5 Mar
2002
5 Mar
'02
9:11 a.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
--- John Chris Wren <jcwren(a)jcwren.com> wrote:
The paper had to be wet before printing, not after, because the image
was produced by passing current through the paper. Details about helix
wires and anodes are contained in the "VT50-Series Copier User's
Manual", at http://vt100.net/.
- Paul
This sounds like a machine I used to work
on. PDP-8/a, two
floppy drives, a VT-50 terminal that looked like it could have
been provisioned for an internal thermal printer, and ours had a
LA-36.
Yep... they sold a bunch of them. The printer inside the VT-50 case
wasn't thermal, BTW. The "1976-1977 pdp-8/a minicomputer handbook"
calls it an "electrolytic copier" under the entry for the VT-61.
My memory of working with them was that they used funky paper and
there was a wet wiper brush that moistened the paper as it exited
the printer. Perhaps it squeegeed it. I don't recall any more.