Serious use of the Z88 - what can you actually achieve?
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2024 9:29 pm
Hello all.
I've had my Z88 for a couple of years now, and there's much to love about it. It's a fantastic piece of design and there's much about the OS and software that's really nifty. Pipedream is a very versatile and flexible piece of software, and I've enjoyed using it. I can print nice documents using my Brother EP-44, and if I want to run off a short business letter, I'll often do this.
However, for certain tasks, the thing feels very frustrating. It seems unnecessarily difficult to transfer and convert file formats, and I've never really managed it successfully, besides getting plain text with carriage returns in all the wrong places from the Z88 to the PC. I have a stock original version of OZ, and it seems riddled with annoying practical issues in terms of file transfer etc.
Can these issues be solved or improved upon, and what can actually be achieved with the right hardware mods and software at the PC end? Can I create a Pipedream document and transfer it to a PC with formatting intact, converting it into a modern format? Can files easily be transferred from the PC to the Z88? It's such a nice machine I'd love to use it for writing on an everyday basis, but at the moment it just isn't easy enough shifting data about. I find my TRS-80 Model 100 much better for that, despite the OS being very stone-age in comparison. It seems to support data transfer so much better and I've never had any issues with it.
So...hold my hand, people. What can I actually do to make my Z88 easier to use as a machine for serious writing? Is it actually possible and viable to use it on an everyday basis to produce something that can be got into Word without too many hoops to jump through?
I've had my Z88 for a couple of years now, and there's much to love about it. It's a fantastic piece of design and there's much about the OS and software that's really nifty. Pipedream is a very versatile and flexible piece of software, and I've enjoyed using it. I can print nice documents using my Brother EP-44, and if I want to run off a short business letter, I'll often do this.
However, for certain tasks, the thing feels very frustrating. It seems unnecessarily difficult to transfer and convert file formats, and I've never really managed it successfully, besides getting plain text with carriage returns in all the wrong places from the Z88 to the PC. I have a stock original version of OZ, and it seems riddled with annoying practical issues in terms of file transfer etc.
Can these issues be solved or improved upon, and what can actually be achieved with the right hardware mods and software at the PC end? Can I create a Pipedream document and transfer it to a PC with formatting intact, converting it into a modern format? Can files easily be transferred from the PC to the Z88? It's such a nice machine I'd love to use it for writing on an everyday basis, but at the moment it just isn't easy enough shifting data about. I find my TRS-80 Model 100 much better for that, despite the OS being very stone-age in comparison. It seems to support data transfer so much better and I've never had any issues with it.
So...hold my hand, people. What can I actually do to make my Z88 easier to use as a machine for serious writing? Is it actually possible and viable to use it on an everyday basis to produce something that can be got into Word without too many hoops to jump through?