I have been searching for years to find the actual Wang computer and system that Stephen King used in the late 1970’s and early 1980's to write his works on. I never thought I would find the system until just two weeks ago when a search turned up a unit that interestingly enough had somehow ended up in Austin Texas.
After communicating with the seller, I was able to determine based upon photos of stickers and other marks on the Display/Keyboard that the unit was likely the original that King had used.
Last week I traveled to Austin and after inspecting the hardware, I purchased everything for a very low price. I’ve been working on getting the unit to run, and to my great surprise after minor repairs, everything is functioning.
The most fascinating thing is that there are files that were not erased from the disks. I am still documenting the items on the disks, but there appears to be early draft editions of King’s published works, as well as what appears to be two unfinished novels and several unpublished short works.
I am still working to verify everything and am in contact with King’s office about the files, but needless to say, what I have seen is amazing.
A little info about the Wang 1200:
The word processing machine — the Wang 1200 WPS — was introduced in June 1976 and was an instant success, as was its successor, the 1977 Wang OIS (Office Information System).
These products were technological breakthroughs. They were multi-user systems. Each workstation looked like a typical terminal, but contained its own Intel 8080 microprocessor (later versions used a Z80) and 64K of RAM (comparable, but lower, in power than the original IBM PC which came out in 1981). Disk storage was centralized in a master unit and shared by the workstations, and connection was via high-speed dual coaxial cable "928 Link". Multiple OIS masters could be networked to each other, allowing file sharing among hundreds of users. The systems were user-friendly and fairly easy to administer, with the latter task often performed by office personnel, in an era when most machines required trained administrators.
On Writing PB cover showing Stephen King at work in his office:
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Craigslist ad photo:
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