Re: Pre-Xy

[Otis Port oport@xxxxxxxx]

Marguerite--
  where are you? A PR friend in NYC (Tribeca) asked me to take an
old manual off his hands recently. Think it's a Royal, probably
c.1945. Really HEAVY, which is why I didn't cart it home then.

  My progression:

Smith Corona portable electric, late '50s
IBM Selectric (two of 'em, since McGraw-Hill didn't think editors
  deserved to have electric typewriters in the '60s)
IBM Compositor Selectric ('73; still have it, from a failed trade
  mag that I co-founded)
Kaypro CP/M and WordStar ('76?)
Archives CP/M ('78; this was a dedicated W* PC, with a key row that
  matched W* commands. Made by Archives, founded by the wife of the
  chairman of Deere & Co. in Iowa. It had 8" quad-density diskettes.
  This also was the first editorial computer at McGraw-Hill. I was
  on the selection committee and then bought one: $5,000! Mine is
  now at Boston Computer Museum.)
Atex at work, IBM i186 at home (i186 was an Intel 286 variant,
  available on a Canadian motherboard that enabled me to build an
  IBM PC/AT-level box for half price.)
XyWrite 3.2, 3.55, 3.58, 4.0 (w/keyboard still tailored to W*)
  Also have, but rarely use, XyWin, NB, DeScribe, W*...
  -otis