Computing in cinema! In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Worf and Data board and investigate an ancient space module, which has the keyboard of a Teletype Model 33 mounted on the wall with some control panels.
Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E26 “The Neutral Zone” (1:32)
@thalia they will get a surprise when they find out that the 33 keyboard won't work without the rest of the typing unit (since the UART is mechanical 🙀)
@vk2bea I'm looking at a Model 33 keyboard that has 15 or so wires out. This surprises me, as I thought the keyboard and typing unit was entirely mechanical. I think it would be fun to hook one up to a microcontroller.
@thalia yes, pressing a key moves a set of bars horizontally that operate delicate wire switches on the right hand side
This is connected to the distributor with a rotating brush that does the parallel to serial conversion mechanically. (you can see the start bit, 8 data bits and the longer stop bit(s) around the outside in the picture)
The 'H' plate connects the keyboard with the rest of the mechanics to reset the keyboard once the character has been sent.
@vk2bea I was hoping to win this new-old-stock Model 33 keyboard, but unfortunately I was outbid :(.
https://hibid.com/lot/284065895/teletype-industrial-metal-keyboard
