The Seablogger, writing about his first PC, a desktop model, in 1986, reminded me of my first one, a bulky, more or less portable, Kaypro II, in 1983. Like the Seablogger, I bought the computer to write on, enchanted by the habit, acquired at my newspaper job, of writing on a screen instead of typing on paper. The main advantage, of course, was being able to quickly and simply backspace through the stuff I decided I didn’t want. No more carbon paper or Whiteout. There were other keyings for "erasing," of course, but backspacing was my initial favorite. It took weeks to learn all the commands, but it was worth it, even as the commands have changed over the years. I still have some printouts from those days, a short story or two, and the start of a diary.
The Kaypro’s builder, Non-Linear Systems, was the world’s 5th largest personal computer maker in 1983 when it changed its name to Kaypro Corp. Seven years later it was bankrupt. Shortly before that, the green-on-black screen died. Couldn’t get it fixed. So one night, after buying one of the first laptops, made by Radio Shack, I deposited the bulky Kaypro in a dumpster. I should have kept it. Might be worth something today. But it was the start, and I’ve never looked back–except to marvel that I ever wrote on a typewriter.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
