Ok, I admit it. I finally met the Checkwriter I couldn’t resist. As a thrift-huntin’ typewriter collector, I occasionally see a Paymaster Checkwriter sitting in the same general area that typewriters are stashed. Although always intrigued and tempted by these neat very mono-purpose printing machines, I’ve always held back on buying one (and you do […]
Adventures of The Archivist, Part One.
IBM Serial Number Page Updated
The Netherlands Production section of the IBM Serial Number Page
Frickin’ Frackin’ !@#$%^&*
That touch of Silk…
While my original impression was that the two fractional characters when typed together (similar to the smiley face on GP “Sunshine Script” elements) made a logo that looked like the Union 76 oil company logo, the Professor remarked that it looks more like a logo that was commonly used during the USA Bicentennial celebrations of […]
Typewriter Rainbow
I woke up this morning to a fine, beautiful rainbow supplied by Nick B: Speaking of the Typewriter Database, I mentioned before that I had an effort going to obtain the old expired “tw-db.com” domain in order to point it to the new Database, thus re-validating hundred of hard-coded links that people have put on […]
The Rarest of The Remingtons
Slide Rule of the Week: Pickett Model N1010-ES Trig
Penncrest Caravelle 12: The search for something to fix.
Paleocomputing: A Linux suitable for an old stylus tablet laptop
Reiner Graphika typeface by Richard Polt works great in Linux apps, and is the typeface I’m currently using in Xournal for typing. Other apps of interest include Krita, MyPaint, Gimp, Inkscape and Mixxx.
Surprises in a $1.99 Bag-O-Pens & Pencils: Mont Blanc?
Typewriter Database News
It’s been awhile since I did a news update for the Typewriter Database, tho things have been humming along very nicely. 750 Manufacturers and Marques, 2460 Typewriter Galleries and 1238 Typeface examples as of right now. Quite a few new Typewriter Hunters have joined and have uploaded some very nice collections. Checking the scores for […]
Slide Rules
I have a habit of pulling wire-bound books out of the shelves of thrift stores to take a peek at the covers. Usually they’re cookbooks, but I’m on the hunt for a book called “Rocky’s Typewriter Repair Manual” by Clarence LeRoy Jones, which I’ve never seen a copy of, but I expect it’ll be wire-bound. […]
KOL Con 11 in 3D: Day 1 – Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear…
Timing is Everything in Thrifting: $3 Canon Canonet QL17
Pencast: 99 Cent Mont Blanc Ink and 1920’s Conklin Endura
KOLCon 11: It’s Ridiculous, It’s Not Even Funny…
Typecasting from the trenches of KOLCon 7 Heh, found this image while googling for my store banner. Apparently my store even breaks things when I’m not around… The Casbah is where you should always be able to get a Salty Dog, thanks to this hack.
Radio of The Month: Sony ICF-2010
I’ve always wanted a nice shortwave radio receiver, but they don’t show up in thrift stores very often, so when I saw this one at Deseret for $7 a couple of months ago, I snapped it up without hesitation. However, when I got it home and rigged up a regulated power supply for it, I […]
The 5th Phoenix Type-In: Squigglyvision and Anaglyphic 3D, Part 1
In order to see the Anaglyphs properly, you’ll need a pair of red/cyan 3D glasses, which you may have if you’ve stolen them from a 3D movie theatre or happen to have a TV that does 3D videos and games: And now, for those of you who don’t have 3D glasses, the same pics in […]
Isaac Asimov’s Typewriter
As seen on The Beeb’s “Real History of Science Fiction” Season 1, Episode 1 (Robots): Isaac Asimov at his Baby Selectric model 7×1 I have two of these fantastic little typers (well, “little” compared to most other Selectrics), and I loves ’em as much as Isaac apparently did.
