1.
Typewriter
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A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for writing characters similar to those produced by printers movable type. A typewriter operates by means of keys that strike a ribbon to transmit ink or carbon impressions onto paper, typically, a single character is printed on each key press. The machine prints characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the used in movable type letterpress printing. At the end of the century, the term typewriter was also applied to a person who used a typing machine. After its invention in the 1860s, the quickly became an indispensable tool for practically all writing other than personal handwritten correspondence. It was widely used by writers, in offices. As with the automobile, telephone, and telegraph, a number of people contributed insights, historians have estimated that some form of typewriter was invented 52 times as thinkers tried to come up with a workable design. Some of the early typing instruments, In 1575 an Italian printmaker, Francesco Rampazzetto, invented the scrittura tattile, in 1714, Henry Mill obtained a patent in Britain for a machine that, from the patent, appears to have been similar to a typewriter. In 1802 Italian Agostino Fantoni developed a particular typewriter to enable his blind sister to write, in 1808 Italian Pellegrino Turri invented a typewriter. He also invented carbon paper to provide the ink for his machine, in 1823 Italian Pietro Conti di Cilavegna invented a new model of typewriter, the tachigrafo, also known as tachitipo. In 1829, William Austin Burt patented a machine called the Typographer which, the Science Museum describes it merely as the first writing mechanism whose invention was documented, but even that claim may be excessive, since Turris invention pre-dates it. Even in the hands of its inventor, this machine was slower than handwriting, Burt and his promoter John D. Sheldon never found a buyer for the patent, so the invention was never commercially produced, because the typographer used a dial, rather than keys, to select each character, it was called an index typewriter rather than a keyboard typewriter. Index typewriters of that era resemble the squeeze-style embosser from the 1960s more than they resemble the modern keyboard typewriter, by the mid-19th century, the increasing pace of business communication had created a need for mechanization of the writing process. Stenographers and telegraphers could take down information at rates up to 130 words per minute, from 1829 to 1870, many printing or typing machines were patented by inventors in Europe and America, but none went into commercial production. Charles Thurber developed multiple patents, of which his first in 1843 was developed as an aid to the blind, in 1855, the Italian Giuseppe Ravizza created a prototype typewriter called Cembalo scrivano o macchina da scrivere a tasti. It was a machine that let the user see the writing as it was typed. In 1861, Father Francisco João de Azevedo, a Brazilian priest, made his own typewriter with basic materials and tools, such as wood, in that same year the Brazilian emperor D
2.
Underwood Typewriter Company
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The Underwood Typewriter Company was a manufacturer of typewriters headquartered in New York City, New York. Underwood produced what is considered the first widely successful, modern typewriter, by 1939, Underwood had produced five million machines. From 1874, the Underwood family made typewriter ribbon and carbon paper, when Remington decided to start producing ribbons themselves, the Underwoods opted to manufacture typewriters. The original Underwood typewriter was invented by German-American Franz Xaver Wagner, Underwood supported Wagner and bought the company, recognising the importance of the machine. 2s, made between 1896 and 1900, had Wagner Typewriter Co. printed on the back, the Underwood No.5 launched in 1900 has been described as the first truly modern typewriter. Two million had sold by the early 1920s, and its sales “were equal in quantity to all of the other firms in the typewriter industry combined”. When the company was in its heyday as the worlds largest typewriter manufacturer, its factory at Hartford, Underwood started adding addition and subtraction devices to their typewriters in about 1910. Philip Dakin Wagoner was appointed president of the Elliott-Fisher Company after World War I, Elliott-Fisher became the parent of the Underwood Typewriter Company and the Sundstrand Corporation. In 1927 Wagoner reorganized the company into Underwood-Elliott-Fisher, which became the Underwood Corporation. The reorganization was completed in December 1927, John Thomas Underwood was elected chairman and Wagoner president of Underwood Elliott-Fisher. In the years before World War II, Underwood built the worlds largest type writer in an attempt to promote itself, the typewriter was on display at Garden Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey for several years and attracted large crowds. Often, Underwood would have a woman sitting on each of the large keys. The enormous typewriter was scrapped for metal when the war started, during World War II Underwood produced M1 carbines. In 1945 Wagoner was elected chairman of the board of Underwood, the Underwood name last appeared on Olivetti portable typewriters produced in Spain in the 80s. The Between the Lions episode Clickety Clack, Clickety Clack used an Underwood typewriter, in the 1991 Coen brothers film Barton Fink, John Turturros character Barton uses an Underwood typewriter in response to Jack Warners comment that screenwriters are Schmucks with Underwoods. Warner In the 2000 film He Died with a Felafel in His Hand directed by Richard Lowenstein, in the 2002 Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, Carl Hanratty shows Frank Abagnale a forged check, which he says was made with a stencil machine and an Underwood. An Underwood typewriter is featured on Fionn Regans 2006 album The End of History, an Underwood typewriter is used by the main character in the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge. William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac used an Underwood Portable Typewriter when he wrote On the Road
3.
