Back in those days, businesses also held onto typewriters for making out envelopes and filling out forms. "Normal" printers just weren't up to the task. ;-)
And then is the issue of holding them in inventory until they were fully depreciated, or incurre in a lost right on. Also if you want a printer you need a computer, like a 3K+ IBM PC, so in reality the typewriter was less expensive, until you need to buy a computer. For that moment you already had the typewriter so. Finally you have 200 typewriters in the company using maybe 3 ribbon types, so you always have supplies.
I wonder if they sold it as a step towards owning a computer. "This typewriter won't be obsolete when you buy a computer, it will also function as a printer"
Yes. People didn't just suddenly warm up to a computer in the home, it took a long time. The earliest home computers often resembled typewriters just to ensure people wouldn't feel they were too alien in the house. The Atari 800, released in 1979 is a great testament to that mentality, even by 1984 entire generations of people would have been wary of buying a computer - but not for buying an electric typewriter...
@@readycomputer Early CRT based terminals from IBM were refered to as 'displaywriters', with pretty hefty keyboards ... some even having solenoids hammering on the cases to emulate typewriter noise levels.
I've never considered myself a computer person, but ever since I started watching your videos, I can't get enough! You present material in such a digestible and informative manner, that I've probably watch each video three times over. Thanks for the hours of entertainment!
So many memories of old printers and typewriters! We had and used typewriters in our house until the late 80s even as we progressed with various computers and printers. Letter quality was sometimes important but more often it was needed to handle special paper types, for envelopes and also for manually aligning to fields on forms. We went from a manual Brother to an electric daisywheel Brother in the late 80s almost around the time we replaced our dot matrix with a laser printer, an Epson EPL-6000 around 1989. That was pretty much the end of typewriter use in my house. Those days were exciting for me as a kid. It felt like every year there was some new and improved revolution in tech, even for printers!
My mother gifted me her old Smith Corona XE 6000. It needs some cleaning, but as soon as I saw the port on the back I knew I wanted to try using it as a printer. You've inspired me further with this video. Thanks.
I have a small microcontroller for the Wheelwriter that allows it to be used via the expansion port as a printer over USB. I'd love to send you it for review
The thing you have to realize is that I don't get these all at once or at one goodwill. I go to dozens of thrift stores very often to find things like this. It's as much luck as it is persistence. Going to 5 thrift stores in one day, multiple times a week is not uncommon for me. A very large portion of my collection has come from thrift stores. But I've been going for well over a decade. So I've had a lot of opportunities to find stuff. And I continue that because the breadth and depth of my collection is too large to be paying ebay prices for everything. The typewriter cost me only $12, but I paid $35 for the messenger module to make it work. If it weren't for my thrift store persistence, I simply couldn't afford everything I have. Which is part of why some of my videos are odd, I don't get to "choose" what I buy. I only get what is available. That why so many things are broken or in questionable states. And mult-part videos can be spaced out over long periods of time. It can take a while for me to find a part, but sometimes I do cave and go to ebay. Like with the messenger module, there is no chance I would ever find that locally. But a C64 or parts for troubleshooting? That could show up on craigslist sometime, so I may hold out for that kind of thing.
@@TechTangents Our Goodwill does not accept any e-waste, as that's what they classify computers. Old furniture, alarm clocks, sewing machines, questionable DVDs, and electric frying pans, sans controller, are all you'll find. Oh, also, you'll know who's holdin' because...carrying your 1-4 ounces with you when you shop Goodwill, is a...thing.
My local thrift stores are so bad at accepting electronics that I started an entire business to help deal with all of the local "e-waste" that everyone has. And then there's the one thrift store down the road from me that has a whole room full of computers that they won't let anyone into. Their "computer guy" has been "fixing" them for years.
Same. These UA-camrs seem to live in smaller cities. In a metropolitan area people either trash this stuff or if it's ever in Goodwill it's picked over immediately.
@@Lilithe Lots of professional full time ebay peddlers do nothing all day but every day go to thrift shops to scoop up the finds that would sell much higher online. This is turn only leaves junk electronic items on the shelves for the rest of everyone.
When I went to college in 1985, not many people had computers. I was fortunate enough that my dad worked for a municipal automation center and we had an IBM PC/XT at home, on loan from his work, with an Epson FX-80 printer. I had to _ask_ my teachers if it was allowed to hand in assignments as computer printouts. And the answer wasn't always an unequivocal "yes": it was always: "Only if you use regular paper (not fanfold), and only if you keep your ribbon in good shape and use a font that's easy to read". I often had to show a sample before I got permission. Later on, we got an Epson FX-800 that had Near Letter Quality, and a box of fanfold paper that had tear-off feeding holes. From then on, I got an immediate YES when I asked if my sample would be acceptable. After a while, I stopped asking.
It took a lot more time to do the intro because they had their camera really high up and at a weird angle. I didn't have the physical space to get that shot perfect so I got it as close as I possibly could. I probably spent 15m lining it all up. The okidata ad was easier since it was a head on shot, I still probably put a good 10m into it though to make it as good as I could. I did it by putting tape on the monitor I use for viewing the camera while I shoot. I put the ad up, marked the outline with tape, then switched to my camera feed and tried to line it up as best I could. I realized after I got the intro shot thought that I could have just used the capture card in my desktop and OBS and made the ad translucent over the camera feed and been able to line it up like that. I think I'll try to do that in the future. This idea is too fun to use in just one video, so it's definitely coming back. I have a video I'm going to be recording soon that I think will also get a cutaway thumbnail. And I might try to do the same effect on video. It won't be easy, but it could be really fun!
@@TechTangents I'm honestly more impressed by your tape idea than the simple OBS way haha. It is indeed a super cool effect and you pull it off perfectly. I hope you're enjoying the new camera :)
Until I realized I have the OBS option I was considering putting a piece of glass over the monitor and tracing the outline with a marker, a task that would have been easy on a CRT. I have the output from my camera connected to an HDMI splitter running to a monitor and the capture card. So it's actually always set up for that. It makes more sense to do it the fancy modern way since it will be better and easier. But it was fun to do it the old-school way! I LOVE this camera! I really do not think I could have got a more perfect camera for me. I'm so happy with my video workflow right now. I'm trying to get the audio workflow on par next now.
@@TechTangents Tape! I wish that I'd considered that instead. (On school projects) I used overhead (wet-erase) projector markers to compare screen-compositions between different video and render perspectives. This usually worked for me since I always spot-tested to counter "friends" swapping permanent markers out. But eventually they started mass-swapping out the reservoir inside the available marker, causing them to "fade" from erasable to permanent ink with time.
That Wheelwriter came from J.C. Business Machines, aka Phoenix Typewriter whom you can find here on YT doing excellent repair videos on cool old typewriters! Love seeing some typewriter related content, as typewriters and vintage PCs are 2 of my favorite hobbies! :)
The electronic typewriters I have the most experience with are the Wheelwriter 5 and its successor the 1500. They had a PC interface, a memory option and a 500 word automatic spell-check function. I remember the things beeping at me constantly as I wasn't (and still isn't) a very good typist.
