Partly because of our #MetaPost workshop of next week at #AutomaticType #anrt @ANRT https://automatic-type-design.anrt-nancy.fr with @Ludi @eugbidaut @AntoineGelgon I'm reading an old brochure on (the always incredibly rich) archive.org about the "#Compugraphic Modular Composition System"
https://ia801000.us.archive.org/29/items/bitsavers_compugraphphicModularCompositionSystemBrochure_14979239/Compugraphic_Modular_Composition_System_Brochure_text.pdf
#photocomposition #typography
(lot of text in the alt of pictures)
According to the Compugraphic page on wikipedia "Following the success of the EditWriter, Compugraphic introduced [somewhere in the 70's] the Modular Composition System, known as the "MCS". The entire system was modular, including the software, which was delivered on 5" floppy disks. As the product matured, a "#WYSIWYG" (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) display was added (the PreView) so that a user could see a "soft" view of a job before it was typeset. This was followed up by the PowerView whereby the user worked directly on a "WYSIWYG" display. The MCS was a huge success, and also marked a change in technology from 8bit to 16bit (Intel 8086) cpu hardware."

https://lateboomersden.blog/2023/11/08/obsolete-newspaper-technology/
Change is fast and slow at the same time. It's crazy to me when I remember how much technology changed in the newsroom before I finally tapped out. And how few people it took to run a newspaper by the end.
#Compugraphic, #Journalism, #Newspapers, #Obsolescence, #Obsolete, #Pagemaker, #QuarkXpress, #Technology