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USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

usbtypewriter.com

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Re: USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

#11

Post by epo »

Drakeman wrote: post #4

Looks to be a very interesting idea. In fact, I do want one. Buuuuut, I'd have to wonder with those prices for the full models and DIY kits if he is not overcharging by several hundred dollars. True, you're buying a piece of tech for its look and feel more than functionality, but as a guy who's actually bought, played with, and used old style typewriter, $700 is a bit much for anyone. Could any enthusiasts (I conside…

Looks like for your money you get a typewriter (presumably refurbished), a display and the electronics. As you noted, he sells a DIY kit if you want to provide your own screen and typewriter (with an estimated assembly/install time of 6-7 hours for an experienced person.

Actually sounds like a fair price to me. But perhaps you are used to getting your electronics assembled overseas on a massive scale by (essentially) slave labour.

Re: USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

#13

Post by chrisfarms »

shabble wrote: post #7
scrrr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The music is the reason why I can't watch it. Germany's music industry apparently had YouTube block the video.. Pity.

Dragging this offtopic a bit, but is there any reason why YouTube couldn't add an upload flag of 'audio optional' so that in situations like this, it just muted the audio stream in the specified regions? Then, if someone owns the copyright to the soundtrack, they file a complaint against only that, and the video remains up. Or, they can file against the whole thing, and have it completely blocked (assuming sufficient…

Since the audio and video streams are muxed into a single file, and the copyright "check" is done based on location this would mean YouTube encoding every video twice (and for each resolution), effectively doubling YouTube's storage requirements.... most people will then re-upload their video in a non-infringing manor anyway, so it would be quite wasteful.

Re: USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

#15

Post by wollw »

Drakeman wrote: post #4

Looks to be a very interesting idea. In fact, I do want one. Buuuuut, I'd have to wonder with those prices for the full models and DIY kits if he is not overcharging by several hundred dollars. True, you're buying a piece of tech for its look and feel more than functionality, but as a guy who's actually bought, played with, and used old style typewriter, $700 is a bit much for anyone. Could any enthusiasts (I conside…

The schematics and source code are both available from the look of it.

http://www.usbtypewriter.com/design-files/design-files-2

Re: USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

#18

Post by jetbean »

DanBC wrote: post #8

I still use a typewriter. It's quicker to just bang out an address on an envelope than it is to load the sticky labels into the printer, open the word processor, type the address, then print it. but this does seem expensive.

Why can't you just write it on the envelope? It's simpler and cheaper.

Re: USBTypewriter - new and groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence.

#20

Post by tripzilch »

tjmc wrote: post #9

This is a cool hack, but what I really want is a hardware calculator keypad that interfaces with the iphone. There are some great calculator apps but it's just not usable at speed without physical keys. You could do a nice case with the keypad on the inside and the phone in landscape.

You can buy USB keyboards with just the numeric keypad. That sounds like what you want.

(I assume that some models also include the ()-=+ keys for completeness)

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