Welcome back to part 7 of my fifth SepTandy Spectacular. In the last post we took a look the Tandy's ZPDA, An early PDA running GEOS that paved the way for the PalmPilot. In this post we go bigger again to have a look at the Tandy WP-2
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Released in 1989, the Tandy WP-2 was a dedicated word processor initally designed for the buisness market. It could be considered to be a close cousin/ spiritual successor to the Tandy 100.
The Tandy was one of the first portable dedicated word processors, being far smaller and sleaker than the standard CRT based dedicated word processors of the time, and ultimately set the stage for similar devices like ike the Intelligent Peripheral Devices Alphasmart and the NTS Dreamwriter.
Left to right: The Alphasmart Pro and the NTS Dreamwriter
Now you might ask yourself: "Why did these types of devices exisit anyway? Wasn't word processing software on computers becoming more prevelent by this point?" Well the truth is, Dedicated Word Processors acutaly PREDATED word processing software. The first true word processing system was the IBM MT/ST (Or Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typewriter), which was introduced in 1964.
It was essentially an IBM Selectric Typewriter (An Historically important device itself as was the first Typewriter that could allow users to have multiple font choices and laid the ground work for both daisy wheel printers and computer printers in general later) built into a desk integrated with a magnetic recording tape system allowing users to save their work on magnetic tape and recall it later for editing.
The device had decent success, and by the 1970s, similar word processing machines like the Xerox 800 and the Wang 1200 were being used in offices. But these devices were large with price tags to match.
It wouldn't take long for someone to create a program for microcomputers with similar features to do it electronically. In 1974, filmmaker Michael Shrayer decied to quit his job and move to California after feeling disallusioned by filmaking while producing a Pepsi Commercial.
He soon purchased an Altair 8800 and began writting software, with his first being a modified vesion of a public domain assembler program for the Processor Technology Sol-20.
He then put together a collection of public domain development tools called Software Package 1, following it up with another collection of software called ESP-1 (or Extended Software Package 1). Tired of using a typewriter to write documentation, he wondered if he could use the Altair itself to help him compose the document.
By then, he had purchased a Processor Technology VDM-1 video board, giving him the perfect display for such an application. After some development, he called his program The Electric Pencil and was introduced in December 1976 for $100 dollars. The program made its way to the TRS-80 in 1978, soon becoming a killer app for the computer.
The software's success helped paved the way for other wordprocessing programs for other platforms like WordStar and WordPerfect.
Though Word Processors for Personal computers were on the rise, the dedicated word processing machines never really will killed completely by them. By the 1980s, the development of the mcroprocessors and the rise of personal computers gave dedicated word processors a new life as computer alternative for people that either didnt have the space for one, didnt want to learn to use one, or both. One of the earliest of these home word processors was the Magnavox Video Writer first introduced in 1985.
Tandy tooka a gamble on the market as well by introducing both the larger WP-100 and the smaller WP-2 side by side.
Much like other Tandy Portable computers, Tandy OEM the design from Japanese Watch maker Citizen from their CBM-10WP word processor.
The WP-2 was released on October 30th, 1989, at a retail price of $349 dollars, with an optional 32K RAM upgrade also availble for $49.95.
On the front of the machine, lies LCD display, A light blue square Power Button, a row of function key legends, and the keyboard. The keyboard is more or less the same as a standard PC keyboard of the time, but the cusor key are in a line nav rather than a T nav, and 2 Function Keys for accessing different functions for both the word processing functions and for the device itself.
On the right side, there is the display contrast adjustment wheel, and Memory Protection switch.
On the back, there is a 6V DC power jack, a cassette port, a parralell printer port, and an RS-232C serial port.
On the left side, there's a slot for adding memory cards to add an aditional 32K of Ram to the system.
And finally on the bottom, there is 2 flipout feet, a little chart for showing the different fucntion key combinations for entering different characters for different languages, a backup battery compartment, and the battery compartment.
Powering on the WP-2 gives you a screen with some some copyright messages and a message asking you for a file to edit. Typing in a file name will drop you sraight into the word processing mode and you can type away.
The word processor itself is basic, but usable. It's very comparable to the Tandy 100's text editor and shares most of the same features but is more centered around proper word processing. You can Copy/Paste Text, search and replace text, format the text and even access a built in dictionary and thesarus for spell checking.
most of these features are accessed via the previously mentioned function keys and work by using the keys in combination with others. For example, to cut text you press F1 and -, then to paste press F1 and =.
In addition you also also have a mode that can allow you to run applications in Z80 Binary, a Phone contact/Adress Book, a calander, a Telcom Menu, and most importantly, the Flie Menu
This is how you load and save documents to any other storage device you have. Unfortunatly is isn't as intuative as it could be as it relies on different function key commands, but it does work.
Speaking of storage, For storage, The WP-2 is fully compatible with all of the external storage periferals designed for the 100 line including cassette recorders, the Portable Disk Drive 1 and 2, and any parralel and serial printers and modems you have. Much like the 100, You can also backup data by transferring files to a desktop computer as well, either via modem connected to a telephone line, or the RS-232 serial port connected to a null modem cable by using the built-in TELCOM software to communicate between the WP-2 and a desktop.
You also have the propriatary "IC Card" RAM Expansion cards, which you could use as removable storage and save your douccuments directly onto.
For hardware, the WP-2 uses a Zilog Z80 CPU clocked at 5.52 MHz, 32K of RAM, and 256K of ROM.
The screen displays text at a resolution of 80 Columns by 8 rows and has no bit mapped graphics cappability at all.
It also has a small Speaker for sound effects, and runs on rechargable 4 AA Batteries (With an Approximate 100 hour battery life) or the previously mentioned AC adapter, with the option of rechargable Ni-Cad batteries also availible.
Softwarewise, While the WP-2 wasn't ment to be a full fledged computer, you could run Z80 Binary files with the previously mentioned RUN mode. there are a few programs availible including a version of CamelFORTH and an Infocom Z-Machine Interpreter allowing you to run Infocom Text Adventure games like Zork and Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy on the WP-2. Theres also programing doccumentation and instruction to make your own RAM and ROM cards as well so you could write your own.
So how did the WP-2 sell? It managed to be a decent success as it was far cheaper than a MS-DOS laptop and the Model 100/102, and compared to the Model 100/102, It had a better screen, the same 32K RAM, a similar keyboard, it could use the same periferals, and was about $200 dollars cheaper.
This made the WP-2 appealing to not just buisness users, but anyone that needed to work with text on a daily basis like journalists and writers. The WP-2 and it's simmilar counterparts were particularly popular with the educational market, especially among special education departments for use by students with graphomotor challenges.
The WP-2 was followed up with the WP-3 in 1993 which was essentually th same machine just with 64K of RAM rather than 32K.
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Both machines were eventually phased out sometime in 1994, in favor of laptop computers but their legacy does live on as some collectors have aquired dedicated word processors to use as distraction free writting tools.
Overall, the Tandy WP-2 is a neat little device. It certainly cant do much, but thats fine as it was designed with one task of word processing in mind and does it fairly well. Its not the best in the world at it, but it gets the job done.
And that concudes my look at the The Tandy WP-2, a portable word processor that made a litte splash and keeped those on a budget writing electronically for a considerable amount of time. This concludes part 7 of my fifth SepTandy Spectacular, tune in next time as we go back to PC's with the Tandy 1100FD.