Marcin WicharyFeb 15

This is a thread of beautiful or interesting computer-y things I scanned at the Museum of Printing this weekend.

(Eventually all of this will be processed and deposited at Internet Archive!)

1. You don’t see a lot of yellow in computing.

Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
2. Autologic had a very good photographer.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
3. This could’ve been me if I played my cards right.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
4. Both of these machines (Linotext MBK 500/600) are very cool-looking.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
5. Need a typeface fast? Call Type Express.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
6. Some evocative Comp/Edit product photos.
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7. Now LaserMaster™ Compatible
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8. Micomp High Speed Programmable Keyboards.
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9. Charles Darwin would have approved of Linoterm.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
10. You could have a 1,000 tries, and you would never guess how VariTyper named its Helvetica knock-off.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
11. Holy lord, look at this colour-coordinated Avis setup from 1979.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
12. This photo from the same Harris brochure is also cool.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
13. Just this aesthetic.
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14. I associate compact cassettes with cheap home computers, but that hasn’t always been the case.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
15. This cool drawing of a keyboard for a manual, with a lot of corrections and whiteouts (if you look closely).
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
16. Bad Boys (1995)
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
17. More red computing.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
18. This company is called G. O. GRAPHICS. Cute.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
19. I would have put this in my book in an instant.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
20. More cool keys from the Photon.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
21. The keyboard of Comp/Set 4800, and an 8" floppy disk.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
22. Kinda looks like an Ouija board.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15
23. A single stroke of this key.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 15

24. This keyboard is yet another entry in the classic Return/Enter story!

The main paragraph break (Enter) is a ¶ pilcrow, which is amazing. Above it is QC (Quad Center, or Enter + Align Center) and QR (Enter + Align Right), and even QM (Quad Middle? Not sure what that means).

And you can see New Line, or today’s Return, in the vicinity.

Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
25. Not fully altogether onboard with this colour scheme.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
26. A very interesting typewriter wraparound with more function keys.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
27. Super interesting to see Bill Gates like this.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
28. These photos are very regal.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
29. Also, this ligature is kind of nice!
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
30. This logo is interesting. 1980s were once the future!
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
31. Xenotron went for green.
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32. More brown Linotype machines, in reverse screen size order.
Feb 16 at 8:54pmWeb
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
33. Extreme Severance vibes.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
34. Weird that these promotional photos have blank keycaps.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
35. Loving this green portrait CRT with a key lock in the middle.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
36. I think this machine is really ugly, but the X/Y keys are interesting.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
37. More red! This is an OCR machine.
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38. This OCR machine went with blue.
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39. This one is a bit more… homely.
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40. Big screens reign supreme.
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41. Weirdly liking this strange style.
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42. Is this blue stripe working or not? Not sure.
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43. Imagine choosing a font like this!
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44. Some good old DEC terminals.
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45. This could’ve been me if I played my cards right.

That’s it! I think I’m done.

Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
46. Wait, no. Finding more stuff. Here, more interesting colour palettes.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
48. Always loved this VariTyper machine.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
49. Okay, now I’m done!
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 25
If anyone is curious, I processed all these ~180 brochures and books, and they are now on Internet Archive! https://archive.org/details/wicharytypewriter?sort=-addeddate
Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

Show threadDave bauerFeb 25
@mwichary Wonderful collection!
Show threadDavid HopewardFeb 25
@mwichary Great work!
Show threadjkFeb 25
@mwichary Thanks so much for this! Love reading and seeing the ‘mod’ styling of old brochures and manuals.
Show threadZaͩnͦsͤt̀́rͤa̅̆̈Feb 25
@mwichary Very nice. Where did you actually find these brochures?
Show threadDominikaFeb 25
@mwichary wow!!! do you have them all somewhere in your house/studio?
Show threadDesign BrouhahaFeb 16
@mwichary thank you so much it's wonderful 🙌
Show threadTormodFeb 16

@mwichary

This first gentleman looks like he probably played with Kraftwerk at some point.

What a ride Marcin - thanks!

Show threadJohn FaulkenburyFeb 17
@mwichary amazingly inspiring thread, ty!
Show threadGlenn FleishmanFeb 17
@mwichary MISSION CONTROL: LATIN SCRIPT 1 DO YOU READ ME
Show threadGerardFeb 17
@mwichary Do you mean "imagine using a mechanism like this to choose a font" or "imagine choosing a font that looks like this"? I saw the toot yesterday and thought it was the latter, but seeing it again today, I think you might mean the former.
Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 17
@GerardThornley The former!
Show threadMark J. BlairFeb 16
@mwichary It's kind of like an inverse computer mullet: Business all over, party along a narrow strip in front.
Show threadTormodFeb 16

@mwichary

The blue strip is what makes the whole thing work. Replace it with grey and you'll be asleep in minutes.

Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 17
@airwhale I’d try to color coordinate with some of the hues below…
Show threadTormodFeb 17

@mwichary

Hmmm, let's take a look then…

Show threadeuroplus Feb 17
@mwichary looks like painter’s tape trying to hold the lid down!
Show threadrelsquiFeb 16
@mwichary I love how much the interior design and staging reveal the era even if the computers didn't.
Show threadMark J. BlairFeb 16
@mwichary Oh, but the colorful keyboard makes up for it! I'm a sucker for a colorful keyboard.
Show threadJohn FaulkenburyFeb 17
@mwichary rude. the dress is maybe not a good fit for her but sheesh
Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Feb 16
@mwichary
Somebody should try to cheer it up. Have it OCR some jokes!
Show threadpetes_bread_eqn_xlsFeb 21
@mwichary OCR-B font, huh?
Show threadacbFeb 16
@mwichary I like* the pseudo-WYSIWYG on-screen representations. True WYSIWYG was considered beyond the capabilities of current technology (at least, until the Macintosh showed up), but you could get an approximation with several sizes of placeholder pixel fonts.
Show threadNikiFeb 16
@mwichary that’s the ignition key!
Show threadppk 🇪🇺Feb 16

@mwichary Also, too, rather a lot of keys.

Alphabet-neutral promo photos? Has that ever been a thing?

Show threadMarcin WicharyFeb 16
@ppk That’s an interesting idea!
Show threadChancerubbageFeb 17

@mwichary

When I took typing in middle school I sat at a typewriter with blank keycaps. I loved it. Little did I realize a few weeks we were soon to play musical chairs and move to different typewriters. I got one with non-blank keycaps.

My speed and accuracy never recovered. And that was decades ago when only colleges big banks and utilities had computers.