3215rfs@mtuxo.UUCP (r.soyack) (08/06/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** My oldest son is starting college this fall and my wife and I are trying to decide on either a typewriter or a cheap word processor. My son is not too interested in hacking. He is a liberal arts type. He is also klutzy when it comes to machines. We are thinking in terms of a Sears electronic typewriter that draws graphs and stores 4K charaters in its memory, or a Commodore 64, with a printer. If anyone in netland has comments on these choices or any other choices to propose we would be grateful. Thanks in advance Rich Soyack mtuxo!3215rfs 201 576-6065
Ghenis.pasa@XEROX.ARPA (08/09/85)
DO NOT GET AN ELECTRONIC TYPEWRITER!!!! With a word processor you can save your work on disk, then go back and change it around. This saves hundreds of drudge-filled unproductive hours of hard work. Your son will get to spend his time on things that really matter (or maybe just relax and play more). DO NOT GET A COMMODORE 64!!!! By the time you get a disk drive or two (you really need two) and some accessory to make it display 80 characters across (hopefully with lower case), a monitor and some SOFTWARE, you will have spent $800 AT LEAST. The Commodore trap is to give away the processor, then kill you with the accessories. My advice on affordable systems is to get a portable CP/M system. For example, look at the basic Kaypro: for $695 you get a complete system with a 9" monitor, TWO disk drives and all essential software: word-processor, spreadsheet, database, BASIC, communications, utilities. Even if your son only uses the word-processor (I'll bet he gets curious about the other stuff eventually) this will serve him better than any other choice for the money. Hope this helps.
jp@lanl.ARPA (08/10/85)
> DO NOT GET AN ELECTRONIC TYPEWRITER!!!! > > DO NOT GET A COMMODORE 64!!!! > > My advice on affordable systems is to get a portable CP/M system. For > example, look at the basic Kaypro: for $695 you get a complete system > with a 9" monitor, TWO disk drives and all essential software: > word-processor, spreadsheet, database, BASIC, communications, utilities. > Even if your son only uses the word-processor (I'll bet he gets curious > about the other stuff eventually) this will serve him better than any > other choice for the money. > I second this opinion. I am sending two freshmen of to college this fall. After some investigation I got my son and daughter a CP/M based system. Since I am handy with hardware, I opted to assemble a system out of pieces. I am not sure that I save much money, but I wanted a 12" screen. Otherwise, the KayPro is a hard deal to beat. The system I put together came to about $800, not counting the printer. I chose a daisy wheel since the idea was to replace a typewriter. My choice: Comrex CRIIE ($349). This is Diablo compatible for ease of installation. And, the printwheel and ribbon are easy to install/remove. (A nice feature if you anticipate changing fonts (Greek or Math symbols) in the middle of the text. I installed an Ampro little board, a power supply and two half height TEAC 55B DSDD disk drives in a box meant for two ful height drives. I put a ZRT-80 board and power supply in a Heath HVM122A monitor and added a surplus keyboard externally. It looks nice enough that my daughter is proud of hers but, hopefully, doesn't look too tempting to a thief. I thought maybe I would put a Model name on it: Junk I :-) Anyway, stay away fromm the "toy" computers for best results. P.S. My daughter built the kit portions of the system herself and use the system the last semester of her senior year. I've got to get busy and get my son's system together, now. Jim Potter jp@lanl.arpa
GMP@psuvm.BITNET (08/10/85)
WHY NOT BUY A USED IBM DISPLAYWRITER. THEY ARE STATE OF THE ART SUPER TYPE-
WRITERS, LITERALLY DESIGNED FOR HUMANISTS. ZINSSER OF BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
HAS A BOOK OUT, "WRITING WITH A WORD PROCESSOR," THAT HYPES THE VIRTUES OF THE
DISPLAYWRITERS. I VE BEEN USING ONE SINCE THEY CAME OUT AND HAVE BEEN AVER-
AGING THREE BOOKS A YEAR.