🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1082@rlgvax.UUCP> bub@rlgvax.UUCP ( Mongo Mauler) writes:
>
>	Commodore 128 computer		 ~260.00
>	CBM 1541 disk drive		 ~150.00
>	Monochrome 80 col. monitor	 ~100.00 - 200.00
>	Letter quality printer		 ~350.00 (including interface)
>	Word processing software	 ~100.00 - 150.00
>	-------------------------------------------------------------
>	APPROXIMATE TOTAL SYSTEM COST	 ~960.00 (+-100.00)
>	-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>	If it were my choice between HAVING to buy a good typewriter
>	or putting together a home computer based word processing
>	system, I'd certainly opt for the WP system, based on my own
>	laziness. 

That $350 for the letter quality printer seems somewhat high. I bought
a Blue Chip daisy-wheel printer for $199 -- it's slow as heck, but
GEEZ, that sucker prints good. Also, the MPS-1000, last I looked, was
selling for about $299 or so, and prints pretty good
near-letter-quality text (since it's just an Epson Homewriter with a
serial bus interface).

I put together my C-128 for about this price:

C-128    --------------------  $269
1541 drive *used*  ----------  $100 (just look for someone who
				     upgraded from a C-64 to a 128)
80 column monochrome monitor    $50 *new* (just look, you can find one
					for this price anywhere)
Blue Chip printer              $199
word processor                  $90

Total ---------------------    $708

I originally used the MPS-803 from my C-64 system (which my brother
claimed), but bought the Blue Chip when I needed a letter-quality
printer to print the I.C.E. manual on (somehow, sending our customers
80 pages of eye-strain dot-matrix didn't seem to be a good solution).
I also needed a new typewriter because my 40-year-old Royal manual was
losing pieces here and there and I was running out of rubber bands and
bailing wire to hold it together, and $199 sure seemed like a cheap
price for an electric typewriter (which is basically what it is -- a
Brother typewriter engine, in a printer case with proper interface
electronics).

But, I'll tell you one thing -- I'm sure getting a 1571 as soon as
possible! 1541s are for the birds...

I don't know of any other low-end computers that have an 80 column
display for this price... the Atari 520st is around $1000 fully
decked, while the little Atari only has a 40 column screen.
I wouldn't try editing text on a 40 column screen, unless you have a
direct line to a psychiatrist and an optometrist....

-- 

      Eric Green {akgua,ut-sally}!usl!elg
        (Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509)

" In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of
 people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."