Typesetters in the '80s - Computerphile
Computerphile1 HN recommender · recommended in 1 month, 2015–2020
explainer · general · evergreen · 2015–2020 on HN
Professor Brailsford of the University of Nottingham describes how the university set out to print its own mathematics exam papers in the 1980s. The story centers on getting a Mergenthaler Linotron 202 typesetter to work with their own software.
HN commenters point to it as the history of phototypesetters and a story about the freedom to control your own hardware.
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3 comments from Hacker News
Computerphile interviewed one of the writers of this paper in a series of videos, who explained the brilliant and exiting history of this paper and its recreation, as well as the history of Phototypesetters. 1. link 2. ▶ this video 3. link
0:16:40 For those who haven't seen it before, there's a Computerphile video link (related video: ▶ this video ) about the hacking of the typesetting machine, a Mergenthaler Linotron 202. 0:24:31 The photo must be the one at link (probably the webpage, on Dennis Ritchie's old website, that made it famous recently).
I've never seen Stallman speak, but that sounds like a similar situation to this anecdote from Nottingham in the 80s: ▶ this video It's a somewhat tedious story but it's all about the freedom to control your own hardware.