
Tom Hanks on Typewriters - keiferski
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/i-am-tom-i-like-to-type-hear-that.html
======
cs702
In 2012, a podcast host who wanted to interview Tom Hanks sent a 1934 Smith
Corona to the actor as a gift when requesting the interview. Within days,
Hanks responded with this letter, typed on the Corona:
[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/10/damn-you-all-to-
hell.ht...](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/10/damn-you-all-to-hell.html)

~~~
at-fates-hands
I like how they added the transcript - you know, just in case.

~~~
roghummal
It can really help when the letters are handwritten.

~~~
Qu4Z
Or when the user agent doesn't have images (screen reader, console-mode
browsers, text-only archives in the future).

~~~
arnarbi
Or when you only remember phrases from the letter and you want Google to find
it for you.

------
gregn
Last year I had a revelation while reading Gore Vidal that all my favorite
books almost without exception had been written on typewriters. I immediately
went to Ebay and bought two: an Olivetti and a Olympia.

I think Mr. Hanks missed one salient point of why bothering to type on an old
machine still may play a valuable role to the writer in the modern age
----------Silence.

I found there is a vast difference sitting in front of any computer compared
to a typewriter. Mechanical typewriters are not alive. They do not have an
internal CPU constantly cycling and doing things, constantly prodding you for
attention with little indicators and wifi meters and clocks and things.
Computers are needy. They are constantly trying to distract you, even when
they are doing absolutely nothing. Typewriters on the other hand, are doing
absolutely nothing. They are merely empty mechanical contraptions with no life
in them whatsoever. What you find when typing is -- well, at least what I
found -- is that you are left alone with your thoughts and the workings of
your mind and nothing else but the silence of the room. This might be the
first time in fifteen years you have experienced this sensation. It was odd at
first and slightly uncomfortable. But I found that when writing narrative
fiction, the words are totally uninhibited. They are not forced. You are not
churning away as if you are a member of a large electronic industrial machine:
society, but instead are left in quiet solace with nothing but you and the
table, the stillness of the dust floating in the air and this solid bit of
metal under your palms, and they are utterly quiet, and you can think, as if
for the first time. It is a miraculous sensation.

I urge anyone to try it who has been steeped in tech for the last decade or
two.

~~~
colanderman
Heck, I swear I used to be a more creative coder back before I got internet.
No inhibitions about having written something that already exists. No pressure
to keep up with the latest and greatest whatever. I really only can get back
to that now when using less-popular languages whose development is complete
(e.g. TLA+).

~~~
dredmorbius
Hrm. Is FONBF a thing? Fear of not being first?

------
losteverything
As a person who handles mail for a living I can assure you a typewritten
letter, or should I say envelope, is a sure-fire way to have somebody open the
letter.

I once used a typewriter to ask a large Ranch technological Training Company
company if they had any scholarships for old-time programmers ( I was one) who
were out of the game for a decade or so.

I was told my letter was passed around like a novelty and - yes I did receive
the scholarship and was able to learn iOS 4. (And learn about HN)

~~~
jseliger
_I can assure you a typewritten letter, or should I say envelope, is a sure-
fire way to have somebody open the letter._

It's interesting that you say that, as I'm a consultant who does grant writing
for nonprofit and public agencies (see
[http://www.seliger.com](http://www.seliger.com) if you're curious). We send
fee quote letters via email but we also send snailmail letters that arrive a
day or two later. Potential clients often make their decisions before the
letters arrive, but sometimes those letters jar indecisive potential clients
into making a decision, and sometimes those letters sit on their desks for
months until another grant opportunity comes along. A physical letter and card
are often easier to find and sort than voluminous email.

This might not feasible for high-volume businesses, but it's been very
effective for us. The email follow-up arrives the same day, and the physical
letter a few days after that.

~~~
losteverything
I bet you use a real stamp too that has to be "pasted" on. First class letters
get forwarded too.

I throw so many letters "away" (UBBM) and the sender has no idea it never made
it.

Plus many people don't open theor mail right away or they are away from their
house for a long period Of time. A first class letter that doesn't look
machine-made is always an intriguing "open"

------
wccrawford
>Computer keyboards make a mousy tappy tap tappy tap like ones you hear in a
Starbucks — work may be getting done but it sounds cozy and small, like
knitting needles creating a pair of socks.

