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Disappointed the article went straight from punch cards to video terminals without mentioning teletypes. > Having that thing show up on computers in those days

Disappointed the article went straight from punch cards to video terminals without mentioning teletypes. > Having that thing show up on computers in those days was pretty tricky, and some considered it a resource hog. Well in the 60's and 70's, you didn't necessarily even have a display, you might be using a physical teletype. `ed` is built for that. Even when you had a display, it could be slow. The VT05 from 1970, only went up to 2400 baud. And if you were using a modem back then I think you were definitely most likely connected at 300 baud or below.

reaperducer 6y ago
Or the display might be a single line of 16-segment LEDs for interacting with the machine, and "output" was on paper. Another reason to keep the visuals to a minimum.
NateEag 6y ago
Perhaps my favorite video on YouTube is this glorious footage of someone hooking a 1930s teletype up to a computer running Linux: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLZ4Z8LpEE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLZ4Z8LpEE Watching it for the first time is what finally made ed click for me. And yes, I was disappointed that the author clearly didn't understand why ed has the UI it does. It's about the teletype, not the computational cost of having a WYSIWIG UI.
- koolba 6y ago
  That video is amazing!
- klysm 6y ago
  I desperately want to set up a teletype on my modern desktop - there’s just something so awesome about electromechanical interfaces with a lot more mechanical than electro.
  - NateEag 6y ago
    Agreed. I have some mechanically-minded young sons who I'm hoping to introduce to computing by way of a teletype of some sort.
- andrewksl 6y ago
  Yeah that video is all kinds of amazing. I also got lost down a several hour rabbit hole watching the guy and his buddies bring up an AGC and perform a simulated lunar landing with it. Thank you for sharing!
akira2501 6y ago
> ed Ed is the standard text editor! [0]: https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html

reaperducer 6y ago

Or the display might be a single line of 16-segment LEDs for interacting with the machine, and "output" was on paper. Another reason to keep the visuals to a minimum.

NateEag 6y ago

Perhaps my favorite video on YouTube is this glorious footage of someone hooking a 1930s teletype up to a computer running Linux: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLZ4Z8LpEE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2XLZ4Z8LpEE Watching it for the first time is what finally made ed click for me. And yes, I was disappointed that the author clearly didn't understand why ed has the UI it does. It's about the teletype, not the computational cost of having a WYSIWIG UI.

koolba 6y ago
That video is amazing!
klysm 6y ago
I desperately want to set up a teletype on my modern desktop - there’s just something so awesome about electromechanical interfaces with a lot more mechanical than electro.
- NateEag 6y ago
  Agreed. I have some mechanically-minded young sons who I'm hoping to introduce to computing by way of a teletype of some sort.
andrewksl 6y ago
Yeah that video is all kinds of amazing. I also got lost down a several hour rabbit hole watching the guy and his buddies bring up an AGC and perform a simulated lunar landing with it. Thank you for sharing!

akira2501 6y ago

> ed Ed is the standard text editor! [0]: https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html