He likes WordStar 4.0. There are people who like WordPerfect for DOS, Word 5.1 for Mac or even XyWrite.

It's fairly easy (not always cheap) to get almost any old computer you could think of in very good condition to run the programs you like without further hassles. This can make a lot of sense because sometimes there are hassles associated to virtualisation/emulation/modern hardware.

Maybe you feel at home using WordStar 4.0 + VGA text mode in a CRT monitor. If that's the case, you can't beat the ease and responsiveness of a DOS computer. I have this conviction that there's nothing wrong with that.

I put together a 'RRMartin' setup on an old laptop - booting into DOS and then auto launching WordStar 4.0. I can see how appealing it would be for focused writing (I'm still trying to find my perfect set up for writing).

I also toyed with releasing the setup as a USB boot image, but the copyright on WordStar is still very much active :(

Maybe "much better" when it comes to distraction-less writing, although I don't think a DOS computer offers more than that, and the portability only enables going to places where there's more going on…

But a predilection towards WordStar isn't just about not having fancy icons and weird ribbons, as author Robert Sawyer[1] pointed out. The "long page" metaphor and a short-cut friendly environment should be somewhat understandable for us programmer people.

[1]: https://www.sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm

What exactly is the long page metaphor? He doesn't really explain what it is and I've never heard the term before.

Search on the linked page for "THE LONG-HAND PAGE METAPHOR".

I did read it. It doesn't explain anything. I still have no idea what it is.

> A much better modern alternative is the Alphasmart Neo 2.

Yeah, that's what the hipsters say. With a maximum of 5 rows of visible text I don't think it would be a very good option for novels.

You're getting downvoted, but you raise a good point. There's an interesting Medium article[1] on it. Basically just a keyboard with an 4 line LCD above it so you can see some context as you type.

[1] - https://onezero.medium.com/this-35-keyboard-for-children-tra...

To the downvoter: what was wrong with that post?

- quote - @nordsieck

>> George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write the Game of Thrones novels

> A much better modern alternative is the Alphasmart Neo 2.

* It was designed for elementary school children so it's decently rugged. * It runs a long time (months) on 2 AA batteries. * To get the text off the device, it impersonates a USB keyboard, making it compatible with basically every computer. - unquote -