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> do not believe that such a big teletype has existed. Decwriter II, according to wkipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECwriter https://en.wikipedia.org/

> do not believe that such a big teletype has existed. Decwriter II, according to wkipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECwriter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECwriter. I've actually used one of these, but I can't remember the printing width.

adrian_b 2y ago
Thanks for the link. Nevertheless, I see that Decwriter II was not a true teletype. It was a teletype emulator derived from a dot-matrix printer and it was introduced very late in the evolution of computers, in 1974, at a time when the true teletypes had already become obsolete and more than two decades after the line printers that have established the standard width of 132 characters. Decwriter II could provide a width of 132 characters only because the dot-matrix printer on which it was based was built to be able to use the standard line printer continuous perforated paper of 14 inches, like most other dot-matrix printers. It is likely that Decwriter II has been used much more often as a remote teleprinter than as an interactive teletype and in the latter case it was used only because some users were forced to use it because their bosses did not buy decent computer terminals for them.
- jonjacky 2y ago
  Those wide DECwriters were the standard console terminals for DEC systems in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is the only kind of terminal shown on the cover and interior of DEC's VAX-11/780 Hardware Handbook [1] (especially see Preface p. x) We had two of these, for our VAX 11/780 (delivered 1980) and PDP 11/23 (1981). You wanted a printed record of everything that happened at the console. A system crash would print a register dump and other information that would scroll out of sight on a video terminal (there were no scrollback buffers then). 1. https://course.ece.cmu.edu/~ece447/s15/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=vax_hwhbk_1979.pdf https://course.ece.cmu.edu/~ece447/s15/lib/exe/fetch.php?med...
flyinghamster 2y ago
Teletype Model 38 (essentially a wide version of the 33 with a two-color ribbon) could print 132 columns as well.
- adrian_b 2y ago
  That is interesting, but Model 38 was also a very late model (1972), launched at a time when teletypes were becoming obsolete and more than two decades after the line printers that have established the 132-character width. The existence of such very late wide teletypes did not have any influence on the appearance of the 132-character width, which had been used in line printers since around 1950.

adrian_b 2y ago

Thanks for the link. Nevertheless, I see that Decwriter II was not a true teletype. It was a teletype emulator derived from a dot-matrix printer and it was introduced very late in the evolution of computers, in 1974, at a time when the true teletypes had already become obsolete and more than two decades after the line printers that have established the standard width of 132 characters. Decwriter II could provide a width of 132 characters only because the dot-matrix printer on which it was based was built to be able to use the standard line printer continuous perforated paper of 14 inches, like most other dot-matrix printers. It is likely that Decwriter II has been used much more often as a remote teleprinter than as an interactive teletype and in the latter case it was used only because some users were forced to use it because their bosses did not buy decent computer terminals for them.

jonjacky 2y ago
Those wide DECwriters were the standard console terminals for DEC systems in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is the only kind of terminal shown on the cover and interior of DEC's VAX-11/780 Hardware Handbook [1] (especially see Preface p. x) We had two of these, for our VAX 11/780 (delivered 1980) and PDP 11/23 (1981). You wanted a printed record of everything that happened at the console. A system crash would print a register dump and other information that would scroll out of sight on a video terminal (there were no scrollback buffers then). 1. https://course.ece.cmu.edu/~ece447/s15/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=vax_hwhbk_1979.pdf https://course.ece.cmu.edu/~ece447/s15/lib/exe/fetch.php?med...

flyinghamster 2y ago

Teletype Model 38 (essentially a wide version of the 33 with a two-color ribbon) could print 132 columns as well.

adrian_b 2y ago
That is interesting, but Model 38 was also a very late model (1972), launched at a time when teletypes were becoming obsolete and more than two decades after the line printers that have established the 132-character width. The existence of such very late wide teletypes did not have any influence on the appearance of the 132-character width, which had been used in line printers since around 1950.