Fanzines: Remember This The Next Time Your Smartphone Glitches

In 1980s, when fanzines were moving away from typewriters and offset and mimeograph printing to that newfangled desktop word processing, this fanzine publisher explained why her zine was delayed. Her computer Harriet didn't come with a screen (aka monitor)  and you needed a screen to see the words as you typed. Her other computer, Peon, could be hooked up to a TV. But it lacked the interface board that could run the brand spanking new invention called the dot matrix printer.

"TO EVERYONE WHO MIGHT BE WAITING FOR STARSHIP BRITANNICA #3: Due to unforeseen difficulties, SB#3 will be postponed from October to December. First, changing from programming micros to programming IBM mainframes in machine language requires (shouldn't but does) more math credit than I have, and the fall semester has started. Even more seriously, Harriet, the wonderful, hard working IBM PC responsible for getting FOUR zines our between February and August of this year, had a nervous breakdown when she saw the number of disks to be formatted in preparation for SB#3...She'll quite willingly run programs (and did eventually format the disks) but word processing definitely needs a screen ....Peon, the Commodore, only requires a TV and has volunteered. Unfortunately, Peon also requires an RS232 interface board to run the beautiful dot matrix (could you tell) Toshiba Harriet uses. So which ever one comes up to par first runs the word processing software."

So...have you gotten around naming your Smartphone yet? Perhaps...Harold?