[cctalk] Re: Computer Museum uses GreaseWeazle to help exonerate Maryland Man

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Jan 26, 2023, at 6:29 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> I take that back about Versatec, CHM has a document from 1970 on their
> electrostatic printer:
> 
> https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X163.83A
> 
> I know that Lawrence Livermore had one and used it quite a bit back in
> the day.
> 
> --Chuck

I worked with one of those on the PLATO system in 1976, where it was used in 
bitmap graphics mode to print music scores.  That at first worked very badly 
because the paper transport was chain driven, with enough slack in the  drive 
that if you'd stop and start it, you'd get irregular paper feeding with as a 
result gaps in the graphics.  I fixed this by writing a new driver that was 
designed to stream, so it would never stop in mid-job.

The discussion about fast typing reminded me of a related and in some ways more 
amazing record: the one set by Ted McElroy around 1938 for fastest Morse code 
copying.  That record is 75 wpm, so obviously he had to type that fast.  In 
1938, would that have been on a manual typewriter?  I suspect so.  Either way, 
it's impressive to recognize the audio patterns of Morse code sent at blinding 
speed, and type what's received -- with some lag most likely because Morse code 
is variable length so the letters don't arrive in a steady cadence.

        paul