Things - Adam Mayer Explains The Teletype Model 15

[hfurjiskkr5]

Thank you for putting the time in the this. I was fun to watch.

[luridplanet]

I used a teletype in the 70s, hooked-up to a mainframe computer. It was super clunky to use - I could type about 20wpm on it. All the sysops cheered when we got CRTs w/typewriter keyboards.

[OofusTwillip]

The sounds remind me of the thrill I used to get when I was really little, and stores used electro-mechanical cash registers. Too bad they'd all be replaced by electronic registers just a few years later.

Fortunately, I managed to acquire an NCR series 52 for just $20. Unfortunately, the mechanism is frozen, after years of being in storage at the place I bought it from, and, if I can find someone in the Toronto area who can clean it up and restore it, it'll cost me a lot more than $20!

[armysandy]

Reminds me of the time I was visiting a DEW Line site in Cambridge Bay and the Americans were throwing Model 15s and Model 19s into the local dump (some of them were practically brand new. It broke my heart to see them go and I could not get permission to take them back to Calgary after the exercise. We were still using them so a lot of parts went back with me (wink). I would love to have one now.

[FoundGrindage]

worste idea ever to do it

[TalksWithDirt]

So no packeting scheme. It was just a strait 5 bit stream? There must have been a way to sync on bit positions. 32 characters.

[amartini51]

@TalksWithDirt After every 5 data bits, there were one and a half "stop" bits for the machine to reset, followed by one "start" bit used to synch the sender and receiver up for the coming 5 bits. BTW, packeting is a level of abstraction higher than the data stream.

[WhiteLakeDan]

Oh boy, I remember these! I was a Teletype and Crypto Technician in the Canadian Forces and I have fixed hundreds of these things in the 1970s. They were actually quite easy to fix unlike the model 28 which was a real pain. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[sandhgreen]

What I like about a Teletype Machine is that it was the culmination of electro-mechanical telecommunications.

It took ingenuity to come up with these wildly successful machines. For decades they were THE way to communicate.

I only hope that samples of these machines are preserved, in working order, forever.

If I ever come across a Teletype, I will buy it up immediately.

[retiredpwwu]

did you see the pull bar bail plunger roller??

[fernblatt]

I wish I still had my m.15 or model 19 or even my 28asr. They were FUN to use compared to a computer. Of course they were also much HEAVIER! Espcially compared to this iPhone I'm using to send this reply! LOL

[TheMindOfPat]

It always amazed me that people thought all this up and found ways to implement it back in the 30s-40s. Binary character sets, etc. I guess people always make do with current tech, but still.

Growing up in the 80s/90s I had an old Model 19 connected to a vacuum tube "modem" on my ham radio -- sadly my parents trashed both. Haven't found another since.

Also agree with the previous guy re: the smell of these things. :)

Thanks for spreading the good word!

[ttyradio]

Really good explaination,thank you!!! I just got some model 28 equipment myself . Did the model 15 equipment come without a cover like that ? Obviously you had the cover off to shown the inner workings . Best regards

[animats]

Very nice.

I have a Model 15 KSR myself, and just got it working.

[k0rc]

I owned several TeleType machines in the '60s and '70s. As you explained in your video, it helped reinforce the concepts of computer "code" because it was presented in a physical dimension. Other great tools were the paper tape, punches, and readers.

Just like the old Linotype casting machines, the sight, sounds, and odor of the TeleType are a thing of the past. It's unfortunate YouTube cannot convey the smell of warm polar relays, coils, oil, and ozone.

Thanks for posting this video.

[6364gg2]

Can I get one?

[k0rc]

6364gg2 - Sure you can get one. They come up on eBay from time to time. Many times you can find a unit just for the cost of hauling it away.

[6364gg2]

no. i mean from you. i am making a big clunky computer for next year's (7th grade) science fair

[lobasa2001]

I enjoyed your set up with the Teletypwriter.

Sometime in the future could you provide how

to make the UART to tell the relay to tell

the selector magnet on the teletype.?

[NerdHelpDesk]

really cool printer