Hacker Remix

Tell HN: I'm a programmer who bought a typewriter

59 points by sasha_fishter 1 week ago | 56 comments

I have been programming for the last 7 years professionally. I like computers from my early age. My father bought me Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ when I was in the first grade. Since then, computers were part of my life, significantly. I stare at my screen almost whole day. One day there was some voice in me saying "Buy a typewriter". I listened to the voice and bought Smith Corona Silent from 1946. It was the most profound experience I ever had with some kind of machine. I was not so happy when I got my first cell phone, and later smartphone nor computer. This is something different, probably because the basics are the same, I'm still typing.

Suddenly I found myself writing a diary, and a novel. I never wrote anything other than blog posts (many of them since I had website similar to The Verge) - which I sold later.

I now have 3 typewriters, 2x Smith Corona Silent (1946 and 1956), and Olympia Monica (I think it's from '70).

What I found very interesting is that writing on a typewriter is perfectly synchronized with how fast my mind is working. Time slows down! I read that on the web somewhere, and it is slowing the time when you type on a typewriter! I can confess that!

My fingers are too fast on computer keyboard, and I even don't want to talk about distractions like auto correct and other stuff that always pops up. This is something what really makes me feel good. I can write a story, poem, diary, or a letter to a friend.

It's truly something we should have on our desk somewhere in the room, and just put our thoughts on a paper.

brudgers 6 days ago

Thinking about efficiency is a reliable way to buzz-kill creative inspiration.

Editing is only more work with my typewriter (Olympia Traveler Deluxe with British layout) if I write something worth editing and am willing to do the work of editing it.

When it comes to self-expression (a somewhat better term than creativity) the writing is important. Not having the mental burden of possible OS updates, battery, cable and file management, etc. makes a typewriter workflow efficient for some of my work.

Sure, I wouldn't use a typewriter for ordinary business transactions or surfing the web or commenting on HN. Instead I use it when I don't want to deal with those habits.

For clarity, I only have one typewriter, not a collection. It is the fourth in the last five years bought at a thrift shop. The first was a 6 CPI SCM 12. [1] It was replace by a Spanish Keyboard Hermes Baby I bought on eBay. Then an Olympia Deluxe with Script font given to my beloved.

If you are looking for a typewriter:

+ maybe think about the case. Does it stack well? Can you stack stuff on top of it? Because at some point you will probably want to free up the space where your typewriter sits or transport it or store it.

+ check the typeface. The Olympia with script typeface was a bargain, but it is script. The 6CPI SCM was a surprise. Can you live with the typeface?

+ are you handy? Typewriter service is basic millwrighting. You will want decent flathead screwdrivers and some time on Youtube.

[1] If I come across another SCM with 6CPI for the right price I will have two typewriters. 6CPI changes the way I write and matches well with images...I got the Hermes Baby because I wanted a small font. It was too small and the way the text looked on the page turned me off. The Olympia is good enough, which is good enough.

bluGill 4 days ago

For those who don't know: a flathead screwdriver should be flat. Almost all taper to the point and that makes for a bad screwdriver that will cam out and ruin the screws.

fsckboy 3 days ago

>Thinking about efficiency is a reliable way to buzz-kill creative inspiration.

on the autism spectrum are systems thinkers, many liking to think precisely about efficiency, we are very creative about it and it makes us happy (read Simon Baron-Cohen's The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention)

you're a buzzkill

BitterCritter 3 days ago

No, as an autist, this guy is right. I’ve “systematically”thought about it a lot and creativity is something that must be done the long and hard way. You can be creative about efficiency but not efficient about creativity.

brudgers 3 days ago

Among the systems I system-think about are systems that produce self-expression and systems that produce creative work.

Lots of people like to think about efficiency because thinking about efficiency is easier than doing work...and avoiding work is one of the definitions of efficiency.

Or to put it another way (and in the context of writing), thinking about efficiency doesn't put words on the page and what's in our heads is not the result of our creative acts.

