29 Nov
2025
29 Nov
'25
4:02 p.m.
I have recently acquired a Flexowriter. It looks very much like the one shown on this
page - https://moca.ncl.ac.uk/iomedia/pt4.htm
The identifying points are
- blue color keys
- tape punch and reader (both appear to be 8 bits)
- white and red lamps on the front panel beneath the Friden logo
The serial number plate shows F_V as the model and S P E C as the coding.
Is anyone familiar with what this model is? What does the coding refer to?
Peter
29 Nov
29 Nov
4:19 p.m.
On Sat, 29 Nov 2025, Peter Brown via cctalk wrote:
I have recently acquired a Flexowriter. It looks very
much like the one shown on this page - https://moca.ncl.ac.uk/iomedia/pt4.htm
The identifying points are
- blue color keys
- tape punch and reader (both appear to be 8 bits)
- white and red lamps on the front panel beneath the Friden logo
The serial number plate shows F_V as the model and S P E C as the coding.
Is anyone familiar with what this model is? What does the coding refer to?
I have no qualifications to answer. But could "S P E C" mean
"special",
and indicate a non-standard character set?
Or that its interface was neither ITA2/International Telegraph code
(often incorrectly called "Baudot"), nor ASCII, RS232, HPIB, etc.
I seriously doubt that they had an APL model :-) (that was the realm of
Selectric terminals), but in the financial markets, there might be a need
for some of the other currency symbols.
Some of my students asked why the default character set (keyboard and
video ROMs) on the 5150/5160 PC did not have a Yen symbol, nor UK pound.
(and now, Euro) One student said that IBM's choices to leave those out,
and put in silly stuff, was a good argument for workplace sobriety testing.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
30 Nov
30 Nov
11:32 a.m.
Hi Fred,
The keyboard character set seems pretty standard - though I do notice that it has a United
Kingdom currency symbol (£) but has a US power cord and is wired for 110 v.
I did find an image of a Flexowriter with two front panel lamps in this document, p32,
image on p33
https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/friden/brochures/SP9012_Friden_Data…
Seems like the extra lamp was associated with verification of control tapes for
numerically controlled metalworking machines. Though from the description the machine
that I have is different again (my machine does not have an ERROR RESET button)
Machine front panel switches are
(left side)
START READ
STOP READ
SINGLE READ
NON_PRINT
(right side)
[blank]
OPT STOP
CODE DELETE
RUN OUT
So the mystery still remains
Peter
1:59 p.m.
On 30/11/2025 17:32, peter--- via cctalk wrote:
Hi Fred,
The keyboard character set seems pretty standard - though I do notice that it has a
United Kingdom currency symbol (£) but has a US power cord and is wired for 110 v.
When I worked at Refuge Assurance, Manchester, England we had a suite
of Flexowriters. As we used them to prepare policy documents, so they
had £ symbols but were run from 110volt transformers.
Perhaps this was the normal way of using Flexowriters in the UK...
I know when they were retired some were re-purposed for home computers
and also to run a mail merge system. Could yours be one of these?
I did find an image of a Flexowriter with two front panel lamps in this document, p32,
image on p33
https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/friden/brochures/SP9012_Friden_Data…
Seems like the extra lamp was associated with verification of control tapes for
numerically controlled metalworking machines. Though from the description the machine
that I have is different again (my machine does not have an ERROR RESET button)
Could be for lots of other uses, see below..
Machine front panel switches are
(left side)
START READ
STOP READ
SINGLE READ
NON_PRINT
(right side)
[blank]
OPT STOP
CODE DELETE
RUN OUT
So the mystery still remains
OK so we used them to prepare Life Assurance Policy
Documents and paper
tape for input to the computer. For each policy we produced:-
1. The Policy Document
2. An "Envelope" which was a car sleeve to protect the policy
3. A paper Tape used to add the policy to the master file on the
computer system, a Honeywell H3200 which was basically an IBM1401 clone.
I think each Flexowriter had a reader, internal punch and a second
external punch.
In order to streamline the process we had a library of paper tapes that
contained the "standard" text for each policy.
The process was the operator loaded the library tape which printed the
policy stopping whenever information unique to a particular case, e.g.
policy number, name, address was required.
As well as printing the policy these tapes produced two output tapes,
one containing the information for the master file.
The second had the info for the policy envelope or sleeve. This was then
used as input to print the envelope.
So the operator input one set of data and got three outputs, a policy, a
container and a computer record.
So perhaps your machine was used in a similar data entry system...
NOTES:-
1. We didn't read the paper tape directly on the Honeywell, we had a
modified Honeywell Key-to-Tape machine which had a tape reader hacked
into the keyboard circuit....
