Rate my Battlestation
Posted by JustHereForMiatas@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 41 comments
Monroe L160-X calculator circa late 1940s
IBM Correcting Selectric II circa 1976.
Both are fully working and functional, after a fairly significant amount of effort (particularly the Selectric, these things are a cocophany of madness.) The Monroe's buttons are a little sticky and it could probably use a rebuild but that's a winter project.
This may be pushing the limits of a retro battlestation.
Academic-Airline9200@reddit
Ooooooh the latest technology.
Hasslingingslasher@reddit
dude i fuck with the selectric
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
Sounds kinda pinchy.
Hasslingingslasher@reddit
big IBM fan, and the selectric is just an amazing thing of mechanical engineering, incredibly over engineered, and absolutely brilliant.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
I agree, they're really impressive. It was an absolute bear to get it working but once you get there it's surprisingly reliable.
bdonldn@reddit
Impressive, love the Selectric!
el_calamann@reddit
Oh boy... I remember my father having one of those IBM Selectrics at home, but in the amazing navy blue colour.
He had an electric Olivetti typewriter as well with a more traditional mechanism, but the Selectric, with that ball thingy instead of the traditional type arms or wings (I don't know the proper name of those things) always caught my attention.
These bring back memories!
nighthawke75@reddit
I learned on all three major models in high school. We'd burn through tons of correcting ribbon.
tekfx19@reddit
Does it play doom?
nighthawke75@reddit
The Selectric 2741 Terminal might get you on IRC.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
No but it can write a provoking thought piece about Doom in the right hands.
tekfx19@reddit
Technically you can write Doom the program if you knew code. Chad typewriter code and then scan the text into a PC that can compile it.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
True, but it couldn't play Doom on it unless I did a print mod to convert the Selectric into a Teletype, and even then... poorly.
Minecraft_gawd@reddit
The seconds per frame is gonna go through the roof!
algaefied_creek@reddit
You just gave someone an idea… and then hang each frame up on your window there. Or even out in the yard as giant posters.
SchmidtCassegrain@reddit
If you fly over the field on a plane at the right speed you'll see the animation.
paprok@reddit
you want it to start spewing out Cacodemons? :D
villefilho@reddit
80085
Meshuggah333@reddit
To haboobs!
paprok@reddit
impressive set of "golf balls" to spare/change!
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
Gotta have them typefaces!
Reblist@reddit
You could start playing Colossal Cave on it like in the "old days" \^\^.
Part_salvager616@reddit
He got the IBM selectric😱
lewisb42@reddit
Nothing quite like a Selectric (I learned to type in a lab full of them in high school). The local computer history museum here had one out in the "hands-on" section a while back.
That Monroe is a fun machine. I love the way multiplication/division works on them.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
By the time I got to high school, typing class was done with some dark grey Dell towers. They got the job done but didn't have the same panache.
There was one lonely Selectric, a big beige monster just like mine, in the school library, visible behind a glass window to the librarian's office. I assume it handled the card catalogs and nothing else. I always wanted to type on it.
A few years back in 6th grade, early 2000s, the principal's secretary still had one. I remember having to have a class changed on my schedule and waiting as she sat there literally typing me another one from scratch and handing me the carbon copy, keeping the original for the file cabinet. She finished it in less than a minute. It was dying days for that sort of thing, our schedules were digital the next year.
grs86@reddit
Just can't beat a Selectric II :) Love it.
ThetaReactor@reddit
They do a shocking amount of nifty stuff with a single motor. And like ten thousand tiny linkages.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
They're amazingly reliable for how much stuff they have going on. Arguably the final word in mechanical contraptions.
Bubbly_Collection329@reddit
I really want to type on it
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
It has a very unique keyfeel. A bit hard to describe.
Somewhat linear at first, light but slowly ramping up to a resistance bump way down the keystroke, at which point the mechanism sucks the interposer down and it feels like all the resistance drops away. Then almost completely linear on the upstroke.
setwindowtext@reddit
And you can do ASCII graphics with it!
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
Most of them, yes!
HotCharlie@reddit
Aw man. I’ve wanted one forever. And now I have one, in black.
And no use for it whatsoever. But I still like it. An interactive exhibit for my kids, I’m thinking.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
I'm not sure if you're referring to the Selectric or Monroe, both were available in black, but both would be good interactive learning tools for kids I think.
ApatheistHeretic@reddit
Seems excessive. Why not declutter to pen/pencil and paper?
Seriously though, it still works? Interesting.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
Keeping it all working is most of the entertainment value.
UsefulChicken8642@reddit
Well that’s a fine how do ya do
criminalinside@reddit
I mean honestly, I guess it passes the vibe check. Retro is kind of subjective. We are all aging and some of us are older, some younger. So what is retro to you is different for me.
As a millennial, all the 1970’s and 1980’s stuff is practically before my time (born in 1985) so to me the 1990’s is retro. It’s what I had access to when I was coming of age and could actually understand and use. That is why I have the dyed in the wool, end of the 90’s, gaming computer that so many look to produce. It’s what I remember as being cool. I had access to computers before this, of course, but as we all know they were more limited in capturing the imagination.
So is this a retro battlestation? If it is old to you, you think it is cool, and you can sit down and get a feeling for it then I would say yes it is. That is really all that is required.
I hate to express it but at some point time goes by enough that the original definition of something can be completely usurped by its original context. Eventually, all the computers we see in /r/pcmasterrace will be fit for this sub.
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
I'm also a millenial so this is all old stuff to me.
Personally, this "battlestation" is mostly about the build (IE- getting these monstrosities back into working order and figuring out how they work aling the way.) The engineering is more fascinating than their function.
I do actually lightly use these; the Selectric for journaling and the Monroe for basic math from time to time. Like a 90s computer, they're fun when you don't have to use them to do anything productive.
Nighttide1032@reddit
sorry sir i understand one’s work station needs to be free of most distractions, but the lack of a beige touch tone phone in order to remain reachable is inexcusable
JustHereForMiatas@reddit (OP)
My sincerest apologies.
I've added a touch tone trimline phone but unfortunately it's white. I cannot lovate a beige touch tone phone in this current market.
It's also not operating in its original capacity. I don't have a land line, so I have to settle with plugging it into a Cell2Jack and using it as a bluetooth headset for my painfully modern cellphone.
Again, my sincerest apologies.