2:20 Blessed be the included manual. I kind of guess there would be no video and no me commenting on it without it. And a chance of tech enjoyment lost as well, of course. Really dug this one.
We had a slightly newer Smith Corona electronic typewriter hooked up via a Messenger Module to our Amiga. I remember we had a few font daisy wheels for it, and that it was sloooooow and LOUD. We fairly quickly replaced it with an Apple ImageWriter II, which could be quite speedy! :D
The nice thing about the IBM type writer is that a tractor feed for the IBM typewriter. Where the typewriter was super useful was printing and filling in forms. Export forms where easier with a simple typewriter.
My first PC, 1984, was AU$10K worth of German Triumph-Adler "Commodore 64 killer" - it had *640K* on hand. Two printers - a fast Adler bidirectional dot matrix tractor feed and a crisp daisywheel printer/typewriter. Four 5 1⁄4-inch floppy drives. OS was C/PM, with Lexicom word processor, Ashton-Tate DataBase III, a customised/licensed version of Apple's VisiCalc spreadsheet, and a few basic utilities. All built like a panzerwagen, of course.
So how does the erase work on those typewriters? It looks like it's somehow pulling the characters off the paper, so is it a long roll of sticky tape or something?
There are a couple different ways, some typewriters support multiple options for you to choose as well. The later ones like this settled on a tape solution, but that requires a correctable ink that can be grabbed by the tape. It is imperfect and most typewriters have some provision for you to double-tap a letter with the tape if once wasn't good enough. The other way is to have a white ink that gets applied over the black ink. This lets you use any type of ink you want, but usually you can only find white correction ink, so you can't use it on a different color paper.
@@TechTangents My dad had a Smith Corona typewriter when I was growing up in the early 90's, and it had the correcting ribbon. I learned pretty quickly that a pencil eraser will erase that ink, and when the tape ran out just used a regular eraser to correct mistakes since it was cheaper.
I've sorta wanted to do this very thing for years, just to do it. Maybe someday I'll find a cheap electric typewriter (with printer capabilities) of my own for the task! (I own a typewriter, but it's a WWII-era mechanical machine. Still able to be serviced by a local shop!) Thanks for showing it off!
I bought an IBM Wheelwriter III at a garage sale for $10 a while back and it has an extra module on the back with what looks like a parallel port. It's clipped on to the back of the unit and has it's own logic board which is connected to the typewriter via a ribbon cable. It has what looks like a parallel port or SCSI connector, the kind with the metal retaining tabs on the sides of the port. Is this the PC Printer add on for the wheelwriter mentioned in the video?
I do believe it is! I can't find a lot of info on them other than this page: wiki.bibanon.org/IBM_Wheelwriter/Options/PC_Printer That would be really cool if you did get one!
Mine looks exactly like the one pictured on that website. The unit is labeled IBM 5441. Are you sure these are as rare as you say they are? I though I'd seen them on eBay before. I could be mistaken though. Anyway, I might be able to record some footage for you if you'd like or maybe even lend it to you. Unfortunately, it's stored at another location right now and I won't be able to see it for about a month, but I do have a picture or two on hand if you want to see those.
That's awesome! They were a $200 addon for a $800 typewriter in 1984, I don't think they sold a lot and I have never seen one. There is someone on ebay who claims to have some they'll include with a typewriter purchase. They may be running a typewriter shop and had the chance to find one. I'm sure they're out there and I haven't been looking for them on ebay. But out of the 6 wheelwriters I've seen in person, none of them had one. I'll take your word on it, you don't need to send me pictures or video. I'm not really doing loaned item videos right now, I have had several offers. I appreciate it though!
Thats the first time i'v watched an electric typewriter work, fascinating stuff. Looks like it might feel halfway between the insta-clunk of a manual (if thats what there called?) and the impactless typing on a computer. Oddly satisfying to see and hear it :D
I just got a Messenger Module for the Ultrasonic III Messenger I am planning on picking up, and the Module came with its manual. Do you still need a copy of it? It has all kinds of info about the DIP switches and command codes.
On point with the cost for the Wheelwriters. I have 3. 1 Wheelwriter under the IBM name, 1 1500 and 1 3500 under the Lexmark name when IBM Sold the Typewriter Division to Lexmark in 1991 or so. Two were near $1,000 and the 3500 was well over $1,000. These machines are workhorses and made for heavy constant typing. I use one of them on a daily basis for correspondence as when using a typewriter one does not have the distractions as being in front of a PC. The Printer option interface for these machines are rare as they costed a couple hundred. To find one is a gem and I am always on the lookout as I want to outfit one of my machines and use it as a text only printer. The Type of a typewriter just can't be duplicated. For others looking to acquire, a suggestion would be local offer ups where you can find typewriters in fairly good condition. As a guide, other manufactures were direct competitors to the Wheelwriters and include Brother, Nakajima ( This Company is still in business today and continues to manufacture New Typewriters) Silver Reed, Panasonic, Swintec, Olivetti, and Olympia. Bear in mind, manufacturers added the printer option on the higher end office grade typewriters.
Ah, I remember I owned a derivative device around 1984: a daisy wheel printer that used Selectric wheels and cartridges. Made by Juki as I recall. Worked great but slow (expected) and noisy (also expected). Was remarkably inexpensive, too; I think less than $150 at the time. But it was a printer only, no keyboard at all.
Those wheelwriter have an automatic paper loading capabilities, you have to remember that they where marketed towards businesses, so it needs to be fast and easy. Fiddeling with the controls ain't fast nor easy. Pull the front lever more towards you and it'll advance the paper automatically, maybe your's works differently, mine is from 86, but there is a way to automatically load the paper. For the serial port, you can juste redirect the // output to the serial port. If I remember correctly it's: mode lptx=comx Where x is the number of the port.
I just double checked the same Wheelwriter 3. It does in fact have auto paper feeding. Like the Ultrasonic you have to pull the lever forward more. It results in torsion on the other side of the bar because that hinge doesn't move father forward. I hadn't read the manual and pulling on that feels wrong since it's bending the plastic so I had never pushed on it that hard. I previously tried a Personal Wheelwriter 2 which I knew has auto paper feeding. The lever doesn't need to be pulled father forward and there is no platen lock. Pulling the paper guide lever forward at all feeds the paper. So I made the assumption that the Wheelwriter 3 would have worked in the same way if it did. Man it's easy to miss this stuff when making a video like this. Thanks for the pointer!
My mother worked for a bank in the early 80's and I remember her having to use an IBM electric typewriter for just that on a lot of forms, and my elder aunt still insist on doing with envelopes, and such to this very day.
I rememember the job where we had the IBM Wheelwriter, and I had looked into the option of adapting it as a printer (for the same promotional mailing I mentioned in another video. Probably hit the same expense issue you mention. But Eight Dollars for a Wheelwriter, not a bad deal. If it weren't that I'm trying to *sell off* all my bulky collections, etc, (not getting any younger) it could be cool to have one.
Yeah, I can't help but think that would have been the "ultimate" usage for these. Though I suppose it would have called for multiple converter types, since keyboard interfaces did vary in some cases.
