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IBM I/O typewriter

J

josephdaniel

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
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317
Location
Florence, Texas, United States
Does anyone know if IBM ever made a I/O terminal out of the "personal typewriter"? I have one and I love mine its got all of the benefits of the II and the III! It would probably be good because of it's smaller size so long as you didn't want to print on large paper, and if the mechanics are up to the task.
For those who don't know what the "personal typewriter" is it uses the Selectric II as the typewriter but the carriage is from the III. If you don't know what a Selectric is then I must say ignorance is truly bliss;), seriously it's a VERY complex mechanical computer! :cool:
 
IBM was making selectric terminals up until they made the switch to CRT units. They're also all pretty much non-standard for anything but IBM hardware.
 
The IBM 2741 was a standard RS232C interface, run at 134.5 baud, but used 7-bit "correspondence code". I understand that there were certain type elements (963 maybe?) that were very close to ASCII.
 
Does anyone know anything about those things that clamped over the keyboard? There used to be one in the computer museum here in Austin. I wish I remembered more about it.. Such as whether it used parallel/serial required some sort external transmitter. Such as configuration would be print only so I am going to guess parallel type interface...
 
ISTR that they used a bank of solenoids, one for each key, and a small MPU. Interface could be either RS232 or parallel (before the PC, parallel printers were less common).

And nowadays, people are apparently still at it.

The big problem is that the I/O Selectrics were built a bit huskier than the office variety. Use of an add-on kit usually beat the bejeezus out of an office model. That probably explains why there are so few left around.
 
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I guess the I/O models were build a bit huskier than the office or home models, but I could see an application with the clamp on things for a home user who needs to have high quality print and can't afford a new printer that will do NLQ.
 
josephdaniel said:
Does anyone know anything about those things that clamped over the keyboard? There used to be one in the computer museum here in Austin. I wish I remembered more about it.. Such as whether it used parallel/serial required some sort external transmitter. Such as configuration would be print only so I am going to guess parallel type interface...
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure there were interfaces that put reed relays under the keys for input...
 
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