make quite complicated parts. ...

If this is how you use the Part Design Body, then don't. You are just complicating your life.

Just switch to Part workbench. Every object you create is a separate object and has no relationship to other objects until you use a Boolean operation between them.

In Part Workbench you are creating a single cumulative solid in each Body. There are some situations where a Part Design Boolean between 2 Body objects is done, but it is not the "most of the time" workflow. Imagine that each Body object is a piece of an assembly, not pieces to be glued together.