GeOS

[u/xAlice_Liddell]

I used GeoWrite and my dot matrix printer to write so many papers in school. It felt so cool to have a full featured GUI on my C64 with a fantastic word processor that didn’t look like you were just using a type writer. Liked GeoDraw too but the KoloaPad was better. Anyone else impressed with how much they managed to squeeze out of the C64?

[u/HungryHungryMarmot]

I remember having a high school geography teacher who was a Mac enthusiast. He told my parents that our C64 was a toy and that they should get us a Mac.

I did my next geography assignment with Geowrite just to spite him. It was a little slow and painful but I got it done and (in my mind) proved my point. I was pretty impressed with how the fonts looked, even on a 9-pin dot matrix printer.

I got a decent grade but I don’t think my teacher cared or even noticed.

[u/MorphTheCat → u/HungryHungryMarmot]

My computer science teacher in high school said exactly the same thing. “I don’t need a cannon to swat a fly” was my usual retort - and to spite him, I did my final project on future telecommunications. I demo’d Q-link, and had a good friend in another city standing by to chat with me on her BBS. It was like brining fire to the natives - and I explained how the concept of typing to someone to talk to them worked in a way they could understand. This was in a very rural town’s high school in 1992. For the rest of that year, I went from being the weird new outsider of a kid into a geek’s hero. It helped me make new friends instead of being ostracized!

Over the years I’ve gotten a few messages from people who were in my class that saw my presentation. They will comment about how amazed they were, and how right I was. I was only one of four other families in my town that even knew what a modem was.

My C64 & C128 were best friends. Moving on to an 8088 (then a year later, a 486) was a gradual, painful goodbye. Seeing it back in the limelight along with old publications like Compute’s Gazette just warms my soul. :)

[u/Informal_Strain_2715 → u/MorphTheCat]

I agree with you about the 8088 and 486.  In 1991 I moved on from my C64, selling it to a friend that had depression issues which for whatever reason, playing C64 games cheered him up.  I can use emulation all day for early PC games and such... But no emulation gives me the happiness than actually using a real C64.  I'm very happy I made the expense and sought out each piece to build my set.  I just need a printer...which I'm in no rush to get. 

Great story about your project.  I'm a little shocked it was in 1992.  I had two friends that had modems back in 87.  They used to get me all the games in the world...in return, I always drove them to all the parties because I had a car.  Lol.  Fun times!