On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 06:28:10AM -0600, Russell L. Harris wrote: > If you ever watch someone (for example, at the county clerk's office) > using an IBM electronic typewriter to fill out a form, you'll see > constant manual adjustment of the platen, using the clutch which is > built into the platen and is actuated by the knob of the platen. > > But common dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers have no platen clutch. > While they may have a "micro" up and down adjustment buttons, they are > too slow and cumbersome for constant repeated use. > > While the IBM Selectric (and particularly, the Correcting Selectric > II) also does a fine job and is easy to use with forms, the problem is > that the Selectric needs periodic adjustment (by a skilled > technician), including replacement of certain parts. Such maintenance > appears no longer to be available commercially. Without periodic > maintenance, the Selectric slowly degrades into an almost unusable > state. Also, with only occasion use, ribbons and correcting tapes dry > out and become unusable. Regrettably, in the present day, it appears > impractical to keep the machine running. > > All things considered, it is difficult to improve upon an old type-bar > machine for occasional use in filling out forms. A type-bar machine > which is in good repair needs only an occasional ribbon; and so long > as there are dot-matrix printers, ribbons can be had readily and > cheaply.
Right, but an old manual typewriter is hard to find, and a collectors' item (with associated price) along with it. I learned on a good solid Underwood. Those were the days... A dot-matrix (mine is 24-pin) can place text anywhere on the page (with the right controll codes). I guess I'll need to start writing the app. Hey, maybe I buy a Soekris, hook up a VT520, and plug in the dot-matrix printer, put OpenBSD on a CF card, with my app. Presto, instant manual/electric typewriter. Shouldn't cost more than $300 plus $1000 (for a new version of my Epson wide-carage 360 dpi printer). Perhaps I can get away without the VT520 if I can tell unix to use the printer as the console output and a USB keyboard as the console input. :)) doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
