> From: "Mike Ross" <mross666_at_hotmail.com>
> IBM made a bunch of printer terminals based around the Selectric typewriter
> - 1052, 2740, 2970 etc. Look in any old copy of BYTE, and you'll also find
> several vendors were selling 3rd party terminals based around IBM
> Selectrics, often converted for ASCII/RS-232c operation, as teletype
> alternatives.
>
> Where have they all gone? (I appreciate, from what I've heard, that many
> folks who used them in anger would reply 'I don't know, I don't care, good
> riddance!') Early DECwriters are not uncommon. Teletypes are (almost) ten a
> penny, ASR33s show up frequently enough on ebay, I have several.
>
> But the only Selectric based unit I've *seen* in over ten years of
> collecting is a 2970 Reservation Termainal (see
> http://www.corestore.org/2970-1.jpg ) which I was offered a year or so ago.
> It needs a fair bit of TLC, and it's a print-only device; it can receive
> data from a host and print it, but not send anything back from the keyboard.
>
> I'd love to get a bidirectional equivalent to use as an 'authentic' terminal
> for a 360 emulator I work with... any clues? Can anyone recommend a
> Selectric repair shop? No way I want to try to fettle something THIS
> mechanically-intimidating myself!
Look at my sig...you'll see where they've all gone :) I have a
dozen or so Selectric, Selectric II, and Selectric III typewriters,
mostly in various states of sticky disrepair.
Actually, I don't have any Selectric terminals, although I do have a
Selectric Memory Typewriter. My brother worked at a Byte Shop in the
late 70s, and recalls having either converted a Selectric or making a
conversion work.
I do have a manual from 1962 titled "IBM Customer Engineering Manual of
Instruction, I/O Printer, (Modified IBM Selectric), which shows the
glorious workings of this fascinating machine...the manual has lots of
text and diagrams explaining the Selectric mechanism, but not much in
the way of photos showing the solenoid mechanisms.
We were thinking a few years ago of trying to rig up a homebrew
conversion of one of my typewriters, but never got round to it. But I
did (in 1999?) see a conversion kit sell on ebay...and I was foolish
enough to not buy it.
--
Jim
Visit the Selectric Typewriter Museum!
http://www.mindspring.com/~jforbes2
Received on Sat May 24 2003 - 20:32:00 BST