That daisy wheel, when printing fast in printer mode, needs to be printing something like “Code Red. DEFCON 1” and be situated on the bridge of a battle ship or a submarine.
Yea I'm kicking myself for not picking up the IBM type writer years ago with the printer interface. If I remember correctly. We have 2 models to pick from. One thing I remember back in the day is when dot matrix took off. Daisy wheels took off for cheap in the back of magazines. You should look up the silver reed printer. I have one of those somebody gave me for free. But that is what happens when people upgrade printers.
I'm just starting out with ASM so I'm sure it could be optimized, but that was code I wrote to directly write into the memory space of the color and monochrome video cards so I could demonstrate that an early PC could fully use two monitors: ua-cam.com/video/iSzFvOQp_XM/v-deo.html
Same principle of paper loading as Ultrasonic was also on some matrix printers - such as Mannesmann Tally MT 81, which was my first printer in early 90's :) Still has it stored at home. It's roaring during printing and beeping when no paper was loaded... unforgettable. But for tex, theese typewriters/printers are nicely quiet in comparison with matrix ones.
Wow, the messenger module looks so frigging dull from the outside, yet is far from being a simple device. Got flashed when you popped the innards out, it's almost a minicomputer in itself. That fact makes me fear it must have been really expensive back in the day, though.
The Insentricity link doesn’t work anymore. Do you happen to know what the DIP switch options are? I’m sure they’re baud rate and parity and such, but having an exact breakdown would be nice. Also, I’m pretty sure you can access the DIP switches by removing the front panel instead of the rear panel.
Desktop Space would be the biggest selling point with Typeface Font options that were not Dot Matrix. So a harder strike to go thru copies +1, +2 sheets. Both would often be requirements for some reports and forms, good old triplicate. A Company requirement or Legal (Medical, Financial or Archival) or Corporate Policy.
i would say that you amassed your collection before you started your youtube channel or at least before you started uploading videos of your collection.. what is it you do for a living (besides or before youtube) and how did you get into it and if i may ask how old are you? what was the reason for you to start collecting?
Have you ever heard of the IBM 755c? It was a 486 laptop computer from 1994, and it has a speaker! It also plays wonderful 8-bit sounding MIDI. Not MIDIs too big though, I tried doing a 50KB MIDI on mine and it crashed the computer. The screen may not work, if that would happen it could just be plugged into any VGA monitor.
Hello! I thought about connecting a computer to an old IBM typewriter for awhile now, so I found this video and it really got me excited. The primary computer I wanted to use it with is my 5150!! So instead of the IBM which seems to be frighteningly difficult, I'm going to go the route you did. What was your source for the Messenger Module information? I will need it. Haven't found the typewriter yet but snagged me the module. :-) Cheers!
I have a box 1/2 left of Staples branded paper with the sides on it from the early 00's someone donated to my work(I work for a non profit for seniors) that I took home, and pull apart when I need paper for my Brother laser printer, and it works just fine with only a single jam so far, but yeah I miss being able to print things back in the day like a really long banner in Print Shop for a Birthday party, and what not. Dot Matrix printers still have advantages you just can't get from a modern printer sadly.
@@CommodoreFan64 : Check the documentation online to see if your printer will accept the stuff: they still make it, and if your printer doesn't have problems, then you might be able to use it with just some careful box placement (and maybe a dowel rod to get the angle right).
@@CommodoreFan64 : You do _not_ need a straight feed, nor is it strictly necessary for completed prints to go downwards, though the second of those two does help prevent jams. Straight feeds are needed for printing straight to rigid material like CDs and DVDs, or if the paper feed motors are too weak for the paper, which sometimes happens with cardstock. If someone told you otherwise, then they were either talking about the products of a specific company, or just confusing themselves. The average dot-matrix printer from the 80s, for example, won't have been a straight-feed printer because they were built with a feed-roller design. The question of whether a normal printer can deal with continuous paper comes down to software, and feed-motor strength, not the style of printer.
Wow, this reminds me that I have a text processor from mid-80s, an Olivetti cwp1, and it's in a perfect state, with its monitor, and I fixed it (the floppy drive was malfunctioning). It costs me like 50 bucks in a big city near mine. A great price tbh. I also have 2 ink cartridges, bc when I bought it I saw them on eBay for sale pretty cheap (now are super expensive). So yeah, these machines are soo cool. Btw, this word processor uses dot matrix to print, and it has a very good quality, you can select the quality of the text like draft/quality and you can also change the width/height of the characters. I even open it up for cleaning it and the motherboard is lime a ms-dos compatible MB, it has the CPU, ROM, and a second socket just under the ROM idk for what, maybe for updating the characters? Is also super funny bc (i'm from spain so the thing's language is spanish) you can format disks, and it uses the word "formatar" instead of "formatear" that we use in spanish now. And you can copy text files to another disk, or view all the text you have in one disk, even print that, it's super neat. My model has just 1 FD but there are with 2, in the MB you can solder the missing cables (maybe that socket is for another FD controller, even tho this socket is accessible without open it up via a little metal gate). Well, I really enjoyed this video, I wish i could use this word processor as a printer haha but it doesn't have any input option (maybe other models yeah, but this one is like the base model).
So did the Messenger module also work the other way around over serial? So if you disabled the keyboard, would it send the typed characters back on the RS232 making the typewriter work as a terminal? Terminals are nothing more than teletypes after all.
Hi there. This is great to see! I've had the idea or question whether it would be possible to use a typewriter as a printer with a (modern) computer going through my mind off and on for a few years, though only as some kind of nice fantasy -also since I lack any knowledge and skill to get it done. Yet, wondering whether this would be possible brought me to this video. So now I wondered if you meanwhile indeed have succeeded to hook the (or a) typewriter up to your Mac, it being a modern machine.
If you were using WordStar, WordPerfect, MS Word or another word processing program (versus a text editor) you'd be able to control margins and paginate. I'm pretty sure I remember being able to feed individual sheets and not have the ol' KayPro printer hammer away onto the roller at the end of each page. Watching a daisywheel printer is hypnotic.
Hey Do you know how the messenger module communicate with the printer ? . I have a Smith Corona XD8500 brand new condition without the messenger module and I would love to interact with Arduino without wiring each key button to shift register. Nice video too !
So the messenger module can do RS-232 serial? That sounds perfect for piggybacking to a computer dumb terminal - Hazeltine and Wyse, all had serial printer ports on the back. Too bad the messenger module couldn't transmit characters typed on the keyboard back up the wire (hhm. or could it?) - you would have had a printing serial terminal! thanks very much for this cool well-done retrospective.
I got a Wheelwriter a while ago with the same intention, but it turned out it was a more "closed off" model.. Some of them had a straight up serial interface exposed inside, but later ones only had some 8080 signals going to modules. Your WW3 might have the serial header.. if you want to mess with it and an Arduino, look for a "wheelwriter arduino" (iirc) GitHub page
I did see that when I was preparing my support links in the description, none of the ones there now were up when I bought mine, so there must really be a lot of them out there. If I do buy another one, it will have to be complete in the box with the Commodore serial adapter. That was looks like it has some kind of adapter, but it's not the commodore one.