I wonder if he's tried a mechanical keyboard? He might like it quite a bit
better, even if just for the fact that you can choose your personality of
keyboard with your computer, just like he does with typewriters.

~~~
Animats
As someone who restores older Teletype machines, I get to type on a real
mechanical keyboard. It's a strange experience at first. When you press a key,
it locks down for 200ms while the mechanism cycles. During this period, no
other key can be pressed; the other keys are physically blocked. You can't
press two keys at once; that, too, is mechanically interlocked. Efficient
typing on these machines requires typing at a fixed speed of 5 keystrokes per
second. It's like playing a piano; rhythm matters.

In the pre-1930 Teletype machines, the keys are ordinary Underwood typewriter
keys. If you type too fast, you blunt your fingers against the immovable keys.
In 1930, Teletype switched over to spring-loaded keycaps, with about 1mm of
spring motion in case you hit a key before the machine is ready. This made
fast typing much more comfortable.

Western Union expected their Teletype operators to be able to type "blind",
with no display or printer to see what they were typing. Outbound operators
often used a machine with a keyboard and a tape punch only - no printer.
Here's one at work.[1] The machine she's using doesn't have the 5 keystroke
per second limitation - notice the loop of tape between the keyboard machine
and the tape reader. That's buffering. Operators were expected to type without
errors, of course.

[1] [https://youtu.be/4ziHpB-Dw7o?t=367](https://youtu.be/4ziHpB-Dw7o?t=367)

~~~
vacri
> _Western Union expected their Teletype operators to be able to type "blind",
> with no display or printer to see what they were typing._

My aunt taught typing at a girls' high school in the '80s. She was amazingly
fast - she bought a typewriter with a memory, and I recall her being finished
with a typewritten letter when the page was only one-third of the way through
'printing'. Had to wait for it to finish each time before loading in the next
letter.

Later in the '80s she got a job as a temp and was working on a computer. Boss
comes in and sees here just staring motionless at it: "What are you doing, why
aren't you working?". Her response was "I'm just waiting for the computer to
catch up". The boss went over to look, and sure enough, the computer was still
bringing up what she typed onto the screen...

~~~
girvo
> _" I'm just waiting for the computer to catch up"_

Heck, even into the mid 90's, my mother would type so fast into Microsoft Word
on Windows 95 that she'd have to pause and wait for the computer to catch up
to where she'd typed!

------
news_to_me
I'm very interested in this phenomenon where people seem to idolize certain
outdated, analog technology. It seems to be some reaction against, or coping
mechanism for, the increasingly digital world. I have a lot of fuzzy thoughts
on it, and I'd like to read a book or an article that unpacks the idea more
thoroughly.

~~~
niftich
The article makes a very astute point: that people are attracted to the
physicality, the tangibility of "analog" things. Whether out of nostalgia
(because we've been there) or retro fascination (when we haven't lived it
firsthand), we can develop an emotional connection with a single physical
objects that succinctly and permanently hold an abstract concept in a physical
package -- like a letter, a book, a music record, or a photograph.

In the digital world so much of what we produce, consume, and interact with
has no physical manifestation what we can strongly identify with. The computer
is an abstract filing cabinet which can display what you're looking for on its
own screen, or plays abstract 'music files', or streams 'video' from
subscription apps. We're essentially asking the computer to recall these
things from its "memory", and luckily, they remember with exact accuracy much
more than a human would. While we can experience these things, we can't hold
them in our hand; we can't share them in a self-contained, self-describing
form (like handing someone a book) -- if we can share them at all.

~~~
bbctol
I think as related sensation is the feeling of control, or at least
understanding, over our technology. You can see exactly how a typewriter
works; each letter you type is a direct result of your action, through a clear
causal chain. When you type on a computer, letters appear on your screen
through a much more convoluted process we take as magic, and especially for
someone unused to the technology, that can lead to a feeling of loss of
control.

~~~
wrsh07
A typewriter never has inexplicable input lag. I think you've made an astute
point.

------
acaloiar
We would all be remiss not to mention Hanx Writer, Tom Hanks' typewriter
emulator application for iOS.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanx-
writer/id868326899](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanx-writer/id868326899)

~~~
fluxic
Hm... reminds me of this distraction-free WiFi typewriter.

[https://getfreewrite.com/](https://getfreewrite.com/)

~~~
personlurking
Interesting (I'd never heard of this), though pricey.

