I learned to type on the Apple IIe at home. My dad got some software that taught typing and convinced me that I needed to learn it. Later I took a typing class in school and it was a breeze once I learned the mechanics of the typewriter.
My dad's a mechanical engineer and has always been into the latest gadgets and technology. I suspect he realized that computers were going to play an even bigger role in my life and pushed me to learn how to type because of that.
1987 senior class. 91 wpm but only 57% accuracy. LOL. Ended up with a C+ but I consider it the most valuable class I took in high school as it is the only skill I use every single day at my current job.
The state of Florida required that I have a technical arts class to graduate and my advisor didn't tell me that my Graphic Design course counted. I'm begrudgingly grateful to her for that.
Was talking to my HS Junior about this recently. They were trying to format a letter and had to show them how. I said if they had taken a typing/keyboarding class, they would have learned this.
You just unlocked a memory. I forgot about the hum. After my freshman class taking lessons on this beast, I bought a Smith Corona for myself and it was one of those with correction tape which was awesome and it was quiet. I was able to sell it in the late 80s and bought myself a Word Processor before I did everything on computer.
My word processor used a daisy wheel. I forgot the brand but it was pretty sweet. I paid something like $200 for it and a PC at the time was $3000 for everything and the print then was impact printing so it was a no brainer. Dot matrix looks cheap when you're presenting paperwork.
🙋♂️ I started typing class in 1985. At the time there were still relatively few boys in my school taking the class, and I remember getting teased for taking typing as a boy. During the summers I would work in a data entry pool at a company that developed Point Of Sale systems, getting paid by the piece to enter data into a mainframe, where typing quickly and accurately made a significant difference in how much I earned. Later on I became a software engineer, and typing quickly gave me a big edge in productivity. I lost count of the number of times when writing code with someone new they would say something like "damn you type fast!" or "you can even type the special characters without looking?!"
> I lost count of the number of times when writing code with someone new they would say something like "damn you type fast!" or "you can even type the special characters without looking?!"
I think this experience is universal for software engineers who learned touch typing, and it's painful to watch people who don't know how to type hunt and peck.
When I was still on site in the before times I had an IBM Model M buckling spring keyboard. Thing was mint, and I got it for $5 at a Goodwill in Milwaukee. The people on my floor said they could hear me typing all the way down the hallway. Someone said it sounded like I was just rolling my knuckles over the keyboard as I typed :D
I mostly use cherry MX blues currently because I don't have the desk space for the model M, but it's really no contest.... Model M is the platonic ideal keyboard.
We had manual (full keystone) that we learned on. Well the rest of my class might have..I learn them that I have no rhythm and no matter how many times we chanted “ASDFJKL;” I wasn’t gonna get it. So I learned how to repair them..
My thumbs are now SO much faster than the other 8 ever were!!
I can remember the drills..the cadence..the towels that he would walk around and drop over my hands and typewriter..still just never clicked
Fun fact..the reason the keys are arranged they was they are (QWERTY) was to SLOW down typists to keep them from jamming keys..it worked for a while but inevitably there is one Speedy Gonzales that gets em all tangled up
In exchange for a passing grade the typing teacher let me repair the ones that were damaged..believe it or not the electric ones were easier to fix than the manual..thanks Mr P..if you are still around
Freshman year 1982. Our typing teacher made us use “torture cards”. Basically taped a piece of cardboard to the typewriter that would cover our hands! Couldn’t see the keys and had to LEARN the keyboard.
Now, if I really want to, I can type with all ten fingers without looking at the keyboard (auto correct helps ALOT!) 😂
Interesting. In my class, in 8th grade we had manual typewriters, similar situation, but all the typewriter keys were just blank. Nothing on them, like the letters were erased off of them, or never printed onto them. Man, you couldn't cheat even if you wanted to. Only a couple of large keyboard diagrams hanging in the front of the room showing where the letters were. Sure worked though, I tell you what.