A simple version should be fairly easy. For the rotating bit, go to a hardware store and buy some small brass pipe, as well as some metal rod (preferably more brass, I guess) that can just barely fit inside it. Cut the pipe to whatever length you find convenient, then use the flatest end to draw a circle onto the rod; then flip the piece of pipe around, adjust it so that the less-flat end is a little bit away from the line that you already drew, and use the flat end to guide another circle; use a file to cut a trough into the rod along both lines, and use them to keep some wire (or retaining clips, or whatever) in place so that the pipe will stay in place between them: you now have your bearing. You can cut the rod to whatever length you feel like, put on whatever style handle, etc. Then use some printable transparency sheet to produce a circular "finger" pattern; cut it out, maybe stick it to something stiffer (but still clear!), and put some photodiodes (2) right beside the transparency, with lights of the other end; connect (doesn't really matter how, just use a method you like) the transparency disk to the rod so that the transparency turns around the center of the pattern on it. This is how computer ball mice worked, the photodiodes would be placed such that the light going to them dimmed at slightly different points in time (there are 4 values involved, and you figure out the direction from which value comes next: 01 11 01 would mean the direction changed at "11", for example, while 01 11 10 would mean the direction stayed the same; 01 11 00 would usually mean you need to check the values more often), and that would tell the direction and speed (from how often the values changed) of the mouse. After that, it's just a matter of deciding how to connect it to a computer: I'd suggest just using an old ball mouse for the electronics, if you can.
Changing of the generations. If you want to fiddle around with electronics then they'd probably be worth buying (for the printer mechanism & keyboard), but it's hard to imagine much more use for them.
I feel like people probably bought these for businesses in preparation for getting computers. If you didn't have the computer yet, you'd buy this, wait a month or so while still being productive to get the computer, and then once you got the computer, you'd buy the Messenger Module and you'd have a nice setup going.
Not really, it actually was a combination of just replacing typewriters (that market continued until at least the early 90's), and specialty printing. In fact, the daisy-wheel printers were all specialty printers: they couldn't generally do graphics, but their text was much nicer to read, and you could even change the font by changing the wheel you were using, which otherwise wasn't possible for actual printers (you could argue that plotters were capable of it, but those were still quite distinctive machines at this point).
Just found a Smith Carona (oh lol 2020) XD 6600 with a DE port on it. Would love to figure out how to pin out it into a raspberry pi and make it a printer again.
holy fk this video is so well made. so much effort in this video. great stuff you own, pretty jealous ;) keep up the good work i find these 80s printers oddly interesting
So you're wondering who wouldn't want a dot matrix 9 pin printer that has graphics capabilities? You touched on one thing that is of most importance with an office: Type quality. The next thing you failed to grasp was the typists who used the machines and the types of businesses that would use them. Typewriters are great for use with carbon papers / carbonless paper for making duplicates of office documents. Fan fold computer paper was also available on certain models of fancy typewriters. It appears that fan fold paper mught be something this machine can use as well. There were also tractorless fan fold paper that could be fed into manual and electronic typewriters and I believe some dedicated printers too. Letter quality is of greater importance to a business that creates typed documents either by hand or by computer interface. A law firm or doctor's office isn't likely to use a dot matrix printer. Especially one with only 9 pins. Twenty-five pin dot matrix printers were superior to the 9 pin variety. But the one thing about dot matrix printers that stuck in everyone's minds was how loud they are. Secondary to that was how much vibration they caused. I grew up with these types of machines. The "graphics" mode or feature of a dot matrix printer was more hype than something you'd want to use for practical use. The quality wasn't very good. Until color ribbons came out everything was in black ink. The real technical achievement to match typewriter quality were laser printers. Their speed, use of toner instead of ribbons, their reliability, and their ability to produce crisp clean details for graphics made them the obvious winner. If I were in an office setting when these came out I would've likely been using an electric typewriter with perhaps a normal array of hammers, typeball, or the daisy wheel. Typeballs and daisy wheels allow for jam-free typing. Great for people who can touch type at 60-100+ characters per minute.
The "page holder"-"guide rail" is called a paper bail. We simply called it the bail. www.visualdictionaryonline.com/communications/office-automation/stationery/electronic-typewriter.php
I'd still like to have a daisy wheel printer for my occasional letters full of self-righteous indignation. You know the ones... The ones that begin "Sirs, I refer to your letter of the fourteen inst." and end in "I remain.." In these days of badly written emails full of poor spelling and non-existent grammar I like a proper letter in a proper envelope with a proper stamp to be done with proper dignity :-D
Back in those days, businesses also held onto typewriters for making out envelopes and filling out forms. "Normal" printers just weren't up to the task. ;-)
Now I can use my printer to print Ed Rooney screaming GRACE on envelopes I address to my friend Grace
And then is the issue of holding them in inventory until they were fully depreciated, or incurre in a lost right on. Also if you want a printer you need a computer, like a 3K+ IBM PC, so in reality the typewriter was less expensive, until you need to buy a computer. For that moment you already had the typewriter so. Finally you have 200 typewriters in the company using maybe 3 ribbon types, so you always have supplies.
I wonder if they sold it as a step towards owning a computer. "This typewriter won't be obsolete when you buy a computer, it will also function as a printer"
Yes. People didn't just suddenly warm up to a computer in the home, it took a long time. The earliest home computers often resembled typewriters just to ensure people wouldn't feel they were too alien in the house. The Atari 800, released in 1979 is a great testament to that mentality, even by 1984 entire generations of people would have been wary of buying a computer - but not for buying an electric typewriter...
@@readycomputer Early CRT based terminals from IBM were refered to as 'displaywriters', with pretty hefty keyboards ... some even having solenoids hammering on the cases to emulate typewriter noise levels.
That transition between the ad and the two old rival printers was brilliant
I've never considered myself a computer person, but ever since I started watching your videos, I can't get enough! You present material in such a digestible and informative manner, that I've probably watch each video three times over. Thanks for the hours of entertainment!
So many memories of old printers and typewriters! We had and used typewriters in our house until the late 80s even as we progressed with various computers and printers. Letter quality was sometimes important but more often it was needed to handle special paper types, for envelopes and also for manually aligning to fields on forms. We went from a manual Brother to an electric daisywheel Brother in the late 80s almost around the time we replaced our dot matrix with a laser printer, an Epson EPL-6000 around 1989. That was pretty much the end of typewriter use in my house. Those days were exciting for me as a kid. It felt like every year there was some new and improved revolution in tech, even for printers!
The accuracy and swiftness of automation combined with the aesthetics of typewriters bring a satisfying process to watch
My mother gifted me her old Smith Corona XE 6000. It needs some cleaning, but as soon as I saw the port on the back I knew I wanted to try using it as a printer. You've inspired me further with this video. Thanks.
I have a small microcontroller for the Wheelwriter that allows it to be used via the expansion port as a printer over USB. I'd love to send you it for review
What Goodwill do you go to to find all of these. Im lucky to find anything more than a late 90's alarm clock at any of them around me
The thing you have to realize is that I don't get these all at once or at one goodwill. I go to dozens of thrift stores very often to find things like this. It's as much luck as it is persistence. Going to 5 thrift stores in one day, multiple times a week is not uncommon for me.
