Converting an 8-bit computer into a more modern one with a Raspberry Pi (opens in new tab) Boards aren’t unheard of, but how far can we go back? What about 19th-century technology in the form of a typewriter? That’s exactly what GitHub user Riley, AKA artist (opens in new tab)as reported, went Hackaday (opens in new tab)However, the selection of typewriters was greater in the 1980s than in the 1880s.
“Who doesn’t like the sound of an old typewriter?” begins an introduction to the project and elicits an unstoppable gnashing of teeth from those of us who remember. For starters, imagine everyone in the office typing at breakneck speed on their gaming mechanical keyboards. (opens in new tab) With the most clicky switches imaginable, you get the idea right. Add in someone sitting in the corner and tearing up a newspaper through a Dave Mustaine guitar amp to emulate the sound of a dot-matrix printer, and it’s closer to the original.
Typewriters have basic paper-based display technology and are not well suited for GUI or WIMP environments. I don’t even have a mouse. – but what it can do is print output from a terminal window, which is where the Raspberry Pi comes in. Artillect originally wanted to replace the typewriter mechanism with a screen, but changed their minds .
The tricky part was getting the signal from the keyboard to the Pi and outputting it again to tell the printhead. I was able to connect to the Pi using By following the traces on the matrix, the keys can match up to pairs of inputs. These are connected to two multiplexers, one for horizontal and one for vertical. Arduino is also involved, and the detailed video embedded above shows how everything is hooked up.
The Brother AX25 uses a daisy wheel printer instead of a dot matrix, but its sound is still quite distinctive. Artillect’s project still needs cleaning up and I’d like to know what they’ll do next to turn it into a ‘proper’ computer. expected to be used.If you’re interested in the project or want to try it yourself, all the code and material is at Learn more on GitHub (opens in new tab).
