points by randallsquared 4 days ago | 0 comments
Pournelle was using a microcomputer to write, then, as was Gerrold. Word processors of the time didn't try to keep a whole chapter in memory, and Pournelle famously started using a home computer to write novels in 1977.
[–] egypturnash 3 days ago
[–] duskwuff 3 days ago
Thank you. Yes - that's where I was going with this. It was certainly possible to use computers for long-form writing in the early 1980s, but it wasn't a particularly economical or practical way of going about it. Some people did, but they were in it more for the novelty than practicality.
[–] __del__ 4 days ago
yes, it bears repeating that text editors didn't keep entire documents resident in memory, they maybe buffered a page ahead and behind.
when it appeared as a feature, spell checking was impressive for the technical feat of compressing word lists with tens of thousands of entries into representations suitable for tiny memories.
- wikipedia
On a computer that cost him $12k in 1977 dollars (~$66k in 2026 dollars) for "14 lines of 64 characters on a monochrome monitor the size of a small black and white TV", according to the article that footnote 62 refers to (https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/9/16279582/jerry-pournelle-s...). Computers were hilariously expensive back then. Pournelle had a lot of money to burn and got real good at getting free stuff due to his Byte column.
An Apple ][ with 4k of RAM was $1200 in 1977 (~$7k now) (plus monitor, drive, and printer, also maybe a bit more than double the computer's price for a 48k machine). Not as expensive as whatever Pournelle bought but still a pretty major purchase.
A new typewriter in 1977, meanwhile, would run you about $50-170. About $300-950 in 2026 bucks. Less for a used one from the local pawn shop or typewriter repair shop or whatevs.
William Gibson, meanwhile, was a broke-ass teacher with a collection of punk records when he wrote Neuromancer, around 1982-1983. It's really no surprise he used a typewriter.