4 Jun
2023
4 Jun
'23
11:39 p.m.
On Sun, Jun 4, 2023 at 1:16 PM Rick Bensene via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm not sure that you could fit a complete Model
33-ASR Teletype in the
passenger seat of
the Bug. I suppose if the Teletype was removed from its stand, it might be
able to sit on the
seat, and be powered by the same generator that runs the Straight-8. The
Straight-8 came with a 110-baud current-loop serial I/O interface, so it'd
just be a matter of cabling it up to the Teletype.
It'd be really hard to operate the machine while driving, for sure. It'd
be far worse than messing with a smartphone while driving :-/. But, once
stopped somewhere pleasant, you could
actually develop programs using the punched tape reader/punch on the
33ASR. It'd definitely be
an example of early "mobile computing". (Tongue firmly in cheek).
Back in the late, great Silicon Valley circa late 1990s when we had the
Ricochet packet-switched radio network (well before "smartphones") I had me
a Psion Series 5 ARM-powered palmtop computer with a TCP/IP stack installed
connected up to my 128Kbps Ricochet data modem and via telnet successfully
logged into my server at home (connected to the internet, appropriately
enough, through the early @Home cable internet with a fixed IP) and wrote
an e-mail while hurtling westbound on I-580 over the Dublin Grade at about
75mph. I'm an experienced distracted driver, so it was perfectly safe.
Those were the days.
Sellam