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Typewriter Hacked To Play Zork

Posted by samzenpus on from the old-school dept.

UgLyPuNk writes "Typewriters that can type by themselves are one thing. Typewriters that can type by themselves and play Zork are totally different — the stuff that dreams are made of (at least the dreams of little girls who spent hours in front of a Commodore 64 telling the machine to GO NORTH and such)."

4 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. No words required, see link for pic. by kheldan · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.computermuseumgroningen.nl/terminals/teletypeclose.jpg

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    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:No words required, see link for pic. by Joseph+Vigneau · · Score: 4, Informative

      For more information on this model:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASR-33_Teletype

  2. Better link for the video by Monkey-Man2000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    At least for me: http://vimeo.com/16311288

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    This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
  3. No You Didn't ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...though we called it a "printer". Also, are there any pictures of the thing from the front? Not everyone has the ability to view videos. All I can see are some internals pictures on the project page.

    Printers don't generally accept feedback. I know you can't view the video but what you see is a typewriter (with the keys moving) typing out the opening to Zork and then the user issuing it a few commands on the same typewriter keys that then come back to life and respond. This level of interaction is unique and I've never seen a "printer" with that sort of functionality. If you're interested in how it displays the output:

    computer to Arduino (via USB); Arduino to shift registers; shift registers to MOSFETs; MOSFETs to solenoids; solenoids to keys.

    And to acquire input flattened resistors are placed beneath each key and are converted into a serialized device signal to the computer via USB. Not exactly earth shattering work but for the hobbyist that likes to see clever hacks and remembers Zork, it's a grin achieving piece of work.

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    My work here is dung.