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What if,

Deleted AccountDeleted Account Posts: 739
in History of Typography
this had won the typewriter wars,
shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansen_Writing_Ball
What would the personal computer look like?

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    Mark SimonsonMark Simonson Posts: 1,654
    image
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    Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,145
    Fascinating, and new to me. Thanks.
    The 1870 version bears some similarity to Edison’s Phonograph, which came later, and the earlier Phonoautograph.
    I would guess this principle of recording on a cylinder is informed by the process of knurling on a lathe, and perhaps music box cylinders.
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    Alex KaczunAlex Kaczun Posts: 163
    image
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    Jackson Showalter-CavanaughJackson Showalter-Cavanaugh Posts: 539
    image
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    Rainer Erich ScheichelbauerRainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    Max: This is how they made it in the first place. (SCNR)
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    Rainer Erich ScheichelbauerRainer Erich Scheichelbauer Posts: 157
    Wait a minute, that's a keyboard for single-handed typing, right?
    Oh, the possibilities!
    (SCNR again)
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    Deleted AccountDeleted Account Posts: 739
    But align the type ball properly in the Maltron, they can type each others keys, and you have a network!
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    John HudsonJohn Hudson Posts: 2,977
    Or at least a telegraph repeater station.
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    Mark SimonsonMark Simonson Posts: 1,654
    Whatever became of Doug Engelbart's chording keyboard? The idea was to use the mouse (also his invention) for the right hand and the chording keyboard with the left (or vice versa, I presume). With it, you could type with one hand.
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    Karl StangeKarl Stange Posts: 38
    The FrogPad is available for anyone needing to type with just one hand (left or right):

    http://www.frogpad.com/
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    Karl StangeKarl Stange Posts: 38
    Standard digital calculator designs won out over the far more interesting prospects offered by the hand grenade shaped Curta calculator:

    image
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    Deleted AccountDeleted Account Posts: 739
    For the waiters near Wall Street to come by your table offering fresh-ground calculations?
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    Nick ShinnNick Shinn Posts: 2,145
    Mal Tron. He is one baaaaadass Decepticon MF.
    What does he look like transformed?
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