Strangely, I'd prefer a plain keyboard (w/o a screen) where I could type (for
journaling) and have what I type be saved. I suppose this could be easily done
with a wireless keyboard connected to my phone. People would think I was
crazy, though, seeing me type on a computer keyboard without a computer in
view.

------
ihm
"Tom Hanks on Typewriters", the newest web framework (latency and scalability
are still a bit of an issue with it honestly).

~~~
imgabe
All web requests are routed directly to Tom Hanks, who will type up the page
and mail it back to you. Expect 2-4 weeks for delivery.

~~~
vacri
Does it support RFC1149?

------
robocaptain
> No one on the planet has yet to save an Evite.

Brilliant. Great little article. Doubt it will do much to overall typewriter
usage (I also don't think that is his point, really) but you have to admire
his passion.

~~~
jseliger
_Doubt it will do much to overall typewriter usage (I also don 't think that
is his point, really) but you have to admire his passion._

I also doubt it'll increase typewriter usage, but a while ago I saw _The
Atlantic 's_ review of this device: "The Future of Writing Looks Like the
Past: The Freewrite, a 'smart typewriter,' wants to liberate writers from
their computers," which looks intriguing
([http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/freewr...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/freewrite/481566/)).
At $500 it seems a bit pricey, but I've talked to many writers who complain of
relentless distraction from the notifications on regular computers, and I
wonder if the Freewrite is a possible solution to that problem.

Myself, I'm fond of Freedom ([https://freedom.to/](https://freedom.to/)) for
quieting the temptation to log in, but I can see the appeal of alternatives.

~~~
damontal
You can get an Alphasmart on eBay for 30$ if you want a distraction-free
writing device.

~~~
scateu
Yeah. I have got 3 Alphasmart from eBay.

------
startupdiscuss
I like the romance of the typewriter as much as the next person, but does
anyone miss the terrific amount of labor that went into those things?

I mean your hands really had to work hard at typing. These days, I am trying
to keep even keyboard typing as low stress as possible.

~~~
rabidrat
You definitely consider your words and characters more carefully.

------
kabdib
I have an IBM Selectric that I bought from a Goodwill for $13. It's in near
perfect condition.

I can't use it because people can hear it clear across the house. It makes the
cats hide. It definitely makes your writer's block very apparent to everyone
in earshot; that's embarrassing and leads to filling that silence with "All
work and no play..."

That said, it types like a dream. Very few keyboards I've ever used come close
(the original PC keyboard is probably the closest in feel). The problem with
all of these is that your typing makes the people around you want to murder
you.

I have high hopes for the KeyboardIO split keyboard. We'll see :-)

~~~
vacri
I work one day a week at a place where I am the only one who has a mechanical
keyboard. It's not even a loud one ('cherry brown' switches). But I sit down
and start working, and I'll occasionally hear someone say "Oh, is it Thursday
already?", my presence announced by my keyboard-bashing...

------
calypso
Reminds me of Hanx Writer: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanx-
writer/id868326899](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanx-writer/id868326899)

and Electratype (I was on the team that made this app):
[https://itunes.apple.com/app/electratype/id619414507](https://itunes.apple.com/app/electratype/id619414507)

------
WalterBright
My dad wrote his book on a typewriter. My mom typed the revised drafts. Again
and again and again. It was true drudgery. There's no romance in that.

------
webtechgal
Going off at a bit of a tangent here, but this reminds me of something that I
find quite interesting:

I believe history has it that the querty keyboard layout was intentionally
designed to slow down the typing speed, because the mechanical efficiency of
the first gen/early typewriters (1860/70?) was fairly low, causing the moving
prongs to jam if typing was done rapidly.

I also believe the dvorak layout (which got invented later and never gained
much popularity) allows measurably faster typing (never used it myself). I
think the older Apple keyboards used to have a qwerty/dvorak switch on the
backside. Any dvorak users/fans here, I wonder?

