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Typewriter As Keyboard Mod
ummit writes "Erik Fitzpatrick did a nice job turning an old Smith-Corona manual typeriter into a functional keyboard, and composed a nice writeup about it, with pictures."
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A good keyboard that clicks with tactile feedback when you use it
DUPE!
/ 01/2151236&tid=137
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01
So sorry, but RESEARCH your work first please?
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
I'm surprised that computer mods/case mods aren't more popular. They hit the /. community regularly, but I'm surprised we don't see them on TV or on other websites more often.
*click* *click* *click* "It was a dark and stormy night" *click* *click* *click*
Table-ized A.I.
Anyone else thinking of Brazil and the computers they used?
In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.
-- Yun-Men
I think a better idea would be finding a new manual typewriter that isn't outrageously expensive. The electronic typewriters that still sell today for $90 USD isn't worth it. I want a manual typewriter that doesn't need to be tied to the wall so I can come back to it at any time without worrying if the ding-dang-thing overheated to death.
Emacs is gonna be a bitch with that thing.
is that you can configure it to do you a hard copy as a backup.
It's also made me reminisce about the lovely clatter of golfball printers back in the 80's... *sigh*
This just shows that whatever is in existance, you could mod. I think this is also a good idea for the modders that do a GREAT project then just plug in a normal beige keyboard. Take the extra time and make a fancy keyboard, it would look really cool!
If you just want to browse the pictures look here:
. htm
http://www.multipledigression.com/type/pics/index
So here you go, the standard fare coral cache of the page for when it implodes.
y pe/
http://www.multipledigression.com.nyud.net:8090/t
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
Interesting idea. I wouldn't have thought that a manual typewriter would have been [i]easier[/i] to use, or less likely to cause RSI, but to each his own. I suppose that there would be a problem with most of the function keys though. I guess that she will have to plug in a second keyboard for all the features.
Silicon & Charybdis McLuhan Kildall Papert Kay
Crying dupe's old and played out and just plain getting annoying. When you've seen the article before, you've seen it. Enjoy the new round of comments, or don't, and just move on. I didn't know this was a dupe. I hadn't seen the article before. Don't you dupe-catchers have much better to do with your time than go, "Oh I'm going to show my wealth of /. knowledge by catching a dupe and then wasting my time pulling up the old article and making a post, which I know at least five others will do."
It's really tired.
australian project gutenberg is better than the original.
Isn't using typewriters SCO's strategy? >.>
I was actually thinking more of what my typewriter might start saying to me.
"What a great sentence. These are words to live by."
as it asks me to rub some more bug powder on its lips.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=15895 7&cid=13313658
How very Max Headroom of them. Theora would be proud!
Even from the article... "never got the backspace to work"...
Seems like some old typewriters didn't even have a "1" key - you just used lower case L.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
I wonder how hard it would be to play first person shooter games on that thing. I hope you dont have to push the paper drum over when you reach the end of the line...that would make it really hard to play unreal...
A morning without coffee is like something without something else.
I thought it was funny, too. Some jackass mod is probably just pissed that he couldn't get a date tonight and decided to be a little jerk by releasing his negative energy as a Redundant. I would have gotten a date for tonight, but the wife would not have appreciated it. She's so closed-minded about those sorts of things. :)
Oh, no! Here comes another pissed off mod who coudln't get a date and is ready to hit me with an "off-topic" and "flamebait"! I cringe!
I can almost picture one of my relatives using a computer with a type-writer keyboard. I'll get a call about the typewriter not working. I'll show up to find the monitor covered in White-Out. And smashed on the floor after they pushed it left and off the desk at the end of the line.
There's no review from the wife. Funny, with millions upon millions of people using computers, you never hear the complaint about "flying through air and hitting wall" effect of computer keyboards. I've used manual typewriters, and my fingers were MUCH more tired after only an hour of typing. On a computer I can type for a full day and feel no fatigue.
I suspect that his wife was merely using this as an excuse for computer incompetence. I've heard worse excuses from the luddites; evil rays coming from the LCD monitor, an anthropomorphic hatred emanating from the computer, and faking pressing the power button so they can pretend the computer's dead. I doubt this guy's wife actually liked this present, or will used it.
.. to avoid having a Windows key.
The Brazil-esqe, Cthulhu-esqe, retro mod: ElectriClerk Heck, there's even a mod where a whole computer got put into the case of the typewriter. Maybe Google would turn up more.
Here's some design hints:
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/underwood/
The cool thing about Erik Fitzpatrick's one is it still functions as a typewriter.
