[rescue] New acquisition... (AIX)

[Steve Sandau]

>>>> Next to LaTeX or Frame, sure, but I've written more than a couple of
>>>> 50-something page technical handbooks in Word.  Learning to use 
>>>> templates
>>>> and styles is a must for living with it sanely, as are the keyboard
>>>> shortcuts.
>>>
>>>   Dude.  Its printed output is pure shit.  My cat knows more about 
>>> typography than Microsoft.
>>
>>
>> Having been a typographer in the "old days" (Varityper photomechanical 
>> machines to begin with) I'd have to agree. Actually, pretty much 
>> nothing I have seen that runs on a PeeCee knows much about typography...
> 
> 
>   Mmmmm, Verityper.  I won a VT600 on eBay a few years ago but never did 
> manage to go pick it up. :-(
> 
>   That also reminds me, I have a Linotronic L300 phototypesetter in my 
> storage locker near St. Petersburg, FL.  It is looking for a new home.  
> Any takers?  Obviously you'll have to pick it up.
> 

I remember when I would have killed for a Linotronic. Or at least driven 
from here to you to pick it up, Dave. However, Maine to Florida is a 
little long for the value that would have to me now...

The dedicated typeseters like Varityper were pretty good in their day. 
(This was back in the mid-80's.) My "good" one had 512K of memory (the 
additional 256K cost $2000 and was on two 12" x 12" circuit boards!). It 
would paginate a several-hundred page book (with right- and left-hand 
headers, footers, and page numbers) and print it out on the 
phototypesetter, all with 512K of memory and only two 8" floppy drives. 
It was pretty amazing.

Repairing that was partly what got me started on computer work. I was 
not knowledgeable enough at the time to be curious about anything like 
the CPU, though.

There's always *something* we let go of that we later wished we hadn't. 
At least that;s my excuse for being a packrat.

Steve