it's a machine that doesn't display porn very well

Keyboard with the printer attached to it.

What type of OS does it use? Is it Mac compatible?

*ding* end of page...

typewriters are fun. I think the object is to press as many keys simultaneously as possible. There's only one level though.

Well, what else would you expect in the third world?

What? Houston's Third Ward?

Oh, never mind.

Vera types about 40 pages a day?

Horder anyone?

ultraholland: it's a machine that doesn't display porn very well

This page begs to differ (new window) (NSFW)

THIS. Hyar.

Many papers written, and much Wite-Out expended.

The next was a Selectric with the correction tape. Much better.

We have an IBM Selectric II in a corner of the office. There are still a few places that use multipart carbonless forms and it's a champ.

It's a hassle keeping it in good repair however. I would send it to this guy in Texas if he didn't have one foot on a banana peel.

Anyone know of a repair shop near northern kansas ?

As I recall it's some sort of gay bug or something.

My Grandma could type 90 wpm on a manual.

/and it wouldn't autocorrect 'wpm' to 'women'

Typewriters are fun, but my typing speed can get up much higher on an ergonomic computer keyboard when I'm on a topic.

I remember a legend that Issac Asimov had to have his IBM souped up with a faster carriage return to keep up with him.

I've noticed a correlation between the speed of recording and disseminating the written word and the size of government. As presses got cheaper, as typesetting went to linotype, as typewriters became common, as Xerox came around, as electronic word processing became common, as telex gave way to dial up gave way to broadband. Each time you saw government become more efficient at producing paperwork and growing to fill that ability.

Maybe we need to ban legislators from using anything more complex than a quill pen to draft legislation. In their own hand.

wildcardjack:

Maybe we need to ban legislators from using anything more complex than a quill pen to draft legislation. In their own hand.

It's worth a shot -- you have my vote, FWIW.

GeneralJim: wildcardjack: Maybe we need to ban legislators from using anything more complex than a quill pen to draft legislation. In their own hand.
It's worth a shot -- you have my vote, FWIW.

That sounds like a good idea. You write up the proposal in triplicate (one for your records, one to send in, and one more because 3 copies are better than 2), by hand of course, and we'll start signing the petition (again, in triplicate)

a aa a aa ' '' ' '' s ss s ss l ll l ll d dd d dd k kk k kk f ff f ff j jj j jj

flamingboar: I had to take a typing class in HS with type writers. That was in 1996.

WAT

'96?! Jesus. I took typing in '93 some time and we used PCs.

How else are going to send those manifestos to the newspaper editor?

Why did the hipster burn his mouth when he bit into his pizza?

Because he did it before it was cool.

laulaja: World used to run on either Wite-Out, or Tipp-Ex, depending on where you were. Stick-in tabs also worked, made by both firms.
& I did cancel out the voteys after all -- thought maybe I could make a positive count. Wrong Again.

Good grief, stick-in tabs, I had forgotten about them: hurt my fingers more than once with those ... .

wildcardjack: I've noticed a correlation between the speed of recording and disseminating the written word and the size of government.

I've noticed an inverse relationship between the facility of expression and the quality thereof.

CSB:

At one time, it seemed like everyone used IBM selectrics for government typing work around the world.

So the NSA cooked up a widget you could plug into the wall socket somewhere in a building where you wanted to see what was going on. The Selectric, when you pushed a key, would go through some very tightly timed routines to spin and tilt the ball to the correct position and then impress the paper. You could look at noise on the line voltage and spot the solenoid timings for spin, tilt, and press, and if you knew the ball being used (typically everyone used the same one or two) you could dump the text output to a local printer, often a TI Silent 700. Later versions could separate out multiple typewriters firing at the same time with some degree of success.

Yeah, who cares - it's a typewriter.
What next? An article on spats?

I think this is how you are supposed to use one:

SystemFault: Four things which started at the same time, about a quarter century ago:

1) Widespread adaption of microwave ovens.
2) General decline in the culinary arts.
3) Widespread adaption of computerized word processing.
4) General decline in literature.

Culminating in hot pockets and Twilight, respectively.

The Italian Farker: I took typing way back in the late seventies on a manual in high school. Barely passed because i really didn't care but mostly because the girl next to me never wore a bra and watching her tits jiggle was much more interesting than making sure i was spelling correctly.

You're not supposed to be looking at your hands or what you type anyway! If anything, that should've improved your typing skills.

fzumrk: I think this is how you are supposed to use one:
[i41.tinypic.com image 500x384]

Her fingers aren't on home row.

Nowadays, he uses it mostly for printing address labels. "You still can't beat a manual typewriter for some things," he said.

Yeah, I thought that too. Until I got one of these a couple of years ago:


(Sorry Smitty!)

ASCII printer with a manual only interface.

SystemFault: And in computer science:

1) As processing capacity increases, the efficiency of deployed algorithms decreases.
2) The most accessible programming languages attract the worst programmers.

Hey now! I'm not a bad programmer. I'm just too lazy to learn C.

erewhon: CSB:

At one time, it seemed like everyone used IBM selectrics for government typing work around the world.

So the NSA cooked up a widget you could plug into the wall socket somewhere in a building where you wanted to see what was going on. The Selectric, when you pushed a key, would go through some very tightly timed routines to spin and tilt the ball to the correct position and then impress the paper. You could look at noise on the line voltage and spot the solenoid timings for spin, tilt, and press, and if you knew the ball being used (typically everyone used the same one or two) you could dump the text output to a local printer, often a TI Silent 700. Later versions could separate out multiple typewriters firing at the same time with some degree of success.

Nice thing about a manual typewriter: You can't remotely detect what is being typed without an actual camera zoomed in on it. I've got an Olivetti Lettera 32 manual. No power necessary so it will work no matter what, and you can't really hide a 'bug' in it effectively.

Dealing with carbon copies was the worst part of usiing any typewriter.

BurnShrike: SystemFault: And in computer science:

1) As processing capacity increases, the efficiency of deployed algorithms decreases.
2) The most accessible programming languages attract the worst programmers.

Hey now! I'm not a bad programmer. I'm just too lazy to learn C.

I know C, and I'm a bad programmer.

illusionofjoy: *ding* end of page...

It was actually *ding* end of line but who's counting?

dittybopper: Olivetti Lettera 32 manual

First machine I typed on, Mom had one. Must have been 30 years or more ago.

I prefer the Chicago Typewriter, myself.



/coming in from the Bonnie and Clyde thread

BurnShrike: Hey now! I'm not a bad programmer. I'm just too lazy to learn C.

I know C and I'm not even a programmer.