3 ms·

Simulation of a crappy typewriter, sure. In the 1990s even a $100 typewriter had a correction button, and in the years before that any office would buy a decent

Simulation of a crappy typewriter, sure. In the 1990s even a $100 typewriter had a correction button, and in the years before that any office would buy a decent model that had correction. This simulation also does not register keys if you type too fast; no decent typewriter required you to type this slowly.

hibbelig 11y ago
Maybe he wanted to show this feature to people who were mere mortal typists? But maybe the instructions page should have explained, if so.
snogglethorpe 11y ago
I had a mechanical typewriter I bought in the '80s, and it was pretty basic, no real features at all, and the same classic type-bar mechanism that would jam if you pushed it too hard... but I rather liked it. Lots of typewriters of that class were very nice well-built reliable machines. I think it's unfair to label them as "crappy typewriters," because they weren't. I will note that my actual typewriter was much less annoying than this simulator, because there was a lot more feedback from the physical mechanism, both by touch—the keys were directly connected to the type bars, and one could feel their momentum and how hard they hit the paper—and sound. One could relatively easily judge if you were pushing the mechanism too hard (and adjust accordingly), how evenly you were typing, etc. Using this feedback, one could easily get into a nice typing rhythm and type pretty quickly with a decently low error rate (much faster and more accurately than this simulator allows). [Certainly as typewriter manufacturers at the very end of the typewriter era began to be aware of the threat of computers, and started employ some of the same technology, there were a lot of features added to try and compete.]
- Sharlin 11y ago
  At least I'm fairly sure that no non-crap typewriter would skip characters if you try to type at any speed that's not glacially slow (basically normal touch-typing is impossible with this simulator.)
  - snogglethorpe 11y ago
    [BTW, I edited my comment to add some more detail, which might touch on the reason for this...]
  - kpil 11y ago
    I think it more or less matches my old mechanical typewriter from early 80s. Adjacent hammers can block each other without jamming when typing too fast.
  - mcguire 11y ago
    No, either * the two type bars would lock together, requiring you to stop and pick the traffic jam apart, or * you wouldn't use enough force on each keystroke, leaving the type bars waving around ineffectively without touching the ribbon, paper, and roller.
- keithpeter 11y ago
  Tactile/auditory feedback and visual feedback on the whole carriage. 1960s vintage Lettra, which would jam up sometimes.
coldtea 11y ago
Who said it had to be a 90s typewriter?
cstross 11y ago
What you're describing isn't a typewriter, it's a daisywheel printer with a computer keyboard bolted on front. I learned to type on a manual typewriter in the 1970s. Unless you had somewhere north of $1000 for an IBM Selectric, or somewhat less for a second-tier knock-off, that's what you got. (Ordinary electric typewriters were basically a manual typewriter -- like the sim -- with motor assist for the type arms. They didn't jam as much and were lighter on the fingers and gave more even imprints on the paper, but still ...) The jamming is a side-effect of hitting keys too close together so that the type arm from the first key struck doesn't have time to fall back and clear the space the second type arm is trying to move into. Experienced manual typists learned not just touch-typing but the correct rhythm to minimize the time between keystrokes without quite jamming the machine.

hibbelig 11y ago

Maybe he wanted to show this feature to people who were mere mortal typists? But maybe the instructions page should have explained, if so.

snogglethorpe 11y ago

I had a mechanical typewriter I bought in the '80s, and it was pretty basic, no real features at all, and the same classic type-bar mechanism that would jam if you pushed it too hard... but I rather liked it. Lots of typewriters of that class were very nice well-built reliable machines. I think it's unfair to label them as "crappy typewriters," because they weren't. I will note that my actual typewriter was much less annoying than this simulator, because there was a lot more feedback from the physical mechanism, both by touch—the keys were directly connected to the type bars, and one could feel their momentum and how hard they hit the paper—and sound. One could relatively easily judge if you were pushing the mechanism too hard (and adjust accordingly), how evenly you were typing, etc. Using this feedback, one could easily get into a nice typing rhythm and type pretty quickly with a decently low error rate (much faster and more accurately than this simulator allows). [Certainly as typewriter manufacturers at the very end of the typewriter era began to be aware of the threat of computers, and started employ some of the same technology, there were a lot of features added to try and compete.]

Sharlin 11y ago
At least I'm fairly sure that no non-crap typewriter would skip characters if you try to type at any speed that's not glacially slow (basically normal touch-typing is impossible with this simulator.)
- snogglethorpe 11y ago
  [BTW, I edited my comment to add some more detail, which might touch on the reason for this...]
- kpil 11y ago
  I think it more or less matches my old mechanical typewriter from early 80s. Adjacent hammers can block each other without jamming when typing too fast.
- mcguire 11y ago
  No, either * the two type bars would lock together, requiring you to stop and pick the traffic jam apart, or * you wouldn't use enough force on each keystroke, leaving the type bars waving around ineffectively without touching the ribbon, paper, and roller.
keithpeter 11y ago
Tactile/auditory feedback and visual feedback on the whole carriage. 1960s vintage Lettra, which would jam up sometimes.

coldtea 11y ago

Who said it had to be a 90s typewriter?

cstross 11y ago

What you're describing isn't a typewriter, it's a daisywheel printer with a computer keyboard bolted on front. I learned to type on a manual typewriter in the 1970s. Unless you had somewhere north of $1000 for an IBM Selectric, or somewhat less for a second-tier knock-off, that's what you got. (Ordinary electric typewriters were basically a manual typewriter -- like the sim -- with motor assist for the type arms. They didn't jam as much and were lighter on the fingers and gave more even imprints on the paper, but still ...) The jamming is a side-effect of hitting keys too close together so that the type arm from the first key struck doesn't have time to fall back and clear the space the second type arm is trying to move into. Experienced manual typists learned not just touch-typing but the correct rhythm to minimize the time between keystrokes without quite jamming the machine.