Talk:Typewriter/Archives/2014

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Index typewriters, take 2

Per the section way above, from 2004 (!), there's nothing here really about index typewriters. Such as the Mignon (http://www.typewritermuseum.org/collection/index.php3?machine=indexmignon2&cat=is). I know precious little about this, but have just taken some pix of my parents-in-law's one. Which are now on commons:

if anyone wants to pick them up... William M. Connolley (talk) 21:01, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Memories from IBM Product Test, 1965-66

Around 1964-65, IBM was introducing the Selectric typewriter. They were also getting calls to the effect that they should come get their 100 typewriters at Company X, Y, or Z, because the typists hated them. The main problem: "Loss of home row (LHR)." They hired me to try to stop the bleeding. The nature of the problem soon made its essence apparent: The greatly beloved by typists Model D typewriter (I believe that was it; their main production model) had the typist in a position where she had her hands on the keys and her eyes on the one spot on the platen where letters appeared as she typed. Her body, especially her eyes, did not move as she typed. But for the Selectric, the type head moved along the platen as the characters appeared, causing her eyes to move to the right, then return to the left upon carriage return. It was too much; she lost track of where her hands were, and the result was a line of gibberish. Actually, there was no solution. Some people had already contributed faux-solutions (e.g., small bumps or nipples on the tops of a few alignment keys). I tried changing the color of all the keys except the alphabet. It made little difference, but it gave the salesmen something to talk about. The fact is that LHR was never solved; there was no solution. It exists today, right on this keyboard. It is tolerated because it is so easy to correct; but it is still irritating to touch typists. Is there a solution? Perhaps--think about the Microsoft function that centers the typing--every character typed appears in the center of the page, like it did on the old Model D. But now, people type with their thumbs.

Why was IBM pushing this machine that sounded like a bucket of nuts and bolts and produced inferior typed copy? A very good reason in the electronic revolution: All the characters could be produced by six electronic connections. To electrify the Model D, every last key needed an electronic connection. It was worth the risk. The IBM salesmen of the era, though, could sell anything. They always started with the worst point first. For the Selectric: "You will love the Selectric because the head moves etc."

The noise was a problem. No one could put their finger on just who was complaining and why. I discovered that there was a sexual difference!! The high pitched click of the Model D was in the vocal range of women, who had higher-pitched voices. They complained about the noise of the Model D. The Selectric produced a lower-pitched cluck rather than a click and was in the voice range of the men. They complained about the Selectric.

None of this made any difference when the Selectric could produce all characters with six electrical connections. It has been half a century since then. I hope I am not giving away any secrets. That guiding motive does still seem to be a secret in the article.

(Now I have to figure out how to get this in "talk." Should I click "Insert"? Insert where? Save page? Sounds like changes in the article, not "Talk." I haven't made any changes--I just wanted to pass along a few memories from the good old days. Click on the tag? Here goes.74.167.249.102 (talk) 18:59, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

Very strange. Nobody properly trained in touch typing looks at the copy being typed, any more than you look at the keyboard. You look at the copy you're typing from. Looking at the output as you type it adds a mental "see the letter, check that it's correct, go on" cycle that slows you down. You're supposed to do without that.

"None of this made any difference when the Selectric could produce all characters with six electrical connections." Also strange. First, there are no electrical things to connect to in a standard office Selectric other than the power switch. Second, Bob Bemer, who was involved in development of the Selectric, reported that he lobbied unsuccessfully to get the Selectric's character set expanded slightly so as to handle the enter ASCII printable set and was told "no need, this will never be anything more than an office machine.". Eventually of course they did go to a 96-character type element with the Selectric III and the ETs, but by then, nobody cared. Third, even after you add the six solenoids to trip the tilt/rotate bails and the six microswitches to read them, that is just the start of the switches and solenoids that have to be added; it takes a hell of a lot more than "six electrical connections" to interface to a Selectric, as I and probably dozens of others who tried to do this as college projects can attest. If it had been intended from the start to be a terminal it would have been designed differently in many details. See here.

btw, now that I have also sinned, I will note that we're not supposed to use the talk page for general discussion of the subject, only for discussions relating to improving the article. "Save page" refers to the current page you're looking at, whether it be the main article page, a talk page, whatever. "Insert" is for all the special characters and markup that you see after the word Insert. Welcome to Wikipedia! Jeh (talk) 20:16, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

