Turning a Typewriter into a Linux Terminal

First of all, great article!

>"By turning my typewriter into a computer, I was able to recreate the experience of using a teletype. Now I know what it was like to use Unix in the 1960s when it was originally being developed!"

Indeed! This is an experience that will NOT be had by most CS students or programmers in general! And yet, it is a fundamental understanding that the early computers did not have monitors, GUIs, mice -- or even monochrome text terminals and keyboards!

Nope!

You had a headless computer, DIP switches (of some sort), and something like a teletype (text printer/text typewriter) for output... and that's all you had...

Anyway, great article!

I have actually came up with a similar setup (accidentally with the same typewriter model so I've gratefully used keycode table created by the author of this article). I didn't replace the keyboard though. My chip mod is working in parallel to the existing keyboard. I'm using RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico clone) with multiple assembler-programmed PIO state machines doing great job intercepting keyboard signals as well as emulating them in real time.

I've also coupled it with a 1975 vintage IMSAI 8080 computer emulation running Z80pack[2] on a Raspberry Pi 4 with a touchscreen attached.

Here is a short video[1] of my setup running XYBasic.

1. https://vimeo.com/801331428 2. https://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/

Neat hack! If you look at old issues of Byte you'll see kits for converting a Selectric typewriter (electro-mechanical, no "brains") into a terminal.

This was really interesting up to the point where he didn't use the typewriter's keyboard.

I've looked at typewriters a few times and wondered if the keyboard could be adapted to send its codes to a computer. I was hoping this post would describe how to do that.

Anyhow an interesting project.

I saw Woz speak and he discusses how the Apple 1 design extended this design

https://archive.org/details/TV_Typewriter_Cookbook_Don_Lanca...

I love the fact that you’ve got a built-in keylogger: just echo everything to paper.

I wonder if there’s some halfway secure way to avoid typing in any passwords. Like some combo of security key / password manager / second keyboard / PIN pad.

i went the lazy route and just bought a ti silent 703 off ebay.

no ink (thermal printing), has serial (with db25 connector), so plugs'n'plays into linux with just a normal usb serial adapter.

Full circle TTY.

Never seen a "real" typewriter turned into terminal. This was what we all planned in 1970s but cheap matrix printers from Japan fulfilled the need.

I still have left-over Nazi Faber-Castell and 7 solenoids. I had a plan for notched rods and binary coding. Selected key had all the notched aligned and then a hook fall down and momentarily grappled rotating drum and BANG - a letter was printed.

Including "ü" and "ß", of course.

This is totally boss.