What did computers without screens do?

[Fred Cisin]

> What would you do with a home no screen computer? I mean what could
> be done with one that would benefit your work / hobby. I mean NO
> DISREPECT by asking this question.

Use the lights.
Wish for a teletype
Buy Don Lancaster's books  (How many copies did he sell?)


Not having a screen made it a little more difficult to answer the 
inevitable, "What is it good for?"  "What can you do with it?"
The answer of course was that a hobby/home computer had exactly the same 
usefulness as a model train going round and round.  You could speculate 
about maybe someday making the train deliver beer, or making the 
home/hobby computer do "home automation" (turn lights on and off) or 
bookkeeping, or filing recipes, keeping track of phone numbers, etc. 
Most of the "uses" were better handled by magnets on the door of the 
refrigerator.
Once you had a screen and printer, word processing became the first 
practical use, followed by Visicalc and Flight Simulator.