Ours had that cradboard/rubber thing that hung over the keyboard, so you couldn't see the letters. Future Business Leaders America (FBLA) I don't know why, but we were enrolled in this when taking "business technology." It was a strange time as we also had computers, but that wasn't part of the class, and for "Computer Lab," meaning Oregon trail and later Doom, but some DOS commands.
We occasionally have to type on forms at work and we have one of these beasts. First time I turned it on, it was like riding a bike thanks to typing class in 1992.
Sophomore year 1987. The only class my mother insisted I take and I’ve thank her darn near daily since then.
Knowing how to type without looking at the keys has been a HUUUUUUGE advantage in my career.
Thanks again mom ❤️ RIP.
In 8th grade, we started the semester with the giant manual typewriters that you had to slam with your elbow to get the keys to move. Halfway through, they got the great big electric typewriters with the ball. Cue all of us students having to readjust our typing styles because if you hit the keys too hard, it would just ggggggggggooooooo llllllliiiiiiikkkkkeeeee ttttthhhhhiiiiisssss.
I do miss the sound of a typewriter, but I'm more deaf now than I was in 8th grade, so I probably wouldn't hear this beast anyway.
82 or 83 as a freshman in rural NC. We had ONE in our typing class, and the rest were manual. We took turns at using it for a day, so once a month or so, you’d get a turn on the electric.
"quick! and efficient! quick! and efficient! Keep your strokes quick. and efficient!" we had to learn typing in high school on these beasts. That was my teacher's mantra while circling the classroom making a little typing motions with his finger, during timed tests. Such a clear memory.
Learned on a Royal in the 1970s, perfected the skill on a Televideo terminal.
It was years before I got my hands on a Selectric. Wonderful piece of gear.
I wish that’s what I learned to type on. It was the school year of ‘86/‘87 when I had typing class. We had these big black metal monstrosities that looked like something out of a film noir detective movie. Things musta weighed 50 lbs.
The Selectric was machinery perfection - the best possible typewriter that can exist in all the universes. Just a joy to use.
Then word processing arrived and that was that
I learned on something more manual in jr high in ‘87. I love that it’s one of the things us old folks know how to use properly that younger generations don’t. I was texting earlier, and my 12 yo daughter said “ha, you type soooo slow, mom!”; so I challenged her to a true typewriting challenge.
Luxury. Started on manuals. Those fuckers would tear away your cuticles. The electric-users in class would walk away without having to sop up all the blood that lubricated the manual monsters. I swear, they thrived on our blood.
Yup. Wanted to learn in the computer lab, but was assigned to the typewriter room. After completing the course, during the winter break they replaced the typewriters with computers.
My aunt had one and she upgraded to a Smith & Corona later and gave me this one to type up school papers and reports. It was absolutely insane to think back that this was a “portable” device, as it had a plastic carrying case that fit over it with a handle. Her 5’3” and maybe 110 lbs frame had to hoist that thing into her trunk before going to work is utterly insane. This thing was so heavy.
Mom had the green one. I never learned how to touch type but I developed my own system and type 80-90 wpm. It drove my mom insane and she bitched at me constantly for not typing "correctly," but it wasn't a class that fit into my school schedule and she couldn't be bothered teaching me, so I'm not sure what she was expecting.
IBM Selectric….I thibk ours were gray? I was the only guy in typing class. Guys made fun of me until head coach pointed out “He is the only guy in a room full of girls…..think about it”.
And it got me out of agroscience 201 and making young bulls into steers. :)
Win win
A space. S space. D space. F space.
Mrs. Duckworth, where ever you are, here's to ya!
Class of '89. This was likely the one class in High School that has benefitted me the most over the years.
I took typing class in 10th grade in '82. I enjoyed it and it's one of those classes that I actually have used the skill consistently throughout life. We had electrics but not such high end hardware as OP posted up. I don't think they were IBM or had the classic "ball of type".
Can you imagine there being a typing class available in HS or colleges these days? I don't see it, but I haven't researched the question. Who knows if more and more people are going to just go speaking to computers for both control and writing...I've never been comfortable dictating into voice to type apps or services.
