I’m just reminded that, for lack of word processing software, I used to type school papers, stories, etc. in Multiplan on a DECmate II. We’d format the page for (I think) 8 columns, then enter text one line at a time, being mindful not to type past an approximate point that might exceed the eighth column’s width. Also, double-quotes weren’t allowed – instead I’d use two single-quotes.
Later on (1987) we got hold of a Commodore 64 (fairly old even by then), and I used that version of Multiplan to write my junior theme. We had a Brother daisywheel typewriter* and found some sort of interface cable at Toys R Us (of all places) that allowed the Brother to function as a printer.
*The Brother had its own set of challenges. The daisywheel mechanism would only strike at a certain speed, no matter how quickly one could type. I could hunt-and-peck a little faster than it would print, but for a good typist, several lines might have gone past before a mistake was spotted. When we hooked that thing up as a printer it just about went all night, at (I’d guess) 5 characters a second.
