
IBM Punched Card Typography - masswerk
http://www.masswerk.at/misc/card-punch-typography/
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kens
Very interesting article. Stepping back, you might wonder why the keypunch
uses a metal plate to hold the character bitmaps rather than a ROM or
something sensible. Remember that the 026 keypunch was introduced in 1949, so
there wasn't really a convenient way to store bits. It's actually pretty
clever to use bumps on a metal plate to drive the printing.

The other side of this is how they stored the mapping from keys to hole
patterns, with each key punching 0 to 3 holes. This was also done
mechanically. Each key moved a lever ("bail") with tabs, and the tabs trip
contacts that cause the right holes to be punched. But in between is a bunch
of relay-based logic to handle shifting for special characters, numeric keypad
mode, and so forth.

If you want to try out a 026 keypunch yourself, go to the Computer History
Museum in Mountain View CA when they are demoing the IBM 1401.

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anseljh
Don't forget the typography on the SS's IBM Hollerith punch cards, too. Scroll
down, 2nd to last image. [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ibm-and-quot-
death-s-cal...](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ibm-and-quot-death-s-
calculator-quot)

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sverige
From this reference: "Solipsistic and dazzled by its own swirling universe of
technical possibilities, IBM was self-gripped by a special amoral corporate
mantra: if it can be done, it should be done. To the blind technocrat, the
means were more important than the ends."

How much this sounds like Silicon Valley today.

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Retra
If it can be done _someone will eventually do it_. Make sure you do it first,
or your enemies/competitors will do it first.

It's really just a rational survival principle.

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orbat
The point was that you should be be asking whether you should be doing
something in the first place