A very large portion of my collection has come from thrift stores. But I've been going for well over a decade. So I've had a lot of opportunities to find stuff. And I continue that because the breadth and depth of my collection is too large to be paying ebay prices for everything. The typewriter cost me only $12, but I paid $35 for the messenger module to make it work. If it weren't for my thrift store persistence, I simply couldn't afford everything I have.
Which is part of why some of my videos are odd, I don't get to "choose" what I buy. I only get what is available. That why so many things are broken or in questionable states. And mult-part videos can be spaced out over long periods of time. It can take a while for me to find a part, but sometimes I do cave and go to ebay. Like with the messenger module, there is no chance I would ever find that locally. But a C64 or parts for troubleshooting? That could show up on craigslist sometime, so I may hold out for that kind of thing.
@@TechTangents Our Goodwill does not accept any e-waste, as that's what they classify computers. Old furniture, alarm clocks, sewing machines, questionable DVDs, and electric frying pans, sans controller, are all you'll find. Oh, also, you'll know who's holdin' because...carrying your 1-4 ounces with you when you shop Goodwill, is a...thing.
My local thrift stores are so bad at accepting electronics that I started an entire business to help deal with all of the local "e-waste" that everyone has.
And then there's the one thrift store down the road from me that has a whole room full of computers that they won't let anyone into. Their "computer guy" has been "fixing" them for years.
Same. These UA-camrs seem to live in smaller cities. In a metropolitan area people either trash this stuff or if it's ever in Goodwill it's picked over immediately.
@@Lilithe Lots of professional full time ebay peddlers do nothing all day but every day go to thrift shops to scoop up the finds that would sell much higher online. This is turn only leaves junk electronic items on the shelves for the rest of everyone.
When I went to college in 1985, not many people had computers. I was fortunate enough that my dad worked for a municipal automation center and we had an IBM PC/XT at home, on loan from his work, with an Epson FX-80 printer.
I had to _ask_ my teachers if it was allowed to hand in assignments as computer printouts. And the answer wasn't always an unequivocal "yes": it was always: "Only if you use regular paper (not fanfold), and only if you keep your ribbon in good shape and use a font that's easy to read". I often had to show a sample before I got permission.
Later on, we got an Epson FX-800 that had Near Letter Quality, and a box of fanfold paper that had tear-off feeding holes. From then on, I got an immediate YES when I asked if my sample would be acceptable. After a while, I stopped asking.
0:08 / 17:17 Now that's dedication to accuracy! How long did it take to line up?
I like your style - this and your cutaway thumbnail are super cool.
It took a lot more time to do the intro because they had their camera really high up and at a weird angle. I didn't have the physical space to get that shot perfect so I got it as close as I possibly could. I probably spent 15m lining it all up.
The okidata ad was easier since it was a head on shot, I still probably put a good 10m into it though to make it as good as I could.
I did it by putting tape on the monitor I use for viewing the camera while I shoot. I put the ad up, marked the outline with tape, then switched to my camera feed and tried to line it up as best I could. I realized after I got the intro shot thought that I could have just used the capture card in my desktop and OBS and made the ad translucent over the camera feed and been able to line it up like that. I think I'll try to do that in the future. This idea is too fun to use in just one video, so it's definitely coming back. I have a video I'm going to be recording soon that I think will also get a cutaway thumbnail. And I might try to do the same effect on video. It won't be easy, but it could be really fun!
@@TechTangents I'm honestly more impressed by your tape idea than the simple OBS way haha. It is indeed a super cool effect and you pull it off perfectly. I hope you're enjoying the new camera :)
Until I realized I have the OBS option I was considering putting a piece of glass over the monitor and tracing the outline with a marker, a task that would have been easy on a CRT. I have the output from my camera connected to an HDMI splitter running to a monitor and the capture card. So it's actually always set up for that. It makes more sense to do it the fancy modern way since it will be better and easier. But it was fun to do it the old-school way!
I LOVE this camera! I really do not think I could have got a more perfect camera for me. I'm so happy with my video workflow right now. I'm trying to get the audio workflow on par next now.
@@TechTangents Tape! I wish that I'd considered that instead. (On school projects) I used overhead (wet-erase) projector markers to compare screen-compositions between different video and render perspectives.
This usually worked for me since I always spot-tested to counter "friends" swapping permanent markers out. But eventually they started mass-swapping out the reservoir inside the available marker, causing them to "fade" from erasable to permanent ink with time.
@@TechTangents For the record, the Okidata ad is at 17:16, and I had totally missed that one too.
That's a rather superb electronic typewriter, you have some very good luck finding great stuff in thrift stores!
That Wheelwriter came from J.C. Business Machines, aka Phoenix Typewriter whom you can find here on YT doing excellent repair videos on cool old typewriters! Love seeing some typewriter related content, as typewriters and vintage PCs are 2 of my favorite hobbies! :)
Favorite new channel here. I love your enthusiasm, and of course the subject matter.
That intro is really cool , the transition from the picture to the typewriter... Nicely done
6:04 That feature is 100% present at least on my black badge IBM Wheelwriter 3 from 1985.
I have absolutely seen IBM Wheelwriters with Centronic ports on the back of them. I had no idea that they were rare. I should have picked one up.
The electronic typewriters I have the most experience with are the Wheelwriter 5 and its successor the 1500. They had a PC interface, a memory option and a 500 word automatic spell-check function. I remember the things beeping at me constantly as I wasn't (and still isn't) a very good typist.
2:20 Blessed be the included manual. I kind of guess there would be no video and no me commenting on it without it. And a chance of tech enjoyment lost as well, of course. Really dug this one.
That’s not a DB-9 port, it’s actually a DE-9 port.
Hope you get another ribbon as it’d be interesting to see it hooked up to a modern computer.
We had a slightly newer Smith Corona electronic typewriter hooked up via a Messenger Module to our Amiga. I remember we had a few font daisy wheels for it, and that it was sloooooow and LOUD. We fairly quickly replaced it with an Apple ImageWriter II, which could be quite speedy! :D
You could us an ImageWriter with an Amiga?
these videos are crystal-clear and beautifully edited. nice work.
The nice thing about the IBM type writer is that a tractor feed for the IBM typewriter. Where the typewriter was super useful was printing and filling in forms. Export forms where easier with a simple typewriter.
My first PC, 1984, was AU$10K worth of German Triumph-Adler "Commodore 64 killer" - it had *640K* on hand.
Two printers - a fast Adler bidirectional dot matrix tractor feed and a crisp daisywheel printer/typewriter. Four 5 1⁄4-inch floppy drives.
OS was C/PM, with Lexicom word processor, Ashton-Tate DataBase III, a customised/licensed version of Apple's VisiCalc spreadsheet, and a few basic utilities.
All built like a panzerwagen, of course.
So how does the erase work on those typewriters? It looks like it's somehow pulling the characters off the paper, so is it a long roll of sticky tape or something?
There are a couple different ways, some typewriters support multiple options for you to choose as well.
