GE Terminet terminal

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_panix.com>
Date: Mon May 31 21:45:27 2004

  What is being described is almost surely a Terminet - an ASCII
teleprinter using a continuous rotating band with upright 'fingers'
containing the individual characters - these passed in front of 72
hammers, and behind them were the ribbon and paper respectively. There
were three complete sets of character fingers, thus cutting the 'latency'
of the band in thirds. When the right character arrived at the correct
position on the page, the opposing hammer fired and imprinted it.
The fingers were easily removable allowing for alternate fonts and
character sets.

  The two I had were fitted with the dual cassette units (used instead of
paper tape, (but employing very much the same 'algosithm'), and I used
them in the very early 80s with a 300 Baud Novation JCat modem, to access
Compuserve and a couple of other primitive on-line services, as well as
BBSes.

  The unit is well worth saving - you don't say where you are, but they
are rare now and I'm sure someone will be very happy to make it go away
for you...


  Cheers

John
Received on Mon May 31 2004 - 21:45:27 BST