It makes me blush just to think about it, the first time I plugged it in, turned it on, stroked its keys and stared longingly into its dreamy green screen. Sigh. What a magical moment. Life-changing, if you must know. I didn't know what to expect, of course. In the early '80s, no one knew. But I was ready. I was so ready. I'd spent college with something that disappointed me, nightly. My first typewriter, electric, no less. A Smith-Corona with the side-loading, snap-in cartridge. Fancy-schmancy. The endless hours I spent, banging away on that thing. The rookie mistakes I made. I was young. I relied too heavily on the correctable cartridge with the white ribbon. It failed me often. Left white blotches on the paper. Didn't cover up the typos. It's hard to romanticize such an unsatisfactory experience.
After college, I'd had it, but my Smith Corona hadn't. It refused to leave. No matter how many times I moved, it tagged along. So I kept using it. My first newspaper job, I still used it. I wrote my first freelance articles on it, too. I can still hear myself swearing into the night. And then, word got around. Writer-types were talking about the Kaypro. The Kaypro II. Well, I started to get jealous. I wanted a Kaypro. A Kaypro II. So I got one. My very first computer. A gift from God. A mysterious thing, otherworldly and glowing. I loved my Kaypro. My Kaypro II. But then, like all good things, I started to take it for granted. I expected a little too much from it. I expected perfection. On my part, a misstep. One day, a day I was on deadline with a magazine article, it just crashed. Suddenly, the screen went all squiggly and funky hieroglyphics appeared. But the message was clear: You Are Screwed. It was D.O.A. Done. Toast. Finito. My Kaypro II was kaput.
Heartbroken, I went on to get another computer. I had no choice, but I can't for the life of me remember which one. It certainly wasn't a Kaypro III. The company went bankrupt before the '80s ended. But the founder Andrew Kay, he lived on and on. And on. He died yesterday at the age of 95. So thank you, Mr. Kay, thank you for giving me my first computer. I loved it then. I love it now. Without my Kaypro, my Kayrpo II, where would I be? I shudder to think about it. Your guess is as good as mine.
Our first computer at home was a MACIIsi with a dot matrix printer and 7" floppy discs for memory. When I first started working at the LACTC in late 1983, we time-shared a few desktop computers and their printers... but freedom from the smell of ammonia and exacto knife erasing seemed heavenly... White Out was available in a bottle with brush, in a dispenser using White Out coated tape, or in the above noted cartridge... oh and there was no internet, instant messaging or email, so labels and stamps had to be applied mass mailings via a production line or sent to a mailing house... so now our world is more immediate, faster, but better? TBD
ReplyDeleteBetter? More expensive! Remember those typesetting machines we used at CCN? After that, I knew I could handle anything!
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