Grandad’s Little Pony (135)
1971 Royal Sprite, built by Silver Seiko in Japan. Joe in his later civilian years, selling Skampers to Yankees. Grandad’s Kodak Pony 135 and a Gossen Pilot light meter (The Pony has *no* light metering) The Pony 135 is a simple, all-mechanical “zone focus” camera (the viewfinder has no focusing/rangefinding aids), made mostly of Bakelite […]
Back to the Future: PRAM and The Promise of Unified Memory (again)
“The research trend now in memory technology is to find a single memory for both temporary storage and permanent storage in personal computers as well as embedded systems. Research trend now in memory is unification of memory, so that there should be no separate SRAM, DRAM and flash, it’s going to be just one memory.” […]
TRS-80 Bar Code Reader drivers for Model 100/200 and Kyotronic 85
I admit I’ve been obsessing over my old Model T computers this past week or so. I finally did dig up my Null Modem cable and got the little laptops talking to the PC again, and I also dug up my old cassette software for the T100/200. I’ve sampled them all to digital WAV files […]
RTFM: TRS-80 Model 200, Proper Disassembly and Re-assembly – fix that pesky video ribbon cable!
You who follow my correspondence here will know all about my TRS-80 Model 100, which sees use mostly as a timelapse camera controller. I also have a pair of Tandy Model 200’s, which are the rarer version and are basically the same machine with a few improvements like a much larger screen that folds clamshell-style […]
The Fifth Phoenix Type-In: Report and Ephemera
And now, in basically the order I picked them up, are the sheets that were left behind today. Many many more sheets went with people, despite the triplicate copies. A lot of typing happened today, and some of it even made sense. :D Amusingly, there was a fellow that showed up towards the end of […]
File Transfer for TRS-80 Model 100/102/200 using a Digital Audio Recorder: The Road Less Travelled…
It all started simply enough: I came up with the idea of using my retrotech timelapse camera kit to do a timelapse of the upcoming Phoenix Type-In. Well, when you come up with these ideas, the first thing you do is check your kit and get it ready. Thus began the adventure… I pulled the […]
My Balls Survive the Haboob, thanks to Careful Packaging By A Fellow Typospherian!
…Storms build up across six or seven thousand kilometers of flatlands, feed on anything that can give them a push—coriolis force, other storms, anything that has an ounce of energy in it. They can blow up to eight hundred kilometers an hour, loaded with everything loose in their way—sand, dust, everything. They can eat flesh […]
The Typewriter Database: 2000+ Galleries reached, Remington Portables and a Nikon FE for $15
Stapler of The Week: The Aceliner
The Ace Aceliner, a true classic. Probably the first stapler I actually sought out after seeing them on other Typosphere blogs. It’s a popular design, easy to get ahold of, and there’s probably one in every casual stapler collector’s corral. There are at least two different variations, probably indicating a change in design and tooling […]
Stapler of the Week: 1950’s School Green and Teal Swingline Model 27
Prepping for the 5th Phoenix Type-In: Part One in the Hot, Hot Heat…
Click to embiggen… In other news, I received some research from Peter Weil on Blickensderfers and Hammonds, which resulted in some nice updates for those pages on the Typewriter Database. I’ve also completed the “Non-Noiseless Standards” section of the Remington page (whew) and am now knee-deep in the Noiseless Standards. This did not keep me […]
Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict pull out the stops to sell you a Remington. The Year? 1884
Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict. Remington Standard typewriter. New York : Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict, [188-?], accessed from the Baker Library, Harvard Business School. See: http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/2574435 The Remington Serial Number Page at The Typewriter Database (Blind Writers)
Stapler of The Week: 1950’s Arrow 210
This week’s Stapler is one I picked up a couple of days ago at Goodwill’s half-price day. I’d let this one sit on the shelf for a week and a half because it was busted, missing important bits and ugly as sin. When the price dropped to $1.50, though – I wanted it just to […]
Thrilling Typewriter Database Tales of Terror: The Quest for A Complete Serial Number List for Remington Blind Writers…
I’ll admit freely that I’ve been putting off the task of rebuilding the Typewriter Databases’ Remington serial number page for well over a year. I’ve had the bulk of Source #18 from Richard Polt since then, and it’s been reasonably clear to me that the data it contains is very likely either a direct-from-the-factory master […]
Stapler of The Week: Metal Spec. Mfg. Co.’s “Presto Stapler Deluxe”
UPDATE: I was reading Curtis A. Scaglione’s “Guide to Antique and Vintage Fasteners” today and noticed the patent for this stapler, which matches the last patent stamped into the bottom of the Presto Deluxe: 2,399,761, invented 1940, patented 1946. I wasn’t too far off in my reckoning! Hey, even more info on the Presto Stapler […]