IBM Selectric used as printer on Apple ][+

From: Huw Davies <H.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au>
Date: Sun May 17 21:00:41 1998

At 03:03 PM 17-05-98 -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
>> Really? I could've sworn that the operator's console on several
>> IBM machines was a modified Selectric.
>
>2740 and 2741 for the S/360s (found in *IBMs 360 and Early 370 Systems*, a
>must for every bookshelf, if you can find it).

Ah, the good old 2741. We had one here at La Trobe which had an 8080 based
interface so that it could talk (current loop?) to our DECsystem-10 at
134.7 baud. I understand the 134.7 baud rate is the fastest speed that you
can drive the Selectric mechanism before it flies apart :-)

Did my honors thesis on this back in 1977 using a typesetting program known
as Cicero running on the -10 written at ARL (Aeronautical Research Labs, in
Melbourne Australia). Used it again for version 1 of my M.Sc - it could do
golf ball changes to allow the pages of mathematical formulae to be
printed. From memory, a typical page took 10 minutes to print due to the
time wasted in golf ball changes. I keep trying to remember this when I
complain that the Xerox printer I now use prints about 10 double sided
pages a minute...

 Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au
 Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
 La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
 Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
Received on Sun May 17 1998 - 21:00:41 BST