[ Retro Scan of the Week ] TRS-80 Word Processing
September 8th, 2009 by Benj Edwards
Click above to see the ad in situ.
Here’s another vintage clipping from my grandmother’s cedar chest, this time from a Knoxville, TN newspaper. It mentions SCRIPSIT, early word processing software for the TRS-80 computer line.
Discussion topic of the week: What was the first word processing software you ever used?
September 9th, 2009 at 7:07 am
I wrote a really bad bare-bones word processor in BASIC for my C-64 that I used for a little while. About a year later I bought PaperClip.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Pretty sure I used WordStar before Appleworks
September 9th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Not quite sure if it was Electric Pencil or Scripsit. On a Model I clone.
September 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Something from Commodore on the 64 — came in the traditional silver package with the title and picture. Don’t remember the name.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
It was Bank Street Writer for me. What a weird name. Probably wouldn’t make it in today’s marketplace.
Strangely, I remember that when you password-protected your BSW files, it would put hidden letters in the Apple II CATALOG listing. I had one of my disks of things I wrote and password-protected, but no one I asked could remind me how to expose those hidden characters in the CATALOG. They would appear in inverse when the proper POKEs were performed.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Can’t remember what it was called; it came on a 386 that ran the GeoWorks OS (how obscure is that?). Or, it’s possible I ran WordPerfect or something for DOS, but I usually just used EDIT before that 386. Also used something on the Apple IIgs, I think, and Word on the Mac Classic at some point.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
The first word processing program I ever used was the built-in text-editor in the Tandy DeskMate program. I thought it was pretty cool at the time.
http://toastytech.com/guis/deskmatetext.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeskMate
September 11th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
That would have to be Apple Writer II.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I had one that came on a cartridge for the C-64, but can’t think of the name. It wasn’t that great, and combined with a 1526 printer, was not very impressive.
The next one I had (or first good one) was pfs:write on a 486pc I built.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
My first word processing software was cartridge Scripsit for the Color Computer II. When I finally added a floppy disk to the CoCo II, I ran Disk Scripsit, then TS-Word/TS-Edit under OS-9 and finally DynaStar under OS-9 Level II on my CoCo III. Then came the PC…..
Wow, good times!!!
September 20th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Not counting “Fileform” for the Aquarius computer, the first real word processor I used was “Word Power 3.3” for the Coco 3.
December 16th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Here’s an awesome site for you all…www.RadioShackCatalogs.com.
It contains every Radio Shack Catalog from 1939 to 2005, plus TRS-80 and Tandy computer catalogs, old Radio Shack commercials, and a LOT more!
If you want to see about 500 old Radio Shack advertisements like the one above, go to: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs_extra/advertisements_small/
or for a large viewing format, go to: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs_extra/advertisements
ENJOY!!!