IBM Selectric typewriter
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The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful model line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961. The Selectric also replaced the traditional typewriters moving carriage with a roller that stayed in position while the typeball. The Selectric mechanism was notable for using internal mechanical binary coding, Selectrics and their descendants eventually captured 75 percent of the United States market for electric typewriters used in business. IBM replaced the Selectric line with the IBM Wheelwriter in 1984, the Selectric typewriter was introduced on 23 July 1961. Its industrial design is credited to influential American designer Eliot Noyes, Noyes had worked on a number of design projects for IBM, prior to his work on the Selectric, he had been commissioned in 1956 by Thomas J. Watson, Jr. The Selectric remained unchanged until 1971 when the Selectric II was introduced, the original design was thereafter referred to as the Selectric I. These machines used the same 88-character typing elements, separate typeballs were available for each pitch. The Selectric II had a lever that allowed characters to be shifted up to a space to the left. This option was only on dual pitch models. Stylistically, the Selectric II was squarer at the corners, whereas the Selectric I was rounder, in 1973 the Correcting Selectric II was announced. It added an internal correction feature to the Selectric II, intended to eliminate the need for typists to use cover-up tape, white-out correction fluid, the carriage on this machine held both the main typing ribbon cartridge and two small spools for a correction ribbon. A new ribbon type, the Correctable Film ribbon, was introduced at the same time and this produced typing quality equal to the carbon film ribbon, but with a pigment designed to be easily removable from paper. There were two types of correction tapes, The transparent and slightly adhesive Lift-Off tape, or the white Cover-Up tape, the correction tape was changed independently from the typing ribbon. The typist would press the key and then re-type the erroneous character, either lifting it off of the page or covering it with white-out powder. Any number of mistakes could be corrected this way, but the process was entirely manual, in 1964 IBM introduced the Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter and in 1969, a Magnetic Card Selectric Typewriter. These were sometimes referred to as the MT/ST and MC/ST, respectively, the MC/ST was also available in a communicating version that could emulate an IBM2741 terminal or run its native Correspondence Code. These featured electronically interfaced typing mechanisms and keyboards and a storage device for recording, editing. These machines were among the first to word processing capability in any form
4.
Printer (computing)
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In computing, a printer is a peripheral which makes a persistent human-readable representation of graphics or text on paper or similar physical media. The worlds first computer printer was a 19th-century mechanically driven apparatus invented by Charles Babbage for his difference engine, the plotter was used for those requiring high quality line art like blueprints. Laser printers using PostScript mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, by 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then laser printed, expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap. The HP Deskjet of 1988 offered the same advantages as laser printer in terms of flexibility, inkjet systems rapidly displaced dot matrix and daisy wheel printers from the market. By the 2000s high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the price point. Even the desire for printed output for offline reading while on mass transit or aircraft has been displaced by e-book readers, today, traditional printers are being used more for special purposes, like printing photographs or artwork, and are no longer a must-have peripheral. Starting around 2010, 3D printing became an area of intense interest and these devices are in their earliest stages of development and have not yet become commonplace. Personal printers are designed to support individual users, and may be connected to only a single computer. These printers are designed for low-volume, short-turnaround print jobs, requiring minimal setup time to produce a copy of a given document. However, they are generally slow devices ranging from 6 to around 25 pages per minute, however, this is offset by the on-demand convenience. Some printers can print documents stored on cards or from digital cameras. Networked or shared printers are designed for high-volume, high-speed printing and they are usually shared by many users on a network and can print at speeds of 45 to around 100 ppm. The Xerox 9700 could achieve 120 ppm, a virtual printer is a piece of computer software whose user interface and API resembles that of a printer driver, but which is not connected with a physical computer printer. It is called a printer by analogy with a printer which produces a two-dimensional document by a similar process of depositing a layer of ink on paper. The choice of print technology has an effect on the cost of the printer and cost of operation, speed, quality and permanence of documents. Some printer technologies dont work with certain types of physical media, cheques can be printed with liquid ink or on special cheque paper with toner anchorage so that alterations may be detected. The machine-readable lower portion of a cheque must be printed using MICR toner or ink, banks and other clearing houses employ automation equipment that relies on the magnetic flux from these specially printed characters to function properly. The following printing technologies are found in modern printers, A laser printer rapidly produces high quality text
5.
