[GreenKeys] New guy says hello

[Chuck Robertson]

Hello GreenKeys,

This is my first post. I hope I'm in the right place.

These days I work for an unscripted TV network and try to write scripted
shows on the side with other writers. But I used to write for newspapers
and magazines, and I was there when the teletype machines were replaced
first by dedicated PCs or terminals, and later their feeds came directly to
our desks.

It was certainly more efficient, but we lost something too. At a student
newspaper I worked at we had a whole room of teletypes behind a door,
to muffle their hum in the newsroom. This was the '90s, so some had fallen
mostly silent, like the UPI machine. There'd be an occasional clack or
burst of typing. But a few, like the AP, needed its roll changed
constantly. When a big event had just occurred, they all sprang to life
together, and the noise was deafening. It was the sound of drop-everything
urgency. Everyone bolted into the little room, and whoever got there first
would shout out the words to the crowd pushing in through the door as they
hit the paper.

Some of the youngest writers and script readers enjoy reading scripts
typed on paper, which is an opportunity not to be taken lightly. Some even
type on old typewriters, but I'm used to the benefits of word processors.
By now you know what I'm going to ask: I'm wondering if I could repurpose a
teletype machine to type the scripts from my Mac laptop, either on pages or
a roll, combining new and old technologies.

Skill level-wise, I'm kind of intermediate with technology. I can set up a
WiFi network or rebuild a fuel injection system, but I'm mostly limited to
repair or following instructions — not raw engineering. My Dad went to MIT
but he's no longer with us.

Thanks for reading. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Charles
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