I wrote my first script on an old Royal typewriter...

Question

My first significant upgrade was to a small Brother thermal typewriter. Then I moved into the computer age with a Commodore 64. Took several floppies to hold it. The printed output, on the dot matrix printer, looked like dogshit; all deformed characters and faint to see and the just crappy as hell. Finally, I hit the big time with a dos-driven AT computer. Scriptor just didn't work for me, so I tried Winthing which I still use, although it was eventually renamed Script Thing, and is now called Screenwriter some-year-or-other and works very well on both my power PCs and my Mac.

It's been fun every step of the way. I still have the Royal, but the Brother and the Commodore are long gone. When I think back, and remember that I traded a signed Andy Warhol Indian (red) for it, I could kick myself, but at the time it was a lifesaver... I don't usually think about this stuff, but I had dinner last night with the guy who gave me the AT way back when, in 1989 or so, and he reminded me of what it was like getting into this computer game back when the PC was still damned new...

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]My first significant upgrade was to a small Brother thermal typewriter. Then I moved into the computer age with a ... reminded me of what it was like getting into this computer game back when the PC was still damned new...[/nq]
I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti.[/nq]
Smith Corona, the one where you had to pop the eraser cartridges in and out.

Dena Jo
Email goes to denajo2 at the dot com variation of the Yahoo domain. Have I confused you? Go here:
http://myweb.cableone.net/denajo/emailme.htm

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]My first significant upgrade was to a small Brother thermal ... computer game back when the PC was still damned new...[/nq]
[nq:1]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.[/nq]
Hah! I still have my portable Olivetti! It sits atop the bookcases in my study as "objet d'art."
Joe Eszterhas has a bunch of them. When he heard they were going out of production he bought about five I think. Hope he bought lots of ribbons! Which is why my Lettera 22 is "art."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.[/nq]
[nq:1]Hah! I still have my portable Olivetti! It sits atop the bookcases in my study as "objet d'art." Joe Eszterhas ... he bought about five I think. Hope he bought lots of ribbons! Which is why my Lettera 22 is "art."[/nq]
Those were some cool typewriters. I forgot to mention that I bought my Brother thermal machine in Switzerland and it had a German keyboard; that didn't make things any easier mostly because I was typing in English.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]My first significant upgrade was to a small Brother thermal ... computer game back when the PC was still damned new...[/nq]
[nq:1]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.[/nq]
I don't actually sell shoes even though I do own a shoe store; I almost never go there ... I think I must have forgotten the meaning behind your Springsteen reference, sorry.

Usenet · Answer

I went from my Ovietti to a Brother thermal typewriter. Used full sheet thermal paper, ran on batteries, smaller than the Olivetti, and I could work on the patio. Great little machine! Until I was about half way through a novel and realized that when you work on thermal paper, you have to photocopy it the day you print it out, and you only get to photocopy once because the heat of the copier turns the entire page black. If you don't photocopy right away, the type fades to a pale lavendar.

Then I went to a huge Brother daisy wheel office typewriter and learned that you ONLY make typos in the bottom third of a page, and that "Liquid Paper" converts easily to "Paper Dandruff."
Had a Commodore 64 for a while, but it drove me nuts. Every time I shifted from caps to lower case, it switched the whole page! Forget that, Charlie!

So then I got my first PC. I think it was around '83 or '84. A Packard Bell 384 that ran on DOS and came bundled with WordStar. It used 5.25 inch floppies. And they were! They flopped!. And a dot matrix printer. The printer was the first thing my agent made me dispose of. Stupidly, I eventually disposed of the computer too. And now I have 50 or 60 5.25 inch floppies I can't read...!
As a result, I now also have a collection of 4 desktop computers. And an archive of 2.75 inch floppies, Zip disks, tape back-ups, and CDs.

The Olivetti was soo much easier! But not the filing cabinets.

Caroline

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I went from my Ovietti to a Brother thermal typewriter. Used full sheet thermal paper, ran on batteries, smaller than ... floppies, Zip disks, tape back-ups, and CDs. The Olivetti was soo much easier! But not the filing cabinets. Caroline[/nq]
I still have a copy around here somewhere of that first draft... I think I have two IBM Selectrics in my garage too... Oh, the AT, and an XT in the garage still have floppy readers, and they're next to the zip and jaz drives...

Usenet · Answer

"Mr. Neeek, Sr."
[nq:1]I still have a copy around here somewhere of that first draft... I think I have two IBM Selectrics in my garage too... Oh, the AT, and an XT in the garage still have floppy readers, and they're next to the zip and jaz drives...[/nq]
I have the Win98 and Win2K on a KVM switch in the study, but the just-plain-Windows computer is in a corner in the closet waiting for me to get around to installing the used 5.25 inch floppy drive I bought on the web for ten bucks. I think it's the last model computer with the drivers to run one. I use the Win98 for creative writing with both WordStar and MMS installed on it. It has *no* internet connection, so it's totally secure. The Win2K is for writing-related research on the web. And for play, I use the XP Media Center.
Between us we have one helluva electronics museum! Think anyone would pay admission?
Caroline
Maybe in a hundred years.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.[/nq]
[nq:1]Hah! I still have my portable Olivetti! It sits atop the bookcases in my study as "objet d'art." Joe Eszterhas ... he bought about five I think. Hope he bought lots of ribbons! Which is why my Lettera 22 is "art."[/nq]
You guys have portable Olivettis!! I hate you both.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I wrote my first script on a portable Olivetti. ****, what a great little machine that was. I have not, however, sold shoes.[/nq]
[nq:1]I don't actually sell shoes even though I do own a shoe store; I almost never go there ... I think I must have forgotten the meaning behind your Springsteen reference, sorry.[/nq]
I sat next to Springsteen at a union meeting downtown once (yes, I was at a union meeting, it was about raising money for the homeless or someting and I was supportive). He was leaned back and nodding, and he cut one and we both laughed.
And if you're nice to me I'll tell you about watching a McCartney concert backstage.
I'm glad you still have the shoe store - writers need things like that to keep their soles grounded.

I wrote my first script on an old Royal typewriter...

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