Computer keyboard
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In computing, a computer keyboard is a typewriter-style device which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as a mechanical lever or electronic switch. Following the decline of punch cards and paper tape, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards became the input device for computers. A keyboard typically has characters engraved or printed on the keys, however, to produce some symbols requires pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence. While most keyboard keys produce letters, numbers or signs, other keys or simultaneous key presses can produce actions or execute computer commands. In normal usage, the keyboard is used as a text entry interface to type text and numbers into a word processor, in a modern computer, the interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software. A computer keyboard distinguishes each physical key from every other and reports all key presses to the controlling software, Keyboards are also used for computer gaming, either with regular keyboards or by using keyboards with special gaming features, which can expedite frequently used keystroke combinations. A keyboard is used to give commands to the operating system of a computer, such as Windows Control-Alt-Delete combination. A command-line interface is a type of user interface operated entirely through a keyboard and it was through such devices that modern computer keyboards inherited their layouts. Earlier models were developed separately by individuals such as Royal Earl House, earlier, Herman Hollerith developed the first keypunch devices, which soon evolved to include keys for text and number entry akin to normal typewriters by the 1930s. From the 1940s until the late 1960s, typewriters were the means of data entry. The keyboard remained the primary, most integrated computer peripheral well into the era of personal computing until the introduction of the mouse as a device in 1984. By this time, text-only user interfaces with sparse graphics gave way to comparatively graphics-rich icons on screen, One factor determining the size of a keyboard is the presence of duplicate keys, such as a separate numeric keyboard, for convenience. A keyboard with few keys is called a keypad, another factor determining the size of a keyboard is the size and spacing of the keys. Reduction is limited by the consideration that the keys must be large enough to be easily pressed by fingers. Alternatively a tool is used for pressing small keys, standard alphanumeric keyboards have keys that are on three-quarter inch centers, and have a key travel of at least 0.150 inches. Desktop computer keyboards, such as the 101-key US traditional keyboards or the 104-key Windows keyboards, include characters, punctuation symbols, numbers. The internationally common 102/104 key keyboards have a left shift key. Also the enter key is usually shaped differently, computer keyboards are similar to electric-typewriter keyboards but contain additional keys, such as the command or Windows keys
6.
Apple Keyboard
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The Apple Keyboard is a keyboard designed by Apple Inc. first for the Apple line, then the Macintosh line of computers. Dozens of models have been released over time, including the Apple Extended Keyboard, there are currently two keyboards offered by Apple, a full-sized version using USB, and the Apple Magic Keyboard, which connects via Bluetooth and omits the numeric keypad of the full-sized model. Both share a look and feel, based on a very thin aluminum chassis and laptop-style low-profile keys. To serve the functionality of the Macintosh operating systems, the Apple Keyboards layout differs somewhat from that of the ubiquitous IBM PC keyboard, mainly in its modifier, some of these keys have unique symbols defined in the Unicode block Miscellaneous Technical. Features different from other keyboards include, The Command key, used in most Mac keyboard shortcuts, compared to their equivalents on the standard IBM PC keyboard layout the Command key and the Option key are located in reverse order. The open and separate closed Apple logo keys on the Apple II series, the open-Apple key was combined with the Command key on Apple Desktop Bus keyboards where it remained after the Apple II line was discontinued. The Option key, for entering diacritics and other special characters, like the Shift and Control keys, the Option key serves as a modifier for the Command key shortcuts, as well as being used to type many special characters. It serves the function of the key in Apple II applications. It functions as the Alt key in Unix and Windows environments, compared to their equivalents on the standard IBM PC keyboard layout the Command key and the Option key are located in reverse order. Full-sized desktop keyboards with a dedicated numpad have function keys that can range up to F15, F16, f17-F19 keys were introduced with the aluminium USB keyboard. Compact keyboards such as the bluetooth wireless aluminium keyboard and the keyboards on all Intel-based Macintosh notebooks range from F1-F12 only. A Clear key, instead of a Num Lock key, on models with full numeric keypads, as these are dedicated to numeric input, in Unicode, the Clear key is represented by U+2327 ⌧ X IN A RECTANGLE BOX, defined as clear key. An equals key added to the numeric keypad, a Help key, instead of an Insert key, or on the most recent aluminum keyboards, a fn key, which toggles the function of the function keys between their default functions and special functions. Notebook computers typically include additional assignments shared with function keys – reduce and increase brightness, volume up, volume down, mute, and eject. Apple, since the release of the Pro Keyboard, provides these last four keys on desktop keyboards above the numeric keypad where status indicator lights are on many IBM PC keyboards. On the newest aluminum keyboard, these functions are accessed with the function keys, on Apple Desktop Bus keyboards, a power key, used to turn on computers that supported it. Most of its functions were transferred to the key in such later keyboards. The Apple UK keyboard layout has the @ and keys in their US locations and these are normally reversed on non-Apple UK keyboards
7.
