PCW9512 printer in silent mode
Do not cross the streams
Into the jaws of the noisy beast
Oh no !!! Another rubber band
Meet THE HAMMER
As close to an actual typewriter
you can get in truth. Just the daisy
acting as the word plunger by spinning
around before having the letters indented
by hammer action through a ribbon. As
happens in a typewriter
The ribbons did last quite a while and
I seem to recall being able to wind
them back and reuse them. Dunno.
Once you had one of these things you
were locked into printer supplies.
Was a booming market in the eighties
and nineties. Endless paper.
Still my favourite colours
Also you had to place the paper
in the machine and when you had
squared it up you then had to
lock the paper in place. I can still
hear the sound of the plastic printer
covers being shut in my head and the
drive kicking into gear as you did so
Endless printer supplies
Talk about modern computer fonts
This was the font
You can see why they called this
a daisy wheel printer.
The ribbon. The lifeblood of the
whole process that gave the computer
its meaning. Without it the machine
was dead in the water.
My well thumbed user manual
Essential reading when you had to
get an invoice out and the printer
was jammed. Did get a touch frantic
at times when trying to hit deadlines
At least there was CP/M to take your
mind away from the grudge of printing
The train of Locoscript would it
ever stop... Bit like steam though
it all just died.
In those days you were kinda cut off
from the world and all your support
information came in printed documents
Odd now to think of a time without
the internet on tap. Those days you
had to read magazines and subscribe
to newsletters and the like
More endless paper. Worth it though
And then there was the added facility
of being able to type out your own
helpful hints and tips
Can't recall ever finding a book specifically
for the 9512. This was as close as I got
Those magical disks. Locoscript
and CP/M. Never use the originals
And the 3" disks which cost a fortune
Fantastic storage disk all the same
Right protection tab
Guess what ? These are double sided
so you could turn them over and use
the other side also. Like a cassette tape.
So funny this. A joystick interface
that I bought. Thing was I never like
ever found a game for the machine
Kinda waste of money really
This was sexy...
Serial and parallel interface
So useful with the limitations of
the computer in terms of ports
I have Locoscript also on 5.25 for
the Amstrad PC though never used it.
This was heavy stuff I can tell you
And that was the PCW9512
Difficult to forget a computer that dominated
my life for close on seven years. It was an
essential tool to my work in the office. She
was incredibly valuable to me and I could
never have survived without the 9512. The
computer also was a great aid to my writing
and I spent countless late nights typing my
stories on the machine.
I also developed a working understanding of
CP/M, Mallard BASIC and Logo using the computer.
Indexing a massive data base using RPED was
something I shall never forget
To some the PCW9512 was just a word processor
To me she was a door to countless opportunities
Not a tool but a friend. ... But no more paper!!!!