Efficiency arises from the work, not vice versa. Self-expressive work arises from inspiration. The friction of inefficiency is often a symptom of important self-expression.

taylodl 1 week ago

Having grown up at a time where I was forced to use typewriters and listen to vinyl LP records, I don't wax so nostalgic over those old technologies. As soon as I got my Commodore 64 and my Star Gemini 10x dot matrix printer, I never used a typewriter again!

Vinyl took a little longer to get off of as I had (and still have) a fairly significant vinyl collection.

freedomben 3 days ago

I'm with you on the vinyl, and I was with you on the typewriter until a few years ago when I was looking through a museum and they had a typewriter that could be used by the guests. It was a little older than the typewriter I had to use as a kid before getting a computer, but not radically different.

Typing on it was at first nostalgic, but I quickly realized I was typing way more steadily and efficiently (far fewer mistakes) than I do on a modern keyboard. After continuing to use it I realized there really is something important in the physicality there. There's also a lot of value I think in the "distraction free" nature of the typewriter. It's not going to deluge me with notifications about email and slack messages I'm constantly receiving.

That said, I do think I'd get very frustrated if I had to type on it when tired or rushed as mistakes are far more costly on a typewriter than a modern computer. It's certainly not the panacea that nostalgia makes many of us think it will be, but I do think there's real benefit in it.

mberlove 3 days ago

Can I ask, do you find that the benefits that other respondents are claiming (maybe younger respondents) are artifacts of a wishful thinking? Is it possible that the benefits are somewhat real, but come with downsides? I'm not leading in any one direction, but I am curious if the experience is more objective or subjective.

taylodl 3 days ago

Could be a couple things:

1. ASMR. Typewriters make a nice sound as you type. A lot of people like it. With regards to vinyl LPs, while growing up a friend of mine always remarked how much the static reminded him of a crackling fire. He felt like you were listening to music beside a fire.

2. I grew up in a time when these were simply the tools we had. I'd already learned how to be mindful about doing work - the tools forced us! I learned how to write and compose without the benefit of a computer. I learned photography at a time when I processed my own film and made my own prints in a darkroom. I know that experience has greatly affected how I approach digital photography. Younger people might simply be getting a thrill learning what I learned decades ago. Maybe they appreciate a completely different approach to achieving the same thing? With an entirely different workflow? That might give them new insights.

There are still aspects of the old that I like and prefer. For example, I still prefer books over screens. I still write notes on pen and paper and later transcribe them to my computer because I've learned I'll retain the information better if I actually physically write it down. When recording music, I prefer to use Audacity because it's like using the computer as a giant R2R and I get a more natural sound. I still shoot digital cameras in manual mode (or semi-automatic depending on the situation) because I like to control the different technical aspects of the shot. Stuff like that.

brudgers 3 days ago

I'm not younger and listened to records and used a typewriter. I have a typewriter because it creates an environment that is not a computer. Unlike a phonograph, a typewriter is an entire ecosystem less commodity supplies (a phonograph is useless without the activity selecting and acquiring and storing records).

I don't recommend getting a typewriter. If someone wants to try one, they will do it. And if someone doesn't they won't. They are not for everyone and there is no moral distinction between those two groups.

nottorp 4 days ago

Hmm YMMV. I like it even slower for writing fiction, as in handwriting.

But the most important part is probably not the slowness but the distraction-free environment. Get a DOS machine with WordPerfect and it will work as well. But don't run DOS in an emulator that you can alt+tab away from and doomscroll...

cluckindan 4 days ago

An old 486 DOS laptop is great for this!

theogravity 3 days ago

For those who want a hardware+digital writing-focused experience, I'd recommend the Kingjim Pomera series.

https://artvsentropy.wordpress.com/2023/08/12/retro-writing-...

We bought a Pomera DM250 a few months ago while in Japan. It's really sleek and feature-rich compared to western-built writing-only devices which are limited, more expensive, and bulky. It opens up directly to a word processor; runs Linux under the hood.

You can buy them via ebay as well if you're not in Japan.