28 Mar
2013
28 Mar
'13
8:48 a.m.
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
The unit is a Flexowriter model 2201 with the model 2314 Selectadata
and the metal table. From what I've googled, these are 12 cps, 7-bit
devices. I'll receive pictures later today. It sounds like it's intact,
with full docs, under dust covers, perhaps much like this one:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/friden/Friden_Selectadata_Brochure.p…
I plan to give the owner an honest estimation of its rarity and value,
and let them decide if they'd like me to have it. I'm somewhat tempted
to keep it, but the angel on the other shoulder tells me to stop
collecting more stuff.
Anyone care to give some advice?
- John
28 Mar
28 Mar
10:57 a.m.
On 03/28/2013 11:48 AM, John Foust wrote:
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata
system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
The unit is a Flexowriter model 2201 with the model 2314 Selectadata
and the metal table. From what I've googled, these are 12 cps, 7-bit
devices. I'll receive pictures later today. It sounds like it's intact,
with full docs, under dust covers, perhaps much like this one:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/friden/Friden_Selectadata_Brochure.p…
I plan to give the owner an honest estimation of its rarity and value,
and let them decide if they'd like me to have it. I'm somewhat tempted
to keep it, but the angel on the other shoulder tells me to stop
collecting more stuff.
Anyone care to give some advice?
These have all but disappeared. I'd say grab it, quickly!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
11:22 a.m.
* On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 10:48:53AM -0500, John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com>
wrote:
Anyone care to give some advice?
None other than "Go for it!" :)
About 5 years ago I found a Flexowriter in L.A. on eBay. Nobody bid on
it, for some reason, and I ended up with it for $50. I was thrilled to
get it, but after a while I had to admit to myself that I just didn't
have the time or skill to restore it (it had some minor rust and had
been in an attic for 30 years) so I wrote to the Computer History Museum
to see if they wanted it. I assumed they wouldn't, I figured they
probably had pallets of them, but to my surprise they really wanted it.
So, that's where it ended up (and I got a tax deduction, win-win!)
If you have the space/time/desire, and the opportunity, definitely do
it!
- John
-Seth
11:28 a.m.
On 03/28/2013 02:22 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
I suspect that was because so few people know about them. They are
REALLY old. (and actually "L@@K! RARE!!")
Anyone care to
give some advice?
None other than "Go for it!" :)
About 5 years ago I found a Flexowriter in L.A. on eBay. Nobody bid on
it, for some reason, and I ended up with it for $50. I was thrilled to
get it, but after a while I had to admit to myself that I just didn't
have the time or skill to restore it (it had some minor rust and had
been in an attic for 30 years) so I wrote to the Computer History Museum
to see if they wanted it. I assumed they wouldn't, I figured they
probably had pallets of them, but to my surprise they really wanted it.
So, that's where it ended up (and I got a tax deduction, win-win!)
If you have the space/time/desire, and the opportunity, definitely do
it!
I agree 100%!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
12:09 p.m.
On Thu, 28 Mar 2013, Seth Morabito wrote:
So, that's where it ended up (and I got a tax
deduction, win-win!)
If you donate right after getting something, then you are allowed to take
a deduction in the amount that you paid for it.
If you donate after keeping it for a year, then you are allowed to take
a deduction in the amount of "the fair market value"
30 years ago, my father and I had a Centronics 101 (think big and heavy).
Although "Processor" had ads selling them for $1K, I couldn't get $50 at
John Craig's "Computer Swap America" in San Jose (think big and heavy).
But City College of San Francisco was getting fed up with the number of
Radio Shack printers that they wore out and broke each semester, . . .
It withstood Computer Lab abuse for YEARS.
Q: Since eBay seems to be the primary market for our crap^H^H^H^H
valuables, can we get away with those prices as the "value"?
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
11:26 a.m.
In article <201303281549.r2SFnU3J091153 at mx1.ezwind.net>,
John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> writes:
The unit is a Flexowriter model 2201 with the model
2314 Selectadata
and the metal table.
Unfortunately it's big and bulky, so that presents a problem for most
people as they are unwilling to either store it or have it freight
shipped to them.
That said, the Selectadata part is not common and IMO worthy of
saving as the part of the story of automating business processes
before the widespread deployment of computers. The CHM catalog has
lots of Friden calculators, documents and Flexowriters in their
collection, but I didn't find anything on Selectadata.
devices. I'll receive pictures later today. It
sounds like it's intact,
with full docs, under dust covers, perhaps much like this one:
At the very least, documents should be rescued.
I plan to give the owner an honest estimation of its
rarity and value,
and let them decide if they'd like me to have it.
Rarity is much easier to peg than value. I get the impression from my
research that flexowriters and associated equipment were quite common
at one point, but that they weren't sexy enough for computer
collectors to keep them and they're big and heavy, so most of the time
they just got junked. While they are similar to teletypes, there are
lots of people with a teletype fetish, but hardly anyone with a
flexowriter fetish, which is another reason that they haven't been
saved very often.
I rescued a bunch from the Black Hole before they shut down, but
didn't have room in my trailer to take the Flexowriter desks and so-on
that they also had. The desks at the Black Hole didn't have any
associated circuitry, they were just furniture, but it would still
have been nice to rescue that along with the machines themselves.
So as far as rarity goes, I'd say not common.
As far as value? Well, they have very little actual scrap value, just
what you'd get for the steel, since they aren't full of chips and gold
edge finger connectors on circuit boards. Since collectors have less
interest in flexowriters than teletypes, I'd gauge market value in the
"free if you haul it away for me" category, but maybe other people
would disagree. Everything I see with a successful sale on ebay is
regarding the Friden calculators with the sole exception of some
flexowriter schematics that sold for $20.
