The Typewriter That Wanted to be a Computer

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  • Опубліковано 13 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 80

  • @vwestlife
    @vwestlife 14 років тому +4

    @joshua25fm As long as paperwork still involves actual paper, typewriters will still be popular in clerical offices, for filling out multi-part forms and making labels. In fact I just had to get a new typewriter for one of the secretaries where I work, because she finally wore out her 1989 IBM Wheelwriter.

  • @vwestlife
    @vwestlife 14 років тому +4

    Some of the very last ones from Brother had a mouse and used the GeoWorks GUI. I don't think the inkjet models were too popular, because they can't type through multi-part forms, and they had the typical hassles of clogged print heads and smudged ink on the paper.

  • @vwestlife
    @vwestlife 14 років тому +1

    @uxwbill I'm sure if I had time to disassemble, clean, and lubricate it, I could get it working perfectly again. The print head was getting stuck during the carriage return, even though the toothed belt that drives it still had good tension. But that's a rare failure. I've seen others which were completely full of dust, hair, paper clips, and bits of paper and labels, and yet still worked flawlessly.

  • @bagelboi66
    @bagelboi66 12 років тому +14

    People laughed at me because I kept an old Selectric in my office. But I could bang out an envelope in a few seconds with it.

    • @dnb5661
      @dnb5661 7 років тому +1

      Haha

    • @AMPProf
      @AMPProf 7 років тому +2

      Hahaha... My mother loved her Ibm... It was a Humongous Businesses machine... Forms, Dito's, Spread sheets form thingys, Envelopes. Although, the big drawback I found out was that you could not lose what was previously typed! Bumer lol

  • @milanvdv
    @milanvdv 14 років тому

    Aaaah the good old lines you are able to see on those old crt monitors.
    This was much more interesting than I thought when I read this.
    Congrats ;)
    GRTS

  • @jimdayton8837
    @jimdayton8837 10 років тому +2

    Never seen anything like this! I like it it's really unique!

  • @nsub6
    @nsub6 14 років тому

    I'm going to start by saying awesome video and end with that's the most advanced typewriter Ive ever seen keep em coming :)

  • @chadcastagana9181
    @chadcastagana9181 6 років тому

    1:33 This machine's final assembly was in the USA, but all of the components were made overseas!
    Daisy Wheel printers were obsolete even by the early 1990's

  • @Rayburn96
    @Rayburn96 13 років тому +2

    Awesome video. I had one that my dad used for a long time that he gave me. It was a little older I believe though. The monitor was a monochrome display of course, only except the color was amber and not white. The UI was different though. And everything had to be loaded from a disk, the thesaurus, spreadsheet, everything. Unfortunately, the spreadsheet and thesaurus disks got accidentally formatted. I typed a journal on it for awhile. I wish I still had it. :(

  • @marcosdiogenes9380
    @marcosdiogenes9380 10 років тому +15

    this is a computer with a printer built in

  • @AMPProf
    @AMPProf 7 років тому

    Yes, My family pitched in and bought my grandmother one around 1993 and she loved it.

  • @LightTheUnicorn
    @LightTheUnicorn 13 років тому

    I have an old Cannon StarWriter 30(?) kicking around somewhere, really nice machine and I even still have a few of the little ink cassettes for it!

  • @yorgle11
    @yorgle11 12 років тому

    Back in the mid-90s I remember my older cousin asking me about these things. Her family was very, shall I say "old fashioned" and I'm sure none of them knew how to use a computer. Their house had about as many electronic devices as other people had in the 1950s.
    I still tried to encourage her to get a real computer, but she got a "word processor" typewriter anyway. At the time I thought it was a waste of money but maybe it was the best thing for her.

  • @Chaoticmass
    @Chaoticmass 12 років тому +2

    Good video but you should have shown some of the action of it printing and its output.

  • @rot_studios
    @rot_studios 4 роки тому

    I love the smooth shape of the case, looks kinda futuristic :)

  • @TheCanterlonian
    @TheCanterlonian 7 років тому

    a BROTHER WP model with inkjet??????? that is simply unheard of!!!!!! i have obsessed over BROTHER WP models for ages and NEVER seen an inkjet one! amazing find!

  • @Markworth
    @Markworth 14 років тому

    They were always known simply as "word processors" around here. We had one that could optionally use an amber monochrome monitor that it came with. It was kinda cool. I used it for some school projects once or twice.

  • @elizabetharredondo3615
    @elizabetharredondo3615 6 років тому +1

    This Brother Word Processor got me through my first two years of college.

  • @andreslb151
    @andreslb151 9 років тому

    @uxwbill you said this machine floppy disks work with a propietary format. Have you tried a dd on one of these disk and/or tried to look to its structure with something like hexdump? It would be interesting to see how it is organised.

  • @Lachlant1984
    @Lachlant1984 14 років тому

    I have a 1992 Canon StarWriter personal publishing system that I used when I was in primary school, my school bought one and I had another one at home, this was before my family got a computer, when we did get a computer we used the StarWriter as an LPT printer, it emulated an IBM ProPrinter X24E. I have vague memories of other work processors like this one, they're very interesting devices indeed. I guess these were cheaper than computers, the StarWriter was around $1200.

    • @Lachlant1984
      @Lachlant1984 2 роки тому

      @@jkeelsnc Oh sure, I can believe that. Thhe price I quoted was in Australian dollars, not US dollars.

  • @pepsiru1es92
    @pepsiru1es92 14 років тому

    Cool Stuff! My family had one of those things in the 90s. It was a brother typewriter that you could hook up to an orange on black screen. I don't think it had any "programs."

  • @WhatALoadOfTosca
    @WhatALoadOfTosca 7 років тому

    I really wanted a white version of one of these when I was a child. They also came with a monochrome monitor and were lovely. The os was great and very innovative for its time.

  • @PearComputingDevices
    @PearComputingDevices 7 років тому

    It was interesting unit. I took one in on trade about 15 years ago for an actual computer. It wasn't bad. It did what it promised.

  • @SapphFire
    @SapphFire 10 років тому +2

    Really really cool!

  • @matthewrichards88
    @matthewrichards88 6 років тому

    Hey uxwbill. When I was at school in the late 90s, there was a unit by cannon (I think it was a star writer model) but this had a monochrome monitor and, a mouse. It had paint spreadsheet, and 'games: bit never saw the games as it was extra on a floppy

  • @watcher206
    @watcher206 12 років тому

    I still have a electronic typewriter. ( I think its a 1997 cannon 1000, im not shure.) Anyway, the typewriter, when i turn it on, instead of doing its routine initilizing, it just sits there and beebs, anything that I need to be looking for in this typewriter?

  • @ShroomishGaming
    @ShroomishGaming 14 років тому

    I Love Those Old Keyboards!

  • @theedrstrangelove
    @theedrstrangelove 14 років тому

    There are still such devices being made.

  • @papyrussemi2848
    @papyrussemi2848 5 років тому +1

    But, and this is the millon-dollar question, can it run DOOM?

  • @SimpleCarGuy
    @SimpleCarGuy 14 років тому

    how fast can you type? That looked pretty damn fast! (I'm at about 50wpm)

  • @joytech23
    @joytech23 14 років тому

    Did it succeed at being a computer? because that's really neat!

  • @drp0425
    @drp0425 14 років тому

    Is that a kindle

  • @ncrdisabled
    @ncrdisabled 14 років тому

    Yes I have 3 that was found at a yard sell for 5 bucks for the lot my in lays they have 1 that the use every day and has all the family tree on it since it has a 3.5 1.44 floppy disc. 2 of the smith coronas I have also have the floppy drive the last is a one I never heard of a its a Olimpia but it has no floppy drive . All of them hook up to a CGA monitor I have 2 bad monitors but 1 still works as a back up for the in laws.

  • @AandD94
    @AandD94 14 років тому

    you and the keykeeper need to make more farm videos lol.

  • @Crazybenjiwoo
    @Crazybenjiwoo 14 років тому

    my sister had one of these ( later model )
    worked for 4 days then never again...

  • @michaelweis4756
    @michaelweis4756 6 років тому

    Had daisywheels and inksprayers- latter where so much faster and neater in compare.

  • @lupine25
    @lupine25 6 років тому

    I always love little "sleeper" machines like this. Looks like a piece of garbage.... plug it in, it's got "discount wordperfect" and "discount lotus 1-2-3" on it! Haha!

  • @drp0425
    @drp0425 14 років тому

    I ment the on that you can see at 0:01

  • @thebibleisfiction
    @thebibleisfiction 14 років тому

    my grandmother has 3 of these in her garage

  • @FubarMike
    @FubarMike 14 років тому

    wow typewriters that have a screen and printer and storage capabilities. technology is really amazing......is what someone probably once said when they brought that home lol

  • @Shipwright1918
    @Shipwright1918 8 років тому

    There's a reason these things never caught on, and it's not what you might think. In my experience, electronic typewriters, even the fancy word processing rigs like these, tend to be pieces of junk. I've tried several,all made by Brother, and they were either already broken in some fashion or they soon failed not long after I got them. Granted, they were all used, but even so, it left a bad taste in my mouth for the plastic-wedge "typewriters".
    What really takes the biscuit in my mind is that Brother used to kick the cabooses off of Smith-Corona and the other makers back when they were making manual typewriters. They essentially just made the same typewriter mechanism over and over again and put different body styles on it and sold it under different names through department stores as a "budget" machine.
    Sold 'em like hotcakes, and cheaply, but the difference is that the underlying mechanism was actually very well made and it worked really well too. I've a little Brother-made manual I found in a thrift shop that's working as if it was made yesterday, not a darn thing wrong with and there's no sign that's about to change anytime soon. Begs the question of what happened between making those solid little manuals and the plastic wedges.

    • @patriotbarrow
      @patriotbarrow 8 років тому

      When I was very young, my dad's workplace had a Panasonic electronic typewriter and that thing was a workhorse. It saw use for about 10 years before eventually being replaced by someone with a computer.

    • @Shipwright1918
      @Shipwright1918 8 років тому

      That so? I guess Panasonic made 'em better than Brother when it comes to electronic typewriters.

  • @RetroGamerVX
    @RetroGamerVX 10 років тому

    I've got a video on my channel about a brother word processor thingy just like this :o) It's not an inkejet, uses special ribbons. Can still talk to my computer with it via floppy :o) The one I have has a built in monitor. Wow, 2011, why haven't I seen this video before lol

  • @LewisPhot
    @LewisPhot 12 років тому

    they are way cheaper than that more like $5 on ebay

  • @HappyDiscoDeath
    @HappyDiscoDeath 14 років тому

    @uxwbill I have one too, and quite frankly, I freaking love it.

  • @Ltb0b
    @Ltb0b 14 років тому

    I use to have a typewriter then we ran out of ink.. it was preety heavy

  • @zonemad96
    @zonemad96 14 років тому

    these little things are very cool im hopeing i can pick one up some where sometime i saw a monitor for one at a little junk shop and it was 40 dollars bwahaha like that will ever happen but still these things are very cool

  • @JKproductions184
    @JKproductions184 14 років тому

    I have a Smith-Corona

  • @Blazer2533
    @Blazer2533 14 років тому

    very interesting video here uxbill but after watching those lines on the monitor go round and round and round i felt like i was on an endless rollercoaster and was about to toss up the honeybun i just ate sheesh wheres the warning that watching this video might cause due dizziness and if affected dont eat while watching it? great now my room is spinning lol

  • @AiOinc1
    @AiOinc1 9 років тому +1

    Run Linux? Why? Someone needs to try Windows 95 or MS-DOS on this.

    • @AiOinc1
      @AiOinc1 9 років тому

      Conversion software can be written, however, no?

    • @andreslb151
      @andreslb151 9 років тому +1

      +AIO inc. That would require processing, which seems to be limited in this machine.

    • @AiOinc1
      @AiOinc1 9 років тому +1

      andreslb151 If it can run Linux, then it can run MS-DOS.
      The 8088 doesn't have a surplus of power either, but it can still run Windows 1.01 albeit slowly.

    • @andreslb151
      @andreslb151 9 років тому +1

      AIO inc.
      That's not true.

    • @AiOinc1
      @AiOinc1 9 років тому +1

      andreslb151 You still need at least a Herculese adapter, but this should do just fine.
      Storage should be no problem, just use compressed versions on a floppy diskette(s) or use the dial-up function.

  • @drp0425
    @drp0425 14 років тому +1

    One