Seriously thoughtful Show the first device you learned typing on!

[Moonbase59]

This could turn out interesting…

Show the first device you learned typing on!

If possible, include a picture.

I’m a little older, and I learned typing on my Grandma’s Olympia SM3, a 1954 German typewriter. Uppercase (shift) was a real muscular effort on this!

(Photo: © Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons))

[Sirtel]

It was a mechanical typewriter, but I no longer remember which one. 1993 or 1994. I met my first computer when I got an office job in 1996.

[Hemmi]

Late 80's in high school. We had a whole room of electric typewriters for typing class. The were metal and heavy and had a rocker switch to turn them off and on.

[Moonbase59]

Maybe the good old IBM 96 C? At least that was my first electric typewriter, and man, I loved it! The large ON/OFF rocker switch is right next to the return key. ;-) I had the one with the red case though.

(Photo: IBM 96 C | Datenpartner: HNF Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum GmbH | Lizenz: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ | URL: https://www.deutsche-digitale-biblio...KCLOBP5Q73YX2D)

[BetterRed]

My mothers circa 1940 Remington portable, something like this:

[DNSB]

Mid-60's in junior high school. Probably the most useful skill I learned in school.

This image matches my very vague memories:

[PeterT]

I believe my first exposure to a keyboard of any type was an IBM 2741 with the APL golf ball in the Math Department in Grade 8.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

My mothers circa 1940 Remington portable, something like this:

BetterRed's typewriter looks a lot like the one I learned on -- a Remington Rand Model 5. Calling it "portable" would have been a bit optimistic, IMHO.

[DNSB]

Like those old TVs with a handle on top? When you pulled on the handle to pick it up and the sheet metal bent?

@PeterT: Fond memories of APL. Sadly, it was close to a write-only languages. As one person I knew (professional APL programmer) was fond of saying, "Yes, it is close to correct that APL can do almost anything in three lines. The problem is looking at those 3 lines the next day and understanding what they did."

[Moonbase59]

Seems we have a lot of old hands here, not to say old-timers… ;-) Delighted. Keep it going!

The Olympia SM3 I mentioned in the first post also had a "carrying case". I always wondered how Grandma could ever carry that heavy thing… A true "luggable" (like some portable computers later on).

[Graham44]

I can't type but the first machine we had that you could type on was an electronic typewriter my sister had, a Brother I think.

The first word processor we had was the Amstrad PCW8256 like this - https://retro.russellventura.co.uk/amstrad-pcw8256/

We also had the PCW 9512, I think the difference between the two was the 8256 had 256K of RAM and the 9512 had 512K of RAM!

They had no hard drive you had to load the OS every time using 3'' (not 3.5'') floppy disks

I really liked those PCW's, simple to use and just did the job it was designed to do (word processing) no faffing about.

[meeera]

I know I first typed on a manual flippy-keyed device, but I first got serious about learning to type on an all in one CP/M machine similar to this one

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by cromag

BetterRed's typewriter looks a lot like the one I learned on -- a Remington Rand Model 5. Calling it "portable" would have been a bit optimistic, IMHO.

They were more or less.... I had the suitecase to show it.... not like that as I learnt in the 70s but near.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Like those old TVs with a handle on top? When you pulled on the handle to pick it up and the sheet metal bent?

@PeterT: Fond memories of APL. Sadly, it was close to a write-only languages. As one person I knew (professional APL programmer) was fond of saying, "Yes, it is close to correct that APL can do almost anything in three lines. The problem is looking at those 3 lines the next day and understanding what they did."

But that's how those programmers that typed the whole C program in 3 lines...

[Moonbase59]

I’m still always astonished how far we got, from the old typewriters to a rather complete Unicode, making it possible to do fine typesetting.

Just compare the old Olympia keyboard with what we got on the "golf ball" IBM 96, and now with modern keyboard layouts. What I use mostly these days is a modified German E2 layout. Quite an evolution!