I want to see how to mod a REAL mechanical typewriter. With open CRT. as in Brazil(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/)
Way back when, when letter-quality printers were quite pricey, I had a thought of rigging up a bunch of solenoids to an electric typewriter to make a crude computer printer. It never got off the drawing board.
Thank the Lord.
Willie...
Thanks a lot asshole. I was sitting outside of a Starbucks with my laptop and WiFi connection across from a KFC when I followed your instructions and now I have a fried chicken wing lodged in my rectum.
I think this mini-itx PC in a typewriter is much cooler.
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/underwood/
"Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." - Arthur C. Clarke.
I sometimes (gasp) am away from /. for days at a time and don't have time to sift through the Older Stuff section. This is true for many, and the second set of comments is frequently as good as the first, if not better. Get over yourselves.
You are not the customer.
There's still space in that thing for a whole computer.
I've always wanted to make a computer into a typewriter. By sending characters and control commands to an old dot matrix printer, one should be able to make a passable typewriter application that outputs dot matrix characters in real time. It would use carriage control logic such as that used in the old DecWriter dumb terminal to scoot the print head away from the active printing area to show the user what's being typed and then reposition the print head when they start typing again.
Sometimes you just need to type words into some odious government form and a hacked typewriter made from some leftover computer junk would be just the thing. I've got an old Mac LC II and an Imagewriter that would be just perfect for this hack, but any old computer and dot matrix printer should work. With a custom application that autoruns during boot, the thing wouldn't even need a monitor.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
What about special keys like Alt ctrl, etc. and dont most type writers leave the 1 key out because it can be substitued with a l
I ran into one of these a few years ago. I think had better feedback than modern keyboards. Wikipedia's got a write up it. Looks like some models had an RS-232 port for use as a terminal.
How do you do Ctrl-Alt-Del on this keyboard?
Brazil... What ahoot of a movie!
Parent poster is a dupe.
A bunch of stuff to make the slashdot time bassed filter thing happy. Tadah!
Why do you hate me so? This is going to kill my alotted bandwidth. Could I get a heads up before getting slashdotted?
*******
"What good is science if no one gets hurt?!" - Professor Chromedome
My wife liked it, but it isn't in use at the moment because of a few drawbacks: no 1 key, no backspace, and no Escape. I'm working on a second version that should fix these things. In fact, I think the second version will be a complete "laptop" with the screen inside the case.
-Erik Fitzpatrick
(the creator)
*******
"What good is science if no one gets hurt?!" - Professor Chromedome
My wife suffers from repetive stress problems in her fingers and wrists. ...she finds old-fashioned mechanical typewriters much easier on her fingers because they offer gradual resistance rather than the feeling of moving through air then hitting a wall...
The old Model M IBM keyboards, with it's buckling spring", will meet the requirements, and for keyboard snobs like myself are the only way to type. http://www.3m3718.com/modelm.php http://www.preater.com/modelm/
I really thought we had something going with this keyboard/mouse thing.
Schultz would never put a Starbucks across from a KFC. Trust me, I'm from Seattle, I'd know.
Does no one remember The Perl Journal cover from so many years ago, where Perl install was trying to configure itself on a typewriter? I tried googling, didn't find it, but I didn't try too hard either.
Infuriate left and right
Each key bar stuck a metal rod, which had two piezoelectric microphones, one at each end. It then went to a circuit that calculated the time the sound impact they keybar made as it stuck the metal rod, thus enabling to determine, with the distance it was stuck, which key was pressed...
Did you think that your part of teh web was private?
Often super new technology calls to mind technology of bygone eras. For example, UNIX-style command lines made a huge comeback in the 1990s among general computer users (the experts never left it). The Matrix provides visual representations of this phenomenon in the form of command centers jury-rigged with rotary phones and virtual staging grounds furnished with leather wing chairs.
But one of the most memorable versions of this, to my mind, is William Gibson's 1984 Neuromancer which overlays elements of film noir with information technology. Fitzpatrick's typewriter mod calls to my mind Gibson, Burroughs, and the Wachowski brothers, to name a few. The retro-tech feel is just too fucking cool and I wish something like this was available for mere mortals (who don't know how to solder) such as myself.
The moment where Fitzpatrick's reminded me most of Gibson is when he writes:
Here, Fitzpatrick seems to be purposefully calling to mind Gibson and Burroughs. Way, way cool stuff, both the mod and the writing.
Kudos.
blog
I, for one, welcome our new @#@%()#@($NOINK
Sir, step away from the keyboard, get up, go outside and get some fresh air...preferably in the middle of a large field during a severe thunderstorm.
It's a very dark ride.
I learned to type on a manual, and with the exception of the Model M, I can't find a keyboard that I like. My wife complains that I pound the keys too hard, and she's right. I learned on an ancient Royal manual, and you had to press HARD on the keys. The habit stuck when I started using computers in the early '80s (adm3a terminals anyone?)....