I appreciate the technical identification of what I was talking about: the six microswitches. I am not an engineer and was just repeating what other engineers told me. They had no reason to lie. As to typing, there is more to that than meets the eye. How do you explain how the typist knows she has made a mistake almost as soon as she has made it if she never looks at what she is typing? The copy typist used the center where the copy appeared to set her hands on the keys. It gave her a fixed reference point. Once she had her hands on the right keys, she was not going to lose home row. When she made an error, it was a reference point to which she could reset her hands. The Selectric was just a big black expanse with no fixed reference point. Typists made lots of mistakes. Each time they had to find home row. It is a fact that they found the Selectric a struggle. Typing is a very complex act. At one time I knew more about it than anyone else in the world, because I had more resources than anyone else. It was not an accomplishment I took pride in. It was something I suffered ... and apparently the suffering never ends. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.167.249.102 (talk) 03:47, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

"Six electrical connections": They didn't have to be lying, just mistaken. It is certainly true that it's easier to wire up to six solenoids than one per key on the model D, but six is most certainly not the total number of electrical connections required! Nor was the Selectric's six-bit tilt-rotate code anything closely related to either ASCII or EBCDIC, so code translation was necessary anyway! (In the late 60s we didn't have cheap EPROMs.)

How do you know when you've made a mistake if you're not looking at the typed copy? If you're a touch typist, you know! You can feel it! Try it sometime. It is a worthwhile thing to be able to do, as only by not looking at your output can you achieve the higher reaches of speed. A copy typist or stenographer looks only at the source material.

Of course, if you're originating text from your head (as most of us are when we type here) there's really no place else to look...

Re finding home row, that's why there are letters on the keys. (And that of course is the only time you look at the keyboard.) I never heard of anyone being taught to find the home row by reference from "the center where the copy appears". I don't doubt that people adopted this practice but it strikes me as a silly and sloppy crutch; anything that only works as long as you keep your body in some fixed position relative to the machine is stupid. In typing class you are taught to put your left index finger on F and your right on J, and you're there. That takes a quick glance. If the keys are not marked (as they are not in a proper typing class) you put your left index finger on the key next to the caps lock, and leave two keys between your index fingers... done. And that can be done by touch. On modern computer keyboards there are little bumps on the F and J keys. So much for "no solution." There is only no solution if you absolutely insist on looking for a fixed point where the copy appears.

But if they insisted on a reference mark on the machine, why not just slap a piece of painter's tape on it?

I don't doubt that, coming from the model D, they found the Selectric a struggle, if only because the touch was wildly different... but I'll bet it would have been just as much a struggle going the other way. i.e. not a problem with the Selectric, just unfamiliarity. I don't think it's by accident that for years the world typing speed record was set on Selectrics. (Personally I loved the Selectric's touch; I would give a lot to have a PC keyboard with the mechanical "stroke storage" feature of the Selectric... which I also got used to on the 026 and 029 keypunches. I probably wouldn't give as much as what it would fairly cost, though.) Jeh (talk) 20:28, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Typewriters

Typewriters are extinct like dinosaurs. They never existed, not ever. Typewriters are not for children under 11 years old. Be aware of the effects of a typewriter, they can harm your brain connections. Unauthorized use of this product will cause severe threat to all humanity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.211.36.61 (talk) 17:01, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

What's a typebar?

This article contains numerous references to the typebar, with links - which redirect here. ᛭ LokiClock (talk) 13:29, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

"Practically all writing" claim disputed

"for practically all writing other than personal correspondence."While I don't have documentation to refute this, it is patently false. It ignores: writing on blackboards in schools, writing of notes in schools, writing of tests in schools, writing in the margins of books, shopping lists, many authors and probably most poets writing early drafts, writing in diaries -- just off the top of my head.211.225.33.104 (talk) 09:18, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

I see what you mean. You could change it to "practically all business correspondence" (with no qualification, no "other than") unless you can think of some better wording. Jeh (talk) 09:26, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

Mongolian

Typewriters for traditional Mongolian script wrote down the page rather than across. One can be seen in the national historical museum of Mongolia. 211.225.33.104 (talk) 09:24, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

Where it is still used

"In Latin America and Africa, mechanical typewriters are still common because they can be used without electrical power. In Latin America, the typewriters used are most often Brazilian models – Brazil continues to produce mechanical (Facit) and electronic (Olivetti) typewriters to the present day." Also in Asia like India and the Philippines they still use typewriters in government offices. --112.198.77.196 (talk) 11:44, 5 August 2014 (UTC)