Question for computer/electronic geeks

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i want some general variation of a word processor, a physical one, which can print pages without needing internet. we used this one in grade school, so one like this or similar:

they are hard to find sometimes and i dont know if theres a better option out there. also am unsure if printing will be possible, since i dont know what all parts might be available. or if they still make things like these and therefore could buy new. im suspicious of modern models of anything, but just want to know any options. and yeah i need to be able to print. thanks for any help if you can think of any answers to these “questions.” (i know i didnt use question marks anywhere.)

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@wantthetruth
Are you interested in software that runs on your computer, which is connected to your printer, or are you looking for some sort of all-in-one electronic, error correcting typewriter device; something that runs without a computer.

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Abiword is a word processing software package that runs on Windows platforms and can print to Widows devices like printers.

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the all-in-one idea.

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Browse freecycle, you might find one there for $0

EDIT: err… yeah, they might have front doors also. LOL
That’s the main page.

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I’m afraid those electronic-typewriter / word processors are obsolete. Even if you did find one, the supplies and service on the device may be hard to come by.

If you don’t have a ton of work to do, you might try your local library. They may have one you can use, or they might offer classes, or personally help you migrate to a modern word processor on one of their computers.

Good luck.
KP

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youre telling me what i feared- that supplies etc might be too hard to come by. i have a whole book to write and its such personal info that i dont want it accessible to others. (im using all fake names in it, but still, i dont plan on mega-publishing this, and am trying to keep mum about it.) i have a large Word document already, but am feeling leery of continuing it, since im positive anything i type is being sent to Big Brother. am i paranoid? hard to say, some say that it doesnt go that far, but others say nothing we do is private anymore.

@KPuff @d-o.o-b @timf , thank you everyone for your suggestions.

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@wantthetruth
I understand your dilema, and I understand your reluctance to expose your personal work to unknown eyes. Your fears are not unfounded, but having spent most of my life in the IT field, working within the systems you fear I can tell you most of the stories you hear about “big-brother” are exagerated to the point of science fiction. While privacy is being assulted more and more as we become highly dependent on technology, “big-brother” mostly has no interest in reading your personal literature. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

You may just want to consider getting a laptop computer that has a good word processor software on it, a software that is not dependent on the internet to function (stand-alone), and do your writing work off-line. If you go this route, I suggest you back up your work onto some other storage device like a thumb-drive, or store it in some encrypted cloud storage servce. That should give you sufficient peace of mind, and allow you to compose and print with assurance.

KP

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appreciate your add’l commentary. giving me ideas, which helps!

i do know that sometimes you might think they have no interest yet they do. in a statistical sense, they absolutely already do. to specifically target me, well i know i have become a person of interest on a very low level. i might not be remembered. but the cops took my name and number and i naively gave it away and didnt pursue who accosted me, and he was not pursued by police from what i could tell. hindsight has been 20/20 with what i know now. photo is from 2019. i had no idea about these things, and now i must wonder. it has to do with my avatar photo. they smeared me in the local news, lying. so i know they considered me an enemy and they made an example of me. but i havent done anything like that since then. in the future, who knows? radicalism increases with age, when it comes to me, but as a slow boil. it already happened once, so i know i have the propensity to cause a reaction like that again. i dont want to be paranoid, but am willing to take extra precautions, not only because i might be targeted one day, but also because even statistically i want to limit what they can “get” on me. even if its never used to do anything specifically to me. but, thats my full story on why i take it this seriously.

so the idea you gave me. i could technically just not connect my laptop anymore to the internet. my concern there is, a computer even having the ABILITY to access internet is concerning to me. like, the kind of thing where they secretly still access my data, though on my end i cannot get online, ya know? i might be able to guess what youd say about that, but am still asking. again i dont want to sound paranoid, im just really thinking this through, and appreciate any further take on this.

furthermore, is it possible to manually, physically disable the computer’s internet access ability? i know zilch about the physical components of computer…

waittttt WHOA i just found something crazy. i decided to search that question before bothering you with unnecessary stuff. look what i found when i searched:

“I would like to physically disable my laptop’s ability to connect to the internet. Several years ago I’ve tried removing the antenna’s of my computer’s wifi card. However my computer was still able to connect to the internet even when it has no Ethernet port. My computer was hacked and I believe the Microsoft virtual wifi was somehow used to keep my computer connected to the internet even without the card and Ethernet port. Ontop of that, my internet modem and wireless router was unplugged at the time.

I have a new computer that I would like to use to read pdf textbooks, watch DVDs, and run learning software used for a class I’m taking. It will never be connected to the internet. How can I physically destroy the hardware that gives my computer capability to participate in Microsoft virtual wifi? or any other hidden virtual wifi capability that comes with Microsoft operating systems?

Please do not suggest using command prompt to turn off the virtual wifi. I’ve tried that several years ago.”

the ensuing comments completely ignored the privacy concern.

its a weird world.

my search for truth continues.

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@wantthetruth

Well, that’s a lot more information than I had before. I think I understand a little better now what your particular requirements may be.

From what you have stated, I think there may be some misunderstanding about how your technology works; what kind of communication is actually possible, what intermediary technology is necessary for communication to work, and how unauthorized access may be gained or security compromised.

What you are looking for are the technical details of how to “air-gap” your computer. That basically means removing or disabling the technology necessary for communication. The technical details of how one might accomplish that are probably too difficult to explain in this forum.

I think you may need to take your physical laptop computer to a professional technology service center and explain what you want to accomplish. They should be able to show you some easy steps to air-gap your computer without actually destroying any hardware, or doing any permanent damage. What you need to do to protect yourself can easily and readily be accomplished with a just little education, some basic training, and some diligence on your part. In this way, I hope you can fully acquire the solution you seek.

Good luck.

KP

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If you do not need new, go with old and refurbished. I once had a Pentium 2 laptop that required you to have a physical ethernet card in the expansion slot. It had no wi-fi, no blue tooth, nothing. It had only one single USB 1.0 port. I installed the linux based “lindows” operating system on it. It worked good for 2001. I would say the 4gb hard drive and the 64mb memory were a bit small, but it was more than enough to handle a book.

If your concern is privacy as pertains to government, don’ do this. Tech places usually work closely with police and gvt. agencies. (ie, geeksquad) If you’re paranoid, I believe it’s for a reason. Better option, pay a nerdy 12yo to rebuild you an old one with your requirements.

If it does not need to be a laptop, just build your own desktop. Get a chasis, basic motherboard (sans ethernet/wifi and other intergated options), video card, RAM (memory), power supply, connector ribbons, operating system, word processing software, and a hard drive. *be sure they are all compatible, but most stuff now is pnp (plug and play) and should just snap-in or thumb-screw in. You tube has videos on how to build your own systems.

:laptop: :eyes:

You may also find this of interest. It is the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Main Page:


Article Of Note:

You may find it useful to you. – Enjoy!