Discussion
RE: https://mastodon.social/@keyboards/117450945862975904
Something about seeing a spiral-bound manual with a computer just makes me happy. It telegraphs the era and feel of it all. You're going to open this manual up and sit it next to you as you type and learn on this computer. I spent days doing just this in the 80s. The best of memories.
@woozle Oh those were good too! They all give the sense of "I'm going to sit down and figure something out!"
@toddtyrtle And I did! ...like, I would sit down and read enough of the manual that I had a sense of the overall layout of things, then start playing with the software, and eventually just use the manual for reference.
(#whoRemembers looking up functions in printed indexes... I wouldn't go back, but it was fun.)
@woozle Oh yes that! Or you'd read one of those and find some function you had no idea about and then just find a reason to try it for the joy of trying it.
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@toddtyrtle My positive associations are more with the thick paperbound sets of manuals that would come with compilers and such -- mainly Borland. I still have a bunch of those.
...and the three-ring tech manuals for DOS and BIOS interrupts, though they were less pleasant to work with...
...but you're definitely not wrong