Charmion, I learned to type in high school in a class that used manual typewriters; the Cadillac of typewriters at the time (and for all time!) was the wonderful IBM Selectric.

My first computer was an Eagle 8088 in 1984 and I used word processing software called Wordstar - and they might have stayed a viable player if they hadn't stumbled with the awful "Wordstar2000" I think was the dud in their sequence of programming. Windows 95 entered my computers about that year ('95) and have been there in the background in one form or another ever since.

A few years ago I was fussing about the keyboard and I heard a story on NPR about the convergence of electric typewriters and computer keyboards - the Unicomp keyboard. They actually bought the rights to the IBM Selectric keyboard technology and turned it into computer keyboards. You get that buckling spring action (with or without noise) and go full circle! I'm about ready to buy my next keyboard from them, this time probably through Amazon, and I'll get one that has the function (F-keys) along the top. That was a drawback for a long time - they really did emulate the IBM machines and didn't add some of the computer keys beyond control, alt, and function keys. This time I think it will also have the Windows key (the flying window that is good for several shortcuts).