The later ones like this settled on a tape solution, but that requires a correctable ink that can be grabbed by the tape. It is imperfect and most typewriters have some provision for you to double-tap a letter with the tape if once wasn't good enough.
The other way is to have a white ink that gets applied over the black ink. This lets you use any type of ink you want, but usually you can only find white correction ink, so you can't use it on a different color paper.
@@TechTangents My dad had a Smith Corona typewriter when I was growing up in the early 90's, and it had the correcting ribbon. I learned pretty quickly that a pencil eraser will erase that ink, and when the tape ran out just used a regular eraser to correct mistakes since it was cheaper.
I've sorta wanted to do this very thing for years, just to do it. Maybe someday I'll find a cheap electric typewriter (with printer capabilities) of my own for the task! (I own a typewriter, but it's a WWII-era mechanical machine. Still able to be serviced by a local shop!) Thanks for showing it off!
I bought an IBM Wheelwriter III at a garage sale for $10 a while back and it has an extra module on the back with what looks like a parallel port. It's clipped on to the back of the unit and has it's own logic board which is connected to the typewriter via a ribbon cable. It has what looks like a parallel port or SCSI connector, the kind with the metal retaining tabs on the sides of the port. Is this the PC Printer add on for the wheelwriter mentioned in the video?
I do believe it is! I can't find a lot of info on them other than this page: wiki.bibanon.org/IBM_Wheelwriter/Options/PC_Printer
That would be really cool if you did get one!
Mine looks exactly like the one pictured on that website. The unit is labeled IBM 5441. Are you sure these are as rare as you say they are? I though I'd seen them on eBay before. I could be mistaken though. Anyway, I might be able to record some footage for you if you'd like or maybe even lend it to you. Unfortunately, it's stored at another location right now and I won't be able to see it for about a month, but I do have a picture or two on hand if you want to see those.
That's awesome! They were a $200 addon for a $800 typewriter in 1984, I don't think they sold a lot and I have never seen one. There is someone on ebay who claims to have some they'll include with a typewriter purchase. They may be running a typewriter shop and had the chance to find one.
I'm sure they're out there and I haven't been looking for them on ebay. But out of the 6 wheelwriters I've seen in person, none of them had one.
I'll take your word on it, you don't need to send me pictures or video. I'm not really doing loaned item videos right now, I have had several offers. I appreciate it though!
Pardon my French, but... That's a big-ass interface module! 8-O
Thats the first time i'v watched an electric typewriter work, fascinating stuff. Looks like it might feel halfway between the insta-clunk of a manual (if thats what there called?) and the impactless typing on a computer. Oddly satisfying to see and hear it :D
I just got a Messenger Module for the Ultrasonic III Messenger I am planning on picking up, and the Module came with its manual. Do you still need a copy of it? It has all kinds of info about the DIP switches and command codes.
If you still have a copy of the manual, I could uses it. Trying to get it to talk to a Macintosh Classic II
On point with the cost for the Wheelwriters. I have 3. 1 Wheelwriter under the IBM name, 1 1500 and 1 3500 under the Lexmark name when IBM Sold the Typewriter Division to Lexmark in 1991 or so. Two were near $1,000 and the 3500 was well over $1,000. These machines are workhorses and made for heavy constant typing. I use one of them on a daily basis for correspondence as when using a typewriter one does not have the distractions as being in front of a PC. The Printer option interface for these machines are rare as they costed a couple hundred. To find one is a gem and I am always on the lookout as I want to outfit one of my machines and use it as a text only printer. The Type of a typewriter just can't be duplicated. For others looking to acquire, a suggestion would be local offer ups where you can find typewriters in fairly good condition. As a guide, other manufactures were direct competitors to the Wheelwriters and include Brother, Nakajima ( This Company is still in business today and continues to manufacture New Typewriters) Silver Reed, Panasonic, Swintec, Olivetti, and Olympia. Bear in mind, manufacturers added the printer option on the higher end office grade typewriters.
I keep a smith-corona on my desk. It's a 1973 Galaxie Deluxe, and I use it more than you would think.
super old AMD ICs in the adapter module- they've been around the block.
Ah, I remember I owned a derivative device around 1984: a daisy wheel printer that used Selectric wheels and cartridges. Made by Juki as I recall. Worked great but slow (expected) and noisy (also expected). Was remarkably inexpensive, too; I think less than $150 at the time. But it was a printer only, no keyboard at all.
Those wheelwriter have an automatic paper loading capabilities, you have to remember that they where marketed towards businesses, so it needs to be fast and easy. Fiddeling with the controls ain't fast nor easy. Pull the front lever more towards you and it'll advance the paper automatically, maybe your's works differently, mine is from 86, but there is a way to automatically load the paper.
For the serial port, you can juste redirect the // output to the serial port.
If I remember correctly it's: mode lptx=comx
Where x is the number of the port.
I just double checked the same Wheelwriter 3. It does in fact have auto paper feeding. Like the Ultrasonic you have to pull the lever forward more. It results in torsion on the other side of the bar because that hinge doesn't move father forward. I hadn't read the manual and pulling on that feels wrong since it's bending the plastic so I had never pushed on it that hard.
I previously tried a Personal Wheelwriter 2 which I knew has auto paper feeding. The lever doesn't need to be pulled father forward and there is no platen lock. Pulling the paper guide lever forward at all feeds the paper. So I made the assumption that the Wheelwriter 3 would have worked in the same way if it did.
Man it's easy to miss this stuff when making a video like this. Thanks for the pointer!
@@TechTangents You're welcome ^w^
The typewriter could be used for multipart forms that haven't been digitized yet. I remember seeing this in the military a long time ago.
My mother worked for a bank in the early 80's and I remember her having to use an IBM electric typewriter for just that on a lot of forms, and my elder aunt still insist on doing with envelopes, and such to this very day.
I rememember the job where we had the IBM Wheelwriter, and I had looked into the option of adapting it as a printer (for the same promotional mailing I mentioned in another video. Probably hit the same expense issue you mention.
But Eight Dollars for a Wheelwriter, not a bad deal. If it weren't that I'm trying to *sell off* all my bulky collections, etc, (not getting any younger) it could be cool to have one.
It'd be nice if it could send character codes from keyboard down the serial cable to the PC as well.
Yeah, I can't help but think that would have been the "ultimate" usage for these. Though I suppose it would have called for multiple converter types, since keyboard interfaces did vary in some cases.
That daisy wheel, when printing fast in printer mode, needs to be printing something like “Code Red. DEFCON 1” and be situated on the bridge of a battle ship or a submarine.
Daisywheel printers sounded like machine guns...
These old electric typewriters were suprisingly advanced. I have a nice wordproccessor one at work.
those are some wild looking traces
Yea I'm kicking myself for not picking up the IBM type writer years ago with the printer interface. If I remember correctly. We have 2 models to pick from. One thing I remember back in the day is when dot matrix took off. Daisy wheels took off for cheap in the back of magazines. You should look up the silver reed printer. I have one of those somebody gave me for free. But that is what happens when people upgrade printers.
LOL, that assembly listing is just like a fnacy "Hello, World!" program?
