Typewriters

[Capt Worley PE]

George Bernard Shaw's Remington Noiseless 7x typewriter (James Joiner)

The typewriter is, among things, an archetype of today’s computers. But while computers are increasingly products of our disposable consumer culture –assumed and built to be upgraded often – typewriters were built to last. While occasionally some innovation or another would pop up – a machine made noiseless or self-correcting or electric – the general idea remained the same. Fingers mashed down a key, the key drove a lever with the designated character on it toward an ink-saturated ribbon, and with a decisive clack the intended mark was made (provided the typist’s fingers were accurate). It was a physical interpretation of intention-meets-action, thought-meets-paper, and many users maintained an ongoing relationship with their typewriters for years.

Cool article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-hidden-world-of-the-typewriter/279523/

 

[ventilator]

My family was late adopting to computers. I remember going to my parents business on the weekend in 8th grade and having to type out my reports on a type writer. After the first time my mom had to sit with me while I did it on a Saturday, she just had me hand write the other assignments and she would type them up before she came home. Trying to type out a 2+ page paper at 10 words a minute (never really typed before) was more than she could stand and she could type around 60-70 wpm.

There was something satisfying about hearing the clack of the typewriter and watching it get printer on as you went.

 

[snickerd3]

we still have typerwriter here....they aren't super old school like the picture but typewriters all the same

 

[csb]

<---still owns and uses a typewriter

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The computer was the best thing that ever happened to me, from the standpoint of writing. I screw up so much, just the editing functions are worth the price of admission. WordStar and WordPerfect were godsends compared to using Mom's IBM Selectric.

I also remember Mom refreshing her typing skills in the early seventies before she went back to work. Long tapes she had to type out as the typewriter hummed and clacked.

 

[knight1fox3]

The computer was the best thing that ever happened to me, from the standpoint of writing.

Now if only we could get you to upgrade it.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

The computer was the best thing that ever happened to me, from the standpoint of writing.

Now if only we could get you to upgrade it.

Trust me, it'll get upgraded when it breaks. That's the only way I buy a new computer.

Ask me about my TracPhone flip-phone.

 

[knight1fox3]

:facepalm:

 

[Supe]

I was more a word processor kinda guy. The ability to backspace was pretty tits without the whiteout key that came on later typewriters.

 

[envirotex]

<--- has typewriter phobia. can type with a word processor like nobody's business. don't exactly know why that is...

 

[Supe]

My boss is so accustomed to typing on typewriters through high school and college that he pounds the shit out of his computer keys because of it. You can about hear him type across the room. He replaces keyboards about every 3 months.