A USB Typewriter?

jashmenn asks: "In my search for a furthering of the arts combined with technology I recently had the idea of hooking up an electronic typewriter to my USB port. The idea is to eventually write a script that would automatically send the text of emails to be typed on the typewriter. Does Slashdot have know of resources I can use for combining new and old school technologies such as these?"

Comments

Late model typewriters did this

[Naikrovek]

I remember in High School (1991) using typewriters that had a serial (maybe parallel) port on the back. you could hook them up to a PC and use it as an output device.

Try looking for typewriters like this, the work is already done for you.

If you're wanting an OLD 100% mechanical typewriter, ebay has those too. You'll need to create some USB trickery that accepts serial data and decodes it into individual characters. then sends a signal down a wire associated with the appropriate character, which you amplify and activate solonoids with. solonoids are about the only thing strong enough to fully stroke a mechanical typewriter key with any speed.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how you'd do this.