From Newsgroup: alt.windows7.general
On 2026/3/22 17:36:55, Paul wrote:
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Some corrector liquids were much worse than others. That's why sheets got retyped.
I may have only seen a corrector-cartridge one time, and that
did a decent job. But the stuff you dab on (methylene chloride
If you mean the typewriters that had a delete key, that worked
reasonably well because they also used film ribbon, rather than soaked
ribbon - the hammer (or more likely golfball or daisywheel) actually
punched the letter out of the film (security hole: the used ribbons
could be used to see what had been typed; there's a very fanciful
episode of NCIS that used this, but I think they genuinely weren't
allowed - or, the used ribbon cartridges had to be collected in a
controlled manner - in offices that handled classified material). As
such, hammering with the same character on correcting tape, which was
basically adhesive tape, would lift the incorrect character off the
paper quite successfully. I think it had to be within a reasonable time
after the error, so it didn't have time to adhere properly - but then it
would have been while the paper was still in the machine, to get the
alignment right anyway.
solvent perhaps), those were dreadful, as they required your
skills versus the properties of paper fiber. And one dab too many,
created a visible admission of error for all to see :-)
I noticed, the other day when looking for staples, correcting _tape_ is
still available - I don't mean lift-off as above, I mean something to go
over the error, much as the correcting _fluid_ was: it was being sold in
a dispenser that looked perhaps like a snail. I've never used it, but I
can imagine it might well work better than the fluid: that did tend to
dry up, and/or the little brush come away from the top. I have faint
memories of using some sort of thinner to rejuvenate such bottles, but
can't remember whether that was "official" or just something someone
ingenious at somewhere I worked had devised.
I think typewriters are still hiding in places we don't
see or visit much. The TV sets we type on, aren't
that much of an improvement :-) For some users, it's tactile,
and they like the feel of the machine. A unique kind of
keyswitch in a sense, "better than a Cherry".
My blind friend - born 1951Q3 - had been an audio typist by profession,
and was very particular about keyboards (though she did have one of the
Apple flattish ones, which puzzled me). Having, I think, learnt on
completely manual typewriters, she didn't half hit the keys!
I like the _sound_ - and for others that do, Leos's "Noisy Keyboard"
does IMO a very good imitation, complete with different sounds for space
and newline. Get it (and Noisy Mouse if you wish) from
https://leeos.epizy.com/?i=2 - note, I live alone; if you don't, you may
not be popular if you install it, unless you turn it down very quiet! It
works fine under Windows 10-64 - and 7-32, and XP. I initially installed
it as a novelty, but now miss the audible feedback when I have to use
another machine.
If your copy is on paper, now you need the "fax machine", that
thing of antiquity, to quickly deliver your creation elsewhere.
(You can hear the steam engines in the background, when the fax runs.)
:-) I think I do remember using "print to fax"; I certainly remember
having the facility. (Used to be a common - though not universal -
feature of MoDem drivers.)
An attempt here to remove fax machines from a process, actually
failed, and the fax machines are *still* being used. Pity
the participants.
There was a time when a fax held some slight legal advantage.
I sure hope I don't get caught up in one of those, because we used to
be told "if the fax doesn't get there, here is a copy of the paperwork
and *you* send it a second time to ensure it gets through". In
other words, when fax is involved, *you* are the error correction
algorithm. I fondly remember digging my fax modem out of stores
I recently found some documents (I run my printer, for unimportant
stuff, on scrap paper that's only been used on one side, and this had
worked itself to the top of the pile) from when I sold my last home that involved faxing, and that would have been 2007.
and "finding something to connect it too". What had happened, is
the ninny running the fax, was using an "old phone number",
and looking on the web, I was eventually able to trace the
number that should have been used, sent the fax and all was well.
So there still was a machine - or, perhaps, an electronic storage device
- on the other end.
I'm on VOIP now, and it's not at all clear I can still do that :-)
I know that, despite all the compromises that screwed up other things,
landline connections - even where line combiners (DACS etc.) and so on
were involved - still had to support fax; I'd be (slightly) surprised if
the same doesn't apply to VoIP.
I'll have to get out my carriage pigeon and strap the item
to the bottom of that.
There are a couple of nice RFCs to do with use of avian carriers - audit trails, self-sustaining, packet size ... :-)
And if all else fails, I still have the original two tomato
tins and cotton string that Marconi used when he ordered a pizza.
Redundancy is the key to modern life. Don't throw out that buggy
whip, "you might need it".
Paul
I _do_ still have some old MoDems, though I doubt I'd find drivers for
them now - mostly plug-in cards anyway; some external, but I don't think
I have anything with a serial port now. (I do have somewhere a USB to
serial "cable" [and a parallel one too], but not sure I've ever used
them.) My first one was a metal box, model "Enterprise", make "Kirk" -
yes, a Kirk's Enterprise! - that was 300 baud (I think it had a fast
mode 300/1200).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
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