Where have all the Selectrics gone?

[Keys]

It's covered in the first ed. 1976 TV Typewriter Cookbook with green cover.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Shoppa" <shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com>
To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>; <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 3:07 PM
Subject: Re: Where have all the Selectrics gone?


> "Barry Watzman" <Watzman at neo.rr.com> wrote:
>> All selectric mechanisms, at the mechanism level, use tilt/rotate code. 
>> You
>> tilt the ball to select a row, and then rotate it to select a column, 
>> then
>> whack the paper through a ribbon (it's a mechanism that Tony Soprano 
>> would
>> love).  That is simply how a selectric works, and any other code will
>> ultimately get converted into tilt/rotate before being applied to 
>> solenoids
>> in the mechanism.
>
> I believe that one of Don Lancaster's logic cookbooks shows how to
> convert ASCII to tilt/rotate codes. Either that or some mid-late-70's
> Radio Electronics article that also tells how to use surplus core
> memory...
>
> The one Selectric that I saw converted just used a bunch of solenoids
> to whack the keys on a plain old keyboard.
>
> Did any micro hobbyists actually succesfully use surplus core? I remember
> it somewhat cheap (but not ridiculously cheap)
> in the Meshna catalog etc. but never saw it being used. It is not
> a trivial matter to time and calibrate all the drive and sense lines
> especially when it's some random core plane and the first you ever
> saw.
>
> Tim.
>