On 05/25/2016 03:31 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote: > Those printers had an amazingly long life! They were first introduced > in 1959 with the 1401 computer, and, like I said, the brand spanking > new System 3 they got in ca. 1976 came with one! I wonder when IBM > stopped producing them?
One of the lesser-known stories is that up until the 512 printer, CDC offered drum printers (501 mostly) for high-speed printing. They were desperate to get a train printer on the market, but the prototypes would not last more than a few minutes before the print train flew apart. Somehow, they got hold of a 1403N1 and essentially took the print mechanism to pieces to learn its secrets. I don't know if the 1403 ever worked right after that... --Chuck
