From Dick’s Gadget Warehouse: An electronic typewriter that could double as a printer. Amazing!
October 28, 2010 Comments Off Daily Giz Wiz, Friday, October 29th, 2010, Netcast 1210
For this Gadget Warehouse Friday, I bring back memories of my Olivetti Praxis Electronic Typewriter. This was a state-of-the-art daisywheel typewriter that had a parallel interface. That meant I could use it as a typewriter, but when I switched over to using a computer, my investment wouldn’t be a waste. When I ordered the machine from Gary Oppenheimer, he advised me to pay the additional $150 for the parallel port option. That meant my $600 electronic typewriter wouldn’t go to the warehouse when I got my first computer. The Praxis was one of the first memory typewriters that had automatic memory correction. That of course required a special “correction ribbon” cartridge. But if you made a mistake you could just hold down the backspace key and the machine would go back and remember all the characters to be removed. It also had interchangeable daisywheels for different fonts. There were two other great features that helped me write questions for the Match Game. Typing on those 3” X 5” yellow Match Game cards required special margins, and this machine could remember 3 different margins and tab settings. Then it had seven memory keys that could be programmed for frequently typed phrases. I had mine set up for the questions I wrote most: “Dumb Donald was so dumb that”, “Weird Willie was so weird that” and of course, “Dumb Dora was so dumb that”. Recently when I asked Gary about the Praxis he told me he probably had the invoice for it somewhere in his basement. Basement? Gary lives on a boat! He said he probably sold it to me sometime between 1982 and 1985.
Gary Oppenheimer has done something really wonderful using the power of the Internet. He started a organization that helps put people who grow more food than they can use, in touch with people who need food. He’s been featured as a CNN Hero. Check out the great work Gary does here: www.AmpleHarvest.org.
Hear or SEE this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1210
