Cool Keyboard Hack Proposal

[airship]

Hey, why don't one of you buy this and hack it into a keyboard for your C128?



[ebay]180235184416[/ebay]

I would do it, but I'm really more of an idea man.

[Andrew Wiskow]

Interesting idea... but I think you'd be short a few keys... 

-Andrew

[airship]

That's what makes a hack challenging, Andrew.

[Andrew Wiskow]

That's what makes a hack challenging, Andrew.

I suppose you're right...  But either way, it's way beyond my limited abilities. 

-Andrew

[Andrew Sutton]

If it was electric, specifically a current loop, you might be able to use it as a printer.

[RobertB]

If it was electric, specifically a current loop, you might be able to use it as a printer.

Heh, I already have 3 daisywheel typewriter/computer printers -- a Royal and two Sears (a.k.a. Swintec).

             Truly,
             Robert Bernardo
             Fresno Commodore User Group
             CommVEx v4 website - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[airship]

That may be, Robert,  but do you have a COMMODORE brand typewriter/daisy wheel printer?

[RobertB]

...do you have a COMMODORE brand typewriter/daisy wheel printer?

Ooo, do you mean a CBM 8026 typewriter printer?  That would be quite a find!

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          CommVEx v4 website - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[Hershey]

How about a Commodore DPS-1101 Daisy Wheel Printer I got one. heavy and noisy

[RobertB]

How about a Commodore DPS-1101 Daisy Wheel Printer I got one. heavy and noisy

Heh, I have a Commodore PET 8300 daisywheel printer.  Even heavier and noisier.  :-)

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          CommVEx v4 website - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[Andrew Wiskow]

How about a Commodore DPS-1101 Daisy Wheel Printer I got one. heavy and noisy

I have two of those...  They're free to anyone who wants to come pick them up. 

-Andrew

[RobertB]

I have two of those...

In storage is a Smith-Corona TP-1 daisywheel printer, slow (for a daisywheel printer) and noisy.

         Truly,
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         CommVEx v4 website - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[airship]

I was at Sears Auto on Sunday and was astounded to see that they're still using a dot-matrix printer to fill in pre-printed two-part forms. The only reason, as far as I can tell, is so that you can sign the repair contract and get a copy of your signature on the second page. Weird.

[RobertB]

I was at Sears Auto on Sunday and was astounded to see that they're still using a dot-matrix printer to fill in pre-printed two-part forms. The only reason, as far as I can tell, is so that you can sign the repair contract and get a copy of your signature on the second page.

I go to several auto parts stores and repair shops, and they still use the dot-matrix printers.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          CommVEx v4 website - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[BigDumbDinosaur]

I was at Sears Auto on Sunday and was astounded to see that they're still using a dot-matrix printer to fill in pre-printed two-part forms. The only reason, as far as I can tell, is so that you can sign the repair contract and get a copy of your signature on the second page. Weird.

All of my clients use dot matrix printers for multi-part forms.  One of them uses two high speed, line impact printers, one of which can crank out 1200 lines per minute on wide paper—that's an effective throughput of nearly 22 pages per minute.  If a single page is to be printed, a line impact printer will have printed and ejected the page in about the amount of time required for a laser printer to warm up.

Of all the methods available to print forms, impact printers have the lowest cost per page in terms of printer life-expectancy and use of consumables.  The cost per page when using a laser printer is nearly triple that of an impact printer and, of course, increases even more when multiple copies are required.  For example, with a two part form, a laser printer has to do twice as much work, consuming twice as much toner and doubling the wear and tear on the mechanism.  Adding to the cost: a toner cartridge of the type used in a commercial grade laser printer will cost at least 100 dollars (US), versus 30 to 50 dollars for a line impact ribbon cartridge.

Line impact printers are as fast or faster than most lasers and can run literally for years with minimal service.  The type of dot matrix used by Sears Auto (most likely, an Okidata ML520 or ML590) isn't as fast as a line impact unit, but when you look at the amount of data that actually has to be printed on the form, you can see that the printer is more than fast enough for the application.  The Oki units, in particular, are very economical to run and can last for upwards of 15 years with reasonable maintenance.  Their ribbon cartridges cost about 12 bucks in wholesale and can be changed in about two minutes.

Even after the cost of the pre-printed forms is factored into the equation, impact printing on multi-part forms is still cheaper than using a page printer, and gets even more economical as the number of form parts increases.

[Andrew Wiskow]

I go to several auto parts stores and repair shops, and they still use the dot-matrix printers.

The Firestone shop that I normally go to for car repairs uses a dot matrix printer, too. 

-Andrew

[Andrew Sutton]

The shop I work at used Okidata ML320 printers for some time before they "upgraded" to an HP laser jet. Those Oki's are very reliable, except for one of our printers chewed up a gear and the shop owner had to replace it. I took it and used a soldering iron to fix the gear. Works great with my Commodore computers! We still have an Okidata ML 80/180 (something like that!) that is hooked up to our Hunter D111 alignment system, it's over 20 years old and still works!

[BigDumbDinosaur]

I've got two Oki printers here: an ML590 I used for testing forms generation software and an ML395, which is a wide, heavy duty unit with an integrated pull tractor.  It's fed with wide (14 inch) greenbar paper and really rocks 'n rolls when it gets going.

[airship]

And you all called me mad!!! >

http://www.multipledigression.com/type/

[Andrew Wiskow]

No "1" key, huh?  I guess they just used the lowercase "L" as the letter as well as the number "1", huh?

[BigDumbDinosaur]

No "1" key, huh?  I guess they just used the lowercase "L" as the letter as well as the number "1", huh?

Correcto!  When I learned how to type it was on an old Royal manual, which did not have a "1" key.  When I started using an IBM Selectric, I had to learn to use a "1" as a one and not the lower case "l".

[Andrew Wiskow]

Despite the limitations of not having a "1" key, "Escape" key, nor "Backspace" key, I still think it's a very cool hack!  Definately a conversation piece for any group of vintage computing nerds. 

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Yeah, and it won't turn yellow, crack or get blown away by a stiff breeze.

[airship]

My dad worked  for the railroad, and they never replaced anything until it was totally worn out and unrepairable. So I learned to type on an old railroad Underwood typewriter like this one:



It took about 12 stone of pressure to press a key, and ten times that to use the shift. (The shift actually elevated the entire carriage!)

What I'm saying is, back in those days when you learned to type you also improved your upper body strength.

P.S. When the C64 came along, I convinced mom and dad to get one, too. My dad kept breaking keyboards. I wonder why?

[Andrew Wiskow]

(The shift actually elevated the entire carriage!)

This is another example of a word whose meaning has been mostly lost to time.  This is the whole reason why "shift" is called "shift", because it would shift the carriage upward.  The act of "dialing" a phone number is another example.  Or hearing a phone "ring" is another.