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| Easter morning in New England |
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| This Valentine was at the first Type-In in Philly. |
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| The print quality on this machine is amazing. |
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| This was a difficult repair but very satisfying. |
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| The Dvorak keyboard was a popular alternative keyboard. |
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| One of my favorite typers. |
THE END
Good to hear your back is healing. I hope you have a full recovery.
ReplyDeleteThose are some great looking typewriters. Always good to hear about the next generation buying and using typewriters.
Easter greetings, Tom, great to see a post from you!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the spotlight on Olivetti, most especially the L32 with a Dvorak keyboard. Rare, to be sure; I hope you do buy it. I wonder if it will speed up my typing or slow me down because I am not used to the configuration.
Mmmmm.... A nice set of machines. It seems odd that DVORAK's aren't seen a little more often out in the wild.
ReplyDeleteAnother very interesting and enjoyable post, thanks.
ReplyDeleteLove the typeface on your typecast. My Lexikon 80 has it (great typewriter, I agree). I used to have a Lettera 22 with that typeface; but I gave it to an old friend who used to own a 22 with the same typeface decades ago. I was happy to be able to help her.
I'm kind of surprised that you don't see more SM4's. I guess SM3's are more common.
Interesting post as usual. I wonder why the DVORAK keyboard wasn't more widely adopted if indeed it is more efficient. Patenting issues I guess!
ReplyDeleteBill- It's always fun when young people come in and are all excited about typewriters.
ReplyDeleteTon- I imagine it would take a long time to learn to type on the Dvorak keyboard. It's a very strange layout. Thanks.
Brian- There are a fair amount of Dvorak's out there. I'm surprised you don't see more in the wild too. Thanks for your comments.
Richard- My L-22 seems to be the typewriter of choice for me. All I need is a good case so I can take it out around town. Thanks!
writelephant- The reason any alternative keyboard didn't go mainstream is because secretaries weren't willing to relearn how to type. Of all alt keyboards designed the Dvorak was the most popular.
Here's an article that disputes the superiority of Dvorak, claiming that the comparison studies were flawed. (It's a rather dense long read, but interesting.) http://www.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/keys1.html
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your back is improving and that things are jumping at the shop!
Hey, soon as I saw "Valentine/Philly" -- thought, "bet that's Jenn Y--" and it was! Tom, is your back getting hurt by lifting, or by positional strain? In each case, let me beg you: if it's lifting, consider a staging guy, to move typewriters for you, particularly the heavy ones-- maybe hire a burly teen on call from a business nearby? If it's positional, have you been to anthro.com? They make awesome work tables with lifts, so you can work standing, or at different heights, which can really save your back. (they are not cheap--starting at 1300 or so--but cheaper than being immobile--I will pledge $50 towards one if you decide to get one--Hey, that could work--you need 26 people to pledge that amount--just the alphabet--if you think that make sense, maybe let's us try it....) This is all selfish of course, as we need you in tip-top shape so you may keep putting typewriters back into the world!
ReplyDeleteHey Mike- Thanks for the offer and your concern. We are currently redesigning the shop and raising my workbench to make things easier for me. I already have several people to do the heavy lifting. Jenn Y was a hoot talking about the first Type-In with you and Matt.
DeleteI am actually in desperate want of a Lettera in Dvorak. If anyone has one laying around or could help me with the conversion, I'd pay good money for that.
ReplyDeleteOr if someone would teach me how?
Anyway, I'm in Philadelphia.