Talk:Teleprinter

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Does TTY stands for TeleTYpe? 16@r 22:55, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Guy Harris 18:10, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, I am going to modify the article in consequence to make it more understanble at first sight. And as for TDD? *-) 16@r 18:19, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Telecommunications device for the deaf. Guy Harris 18:25, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

My parents were both teleprinter operators for the RAF during WW2. One day my dad, who worked at Bomber Command HQ, Northolt, chatted via teleprinter to my mum, working near Brighton, saying he was on leave one week-end. My mum was also was on leave that same weekend. I'm here because of that teleprinter communication in 1945. I say to everyone that my parents met on-line before the Internet was invented! Acb58 20:34, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

The section on "teleprinter operation" currently speaks of 5-bit codes and paper tapes, but doesn't mention how the teleprinter was used by humans: How long was the typical message, how much did the customer pay, what was life as an operator like, could small companies have their own teleprinter or were they forced to use the cable/phone company, etc. When reading other literature, the phrase "teleprinter conversation" struck me. Compared to later technologies, it seems the teleprinter had more in common with Internet chat than with Internet e-mail. The teleprinter was of course a direct descendant to the morse key. Operators (live people) were at each end, having a conversation, exchanging personal greetings to each other, and occasionally transmitting (business / official) messages for others. One important difference must have been that typing at the teleprinter keyboard required less special skills than using a morse key, so presumably more people could (theoretically) enter into such direct conversations (but did they?). It's hard to imagine a business manager or army general taking the place of a morse key operator. Instead they would write down a message and have someone transmit it for them (much like e-mail). But perhaps they occasionally engaged in teleprinter conversations (chat) of their own at the keyboard? Have such cases been documented in literature (fiction, history, auto/biographies)? --LA2 12:39, 31 July 2007 (UTC)