25 Mar
2006
25 Mar
'06
1:32 p.m.
On Saturday 25 March 2006 04:07 pm, Tim Shoppa wrote:
"Barry Watzman" <Watzman at
neo.rr.com> wrote:
I remember him doing something with converting either to or from Baudot code
(5-level), but not selectric...
Of course, I still don't have a copy of the RTL cookbook, and I suppose it
could be in there. :-)
All selectric mechanisms, at the mechanism level,
use tilt/rotate code.
You tilt the ball to select a row, and then rotate it to select a column,
then whack the paper through a ribbon (it's a mechanism that Tony Soprano
would love). That is simply how a selectric works, and any other code
will ultimately get converted into tilt/rotate before being applied to
solenoids in the mechanism.
I believe that one of Don Lancaster's logic cookbooks shows how to
convert ASCII to tilt/rotate codes. Either that or some mid-late-70's
Radio Electronics article that also tells how to use surplus core
memory... The one Selectric that I saw converted just used a
bunch of solenoids
to whack the keys on a plain old keyboard.
I remember some outfit selling those way back when.
Did any micro hobbyists actually succesfully use
surplus core? I remember
it somewhat cheap (but not ridiculously cheap)
in the Meshna catalog etc. but never saw it being used. It is not
a trivial matter to time and calibrate all the drive and sense lines
especially when it's some random core plane and the first you ever
saw.
I never really thought of actually using one, but thought that it might be
kind of neat to have one of those to hang on the wall. :-) And yeah, I
remember those Meshna catalogs too.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin