Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Telex / Teletype Machine

Options
  • 25-08-2014 1:50pm
    #1
    barneysplash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,205 ✭✭✭


    Hi all

    Does anyone remember the telex / teletype machine?

    These were a typewriter-like device that was connected
    to a phone line. They were used to send messages around
    the world by News companies, businesses, governments etc.

    They could also output data to a punched tape, that could in
    turn be fed back into the machine to "load" the data.

    Apparently a lot of mini-computer and mainframes used teletype
    machine as a kind of output display, as monitors had not been
    connected up to computers on a commercial scale.

    I remember seeing one in the mid to late eighties, as a child
    in my Dad's office.

    It was a lage black monsotrosity that had lots of coloured keys
    and could magically send written messages for my Dad's business to
    England and further afield.

    This was before fax and later e-mail were common business tools.

    Something that would interest no-computer users that is also a retro topic -
    I also remember a chocolate bar called Telex. It was like a club milk.

    Apparently, they are quite elsuive on the internet, previous boards threads
    have failed to locate a picture or youtube video of any advertisements.

    I remember eating them at little lunch in high babies circa 1986. :)


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,651 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Still used in aviation - AFTN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronautical_Fixed_Telecommunication_Network) is basically the telex protocol.

    It was fairly commonly used in the Department of Agriculture up until the mid 1990s scarily.


  • Options
    #3
    barneysplash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,205 ✭✭✭barneysplash


    MYOB wrote: »
    It was fairly commonly used in the Department of Agriculture up until the mid 1990s scarily.

    What was it used for? Maybe weather reports?

    I'd love to have a go on one, even if it wasn't connected up to anything.


  • Options
    #4
    nlgbbbblth
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,668 ✭✭✭nlgbbbblth


    Think the Telex bar had brown and yellow or brown and red writing. I remember them.
    My father would bring them back from the golf club on Sunday evenings. Mid 1980s.


  • Options
    #5
    barneysplash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,205 ✭✭✭barneysplash


    I seem to remember a red and yellow writing on a brown or maybe black background?


  • Options
    #6
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,651 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    barneysplash wrote: »
    What was it used for? Maybe weather reports?

    I'd love to have a go on one, even if it wasn't connected up to anything.

    I've some memory that the EU used them for CAP communication etc. Before that the last place I knew of with one was the local bus hire firm.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,700 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    One advantage they had over faxes was the legal status of sending something by them


    teleprinters were what people had to use before monitors

    This is what they used to think 1980 would look like, back when 1980 was the future :pac:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XAIXP937Ac


Advertisement