I'm not anywhere near Wisconsin myself, so I'm not a good candidate
for the rescue of this equipment, but I would like to see the
equipment rescued if possible and if that's difficult/prohibitive,
then at least the documentation should be rescued.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book
<http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
29 Mar
29 Mar
8:02 a.m.
At 10:48 AM 3/28/2013, myself wrote:
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata system
available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
Well, so much for model numbers over the phone! I received two
pictures of the units:
http://threedee.com/jcm/friden/
Considerably newer than that Bitsavers flyer; more Mad Men than
The Man In the Grey Flannel Suit. She says she has docs and a roll
of pink paper tape.
- John
8:47 a.m.
On 3/29/13 8:02 AM, John Foust wrote:
At 10:48 AM 3/28/2013, myself wrote:
Similar the one I donated to CHM
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102692719
which also has the Selectadata assembly.
These were mainly used for producing form letters where the address, etc.
were read off of the second paper tape input.
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata
system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
10:06 a.m.
In article <5155B78D.8020501 at bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
On 3/29/13 8:02 AM, John Foust wrote:
Looking at that, I see that Selectadata didn't get into the
description anywhere, which is why I found nothing when I searched fo
that keyword :)
At 10:48 AM 3/28/2013, myself wrote:
Similar the one I donated to CHM
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102692719
which also has the Selectadata assembly. I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata
system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
These were mainly used for producing form letters
where the address, etc.
were read off of the second paper tape input.
Yep.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book
<http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
10:05 a.m.
Bee-autiful!!
On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 4:02 PM, John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> wrote:
At 10:48 AM 3/28/2013, myself wrote:
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata
system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
Well, so much for model numbers over the phone! I received two
pictures of the units:
http://threedee.com/jcm/friden/
Considerably newer than that Bitsavers flyer; more Mad Men than
The Man In the Grey Flannel Suit. She says she has docs and a roll
of pink paper tape.
- John
10:09 a.m.
In article <201303291502.r2TF2WQC029215 at mx1.ezwind.net>,
John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> writes:
At 10:48 AM 3/28/2013, myself wrote:
For some reason, even though these are the newer model of Flexowriter,
they seem less common than the older ones. I have several (3 I think)
of these Flexowriters as well. I don't think any of mine are in
working condition, considering they all came from The Black Hole where
everything was pretty dirty. I haven't tried to power on all of the
units that I have, but I have applied power to one or two of them and
so far no joy.
Again, docs are always good, considering I might have some repairs to
do :).
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book
<http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
I received a tip about a Flexowriter Selectadata
system available
for rescue in southeast Wisconsin.
Well, so much for model numbers over the phone! I received two
pictures of the units:
http://threedee.com/jcm/friden/
Considerably newer than that Bitsavers flyer; more Mad Men than
The Man In the Grey Flannel Suit. She says she has docs and a roll
of pink paper tape.
10:32 a.m.
At 12:09 PM 3/29/2013, Richard wrote:
For some reason, even though these are the newer model
of Flexowriter,
they seem less common than the older ones. I have several (3 I think)
of these Flexowriters as well. I don't think any of mine are in
working condition, considering they all came from The Black Hole where
everything was pretty dirty.
So do these have a current loop interface? Are these the model that
was used in early 60s computing environments?
- John
10:50 a.m.
On Fri, 29 Mar 2013, John Foust wrote:
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:32:35 -0500
From: John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com>
Reply-To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Flexowriter rescue
At 12:09 PM 3/29/2013, Richard wrote:
AFAIK they are not normally serial. I did have a model 7102 Flexowriter at one
time that was Async ASCII RS-232, 110 Baud (the bustle had small cards with
early DTL IC's instead of the relays that most Flexowriters have)
Peter Wallace
Mesa Electronics
For some reason, even though these are the newer
model of Flexowriter,
they seem less common than the older ones. I have several (3 I think)
of these Flexowriters as well. I don't think any of mine are in
working condition, considering they all came from The Black Hole where
everything was pretty dirty.
So do these have a current loop interface? Are these the model that
was used in early 60s computing environments?
- John
11:01 a.m.
In article <201303291732.r2THWhCL045594 at mx1.ezwind.net>,
John Foust <jfoust at threedee.com> writes:
So do these have a current loop interface? Are these
the model that
was used in early 60s computing environments?
A brochure for the 2303 on bitsavers is dated "Received Apr 12 1966",
so the "modern" variety was available in the 1960s; who knows when
they stopped making them.
<http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/friden/74-252_Friden_2303_Brochure.pdf>
As for what interface they have, it is most likely current loop, but
it would depend on the model. Like teletypes, flexowriters were
highly customizable for different customers and applications, so while
there is a standard model, large installations might not purchase the
standard model but instead one with a customized interface or other
features. Some of the flexowriters I have contain various items that
are clearly additions to the base model and I haven't yet figured out
what those additions provide.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book
<http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
31 Mar
31 Mar
5:11 a.m.
In article <51560CB0.5060807 at bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
On 3/29/13 10:09 AM, Richard wrote:
It's possible that Will Donzelli pulled something out of the Black
Hole, but I didn't come across any docs while I was there.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book
<http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals.classiccmp.org>
Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>
For some reason, even though these are the newer
model of Flexowriter,
they seem less common than the older ones.
and for some reason the documentation for the later ones is also less common
and demands a MUCH higher price when it turns up.
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