Subject: Re: Where have all the Selectrics gone?

From: J Forbes <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat May 24 20:33:14 2003

> From: "Mike Ross" <[email-masked]>

> 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

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From: "Dan Cohoe" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:12:52 2003

Are these based on a Selectric?
http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=206563&convertTo=USD

This is the second time around for them in the sale.

regards,  Dan Cohoe

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email-masked]
> [mailto:[email-masked]]On
> Behalf Of J Forbes
> Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2003 9:33 PM
> To: Cassic Computing
> Subject: Re: Where have all the Selectrics gone?
>
>
> > - 1052, 2740, 2970 etc. Look in any old copy of BYTE, and
...............

---

From: "Dave Brown" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:13:48 2003

And what about the Termiprinters-none of them left now either I guess- think
I saw a couple of the answerback pcb's out in the garage recently-the ones
with a strappable diode matrix assy to program up the answerback code. Had
20 or so of  the basic 300 baud variants pass thru my hands about 15 years
back but no idea where any of them are now. There was even a  'fast' version
(badged HP) that could print about twice as fast as the standard ones. Might
be some documentation still around here but may take some finding.
Any of them still out there 'in service'?

Dave Brown
Christchurch,  NZ

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From: "John Allain" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:16:59 2003

> http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?auctionId=206563&convertTo=USD

A million for just 33?  That's $33 thousand each.  Sounds like Gvt. Fin.
mumbo-jumbo to me.  Those machines couldn'tve cost $10K retail.
- - -

As aside.  The business machine repair (read: typewriters) shop 10
miles from my house just closed.  Wouldn't be surprised if it's the last
in the county.  The New York times published a report on a similar,
prominent closing in NYC a couple of years ago.  If there's one near
you don't expect it to last long.

John A.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue May 27 07:18:12 2003

> mumbo-jumbo to me.  Those machines couldn'tve cost $10K retail.

Selectrics cost up to $12K retail, but with the government, you never
know.

Peace...  Sridhar

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From: Brian Chase <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:19:12 2003

On Sun, 25 May 2003, John Allain wrote:

> miles from my house just closed.  Wouldn't be surprised if it's the
> last in the county.  The New York times published a report on a
> similar, prominent closing in NYC a couple of years ago.  If there's
> one near you don't expect it to last long.

Checking in my local phone books, there look to be about a dozen or so
places still in business around the west side of Los Angeles.  There is
url for one place:

   <http://www.ibmtypewriters.com/>

Given the long history and the number of lawyers out here, I'm guessing
there will still be a need for typewriter repair shops for a number of
years.

-brian.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue May 27 07:20:05 2003

> there will still be a need for typewriter repair shops for a number of

There's only one left in New York City.  There are a bunch more in
Jersey and some in Westchester and Long Island, but only one in the city.

Peace...  Sridhar

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Tue May 27 07:22:12 2003

> And what about the Termiprinters-none of them left now either I guess- think

Are those the ones with the bammer bank and print belt, a bit like a mini 
line printer? Not a true line printer, though -- a maximum of 4 hammers 
can fire at a time since the PSU couldn't handle any more.

If so, I have a pair of them, along with the field service manual. No 
complete schematics :-(. Mine started off as a 74 column KSR and a 118 
column RO, but I moved the wider hammer bank into the KSR machine and 
made the appropriate changes to the jumpering on the PCBs.THe only 
problem was the print position indicator (a numeric display indicating 
where the virtual printhead is) -- RO models didn't have it, and the one 
in my KSR was only 2 digits (obviously). I added an extra red LED to 
indicate the hundreds (no way could I get the original filament 
displays). A kludge, but it worked...

> with a strappable diode matrix assy to program up the answerback code. Had

I never had the answerback option.

> (badged HP) that could print about twice as fast as the standard ones. Might

Mine are ICL-badged, and at least one has the 600 baud position.

-tony

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From: "Dave Brown" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:30:40 2003

Yep- That's them Tony. - Cardcage across the rear. Called a bustle, wasn't
it?  I know there's still a manual of some sort round here but it's stored
away with other older handbooks. Can dig it out if it's likely to be of any
use.  Had to part out  two or three to get the rest all going concerns so
there may even be some of those displays still here. If you are interested I
will have a look.
All the ones I had were RO versions- they were used as local printers for
terminals hosted by an ICL (surprise!)  mainframe which I also 'removed'.
Can't recall what it was though.
As a result of that enterprise we had orange 'washing machines' all over the
back yard for months. (They were about the right size, so that's what the
kids called them.)  Actually CDC drives, from memory.  The disk packs were
all of 60MB/s and they had a magnificent half horsepower single phase motor
driving them. Even now, relocating that monster and getting it all running
again would be a  real challenge-back then (~1978) it was not even
considered.

Dave Brown
Christchurch, NZ

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From: Stan Barr <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:35:00 2003

Hi,

> Can't recall what it was though.

I had the manual for these behind my desk in work and I took it home when
we went from ICL to Univac about 20yrs ago.  Unfortunately I threw the
manual pages out (there was practically no interest in such things
then...) and all I have left is the ICL binder they came in.  

I remember the orange and grey terminals well...
-- 
Cheers,
Stan Barr  [email-masked]

The future was never like this!

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Tue May 27 07:37:32 2003

> Yep- That's them Tony. - Cardcage across the rear. Called a bustle, wasn't

That's right :-). It's all coming back to me now...

> it?  I know there's still a manual of some sort round here but it's stored

I have the full ICL service manual. It's not too bad on the mechanics 
[1], but there's not much detail on the electronics ...

[1] Mind you, when I first got mine, I stripped down the hammer bank to 
clean it then looked at the manual to find out how to put it together and 
adjust it. The manual simply said it was not field repairable!. However, 
I got it back without major problems...

> All the ones I had were RO versions- they were used as local printers for

The RO models never had the display AFAIK.

-tony

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From: "Dave Brown" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue May 27 07:38:29 2003

Someone else (Gene B) has just posted what I think is the answer to another
question I had- whether the termiprinter was an ICL development- sounds like
the GE Terminet is the same machine- so who made it first and who copied?
The high speed one I had was badged HP.

Tony-- The ROs I had were not all 'factory' --several were KSRs and simply
had the keyboards removed.
I'll have a look for those displays anyway and let you know.
DaveB
Christchurch, NZ

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From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Wed May 28 01:30:34 2003

> I'll have a look for those displays anyway and let you know.

I guess what I really need to do it properly is one display digit module
and the little 9 pin connecotr (looks like a tiny version of a DE9, made
in grey plastic) that it fits into. But I don't _need_ this -- the LED 
kludge works well enough...

-tony