Arrow keys
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Cursor movement keys or arrow keys are buttons on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor in a specified direction. Arrow keys are located at the bottom of the keyboard to the left side of the numeric keypad, usually arranged in an inverted-T layout but also found in diamond shapes. Arrow keys are used for navigating around documents and for playing games. The inverted-T layout was popularized by the Digital Equipment Corporation LK201 keyboard from 1982, before the computer mouse was widespread, arrow keys were the primary way of moving a cursor on screen. Mouse keys is a feature that allows controlling a cursor with arrow keys instead. A feature echoed in the Amiga whereby holding the Amiga key would allow a person to move the pointer with the keys in the Workbench. It can be used instead of WASD keys, to games using those keys. The inverted-T layout was popularized by the Digital Equipment Corporation LK201 keyboard from 1982, some Commodore 8-bit computers used two keys instead of four, with directions selected using the shift key. The original Apple Macintosh had no keys at the insistence of Steve Jobs. Arrow keys were included in later Apple keyboards, although the arrow keys provide one convention for cursor movement on computers, there are also other conventions for cursor movement that use entirely different keys. In Power Point, an object may be moved in micro-increments by depressing Ctrl whilst using the arrow keys. This layout dates back to Sinclair ZX80, Sinclair ZX81 and Sinclair Spectrum software, WASD is a set of four keys on a QWERTY or QWERTZ computer keyboard which mimics the inverted-T configuration of the arrow keys. These keys are used to control the player characters movement in computer games, most commonly first person games but also in many driving. W/S control forward and backward, while A/D control strafing left, typically, modifier keys are not used to strafe. Primarily, WASD is used to account for the fact that the keys are not ergonomic to use in conjunction with a right-handed mouse. This also allows the user to use the left thumb to press the space bar. In later games, the usage of the E key to interact with items or open up the inventory was also popularized due to its next to the WASD keys. As opposed to the default controls of Doom or Duke Nukem 3D
8.
AltGr key
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AltGr is a modifier key found on some computer keyboards and is primarily used to type characters that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as currency symbols and accented letters. On a typical, IBM-compatible PC keyboard, the AltGr key, in macOS, the Option key has functions similar to the AltGr key. AltGr is used similarly to the Shift key, it is held down when another key is struck in order to obtain a character other than the one that the latter normally produces, AltGr and Shift can also sometimes be combined to obtain yet another character. However, IBM states that AltGr is an abbreviation for alternate graphic, AltGr was originally introduced as a means to produce box-drawing characters, also known as pseudographics, in text user interfaces. These characters are, however, much less useful in graphical user interfaces, originally, US PC keyboards did not have an AltGr key because that was relevant to only non-US markets, they simply had left and right Alt keys. The right Alt key is usually an equivalent of the AltGr key because both the right Alt key and the AltGr key share the same scancode and are indistinguishable by software. However, on some keyboards it may not be the case, on compact keyboards like those of netbooks, the right Alt key may be missing altogether. For comparison, the US-International keyboard layout follows, note that the /~ key has been omitted, it doesnt produce any characters together with the AltGr key with or without Shift. It generally produces a \, although, applications receive a different keycode and can instead use the key to, for example. In UK & Ireland keyboard layouts, the two symbols printed on most keyboards which require the AltGr key are, € the Euro currency symbol. Either |, the bar or ¦, the broken vertical bar. Located on the /¬ key, to the left of 1. The other bar symbol is the symbol on the \ key immediately to the left of the Z key. The two latter symbols interchange places in UK keyboards according to the system in use. Using the AltGr key on Linux produces many foreign characters and international symbols, details are to be found at QWERTY § United Kingdom Layout. On South Slavic Latin keyboards, the letters and special characters are created using AltGr, On Belgian keyboards. Those shown in bold are printed on the keys, and common to all systems, ° ª º ₢ ° Some notes, The AltGr+C combination results in the symbol ₢ for the former Brazilian currency, the Brazilian cruzeiro. The AltGr+Q, AltGr+W, AltGr+E combinations are useful as a replacement for the /. key, which is physically absent on non-Brazilian keyboards
9.