~~~
mikeash
I learned Dvorak as a teenager and I've been using it ever since. Obviously I
can't use it all the time, since it's not worth setting up on other people's
computers, iPads don't support it for the onscreen keyboard, and similar, but
I use it on my computers. I think it's faster, and more importantly it's more
comfortable since there's less movement involved. It's sometimes inconvenient,
as keyboard shortcuts which make sense for QWERTY are sometimes weird for
Dvorak, but overall I'm glad I made the switch. I don't have any real trouble
using QWERTY when I need to, either. It takes me a minute or so to get back up
to speed, then I'm fine.

~~~
Symbiote
> more importantly it's more comfortable since there's less movement involved

This is far more important for me. Even typing a couple of words on Qwerty
feels uncomfortable.

Assuming your keyboard is Qwerty, try typing

    
    
        "feels uncomfortable"
        "yddp; flismysokanpd"
    

The second line is the keys you'd type if your layout was Dvorak. Notice only
two letters are on the bottom row, and the top→bottom pair is an unusual
letter combination (MF) rather than very common ones (UN, OM). The hand
alternation is also more even, with at most two letters typed on the same
hand, compared to Qwerty's four:

    
    
        "LLLRL RRLRRLRLLLLRL"
        "RLLRR LRRLRRLRRLRRL"

------
stevewilhelm
One of Mr. Hanks haunts (his son is attending Stanford) for collecting
typewriters.

[http://www.losaltosbusinessmachines.com/](http://www.losaltosbusinessmachines.com/)

------
keeringplastik
I went through a phase in my late teens where I used an old typewriter to
record my screeds on life, politics and technology. It was fun to get that
rythm going with the keys clattering and the hammers indenting. It made it
feel like you were really writing something important (I would italicize but
for the phone).

I guess I was a hipster before hipster was a thing. I might have to dig
through my files and see if I still have any of it...

------
keithpeter
_" You can choose the typewriter to match your sound signature."_

[http://freesound.org/people/keithpeter/sounds/123344/#](http://freesound.org/people/keithpeter/sounds/123344/#)

Olivetti Lettra 22

I might record the Olympia SM9 when I get time to clean it up. The manual
suggests getting some cork to rest it on to reduce the sound (it is a solid
item).

------
WalterBright
At a technical conference a few years back, I decided to give my presentation
using hand written viewfoils on an overhead projector. The conference venue
had to really dig to find a working projector :-)

For years afterwards, people would come up to me and remark on how that
presentation stuck in their memory!

(I still have a mechanical typewriter. Maybe I won't throw it away after all.)

~~~
yiyus
A friend of mine fell when going on stage for a conference. He broke his nose
and there were lots of blood and an ambulance involved. Everybody remembers
it.

It's great that you use that technique if it is going to make your
presentation clearer, if using the projector really helped your audience to
get whatever you were presenting better. If that was the case, congratulations
for an original idea. But if they only remember you as the annoying guy who
had everybody waiting while looking for a projector, I would not feel very
proud of it.

~~~
WalterBright
I had the sense to talk to the conference people a couple weeks in advance
about the projector, and it was waiting in the conference room on schedule. So
that wasn't a problem.

It didn't affect the content of the presentation at all.

The only issue was one of perception - I was talking about new technology, and
was presenting using old technology. It wasn't congruent, and didn't really
fit, although it was fun. Hence it was a one-off thing. I didn't do it again.

I doubt today one could even find a viewfoil projector, and the audio-visual
staff would be annoyed because it won't interface to their recording system.
Annoying the AV staff is never a good idea.

------
Overtonwindow
As a typewriter collector and huge nerd this is great. If you want to learn
more about the recent revolution in typewriter ownership, etc. check out
Richard Polt's book: The Typewriter Revolution. Really nicely done. I keep a
1958 Hermes Rocket in my office and it bemuses the younger staff, and
visitors, most of whom have never seen one up close.

~~~
randomgyatwork
I recently wrote something on a typewriter, got half way though the page and
spelt a word incorrectly, tried to fix it and somehow destroyed the whole
page...

~~~
pc86
My international politics professor had a story about how he had a copy of his
master's thesis in his carry-on on a train in what was then Soviet Russia. He
left the bag on the train and ended up having to retype the whole thing in a
weekend.

~~~
Overtonwindow
If you're interested in typewriters and spa I craft, read up on The Gunman
Project at NSA.

------
flashman
If you don't want to go all the way back to paper, you could always try a USB
typewriter: [http://www.usbtypewriter.com/](http://www.usbtypewriter.com/)

------
pasbesoin
Lost one Olivetti Studio 44 to a flood (and to a family member's insistence
then that we get rid of it :-( Me: _But, parts...!..._ ).

Got one remaining.

------
lintiness
nice, little romantic schpeel. i once leased an office next to a guy who typed
everything; couldn't nap for shit!

------
CptJamesCook
The man has a wonderful joy of living.

