AKI Typesetter Keyboard/Punch repaired and automated with Raspberry Pi

I wanted to introduce my retro computing projects to punched paper tapes. Reading paper tapes is conceptually fairly simple, and there are numerous options out there including DIY. However, punching is more difficult because the mechanism is more demanding. I bought an AKI Typesetter Keyboard on eBay. It was advertised as being nonfunctional. I repaired the device, and then reverse-engineered enough of it to be able to figure out how to drive it with a raspberry pi. These typesetter keyboards were typically used in the 1970s for large newspapers and other production facilities, where operators would type documents using the keyboard to a paper-tape. The paper-tape would have then been taken to a slugcasting machine / linotype for production. The keyboard has no display mechanism, no serial or parallel interface -- the operator simply types and the result goes directly to paper tape. I was able to control is using the raspberry pi and wrote a program to issue test patterns and print novelty banners. For more retro computer projects, please see www.smbaker.com/

[@esra_erimez]

"better to implement in hardware than software that way its easier to change things around" spoken like a true hardware engineer.

[@fredrikbergquist5734]

I did something similar to a 8 bit punch back in the 1980ies. It had eight solenoids for activating the punches and one as a sort of clutch for the motor. It had a microswitch that would tell you when the punch solenoids should be activated and I built an interface with a couple of 74xx ICs. The whole thing was connected to a Z80 CPM computer. To read the tape I used a 9 phototransistor array where the phototransistor behind the sprocket holes acted as a clockpulse. I didn’t have a feed motor for the reader, just pulled it through by hand. Actually I could pull it very fast and the phototransistors would read it! Nice vid, made me quite nostalgic!

[@minombredepila1580]

Simply amazing Scott !!!! Thanks for sharing

[@Spazzmoticus]

Glad to hear about some upcoming action for the RC2014. Such a neat little computer.

[@typxxilps]

8:49 - you meant for sure 2 connectors got cropped off at the left
Love this kind of work and videos.

[@smbakeryt]

yep! good catch.

[@tubeDude48]

Brilliant! 👍

[@LordOfNihil]

ever considered burning holes in it with lasers. you would need some kind of inert gas to keep it from combusting.

[@lelandclayton5462]

rebuild the motor and it should be much more quite.

[@smbakeryt]

It would be good to quiet this thing down -- I'll have to look into that.

[@zaprodk]

DE-9. DB-9 doesn't exist :D

[@smbakeryt]

Oh I know, but 30+ years of calling it the wrong thing isn't going to get fixed any time soon!

[@zaprodk]

@@smbakeryt hehe. Somewhere on the way someone got it wrong and it just stuck.