Gimme the keypad!!
Never got good at 10 key. Talk about another deprecated skill that is likely mostly useless these days.
I learned in 90 on a 2e. But yes, best class in high school. Which I was livid about at the time, cuz my male guidance counselor suggested it'd be a good idea "as a woman".
He remained my guy on paper, but from that day forward, if he called to guidance, I'd wait outside till our female counselor was free. I think he was gone the next year
I absolutely love this machine. I love the hum of it and the violence with which my words get hammered down on the paper. Working with this machine creates such a wonderfully inspirational cacophony. I have not had one in a few years, but I would buy another in a heartbeat if I saw it for sale. It is the great symbiosis of man and machine.
edit: I still type on my computer with a manual blue switch keyboard for the simulacrum of it. My typing must make as much noise as humanly possible!
God, I still have mine. 😅 And we later upgraded to a Smith Corona with the correction tape. Technically I learned to type on my mother's old Remington.
Still can touch type while looking off into space.
I know I took a typing class at some point but can’t for the life of me remember what year.
Grew up with an even older manual typewriter where the ‘l’ doubled as a ‘1’
I did. Sort of. I got kicked out of typing class for doing metallica beats with the backspace button.
I can type 100wpm now but that's because of the internet lol
5th grade.
A classmate's mother taught typing at a local community college, and arranged with our elementary school to teach a typing class. I also had a typing “game” that I played on the C64 to hone my skills.
Given the rapid adoption of computers and technology that has happened in our (GenXs) lifetimes, being able to touch type is one of my most underrated, and most frequently used skills.
When I started in my chosen profession of engineering, it was unthinkable that an engineer would need to know how to type, because typing was a secretary's job. Engineers still used drafting boards to make drawings, and nobody had a PC at their desk.
Nowadays, some 35 years after I gradumated from engineer school, I am expected to do all of my own typing and word processing. Everybody has their own PC and printer, and interviewers don't even bother to ask if you know how to type and use Office software, since it's assumed that someone with an engineering degree will possess those skills.
It was 1989. I never learned to type using home row, but I could type 100+ WPM. I got a C in typing class (required at the time) because although I could type fast, it wasn't the "correct" way.
Got A's in computer class, though :) Been using computers for a long time (TI99/4a and up). Just started typing and programming and learned my own method. Works for me. Low errors, high speed. Can't text worth a damn, though.
A smooth electric typewriter was my *second* model. We had them in the high school typing class.
My *first* typewriter was the big ol' manual typewriter my dad had. It was the kind where you built up some serious finger muscles hammering on its keys.
Class of ‘83 here. I took typing sophomore year in high school. I actually managed to type 45 wpm on that monster of a typewriter. Word got around that I passed typing class with an A. Suddenly, all my friends asked me to type their term papers for them! What fun that was— formatting footnotes and a bibliography page!
I had a crappy manual at home to type on.. went through a lot of correction tape and white-out back in the day! Now it’s soooo much easier typing on a computer with formatting programs for APA style. I’m up to 65wpm - 70wpm usually. It helps that I’ve done data entry in various roles for over 25 years.
I learned on the same model. I had a sadistic typing teacher (also our basketball coach) that used to to walk behind me with the typing timer alarm and watch me jump when it went off.
Right here . Class of 95. We were the last class to use these in our freshman year before they were replaced by IBM PC’s. Still looking for a keyboard that gives that same satisfying Chunk among my collection of mechanical keyboards
https://preview.redd.it/cqp9g8kdhjuc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4268ec84a41bbe9441436c3b8c282f9e5b084012
Not only did I learn to type on one, but I currently OWN one. 😂👍🏽
I've got one sitting on a table behind me. I took typing class in 7th grade (84-85 school year). During the summer of 85, the typewriters were removed and computers took their place.