Any other oldtimers with this problem?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I'm gonna build one, too!
And then I'm gonna telnet with it to my server.
Maybe I call mine "The Teletypewriter"... nah, too long, I'll just call it TTY.
Hmmm, kinda déjà vu...
The whole point of writing with a computer instead of a typewriter (or by hand) is being able to modify what you write before deliver it. If that's something you specifically do not want, you don't need a computer at all.
I would imagin that key logging would be as simple as placing a piece of paper in the typewriter
I really like that. It's the kind of thing I've thought of doing myself but, lacking either motivation or the basic knowledge needed, I've never got anywhere further then the daydream stage. Good job.
There are two things that could be done to make it a bit more enjoyable. The first is to keep the initial type hammers (if that's what they're called--the things which have the actual letter carved into the end that physically rises up and strikes the ribbon and paper) in tact. The circuit isn't completed until it actually hits where the ribbon and paper used to be.
When I was younger and actually was around manual typewriters, I remember hitting a key, watching the type hammer rise up, and thinking for a moment before completing the stroke if that's the letter I really wanted to use. The result would be a physical, viewable method to see how far the key should be pressed before the computer receives the input, as well as adding to a little auditory feedback, keeping the 'clickty click' sound in tact.
The second modification, and this involves a great deal of work for something that might end up to be pointless, is to put some sort of pressure sensors on the machine to see how hard the keys are being pressed. Swift, high pressure strikes would be detected and the interface software would autmatically turn on "bold".
In other words, lightly pressed keys would show up on the screen as light, normal text, while keys struck harder would show up as bold, somewhat simulating the effect you could get with some manual typewriters where the amount of pressure used in a keypress would effect the darkness of the typed letter.
Granted, that would take a lot of time and effort to engineer, and would likely proove to be an annoyance, as your documents end up with various random bold letters, and would be shut off shortly after development. But, it'd still be neat.
The Internet is generally stupid
My thoughts exactly. Crying dupe's old and played out and just plain getting annoying. When you've seen the article before, you've seen it. Enjoy the new round of comments, or don't, and just move on. I didn't know this was a dupe. I hadn't seen the article before. Don't you dupe-catchers have much better to do with your time than go, "Oh I'm going to show my wealth of /. knowledge by catching a dupe and then wasting my time pulling up the old article and making a post, which I know at least five others will do." It's really tired.
If you can read this sig, you're too close.
Device called a "computer" re-invented from old vacuum tubes and relays, calculates 3rd digit of pi in 8 hours. Seriously, I can see some fascination with, and respect for, retro technology. But to create a keyboard from an old manual typewriter? Hardly useful or relevant. Hope you don't like arrow keys either...
We finally found that typewriter that produced Dan Rather's memos.
Posting dupes is even worse, but I don't see you writing long posts about that.
Here is even a typewriter faced laptop.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=15895 7&cid=13313691
Finally there is
a keyboard that
is suitable for
the fucking idiots
who think you
need to press
return after every
third word.
Does it come with the caps lock permanently turned on, too?
I will grapple the issue of horseless carriage, with yes, you guessed it, a live horse.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
2 seconds with the search feature
you dont even use your own search functionality ?
That's just because you haven't seen this:
The ElectriClerc
Fully functional retrofitted prop computer
Built for a game of Cthulhu Lives! that has yet to be played, this piece was inspired by the retro-futuristic machines in the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam.
http://www.ahleman.com/Props/ElectriClerk.html
Yes, but does it have a key debounce issue and has it been solved. With the old TRS-80 Model I machines I used to work with, I think there used to be a program you could get that would solve this issue for you. It is probably still under copyright though and they probably never GPLed it so we may have to start again from scratch!
all the best,
drew
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/41879
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
Is it the key-feel or is it just geek cred for having a rare technology?
Blar.
I guess you're trolling, but that makes no sense at all, unless you're Steven Hawking and take 10 seconds to hit each keystroke. The dupes are duped not because they're important (obviously, this one hardly is), but due to incompetence. If your time is so valuable, why are you reading and commenting on this trivial story about a two year old novelty?
Old news for Nerds. Stuff that doesn't matter.
Insert witty sig here.
I'd love to see a Selectric keyboard. There's something unique about the thrum of the power supply, the warmth, the heaviness of the keys, and the resistance when you press them.
I learned on a Selectric, in high school typing class. All computer keyboards are a letdown after that. Good times... *snif*
We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone. -management
The typewriter has a BackSpace key, but it was too hard to wire.
Make even shorter URLs - 8LN.org