26 Jan
2023
26 Jan
'23
10:49 p.m.
The GE Terminet line of printers used a band of letters and multiple
hammers to hit the band at just the right time. I believe they ran at a
maximum speed of 1200 Baud or 120 characters per second.
Also, many line printers used this method. Sometimes the band would
have multiple copies of each letter on them to make things go faster.
On 1/26/2023 3:56 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
On 1/26/23 13:23, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
On Thu, 26 Jan 2023, Chuck Guzis via cctalk
wrote:
Even a daisy wheel is easily capable of twice that.
But, we didn't have convenient access to anything better half a century
ago.
<Pedant>A couple of years ago, that would have been true. But the
Diablo Daisy-wheels date from at least 1972. You're also forgetting the
thermal printers, like the TI Silent 70, which could sail along at 30
cps (1971). There were other variations. I recall a Singer terminal
that used a spinning typewheel (One always ended with a page eject
because the damned thing would leave a vertical smear of black ink if
left unattended). Carriage was unidirectional via wormscrew rod; return
was via a spring that was stretched as the carriage advanced. I
couldn't find anything on bitsavers about this creature, but I used one
in the early 70s.</Pedant>
--Chuck