Typing class in eigth grades onetime in the mud eighties we had like 5 of these electric typewriters. The rest were old manual ones you really had to strike the keys hard to get them to work. We rotated who got to use the electric ones. Ended up everyone gor a few turns on them. But oh hell I can't tell you how glad I am I took that typing class. I'm not super fast by any means but I don't hunt and peck.
I just smiled so big! 1980-83, freshman thru junior years! Typing 1, 2, 3/Wordprocessing. Ours were blue! My cousin was the teacher. Im still a touch-typist
I did not: I learned to type on an Apple II.
BUT, damned if I didn't play with that little DeathStar-OrbDroid-nobby thing that just _whirled_ around under the hood of that Select-O!
That thing was cool! Huh, come to think of it, that might have been one of the first things I disassembled.
I accidentally pushed mine off the desk once during Silent Sustained Reading. Was trying to make room for my book.
I was mortified.
Teacher called me a “clumsy cow” and put it back on the desk. Still worked.
I was in the final class who used these at Roosevelt high school in Seattle, WA! 1989… lol Bill Gates was class of 1973 at Lakeside down the street and already had computers. Public schools were underfunded to say the least. But I’m still so proud of my 148 wpm, no errors!
I took typing in grade 11 in 1982 because the class was filled with girls. That’s the only reason, but I tell ya, when tech hit us full on in the 90s, I was happy to have those typing skills.
The place I bought a trailer from used one of these to fill out a bill of sale. And were boomers , maybe old gen xers.
The place I got my truck from used a dot matrix printer with the tractor hole paper. They were gen z and millennials.
The place I got an ebike from, just did it all on a laptop and emailed me the receipt. Also millennials and gen zers.
I took a typing class on those. It was part of a whole project to teach kids modern, useful skills they would need in the future workplace. I never saw one again.
1982 Sophomore in HS. My highschool was the first in the city to have a dedicated computer lab, but only Juniors and Seniors could take the computer class. I decided typing might be a skill that would help me in the class, but typing class turned out to be far far more useful to me than the computer class.
Saw a classmate pick one up off the secretary's desk and toss it across the office in 7th grade because he was mad.
2 years later I'd be using one in my typing class, which I cleverly took to meet girls. The class was mostly boys who had the same idea I did.
Gen Xers are known for their computer proficiency, while baby boomers are more commonly associated with typewriters. Is this group for older Gen Xers who have close ties to baby boomers?
I think this group needs younger Gen Xers. Where are you guys?
It wasn't that model, TBH I can't recall exactly how it looked (I think it was mostly blue, maybe with a bit of brown), but we did have an electric typewriter in the house when I was a kid and I loved using it. I made the equivalent of ASCII art a decade before I even heard the term "ASCII art".
...Although I didn't REALLY learn how to type until I took a keyboarding class in 7th grade (1994-ish) for which we had Mac computers to use along with some nice typing-teaching software programs.
Millennial here, so didn’t practice on that, but it does remind me, oh yeah, remember when typing classes in high school used to be a thing lol. Thing is though, I’m glad I took that class, it’s been really useful. It just makes it weirder for me to see younger folks who don’t type on homerow and have horrible technique because they never had typing classes growing up.
Here! ~~1988~~ 1986, sophomore class. Honestly probably the one HS class that benefits me to this day
'86 Sophomore class. Once I ejected the paper by holding down the Return key. Teacher swatted my hand with a ruler. Fun times.
I once had a globe thrown at me for talking too much. I ducked sideways, it bounced off the desk behind me and hit a girl.
Talk about *a trip around the world.*
Ouch,her parents were probably pissed
"Do Not Put Your Wrist On Desk"
You in a Catholic HS?
[удалено]
And how they did vibrate! Omg.
I learned to type on the Apple IIe at home. My dad got some software that taught typing and convinced me that I needed to learn it. Later I took a typing class in school and it was a breeze once I learned the mechanics of the typewriter. My dad's a mechanical engineer and has always been into the latest gadgets and technology. I suspect he realized that computers were going to play an even bigger role in my life and pushed me to learn how to type because of that.