I'm just starting out with ASM so I'm sure it could be optimized, but that was code I wrote to directly write into the memory space of the color and monochrome video cards so I could demonstrate that an early PC could fully use two monitors: ua-cam.com/video/iSzFvOQp_XM/v-deo.html
Same principle of paper loading as Ultrasonic was also on some matrix printers - such as Mannesmann Tally MT 81, which was my first printer in early 90's :) Still has it stored at home. It's roaring during printing and beeping when no paper was loaded... unforgettable.
But for tex, theese typewriters/printers are nicely quiet in comparison with matrix ones.
Wow, the messenger module looks so frigging dull from the outside, yet is far from being a simple device. Got flashed when you popped the innards out, it's almost a minicomputer in itself. That fact makes me fear it must have been really expensive back in the day, though.
"Correction tape"? What is this crazy technology! Somehow never had an idea this was possible on typewriters.
The Insentricity link doesn’t work anymore. Do you happen to know what the DIP switch options are? I’m sure they’re baud rate and parity and such, but having an exact breakdown would be nice.
Also, I’m pretty sure you can access the DIP switches by removing the front panel instead of the rear panel.
Desktop Space would be the biggest selling point with Typeface Font options that were not Dot Matrix. So a harder strike to go thru copies +1, +2 sheets. Both would often be requirements for some reports and forms, good old triplicate. A Company requirement or Legal (Medical, Financial or Archival) or Corporate Policy.
I wonder if would be a possible option as a replacement for a Coleco Adam printer for a separate power supply/printer?
15:11 Must've hit Code-F for "Fast Mode" :D
i would say that you amassed your collection before you started your youtube channel or at least before you started uploading videos of your collection.. what is it you do for a living (besides or before youtube) and how did you get into it and if i may ask how old are you? what was the reason for you to start collecting?
Have you ever heard of the IBM 755c? It was a 486 laptop computer from 1994, and it has a speaker! It also plays wonderful 8-bit sounding MIDI. Not MIDIs too big though, I tried doing a 50KB MIDI on mine and it crashed the computer. The screen may not work, if that would happen it could just be plugged into any VGA monitor.
dude , I like your videos and I appreciate you
you got the wheel writer all wrong
Hello! I found ultrasonic 450 Messenger smith-corona online, do you think it would also need the printer module?
Hello! I thought about connecting a computer to an old IBM typewriter for awhile now, so I found this video and it really got me excited. The primary computer I wanted to use it with is my 5150!! So instead of the IBM which seems to be frighteningly difficult, I'm going to go the route you did. What was your source for the Messenger Module information? I will need it. Haven't found the typewriter yet but snagged me the module. :-) Cheers!
the computer paper gave me a throwback to highschool back in the 90's ;D
I have a box 1/2 left of Staples branded paper with the sides on it from the early 00's someone donated to my work(I work for a non profit for seniors) that I took home, and pull apart when I need paper for my Brother laser printer, and it works just fine with only a single jam so far, but yeah I miss being able to print things back in the day like a really long banner in Print Shop for a Birthday party, and what not. Dot Matrix printers still have advantages you just can't get from a modern printer sadly.
@@CommodoreFan64 : Check the documentation online to see if your printer will accept the stuff: they still make it, and if your printer doesn't have problems, then you might be able to use it with just some careful box placement (and maybe a dowel rod to get the angle right).
@@absalomdraconis Not with a brother laser printer no can do. You need a straight feed printer that feeds from the top straight down.
@@CommodoreFan64 : You do _not_ need a straight feed, nor is it strictly necessary for completed prints to go downwards, though the second of those two does help prevent jams. Straight feeds are needed for printing straight to rigid material like CDs and DVDs, or if the paper feed motors are too weak for the paper, which sometimes happens with cardstock. If someone told you otherwise, then they were either talking about the products of a specific company, or just confusing themselves. The average dot-matrix printer from the 80s, for example, won't have been a straight-feed printer because they were built with a feed-roller design.
The question of whether a normal printer can deal with continuous paper comes down to software, and feed-motor strength, not the style of printer.
Wow, this reminds me that I have a text processor from mid-80s, an Olivetti cwp1, and it's in a perfect state, with its monitor, and I fixed it (the floppy drive was malfunctioning). It costs me like 50 bucks in a big city near mine. A great price tbh.
I also have 2 ink cartridges, bc when I bought it I saw them on eBay for sale pretty cheap (now are super expensive). So yeah, these machines are soo cool.
Btw, this word processor uses dot matrix to print, and it has a very good quality, you can select the quality of the text like draft/quality and you can also change the width/height of the characters.
I even open it up for cleaning it and the motherboard is lime a ms-dos compatible MB, it has the CPU, ROM, and a second socket just under the ROM idk for what, maybe for updating the characters?
Is also super funny bc (i'm from spain so the thing's language is spanish) you can format disks, and it uses the word "formatar" instead of "formatear" that we use in spanish now. And you can copy text files to another disk, or view all the text you have in one disk, even print that, it's super neat.
My model has just 1 FD but there are with 2, in the MB you can solder the missing cables (maybe that socket is for another FD controller, even tho this socket is accessible without open it up via a little metal gate).
Well, I really enjoyed this video, I wish i could use this word processor as a printer haha but it doesn't have any input option (maybe other models yeah, but this one is like the base model).
So did the Messenger module also work the other way around over serial? So if you disabled the keyboard, would it send the typed characters back on the RS232 making the typewriter work as a terminal?
Terminals are nothing more than teletypes after all.
Wait, what?! RS-232?! Are you cereal?!
Hi there.
This is great to see! I've had the idea or question whether it would be possible to use a typewriter as a printer with a (modern) computer going through my mind off and on for a few years, though only as some kind of nice fantasy -also since I lack any knowledge and skill to get it done. Yet, wondering whether this would be possible brought me to this video.
So now I wondered if you meanwhile indeed have succeeded to hook the (or a) typewriter up to your Mac, it being a modern machine.
If you were using WordStar, WordPerfect, MS Word or another word processing program (versus a text editor) you'd be able to control margins and paginate. I'm pretty sure I remember being able to feed individual sheets and not have the ol' KayPro printer hammer away onto the roller at the end of each page. Watching a daisywheel printer is hypnotic.
Super stoked to hear that you will be at the linus tech tips LTX 2019
I wanna move to your workshop. Just leave there playing with all that 80's technology and don't worry about me :-D
You have a beautiful collection of printers!
Hey Do you know how the messenger module communicate with the printer ? . I have a Smith Corona XD8500 brand new condition without the messenger module and I would love to interact with Arduino without wiring each key button to shift register.
Nice video too !
There used to be a way you could connect the IBM Selectric to an Apple ][ years ago and use it as a printer aswell.
So the messenger module can do RS-232 serial? That sounds perfect for piggybacking to a computer dumb terminal - Hazeltine and Wyse, all had serial printer ports on the back. Too bad the messenger module couldn't transmit characters typed on the keyboard back up the wire (hhm. or could it?) - you would have had a printing serial terminal!
thanks very much for this cool well-done retrospective.
