a true labor of love

January 25, 2005 9:06 AM

A fantastic example of old meets new, a man spends weeks crafting the perfect Christmas gift for his wife, with spectacular results. I give you the typewriter-keyboard conversion: a true labor of love. Makes me want to dig up my grandpa's old Underwood and give it a go.
posted by Igor XA (26 comments total)

and i searched as hard as i could and i could not find this posted elsewhere.
posted by Igor XA at 9:07 AM on January 25, 2005

1) That is f-r-e-s-h!
2)Thanks.
3)Very Brazil.
4)I'd buy one if I had any money to spend and anyone made em to sell.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:19 AM on January 25, 2005

I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be a double, because this truly is Best of the Web. Fascinating and oddly inspiring. Thanks, Igor.
posted by soyjoy at 9:48 AM on January 25, 2005

Freaking great post.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:50 AM on January 25, 2005

This is even more Brazil.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:59 AM on January 25, 2005

Great, thanks. And nice addition, Zed_.
posted by taz at 10:18 AM on January 25, 2005

Love this. I too would buy one. Someone start a company, stat.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:06 AM on January 25, 2005

There's also an Underwood with a mini-itx PC shoehorned into it. Disappointingly, the keyboard mechanism was replaced with a plastic keyboard (topped with the original keys).

This is definitely cooler.
posted by O9scar at 11:34 AM on January 25, 2005

This is why women love their geeks. :) That's the sweetest Xmas gift I've seen in a long time.
posted by dabitch at 11:35 AM on January 25, 2005

Fantastic post! My mind's working overtime on alternatives for all of that soldering. I can imagine a system where you mount a membrane keyboard underneath, and attach some sort of an extension to each key that would depress the underlying membrane key.
posted by SteveInMaine at 11:36 AM on January 25, 2005

yay! i have a winner! i feel like a real part of the community now. finally. after years of lurking.

oh, and O9scar, i saw that one too. i was also disappointed by the lack of the original keyboard.
posted by Igor XA at 11:38 AM on January 25, 2005

Ha! This is great. I also want to make one or, better yet, pay or convince someone else to make one for me...
posted by vacapinta at 12:31 PM on January 25, 2005

The detective in one of the shorts in the Anamatrix is shown "hacking" with a computer with this type of keyboard and some other analog inputs (dials and stuff).
posted by 445supermag at 12:33 PM on January 25, 2005

all hacking should involve dials ans stuff.
posted by dabitch at 12:36 PM on January 25, 2005

If that project seems too daunting, you could always make some jewelry from typewriter keys.
posted by fixedgear at 1:21 PM on January 25, 2005

Tried before?
posted by jon_kill at 1:28 PM on January 25, 2005

I love it when someone is really, really in love. This is beautiful...
posted by fluffycreature at 1:44 PM on January 25, 2005

This is even more Brazil.

Yesssssssssss. Terry Gilliam would be proud.
posted by The God Complex at 2:15 PM on January 25, 2005

I love it when someone is really, really in love. This is beautiful...

That was my first reaction, too. I'm such a softy in my old age!
posted by The God Complex at 2:16 PM on January 25, 2005

What an incredibly sweet and considerate gift. This is hacking of the highest order.
posted by QIbHom at 2:41 PM on January 25, 2005

odinsdream - His wife said that what she liked about the manual t/w was the gradual resistance - the weight of the hammers provided that. If he'd done it "the easy way", it would have missed the point.

Cool post, Igor XA.
posted by swell at 2:41 PM on January 25, 2005

Ditto
posted by Heatwole at 4:15 PM on January 25, 2005

I would love for someone to wire my ancient typewriter thusly. I love that typewriter, and much prefer to compose on it, but it's almost impossible to get the ribbons for it anymore, and thus, it sits idle much more than I would like.
posted by dejah420 at 4:51 PM on January 25, 2005

Damn, I missed it and it's gone. Did anyone mirror?
posted by bingo at 5:04 PM on January 26, 2005

not me, but trust us, it was dead romantic in a hacker-sorta-way.
posted by dabitch at 5:07 PM on January 26, 2005

Now that no one cares anymore it is back up. Oh, you'll never come back here again.
posted by nanojath at 7:27 PM on February 24, 2005