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Typewriters that acted as printers

syzygy said:
In the mid 70s and early 80s, interfacing your computer to an IBM Selectric was a big deal. Dot matrix was expensive and there was no quality comparison. "Normals" had a distinct distaste for dot-matrix. I never did build one and I could never afford either the interface or the Selectric - but I did want one.

Here are a couple of links you might enjoy.


Escon Kit that converts an IBM Selectric into a printer – VintageComputer.ca

vintagecomputer.ca vintagecomputer.ca

artsandculture.google.com

IMSAI 8080 Microcomputer, Used with Home Built Interface and IBM Selectric Typewriter, Assembled in 1977 - IMS Associates, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Narayanaswamy, O.S., and Neumann Computer Exchange - Google Arts & Culture

The IMSAI 8080 was a clone of the Altair 8800, the first mass marketed personal computer. It was a popular "kit computer," requiring assembly and programmi...
artsandculture.google.com artsandculture.google.com


As for high school typing class....I still have the memory of a punishment for a cafeteria incident that resulted in detention where we had to stand in the back of the typing class. Just stand there and listen to this clown speak letters that students (who were not being punished) were supposed to type the appropriate keys. Now today, I would have had a team of lawyers sue the school system; have the teacher fired (which would have been a good idea even back then IMO) and have all the books used in the class banned.

Good times :biggrin:
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In college (late 70s) my roommate got a Selectric and interfaced it to his SWTPC 6800 system. Seems like it was relatively simple, a parallel interface card, maybe some glue in the Selectric like opto-isolators? That and a printer driver for Flex made it easy to use. Made for very nice looking essays, papers, documentation, etc, particularly with the single-use carbon ribbons. We also had a Teletype KSR-43 (IIRC?) for running the machine and code listings, etc.
 
The IBM CADET (1620) Model 1 used an IBM Model B as the console typewriter. This was a traditional type-bar typewriter with movable carriage. Fun to watch while operating--you always wondered when it was going to fall to pieces.
IBM_1620_Model_1.jpg
 
I'm looking for a 'printing terminal'. Do any of the devices in this thread use their serial or parallel ports for two-way communication? Even if not in this thread, anyone have a list of such devices?

I have a Panasonic KX-D4910 but it uses a thermal printer. Looking for a daisy wheel keyboard/printer *terminal*.
 
My Olivetti ET 116 with optional LCU 116S interface can do this, I can connect it to the PC, start a terminalsoftware over there, set the serial communication parameters, and when I type on the typewriter I see that in the terminalsoftware, and if I type on the terminalsoftware, the typewriter prints. I think this is what you want. But... The typewriter is already rare today, but it is like easter and christmas on one day to get such a LCU 116s.
 
kwiebe said:
I'm looking for a 'printing terminal'. Do any of the devices in this thread use their serial or parallel ports for two-way communication? Even if not in this thread, anyone have a list of such devices?

I have a Panasonic KX-D4910 but it uses a thermal printer. Looking for a daisy wheel keyboard/printer *terminal*.
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You can build a daisy wheel keyboard/printer "terminal" from a Wheelwriter.

github.com

GitHub - jim11662418/wheelwriter-teletype: A STCmicro STC15W4K32S4 series micro controller turns an IBM Wheelwriter Electronic Typewriter into a teletype-like device.

A STCmicro STC15W4K32S4 series micro controller turns an IBM Wheelwriter Electronic Typewriter into a teletype-like device. - GitHub - jim11662418/wheelwriter-teletype: A STCmicro STC15W4K32S4 seri...
github.com github.com
 
Were there any typewriters that could interface with computers that still used individual arms/hammers for the characters? I'm putting together an escape room using my collection of vintage hardware. I plan to write some applications in BASIC and have my guests interact with computers, printers, and some custom hardware made from aviation components. I'd love the printer to be as theatrical as possible. I want it to be noisy and have movement, the more oddball, the better. Does anything like that exist, and if so, are they realistically obtainable? I ask because the models mentioned that I've looked up are more streamlined and enclosed than what I was hoping for.
 
kwiebe said:
I'm looking for a 'printing terminal'. Do any of the devices in this thread use their serial or parallel ports for two-way communication? Even if not in this thread, anyone have a list of such devices?

I have a Panasonic KX-D4910 but it uses a thermal printer. Looking for a daisy wheel keyboard/printer *terminal*.
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At the risk of insult, you might want to look at The Coleco Adam Computer - there is one on the bay for 350. I never had one. I remember many years ago being called by a friend who had a software business to check out his brand new Adam. Others here would know much more, but I remember the experience. They basically had Apple BASIC as I recall and ummm they were short-lived, again as I recall. If you just wanted a dedicated terminal, it could work, but I don't know how much printing you could do before it fell apart. They did, however, come with a Daisy Wheel printer and that was amazing at the time. Search "coleco adam" here.
 
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kwiebe said:
I'm looking for a 'printing terminal'. Do any of the devices in this thread use their serial or parallel ports for two-way communication? Even if not in this thread, anyone have a list of such devices?

I have a Panasonic KX-D4910 but it uses a thermal printer. Looking for a daisy wheel keyboard/printer *terminal*.
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The Decwriter IV. Tops out at 300 baud.
 
Coder said:
Were there any typewriters that could interface with computers that still used individual arms/hammers for the characters?
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1689790419634.png
Do you mean this kind of machines?

If yes, then the "Olivetti EDITOR 4 ST" (The "ST" is the important message) is your way to go, this one was used at the Olivetti P65x computers. The part 14 and D is rotating by electric motor. This is how it looks like:

1689790619752.png

The computer controls the typewriter with elecric magnets at the keyboard levers (part 19 on the upper drawing). The Editor series is a electro mechanical model, no electronics. The Editor series was produced from 1968 to the mid of the 1970's. (It's typeball based successor Lexikon 9x was not used to connect by computers, then only from 1982 on there were models of the daisywheel based electronic typewriters of the ET-Series, introduced in 1978 which had interfaces called LCU "Line Control Unit")

Electronic typewriters with interfaces are 99% of the daisywheel type, only a few typeball machines had interfaces (some sort of late IBM Selectrix (for IBM mainframes etc.) and the Olivetti Audit A5 booking machine for example)
 
My Wheelwriter if you don't have the diskette option has a PC printing adapter that drops in with a ribbon cable. My wheelwriter was available with the IBM Personal Word Processor (a modified PS/2 model 30) but with the keyboard deleted and $20 that option module was installed.

Years ago I had a Datel terminal which was a normal IBM selectric with additional solenoids and contacts so it could operate as a terminal. That however required substantial modifications to the mechanism to work and limited you to a very weird clutch-optimized baudrate.
 
pbirkel@gmail.com said:
A Model 15 Teletype would probably meet your requirements, although you'd be limited to Baudot upper-case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Corporation

Note that the carriage doesn't move; the typing rack does the movement. If you really want it the other way around, then the classic computer-interface would be a Friden Flexowriter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friden_Flexowriter Much harder to acquire these days than a Model 15.
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That model 15 is *exactly* what I was envisioning! I want something noisy and dramatic. The more movement, the better. Any idea how these are controlled? They appear to predate "modern computing", so I don't expect they have parallel ports or have an interface that can simply be printed to. I'll have to do some digging. By the looks of things, I'll need to start saving some pennies to be able to afford one, too.
 
I have a Juki Sierra 3200 which is based on the Olivetti Praxis 35 engine. Around 1987 I think. Works perfectly as a typewriter and also as a printer, but it is excruciatingly slow (think several minutes per page).

I rather like it and use it for simple letters. Currently it's connected to a 386 with Hercules monitors (one green, one amber) running WordPerfect 5.1+ but a few years ago I wrote some code so that I could print directly to the Juki from Linux (with a USB-Centronics cable) using a shell script and a lot of substitutions.

I have a video of it printing taken a couple of months ago. Can't seem to upload that here.
 
Coder said:
That model 15 is *exactly* what I was envisioning! I want something noisy and dramatic. The more movement, the better. Any idea how these are controlled? They appear to predate "modern computing", so I don't expect they have parallel ports or have an interface that can simply be printed to. I'll have to do some digging. By the looks of things, I'll need to start saving some pennies to be able to afford one, too.
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60 ma current-loop, if memory serves. At one time, I had a Model 14, with a big load of printer tapes. I think I drove it with a 2D21 thyratron. Be aware that all of this really old gear uses 5 level (Baudot/Murray) code, not ASCII.
 
Chuck(G) said:
60 ma current-loop, if memory serves. At one time, I had a Model 14, with a big load of printer tapes. I think I drove it with a 2D21 thyratron. Be aware that all of this really old gear uses 5 level (Baudot/Murray) code, not ASCII.
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I can probably write something to translate between ASCII and the older standard as long as documentation exists on what it expects. Its getting the hardware connected and working that I will struggle with. I'm not a complete novice with electrical components, but nearly. I don't know that I'll be able to afford a model 14, but I'm looking at other more affordable teletypes on eBay. They look like they would also fill the need of something that looks cool, makes a great racket, and should be able to be controlled by computer, maybe with a microcontroller in between to interface.

I always appreciate your posts, Chuck. You seem like the kind of guy that's forgotten more about this vintage tech than I'll ever know. Although it also seems like you have a hell of a memory, so maybe you haven't forgotten any of it!
 
I have these two that I have been trying to give away locally for months now. One is LXI and the other is Olympia. Both have printer ports.

272068440_10223934477503480_3190416900088105917_n.jpg
 
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