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  • bnuuybnuuy@mathstodon.xyz
    Oct 17, 2026, 12:33 AM

    @futurebird the modern computer interface is a ship of theseus of teletypes, i.e. typewriters that connect to a telegraph line.

    originally, teletypes would be connected to each other, so two people on either end of the line could have something kinda akin to our modern-day text chats.

    then, turns out connecting one end to a computer also happened to be a great interface to interact with a computer, that way you could even remote access them and everything, and the terminal was born.

    then, the paper of the typewriter got replaced by a cathode ray tube screen, though with specialized circuitry to display text, not like how we are used to screens working today.

    then, piece by piece: graphical terminals could dispay more advanced graphics, the mouse was invented.

    but that modern terminal window or REPL is still an emulation of the teletype connected to a computer at it's core.

    edit: removed the bit about home computers, since it is evidently misinfo; i need to look into where i got this idea from sometime.

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Replies

  • Tim Jtimtfj@mastodon.social
    Oct 17, 2026, 1:11 AM

    @bnuuy @futurebird I certainly remember terminals where the visual interface was a roll of paper. Noisy to use, but you had a full record of the session afterwards.

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  • blinking japes constantlybjc@shangdu.kublai.com
    Oct 17, 2026, 1:14 AM

    @bnuuy @futurebird i'm struggling trying to come up with even one early home computer that had an integrated display and keyboard in a single device. the commodore pet maybe counts, though the display was separable, like the trs80. the apple 2 didn't have one, and obviously neither did the first apple.

    a lot of the home computers were keyboards with an rf output that was expected to be hooked up to your television.

    the original mac had the display integrated into the chassis, but not the keyboard.

    i'm sure i'm missing some old computers (there were a lot of options back then!), but i wouldn't say the earliest home computers integrated screens and keyboards as one, nor that they were considered a single device.

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  • Tim Jtimtfj@mastodon.social
    Oct 17, 2026, 3:20 AM

    @bjc @bnuuy @futurebird Exactly! I nearly put it that way myself. The first ones I remember (but I didn't have a computer until later) were the ZX80 and ZX Spectrum.

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  • Murdoc Addams 🧛🏻:ri: 🇨🇦murdoc@autistics.life
    Oct 17, 2026, 2:39 AM

    @bnuuy
    That's an excellent summary of the evolution there. Although I'm not sure about the part "early home computers tended to have screen and keyboard as one device". I can only think of one or maybe two like that, and many that did not, not counting portables that is. Now combining the keyboard with the computer was certainly the norm though, unlike later.

    But overall I really liked that, thanks!

    @futurebird

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  • Tim Jtimtfj@mastodon.social
    Oct 17, 2026, 2:22 PM

    @murdoc @bnuuy @futurebird It might be true of early desktop computers / personal computers? "Desktop" meant it was miniaturised enough to fit on a desk, not that you had any chance of affording one at home. I think desktop ones described as "personal computers" either preceded home computers or developed in parallel with them. The three terms weren't equivalent.

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  • myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 11:24 AM

    @bnuuy

    We think of keyboards as "technology" with all the futuristic connotations of that word, but in reality keyboards are storied cultural artifacts shaped by human history. Every key, every character has a story.

    What could you understand about a culture, or about a people simply by examining their most popular tools?

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  • bnuuybnuuy@mathstodon.xyz
    Oct 17, 2026, 11:38 AM

    @futurebird it's certainly not some obvious thing that fell out of the sky, early computers had this problem of "how do we get information in and out of these things?", and just about all the attempts people made at this where people looking around at all the other technology they had at the time, and repurposing it for computers. it's "obvious" that the keyboard came from typewriters somehow, but the less obvious part is how the screen on top of the keyboard is a replacement of a replacemnt of typewriter paper. the typewriter interface still silently shape so many small details of how computers work today, especially under the hood. it's good to know this history so you have context for how the present works.

    a different society might have invented something else entirely, and/or converged at a similar thing from a different direction.

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  • glygGlyg@mamot.fr
    Oct 17, 2026, 12:09 PM

    @bnuuy @futurebird If I may, this is the focus of a very important book
    "On the mode of existence of technical Objects" by Gilbert Simondon
    He studies technique as a cultural artifact, or rather as the interface between culture and nature
    Very pertinent for today, notably as an early critic of cybernetics
    A PDF of an English translation is easily found online

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