Time for a new keyboard

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

I took typing so long ago that the class was typing on typewriters. Some were even manual ones.

I learned on a manual. 30 WPM was a decent speed on an old Underwood. I took typing in summer school and it was pretty fun. Also, as stated above, it was about 90% young ladies in attendance. Not a bad way to spend a summer in West Texas.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I learned on a manual. 30 WPM was a decent speed on an old Underwood. I took typing in summer school and it was pretty fun. Also, as stated above, it was about 90% young ladies in attendance. Not a bad way to spend a summer in West Texas.

30 WPM on a manual is fast!

 

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

30 WPM on a manual is fast!

Interestingly, as a high school and then college student that had many many term papers to write, I found that an audio metronome helped. My metronome was The Doobie Brothers' album "Toulouse Street". It seems like every song was recorded at the same tempo and that particular number of beats per second matched my optimal typing speed. So for years, I'd insert a sheet of paper, make a pencil checkmark at the bottom margin (as an end-of-page warning), and crank up that album. I probably typed hundreds of sheets of paper to the Doobie Brothers. (Note: many of those typed sheets were re-dos because I missed my bottom margin checkmark and typed right off the bottom of the paper.)

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Interestingly, as a high school and then college student that had many many term papers to write, I found that an audio metronome helped. My metronome was The Doobie Brothers' album "Toulouse Street". It seems like every song was recorded at the same tempo and that particular number of beats per second matched my optimal typing speed. So for years, I'd insert a sheet of paper, make a pencil checkmark at the bottom margin (as an end-of-page warning), and crank up that album. I probably typed hundreds of sheets of paper to the Doobie Brothers. (Note: many of those typed sheets were re-dos because I missed my bottom margin checkmark and typed right off the bottom of the paper.)

I remember those days, but, man, I'm glad they invented word processors. The first word processor I ever used was Apple Writer on an Apple IIe computer. It was primitive by today's standards, but even that was massively easier than a typewriter. Then with the first computer I ever owned, I used WordStar, which was the first word processor that had a lot of features like find and replace. That was a huge step up from writing stuff on a typewriter.

 

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

Then with the first computer I ever owned, I used WordStar, which was the first word processor that had a lot of features like find and replace. That was a huge step up from writing stuff on a typewriter.

Sure, I used WordStar. Matter of fact, many of the key shortcuts we use today (e.g., ctrl-c, ctrl-p) came from WordStar and CalcStar. Congrats. We're officially old fogeys.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Sure, I used WordStar. Matter of fact, many of the key shortcuts we use today (e.g., ctrl-c, ctrl-p) came from WordStar and CalcStar. Congrats. We're officially old fogeys.

Yup, I've even programmed a lot of WordStar hotkeys into LibreOffice Writer, ones like Ctrl+A, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+D, Ctrl+S, all the cursor diamond move around commands. I was super bummed when WordPerfect beat out WordStar as the main word processor. I didn't think WordPerfect was as good.

 

[CouchCoach]

I wish they'd develop a truly effective voice recognition input but they're all like that low life. scuzzy, deaf tramp, Siri