[GreenKeys] Selectric I/O Saga

[Keith Densmore]

Thank you to you fellas who shared your Selectric I/O experiences with me. 
>From the bulk of it, seems IBM would have been better off keeping it as a 
typewriter! By the sounds of it, finding one of these old beasts would be 
pretty hard, their owners being only to glad to pitch them when something 
better came along. And if any exist they are probably in really sorrowful 
condition.

About the only chance of doing this would be to convert a Selectric 
typewriter, as there are lots of them around still, many in excellent shape.

So Ed, hang on to that CP/M disk, you might get me begging for a copy.

And, another member has stated he remembers a conversion article done in 
Bite Magazine, is there any index of their articles that anyone knows of?

And here is as they say, the rest of the story  of why I want one.

Back in the mid 'sixties, in my first week of university  (journalism) a 
couple of engineers showed me a running computer. I think it was an IBM 360 
with a Selectric IO. I still remember it was printing out mortgage tables. 
Wow!  For a teenager with a DX-60 station this was true nirvana.

Scroll ahead to about 1980 and I am at a hamfest in Rochester NY. What do I 
find but the Selectric I/O terminal off of something, who knows what system. 
My buddy, who is a bit of  a computer guy advised me against it, saying 
those things talk in a unique IBM code it will be hell to get to talk to 
your TRS-80.
When the guy offered it me for ten bucks, I couldn't resist and we hauled 
the beast into the back of the car. Next stop was the border crossing to get 
the thing back to Toronto.
For the only time before or since, I ran into a problem with the customs. I 
made the mistake of leaving the printing golfball on it, and when the agent 
saw that he figured the thing was worth money. He didn't believe the 
handwritten in pencil receipt I had got from the seller and after a 
discussion  with him the best he would do is offer to let it in for 100.00 
duty. Of course, I declined and opted to 'surrender it to the crown'.
A month later I wrote a letter to the head of the customs and told him the 
story, and why they should have cleared the terminal out of customs for me. 
I must say, the Supervisor went to the trouble of checking out the machine 
in the pound and doing some research on its value. He wrote me back and told 
me I could pick it up, no duty owed. Trouble was, I lived in Toronto and the 
customs office was in Ft Erie a long drive. I requested they ship it to me 
but on that they declined. A busy lifestyle on that end made that impossible 
at the time.

Anyway, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

All the  best,
Keith ve3ts 


 
 
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