Teletype Tryst

For our first meetup, we'll be playing around with some teletypes.

In June, 2016, I rescued a bunch of teletypes from an auction at the local phone company employee museum. The phone company was kicking them out of their museum space and they had a bunch of teletype machines up for auction. I rescued 6 machines from being scrapped and barely had enough time to get them transported down to the warehouse.

John Whitney is a local teletype enthusiast and I've promised one of these teletypes to John. In return, John is going to bring some 20 mA current loop equipment down to the warehouse and we're going to check out how well these machines have survived. Hopefully we'll get one or more of these machines printing. I believe they were in pretty good working order when I purchased them.

After John gets his pick, the other machines are available as well, in case you ever wanted a teletype.

If you're unfamiliar with teletype machines, CuriousMarc on YouTube has some playlists covering restoration of teletypes. They are mechanical, not electronic, devices that served as the consoles for many computers well into the 1980s.

Teletype 33 ASR restoration: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb5-84G5kmgfuu7TQduTMc73H

Teletype 19 restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NuvwndwYSY&list=PL-_93BVApb5-9eQLTCk9xx16RAGEYHH1q

I'll be going to the Bayou next door for dinner at 6 PM. If you'd like to join me there for dinner before hand, please drop a comment on the meetup so that I know to expect you.