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Sunday, May 27, 2012

USB or not USB?



I've been wondering whether the ultimate way to pimp my write would be to turn the Turbo Purple Prose Producer into a USB typewriter, like Robert Messenger's. Or would that be a betrayal of the typewriter insurgency? Even if I decide to do it, I don't yet have the skills -- I'd need to practice soldering.

Let me know what you think in this survey.


PS: This post has been pre-scheduled. I'm on my way to Spain and Italy for a ten-day trip; I won't know the survey results until I get back to the US on June 5, and I'll share them with you shortly thereafter. 

I'll be doing as little digital activity in Europe as possible. No, I'm not bringing a working typewriter either -- just a little notebook and a pen, and an antique non-functional typewriter that I'm delivering to a friend. I will be meeting some fellow collectors, and may report on our activities when I return. I look forward to catching up with the typosphere when I get back. One pre-scheduled post will appear here on June 1, and will provide several pages of very interesting reading -- not by me.


7 comments:

  1. I wouldn't consider it a betrayal as much as a new way to incorporate typewriters into even more of your life. There's nothing like working on a computer AND a typewriter at the same time.

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  2. I love the typewriter the way it is -- perhaps do the USB mods on some other machine, that's not already so cool! ;-)

    Have a great trip! I would not be at all surprised if you come back with an interesting typewriter. Or two!

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  3. NO! Richard! For goodness' sake, NO! Remember your latest editor's notes in the March EtCetera! What has happened to you! I know, it's too much work. You need a vacation. Maybe Spain and Italy are just what you need.

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  4. Ah, but insurgency is also about guile and deception. Consider the words of Sun Tzu:

    "To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

    A USB purple prose writer will break the wills of the digitally addicted and introduce them the to the typewriter orthodoxy.

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  5. I am not a fan of USB conversion but in the case of your purple pimped Torpedo, it fits. Yes!

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  6. p.s. Enjoy your travels, Richard!

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  7. Definitely. I'm curious how much rarely-seen awesomeness can be crammed into one Torpedo.
    Besides, installing the USB device doesn't negatively affect the mechanical functioning of the typer, does it? So what's to lose?

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