I was moving things around in my bedroom closet and came across this piece of ancient technology from 1995.
It's a Canon Star Writer Word Processor. Essentially it's an electric typewriter that prints out letters and stores your work onto a floppy disc.
The little display flips up so you can see what you're typing.
And as the title of this post implies, here are the floppy discs. I have about a dozen of them because I had this for a few years before I ever got a computer.
So many floppy discs with all kinds of stuff stored on them. The book I wrote is on one of them and no it's not published and probably never will be because it's awful. lol
And of course I needed a locking box to store all of my super secret floppy discs. *giggle/snort*
Oh and it still works. I turned it on and inserted a floppy disc and it came right on. I've stored it in its original box so it would stay in good shape so I can still use it if I want.
I liked this because I was able to type out a letter to a friend or family and hit print and it would print it out. And I used to be able to read this tiny print on the display with no problem. But my old lady eyes are having none of that now. Had to put on the reading glasses to read anything on the display now. Ah, to be young again.
This is where the ribbon for the printer would go but they don't make this ribbon any long so no printing for me. I might have sold this thing years ago but then how would I read what's on my floppy discs? lol Plus I can't bare to part with it. I spent so many hours pounding away on this thing after buying it. I paid $150 for this back in 1994. And I thought I was the epitome of sophistication. *Oh look at me, I have a typewriter that plugs into the wall!* eye/roll.
I still have the user manual too just in case my old lady brain forgets how to work this ancient artifact. Did you ever have something like this back before we all had computers and smart phones?
We have rather a lot of floppy discs because himself refuses to give them up. And of course we can no longer read them. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteYeah you need some sort of reader in order to read the floppy disk nowadays.
DeleteIt's been over twenty years since we used any floppy discs.
ReplyDeleteI remember buying our first computer in 1994. $1500. And it was the crappiest computer we ever owned as it's memory was so low, within two years we couldn't run games on it anymore.
We had our first computer given to us in or around 2000. But we had no idea what the heck we were doing and can called his sister who gave us the computer when she upgraded to ask how to do anything on it and he ended up deleting the operating system somehow because again we had no idea what the heck we were doing. And his sister had to send us a disc to reinstall the operating system, it was a whole thing but it was pretty funny because she was like how in the heck did you delete the operating system. LOL
DeleteDeleting the operating system is not as difficult as she thought!
DeleteThat is really cool! I never had one, but I did use a word processor at work. It was so much better than a typewriter. I came across some floppy disks when I was cleaning out some files a few years ago. They had computer programs I wrote when I was in high school and learning BASIC language. The dinosaur days! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI remember writing computer programs is storing them on floppy disks when I was in high school too. Using one of these really was better than a typewriter I love being able to print out any letters that I wrote to my family back then.
DeleteI remember using floppy disks a lot!
ReplyDeleteWe used so many floppy disks back then
DeleteI had one of these when I was a freshman in college, only mine was a Brother, not a Canon. Talk about a flashback! ;D
ReplyDeleteI thought this thing was so cool when I got it back then I still kind of do.
DeletePriceless! What memories that brought back. Thank you for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome
DeleteI still have quite a few, because they have data on them that isn't stored anywhere else. I even still have a machine that can read them. I'm half afraid to plug it in, though, because it's so old.
ReplyDeleteI suppose someday I should get a floppy-disk drive for my current computer (do they even make those any more?) and see if it can read the data.
These rapid changes in technology are not always for the best. We have stored data from thirty years ago that can't be accessed because the storage device, which was state-of-the-art back then, is now out of date. But I've read books printed in the nineteenth century without difficulty.
Oh that's very cool. I wasn't sure this thing would work when I plugged it in and was pleasantly surprised that it did probably because I've taken care of it and stored it in its original box. Yes exactly there are things that we wouldn't be able to access because technology moved and changed so fast but like you said we still have books from way back when that we can read because print hasn't changed.
DeleteYes! I used to love my Word Processor! I did medical dictation a million years ago and it was a vast improvement from an electric typewriter!
ReplyDeleteOh yes absolutely I love this thing so much more than the typewriter that I had probably because it would print out the letters that I wrote so much nicer then the typewriter did and I could store stuff kind of like diary entries on these floppy disks.
DeleteFunny how fast things in the computer world changed. I used to use one of those when I worked in an office.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I'm glad I'm not the only one that's familiar with one of these and has worked with it.
DeleteWhat a hoot! I felt like such a techy when I had my electronic typewriter, too. I got what I paid for it back when I hired out to type term papers and other documents for the kids going to college. It was a wrench, but I tossed out all our old floppy discs and got rid of the older electronics when we got something newer.
ReplyDeleteOh I felt so sophisticated, and such a techie like you said that is, until I got my first computer and had no idea what the heck I was doing. I think I got my money's worth out of this one since I used it a lot. Technology has changed so much in a short amount of time.
DeleteWhat a wonderful walk down memory lane. Our first computer had a floppy drive. My wife used to make cards with PrintShop, we thought we were so cool. No hard drive so the floppy discs were very important to have and keep. I remember setting up my email, it took me hours to do. The time spent learning was incredible, now I spend time trying to learn my phone, at least it fits in my pocket. :)
ReplyDeleteTechnology sure has changed an awful lot in the last 30 years.
DeleteFun! I don't know that I have any floppys around, but I did find a huge stack of CDs I used to back up my drive from about 2003.
ReplyDeleteOh what a fun find though.
DeleteYes, those were the days. Some collector would probably buy that in such good shape with the manual. I had all that early tech too, even had my own keypunch machine in my office LOL!
ReplyDeleteOh yes I remember those key punch machines too that's so funny.
DeleteThey were so cute! I actually still sometime use a regular DVDX disc instead of a USB stick.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this.
Delete"And of course I needed a locking box to store all of my super secret floppy discs."
ReplyDelete😂
This is pretty awesome! I didn't know such a thing existed. Very neat!
It's awhile since we throw our floppy discs away.
"threw"
DeleteThank you. I loved this thing when I first bought it.
Deletelol, we have a similar version of one of those at work and occasionally I still use it! My boss doesn't throw anything away, even when things break.
ReplyDeleteOh no. Why keep it if it's broken?
DeleteWhat a fun little find. I don’t think I’ve seen a floppy disc in over 20 years!
ReplyDeleteThey aren't readily available anymore for sure.
DeleteI actually had one of these for college, but mine was from 1989. Funny you asked about floppy disks - my daughter was out of space on her phone, and my father suggest floppy disks to her. I about died
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness that's really funny.
DeleteI had one of these! And I loved it. I don't remember what happened to it but I do remember when we did our move a few years ago, we found boxes and boxes of floppy disks lol
ReplyDeleteKaren @For What It's Worth
It's fun to find stuff you forgot you had.
DeleteOMGawd! That is what I typed all of my exe's college papers on. Ha ha! It was so much better than a regular electric typewriter. Thanks for sharing. 😁
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a lot better than a regular typewriter. I loved this thing before I got a computer.
DeleteI haven't seen one since the mid-2000
ReplyDeleteThey are all but extinct now.
Delete