Joshua Stein never disappoints with his posts on retro tech, which he restores to a pristine condition (or gives new life via new software, such as running a BBS on a Macintosh Plus).
Back in October 2022 jcs posted this blog (video) on using a 3M Whisper Writer 1000 to connect to the Kludge BBS.
I love how when first powered up, the printer identifies itself:
It seems like a great way to connect to BBSes via (an albeit slow 300 baud) modem. Here is Kludge:
Reading Joshua’s post lead us to search X for other folks working on restoring similar Whisper Writer 1000 Teleprinters.
That’s how we discovered Connor Taffe’s struggle (tweet) to connect his printer to the Level 29 BBS (x).
The use of the 3M Whisper Writer reminds us of Drew DeVault’s use of EPSON LX-350 printer to create a modern teletype!
We here, at the Pluralist Network, are quite fond of dot matrix printers and this particular human-machine interface: