On 03/01/2017 07:21 PM, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > Well, we still had a Selectric (1050) on our 360/65 at Washington > University up until the end. I'm pretty sure it was the most > unreliable part of the machine. It seems about every two weeks it > would break the timing belt, which meant the clutch had to be > rebuilt. IBM had two 1050's there, and would swap them every time > one broke. They really did run the 1050 hard on that system, it was > printing a line about every 10 seconds for about 14 hours straight > every week day.
That's one area where CRTs are sooo much better. The S/360 machines just pounded the hell out of the SYSLOG device. I guess the Selectrics were better than the Model B-based console typewriters, which always seemed as if they were going to fly apart. As a typewriter, the Selectric is pretty good. I still have a correcting Selectri III with a broken drive belt (I have a new belt waiting to be installed), but I haven't gotten up the courage to repair it myself yet--it's not a simple job. --Chuck