APL typeball

[John R Pierce]

I was going through my old stuff, and found an original APL golfball for
an 1130 console. this one is used, but has all its teeth, seems to be
in perfectly good working order.

some pics here,
http://smu.gs/IrqzWm

if anyone has a real 1130 working, with the original selectric console
and wants the real APL/1130 experience, I'd be happy to pass this along.

the blue base is cracked, and the clear top is long gone, but the golf
ball is completely intact. I'm almsot 100% sure this is an 1130
golfball (IIRC< there was another incompatible APL typeball used by some
selectric terminal)


--
john r pierce N 37, W 122
santa cruz ca mid-left coast

[Philip Leonard]

On 4/26/2012 2:41 AM, John R Pierce wrote:
>
> the blue base is cracked, and the clear top is long gone, but the golf
> ball is completely intact. I'm almsot 100% sure this is an 1130
> golfball (IIRC< there was another incompatible APL typeball used by
> some selectric terminal)
>
>

IBM 2741 I believe was the terminal, IIRC.

Philip

[Robert A. Lerche]

There were two APL type balls that I know of: 987 (correspondence
code) and 988 (BCD? I can't remember). There were also two different
versions of the 2741. The two versions transmitted different encodings.

As I recall it the ")nnn" used for signon allowed the system to
distinguish the two types by looking for the ")" encoding.

A perhaps amusing consequence of this was that it was possible to use
the "wrong" type ball by learning the translation between the two
codes and typing in translated form. I actually did this once. Ah,
the folly of youth.

[Dave Wade]

Perhaps the print part on the 1130 is the same as a 2741 printer, but
its not a 2741 keyboard....
> Philip
>

[John R Pierce]

On 04/26/12 12:26 PM, Dave Wade wrote:
> Perhaps the print part on the 1130 is the same as a 2741 printer, but
> its not a 2741 keyboard....

IIRC, the 1130's console printer was a 16-something, and of course, the
keyboard was lifted from an 029 keypunch (even generated hollerith code
that had to be translated in the keyboard routine).

[Catherine Lathwell]

Please don't let your golfball end up in the trash.  I'll find it a good home, if no one intends to use it.

[John R Pierce]

On 04/26/12 12:41 AM, John R Pierce wrote:
> I'm almsot 100% sure this is an 1130 golfball (IIRC< there was another
> incompatible APL typeball used by some selectric terminal)
>

oddly, there's no IBM or other lettering on the black top. I seem to
recall all IBM balls had this, along with the type ball number.

there is a 988 molded on the chrome ball under the lock tab, and a "D"
on the inside of the ball.

[Carl Claunch]

resurrecting an old thread just to complete the information on the typeball.

The special typeballs for selectric mechanisms did not have lettering on the black top, they were identified solely by the three digit code stamped on the body just under the liftup locking lever. This was true for the basic typeball on the console as well as the APL version. Same for the balls used on other terminals such as 2741.

The selectric mechanism had two arrangements of letters around the ball (codings), correspondence and PTT/BCD. The correspondence arrangement is the typewriter coding. A ball designed for correspondence woudl have the letter A at a tilt and rotation position on the ball that matched the tilt and rotate caused by pushing the key A. PTT/BCD put the same letter A at a different tilt and rotate position, and the keyboard for a PTT/BCD device would generate the different tilt and rotate value when its key A is pushed. If the ball and keyboard use different codings, you get seeming gibberish as a particular key would likely yield a wholly different character on the paper. 

The 988 typeball is the PTT/BCD arrangement of the APL characters. The 1130 console is a 1053 printer which uses the PTT/BCD arrangment. Your ball definitely is the one used on an 1130. The other APL ball, 987, has the same characters but in the correspondence (typewriter) coding. IBM 2741 terminals came in two flavors, correspondence and PTT/BCD, thus a user installed the APL ball that matched her terminal. 

[Alex Weiner]

Hi John, I know this is many years later...Is the APL golfball still around?

[John R Pierce]

On 4/1/2017 9:51 PM, Alex Weiner wrote:
> Hi John, I know this is many years later...Is the APL golfball still
> around?

afraid not, someone claimed it a year or two ago.

--
john r pierce, recycling bits in santa cruz