30 Jul
2015
30 Jul
'15
7:02 p.m.
I don't know how many of you were familiar with the
Addressograph-Multigraph (AM) Varityper phototypesetting systems.
Basically small computers with floppy drives and a (very nice)
terminal--and a big box that held quite a number of photo "font" disks.
Basically worked by shining a light through a specific disk and
character onto light-sensitive paper. Produced gorgeous print ready
copy. Compugraphic and Mergenthaler had similar systems and I think
there were also several other competitors as well.
At any rate, a pile of 8" HS floppies will be landing here in the near
future. Does anyone have any leads on Varityper service manuals or
anything might help me with the task of figuring out what on the disks?
(The disks themselves do not come from a country that uses the Latin
alphabet).
Thanks for any leads...
--Chuck
-------------------------------------------------------------
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the spammers."
30 Jul
30 Jul
7:07 p.m.
On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 07:02:35PM -0700, Chuck Guzis wrote:
I don't know how many of you were familiar with
the Addressograph-
Multigraph (AM) Varityper phototypesetting systems.
If you're talking about the 8008(sic)-based unit which had the "developer"
unit contained within it ... you're giving me a nervous tic.
If for some reason of insanity you want to run this thing, you *must*
keep it well-cooled. Otherwise the font disks spin ... too slowly.
At the university newspaper we would keep the classified ads that it
mis-typset and run them every April 1. The best was the ad for the
"1876 Volkswagen Qabbit with automatic sransmisrion". Thankfully I
have forgotten the others.
And yes, if it messed up, you got to retype all those column inches
all over again.
mcl
8:25 p.m.
On 07/30/2015 07:07 PM, Mark Linimon wrote:
If you're talking about the 8008(sic)-based unit
which had the
"developer" unit contained within it ... you're giving me a nervous
tic.
If for some reason of insanity you want to run this thing, you
*must* keep it well-cooled. Otherwise the font disks spin ... too
slowly.
Basically, this thing, or a variation thereof:
http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/varityper
Probably, given the time, 8080/z80 or 8085, I would guess.
I don't have the unit, just the floppies.
--Chuck
31 Jul
31 Jul
3:06 p.m.
On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 08:25:04PM -0700, Chuck Guzis wrote:
Basically, this thing, or a variation thereof:
http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/varityper
This looks to be a later model than the one I used, which was definitely
an 8008 (I looked).
The keyboard is different. When we scrapped that misbegotten thing,
I was awarded the keyboard. It's here ... somewhere.
mcl
4 Aug
4 Aug
6:14 p.m.
While we are talking about typesetters, I have one that I am willing to
part with if someone can pick it up from Long Island, NY.
It is a Tegra Genesis Laser Phototypesetter, circa 1990.
Original cost at the time was north of $40K. It did 1000DPI pagess at 20
ppm. The print engine is a Varityper 2100 (serial FB00227). It is about 4'w
x 2'd x 18"h (if fit exactly over two raised floor panels). The RIP was a
large tower machine - Tegra Genesis (serial 141). It contains an NS 32016
running Coherent.
The RIP emulates a Compugraphic 8600 typesetter. It has serial and
Compugrapices parallel interfaces. I have all the manuals, cables and a
bunch of software on diskettes.
The RIP and all manuals an interface stuff has been in my (dry) basement
since the late 90's. The setter has been in the garage. I know I will never
get around to restoring it, so it is free to a good home. If you are
seriously interested, respond off list.
On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 6:06 PM, Mark Linimon <linimon at lonesome.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 08:25:04PM -0700, Chuck Guzis
wrote:
Basically, this thing, or a variation thereof:
http://www.ricomputermuseum.org/Home/equipment/varityper
This looks to be a later model than the one I used, which was definitely
an 8008 (I looked).
The keyboard is different. When we scrapped that misbegotten thing,
I was awarded the keyboard. It's here ... somewhere.
mcl
31 Jul
31 Jul
6:55 a.m.
On Jul 30, 2015, at 10:02 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist
at sydex.com> wrote:
I don't know how many of you were familiar with the Addressograph-Multigraph (AM)
Varityper phototypesetting systems. Basically small computers with floppy drives and a
(very nice) terminal--and a big box that held quite a number of photo "font"
disks. Basically worked by shining a light through a specific disk and character onto
light-sensitive paper. Produced gorgeous print ready copy. Compugraphic and
Mergenthaler had similar systems and I think there were also several other competitors as
well.
My first job was software maintenance (on site) for DEC?s PDP11 typesetting software. The
sort of machine you described was the common low end typesetter for our customers. High
end came from companies like Autologic and, later, Mergenthaler-Linotype, using what
amounted to an ultra-high resolution CRT on which the characters were drawn by an embedded
computer. I remember CG and Mergenthaler-Linotype for these disk machines, don?t think we
ran into AM.
At any rate, a pile of 8" HS floppies will be
landing here in the near future. Does anyone have any leads on Varityper service manuals
or anything might help me with the task of figuring out what on the disks? (The disks
themselves do not come from a country that uses the Latin alphabet).
I wonder about that. It seems more likely the disks are in English, but use a
non-standard character set. Typesetting systems in that era tended to use 6-bit codes
which were specific to that industry and came in variations depending on the specific
market. Those originated with punch tape driven ?hot metal? typesetting machines, I think
?Linotape? was a trade mark for those.
paul
3426
days inactive
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cclist＠sydex.com -
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