2. W didn't print the Policies on the mainframe as we only had uppercase
print trains..
Peter
Dave
G4UGM
2:24 p.m.
-> I think each Flexowriter had a reader, internal punch and a second external punch.
The machine does have a single multi-pin port on the back that could have been for an
external device of some sort
1:01 p.m.
On Nov 29, 2025, at 5:02 PM, Peter Brown via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have recently acquired a Flexowriter. It looks very much like the one shown on this
page - https://moca.ncl.ac.uk/iomedia/pt4.htm
The identifying points are
- blue color keys
- tape punch and reader (both appear to be 8 bits)
- white and red lamps on the front panel beneath the Friden logo
The serial number plate shows F_V as the model and S P E C as the coding.
Is anyone familiar with what this model is? What does the coding refer to?
Peter
"Blue keys" made me think of the later model 2301, like this one:
https://www.noviomagus.nl/Gemeentearchief/Cat12/friden%20teletype%202301%20…
Flexowriters could be customized in many ways. The only ones I used were at TU Eindhoven,
where they were used to punch ALGOL programs for the EL-X8 based system (the THE system).
Some of the custom features found on those machines:
1. ALGOL 60 characters such as AND and OR signs, logical not sign, and subscript 10 (for
floating point numbers).
2. Non-advancing _ and | characters for underlined words (ALGOL keywords) and overstrikes
such as |= for not-equal.
3. "Stop on semicolon" switch so you could edit an ALGOL program easily: copy
tape to punch and when it reaches the statement before the point you want to change, turn
on stop on semicolon. It would stop the tape copy process at the end of that statement.
Most of the machines I used were like the one you showed, but at some point a few of the
2301 models showed up. Other than a more modern look they seemed to be equivalent.
paul
2:34 p.m.
The top row of the keyboard from left to right is as follows
TAB
0 --- up arrow
1 --- [
2 --- ]
3 --- <
4 --- >
5 --- =
6 --- X
7 --- bar with dot above and below (i.e. divide)
8 --- (
9 --- )
over line --- under line (maybe, just a bar at the bottom and the top of the key)
£ --- 10 (yes, a 10 key)
ESCAPE
Other punctuation
; --- ; (two semi colons)
+ --- /= (struck through = i.e. not equal)
- --- *
CAR RET (carriage return)
. --- '
/ --- :
right arrow --- right arrow
So odd that it has a £ that suggests some sort of accounting function whilst also having a
/= maybe suggesting some sort of logic function
2:46 p.m.
On Nov 30, 2025, at 3:34 PM, peter--- via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
The top row of the keyboard from left to right is as follows
TAB
0 --- up arrow
1 --- [
2 --- ]
3 --- <
4 --- >
5 --- =
6 --- X
7 --- bar with dot above and below (i.e. divide)
8 --- (
9 --- )
over line --- under line (maybe, just a bar at the bottom and the top of the key)
£ --- 10 (yes, a 10 key)
ESCAPE
Other punctuation
; --- ; (two semi colons)
+ --- /= (struck through = i.e. not equal)
- --- *
CAR RET (carriage return)
. --- '
/ --- :
right arrow --- right arrow
So odd that it has a £ that suggests some sort of accounting function whilst also having
a /= maybe suggesting some sort of logic function
Interesting. That reminds me a lot of the THE ALGOL keyboard, but some details are
different. The THE version doesn't have a divide sign (instead that is formed by
underlining a colon), and not-equal is also an overstrike. The shift-six is presumably a
multiply sign.
paul
3:22 p.m.
Final bits of data
The unit is only marked up as a Flexowriter - i.e. no Programmatic or other badges
There is a dymo label on the front panel that says MACH . IO . (Machine IO ?)
3 Dec
3 Dec
8:13 p.m.
On 11/29/25 16:02, Peter Brown via cctalk wrote:
I have recently acquired a Flexowriter. It looks very
much like the one shown on this page - https://moca.ncl.ac.uk/iomedia/pt4.htm
The identifying points are
- blue color keys
- tape punch and reader (both appear to be 8 bits)
- white and red lamps on the front panel beneath the Friden logo
The serial number plate shows F_V as the model and S P E C as the coding.
Is anyone familiar with what this model is? What does the coding refer to?
Peter
I'll check with a friend who knows them, but probably not something he
knows.
I though it worth mentioning there is a "Justowriter" (sp?) as well
which did
justified printing in some fashion.
I don't have access to my units now to go look at anything as well.
thanks
Jim
0
days inactive
5
days old
9 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
David Wade -
Fred Cisin -
jim stephens -
Paul Koning -
Peter Brown -
peter＠penreach.com