Computing
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Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating a mathematical sequence of steps known as an algorithm — e. g. through computers. The field of computing includes computer engineering, software engineering, computer science, information systems, the ACM Computing Curricula 2005 defined computing as follows, In a general way, we can define computing to mean any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computers. For example, an information systems specialist will view computing somewhat differently from a software engineer, regardless of the context, doing computing well can be complicated and difficult. Because society needs people to do computing well, we must think of computing not only as a profession, the fundamental question underlying all computing is What can be automated. The term computing is also synonymous with counting and calculating, in earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, but long before abstractions like the number arose, there were mathematical concepts to serve the purposes of civilization. These concepts include one-to-one correspondence, comparison to a standard, the earliest known tool for use in computation was the abacus, and it was thought to have been invented in Babylon circa 2400 BC. Its original style of usage was by lines drawn in sand with pebbles, abaci, of a more modern design, are still used as calculation tools today. This was the first known computer and most advanced system of calculation known to date - preceding Greek methods by 2,000 years. The first recorded idea of using electronics for computing was the 1931 paper The Use of Thyratrons for High Speed Automatic Counting of Physical Phenomena by C. E. Wynn-Williams. Claude Shannons 1938 paper A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits then introduced the idea of using electronics for Boolean algebraic operations, a computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions called a computer program. The program has a form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its source code form, enables a programmer to study. Because the instructions can be carried out in different types of computers, the execution process carries out the instructions in a computer program. Instructions express the computations performed by the computer and they trigger sequences of simple actions on the executing machine. Those actions produce effects according to the semantics of the instructions, computer software or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms, program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software
10.
Windows key
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The Windows logo key is a keyboard key which was originally introduced on the Microsoft Natural keyboard in 1994. This key became a key on PC keyboards. Tapping this key invokes the operating systems start menu, if it has one, in Windows, Ctrl+Esc performs the same function, in case the keyboard lacks this key. In laptop and other compact keyboards it is common to have just one Windows key, also, on Microsofts Entertainment Desktop sets, the Windows key is in the middle of the keyboard, below all other keys. This requirement was relaxed in Windows 8.1, allowing the Windows key to be placed on any bezel or edge of the unit, Microsoft regulates the appearance of the Windows key logo picture with a specially crafted license for keyboard manufacturers. In Common Building Block Keyboard Specification, all CBB compliant keyboards were to comply with the Windows Vista Hardware Start Button specification beginning in 2007-06-01. On Windows 9x and Windows NT families of Windows operating system, tapping the Windows key by itself traditionally revealed Windows Taskbar, in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, this key launches the Start menu but doesnt show the taskbar. However, this feature was added back into Windows 10, pressing the key in combination with other keys allows invoking many common functions through the keyboard. Holding down Ctrl+Esc will not substitute for the Windows key in these combinations, below is a list of notable shortcuts. Unless otherwise noted, they are valid in the version of Windows. The following shortcuts are valid in Windows 95 and Windows NT4.0, ⊞ Win Opens the Start Menu ⊞ Win+D shows the desktop, or restore hidden programs when pressed a second time. ⊞ Win+E opens Windows Explorer with folder pane on left side of window, ⊞ Win+F opens Find files and folders. ⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+M restores windows that were minimized with ⊞ Win+M, ⊞ Win+R opens the Run dialog box. ⊞ Win+Pause or ⊞ Win+Break opens properties of My Computer, ⊞ Win+Tab ↹ cycles through taskbar buttons. Windows XP adds the following shortcuts, ⊞ Win+B selects the first icon in the Notification Area. ⊞ Win+Ctrl+F opens Search for Computers, ⊞ Win+Ctrl+Alt+↵ Enter toggles full screen in Internet Explorer. This shortcut has been discontinued, replaced by F11, ⊞ Win+L locks the desktop and prepares for switching users if Fast User Switching is enabled. Windows XP Media Center Edition adds the following, ⊞ Win+Alt+↵ Enter starts Windows Media Center, Windows Vista adds the following shortcuts, ⊞ Win+Space bar brings the Windows Sidebar to the front