I got a Wheelwriter a while ago with the same intention, but it turned out it was a more "closed off" model..
Some of them had a straight up serial interface exposed inside, but later ones only had some 8080 signals going to modules.
Your WW3 might have the serial header.. if you want to mess with it and an Arduino, look for a "wheelwriter arduino" (iirc) GitHub page
that is one clean printout
Hmm... before 1980, my high school had a computer/calculator (Monroe 1880) that could read key on and print using an IBM Selectric typewriter.
Cool video! Just thought I'd mention that for what it's worth, it looks like there's a complete-in-box Messenger Module on eBay right now for $15.
I did see that when I was preparing my support links in the description, none of the ones there now were up when I bought mine, so there must really be a lot of them out there. If I do buy another one, it will have to be complete in the box with the Commodore serial adapter. That was looks like it has some kind of adapter, but it's not the commodore one.
BACK IN THE DAY MY MOM HAD A TYPEWRITER SHE USED WITH THE APPLE 2GS COMPUTER 🖥
Electronic type writer or mechanical I really love the sounds of then so damn much.
Excellent video, really enjoyed it. Would be awesome to make another one with it working on a modern Mac.
Neat, I have a Smith Corona Mark XX Spell Right Dictionary that also has a printer function, but I have yet to try it.
What was that that fell off on the far left at 14:18?
It may have come in from out of frame.
It was the end cap of the wheel.
I now want an "analog" wheel attached to the side of computer (either screen or keyboard) to scroll up and down in my terminals.
A simple version should be fairly easy.
For the rotating bit, go to a hardware store and buy some small brass pipe, as well as some metal rod (preferably more brass, I guess) that can just barely fit inside it. Cut the pipe to whatever length you find convenient, then use the flatest end to draw a circle onto the rod; then flip the piece of pipe around, adjust it so that the less-flat end is a little bit away from the line that you already drew, and use the flat end to guide another circle; use a file to cut a trough into the rod along both lines, and use them to keep some wire (or retaining clips, or whatever) in place so that the pipe will stay in place between them: you now have your bearing. You can cut the rod to whatever length you feel like, put on whatever style handle, etc.
Then use some printable transparency sheet to produce a circular "finger" pattern; cut it out, maybe stick it to something stiffer (but still clear!), and put some photodiodes (2) right beside the transparency, with lights of the other end; connect (doesn't really matter how, just use a method you like) the transparency disk to the rod so that the transparency turns around the center of the pattern on it. This is how computer ball mice worked, the photodiodes would be placed such that the light going to them dimmed at slightly different points in time (there are 4 values involved, and you figure out the direction from which value comes next: 01 11 01 would mean the direction changed at "11", for example, while 01 11 10 would mean the direction stayed the same; 01 11 00 would usually mean you need to check the values more often), and that would tell the direction and speed (from how often the values changed) of the mouse.
After that, it's just a matter of deciding how to connect it to a computer: I'd suggest just using an old ball mouse for the electronics, if you can.
That thing has some rad features
0:05 Amlost perfect transition.
Looks like they put the "Messenger Module" into a Hayes Smartmodem case.
7:11 WordEraser™ has a pretty sick beat to it.
My local Goodwills have a LOT of electronic typewriters for some reason.
Changing of the generations. If you want to fiddle around with electronics then they'd probably be worth buying (for the printer mechanism & keyboard), but it's hard to imagine much more use for them.
I feel like people probably bought these for businesses in preparation for getting computers. If you didn't have the computer yet, you'd buy this, wait a month or so while still being productive to get the computer, and then once you got the computer, you'd buy the Messenger Module and you'd have a nice setup going.
Not really, it actually was a combination of just replacing typewriters (that market continued until at least the early 90's), and specialty printing. In fact, the daisy-wheel printers were all specialty printers: they couldn't generally do graphics, but their text was much nicer to read, and you could even change the font by changing the wheel you were using, which otherwise wasn't possible for actual printers (you could argue that plotters were capable of it, but those were still quite distinctive machines at this point).
Just found a Smith Carona (oh lol 2020) XD 6600 with a DE port on it. Would love to figure out how to pin out it into a raspberry pi and make it a printer again.
14:15 typewriter begins unscheduled disassembly.
My father had an Electric Typewriter. As to what type? Well, it was as cheap as you could get. I remember trying to break it...by using it.
Wow, I knew there were Electric typewriter but did not know there were ELECTRONIC ones
You have to add the price of the PC to the printer. It was more expensive than the typewriter for sure
I had an ultrasonic II.. except it never worked. It also had a keyboard on/off.. but I never even saw some kind of interface either way
I remember many models of Swintecs worked as parallel port printers.
I used a Swintec typewriter with a printer connection as well.
holy fk this video is so well made. so much effort in this video. great stuff you own, pretty jealous ;) keep up the good work i find these 80s printers oddly interesting
So you're wondering who wouldn't want a dot matrix 9 pin printer that has graphics capabilities? You touched on one thing that is of most importance with an office: Type quality.
The next thing you failed to grasp was the typists who used the machines and the types of businesses that would use them. Typewriters are great for use with carbon papers / carbonless paper for making duplicates of office documents. Fan fold computer paper was also available on certain models of fancy typewriters. It appears that fan fold paper mught be something this machine can use as well. There were also tractorless fan fold paper that could be fed into manual and electronic typewriters and I believe some dedicated printers too. Letter quality is of greater importance to a business that creates typed documents either by hand or by computer interface. A law firm or doctor's office isn't likely to use a dot matrix printer. Especially one with only 9 pins. Twenty-five pin dot matrix printers were superior to the 9 pin variety. But the one thing about dot matrix printers that stuck in everyone's minds was how loud they are. Secondary to that was how much vibration they caused.
I grew up with these types of machines. The "graphics" mode or feature of a dot matrix printer was more hype than something you'd want to use for practical use. The quality wasn't very good. Until color ribbons came out everything was in black ink. The real technical achievement to match typewriter quality were laser printers. Their speed, use of toner instead of ribbons, their reliability, and their ability to produce crisp clean details for graphics made them the obvious winner. If I were in an office setting when these came out I would've likely been using an electric typewriter with perhaps a normal array of hammers, typeball, or the daisy wheel. Typeballs and daisy wheels allow for jam-free typing. Great for people who can touch type at 60-100+ characters per minute.
The "page holder"-"guide rail" is called a paper bail. We simply called it the bail. www.visualdictionaryonline.com/communications/office-automation/stationery/electronic-typewriter.php
Man I want one of those type printers
Next time, i am expecting you to be able to hook one of this type writers to a modern machine. Without running short.
You should hook that typewriter up to Twitter so we can live print to it. :-D
I'd still like to have a daisy wheel printer for my occasional letters full of self-righteous indignation. You know the ones... The ones that begin "Sirs, I refer to your letter of the fourteen inst." and end in "I remain.." In these days of badly written emails full of poor spelling and non-existent grammar I like a proper letter in a proper envelope with a proper stamp to be done with proper dignity :-D
14:16 classic Smith Corona
I must say that this was a quality video !
Great thing, no viruses!!!!.
Amazing job! Great!