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Subject:Re: Where are the cheap computers? From:"Brian J. Dooley" <Brian_Dooley -at- EQUINOX -dot- GEN -dot- NZ> Date:Sun, 21 Nov 1993 08:16:49 +1300
Ad absurdum per aspera (JTCHEW -at- lbl -dot- gov) wrote:
: > Carl Gotlieb asked if anyone used WordStar in a work environment.
: > No, but I use it at home...
: About two-thirds of the communication products I put out now
: (i.e., the straight text) could still be done on an early
: version of WordStar and the floppy-disk-based HP-150 (a near-
: compatible imitation of the IBM Primordial Computer) on which
: I ran it. Or, for that matter, with the EMACS, DEC-20, and
: Diablo printer I was using prior to that.
: The other third, however, demands or at least strongly suggests
: the use of a computer with singing fonts and dancing graphics,
: like the Mac Centris 650 I'm using right now. In a really penny-
: pinching office, I could make do with ready access to such a
: machine, rather than having one on my own desk, I suppose.
: All told, I would go back to the more primitive computers only
: reluctantly. And I'd have to be marooned on a desert island
: to use a typewriter -- I really like the effects that word
: processing has on the writing process. But your situation may
: differ. As they say, different horses for different courses...
: Joe
: "The pallid pimp of the dead-line/The enervate of the pen" -Robert Service
--
***** BRIAN J. DOOLEY ***** 1/45 Aylesford St., Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND
email: Brian_Dooley -at- equinox -dot- gen -dot- nz CompuServe: 75146,3212
In fact, for a writer, the best bargain around is a used low end
laptop--8088C based (or even earlier). I use one with an early version of
the Leading Edge word processor. You write your text while, say, fishing
(boating, hiking, sunbathing...whatever) and dump it to your main system in
ASCII for prettying up later. I've been doing this for years. Cheap laptop
is good because it's all you need, you can bung it around, and who cares if
it gets stolen? It can set you back less than US$250. So, there is actually
a place for the older technology.