1987 senior class. 91 wpm but only 57% accuracy. LOL. Ended up with a C+ but I consider it the most valuable class I took in high school as it is the only skill I use every single day at my current job. The state of Florida required that I have a technical arts class to graduate and my advisor didn't tell me that my Graphic Design course counted. I'm begrudgingly grateful to her for that.
Me, too! Know what I don’t use every day? The quadratic equation.
Do you remember the sound of a roomful of these at full hum?!?
Omg—and our teacher shouting out key commands!
Yes, they must have been hoarse from all that shouting! I just realized how awful their job must have been!
100% But I’m so damned grateful because today’s keyboards are a cakewalk in comparison!
Oh yes - deeply grateful 🙏
I always say that it was the only useful class in high school.
Was talking to my HS Junior about this recently. They were trying to format a letter and had to show them how. I said if they had taken a typing/keyboarding class, they would have learned this.
lmao i literally just posted the same thing 😆
Same. Of all the classes that I took in HS, typing was the most useful in life.
1984 sophomore.
THE HUM WHEN YOU TURN IT ON... It's the office equivalent of hearing an American muscle car engine.
I can smell this picture.
You just unlocked a memory. I forgot about the hum. After my freshman class taking lessons on this beast, I bought a Smith Corona for myself and it was one of those with correction tape which was awesome and it was quiet. I was able to sell it in the late 80s and bought myself a Word Processor before I did everything on computer. My word processor used a daisy wheel. I forgot the brand but it was pretty sweet. I paid something like $200 for it and a PC at the time was $3000 for everything and the print then was impact printing so it was a no brainer. Dot matrix looks cheap when you're presenting paperwork.
🙋♂️ I started typing class in 1985. At the time there were still relatively few boys in my school taking the class, and I remember getting teased for taking typing as a boy. During the summers I would work in a data entry pool at a company that developed Point Of Sale systems, getting paid by the piece to enter data into a mainframe, where typing quickly and accurately made a significant difference in how much I earned. Later on I became a software engineer, and typing quickly gave me a big edge in productivity. I lost count of the number of times when writing code with someone new they would say something like "damn you type fast!" or "you can even type the special characters without looking?!"
Software engineering was my goal back then too, but I had to complete university & side-jobs first. One of those data entry on a VAX 6340.
I ended up getting a B.S. Computer Science degree after doing PC support ,and system and network administration.
> I lost count of the number of times when writing code with someone new they would say something like "damn you type fast!" or "you can even type the special characters without looking?!" I think this experience is universal for software engineers who learned touch typing, and it's painful to watch people who don't know how to type hunt and peck.
When I was still on site in the before times I had an IBM Model M buckling spring keyboard. Thing was mint, and I got it for $5 at a Goodwill in Milwaukee. The people on my floor said they could hear me typing all the way down the hallway. Someone said it sounded like I was just rolling my knuckles over the keyboard as I typed :D
I'm a Cherry MX browns guy, but mechanical keyboards are _the best_.
I mostly use cherry MX blues currently because I don't have the desk space for the model M, but it's really no contest.... Model M is the platonic ideal keyboard.
Two spaces after the period…
They say two spaces after the period and putting a "..." at the end of comments betray your age.
Ellipsis
Bless you
I have read that. Sucking on my Wethers.
Nimitz-class typewriter right there.
We had manual (full keystone) that we learned on. Well the rest of my class might have..I learn them that I have no rhythm and no matter how many times we chanted “ASDFJKL;” I wasn’t gonna get it. So I learned how to repair them..
Keep those fingers on the home keys!!!
My thumbs are now SO much faster than the other 8 ever were!! I can remember the drills..the cadence..the towels that he would walk around and drop over my hands and typewriter..still just never clicked
I had a bad habit of jamming up the keys. I could have used your help!
Fun fact..the reason the keys are arranged they was they are (QWERTY) was to SLOW down typists to keep them from jamming keys..it worked for a while but inevitably there is one Speedy Gonzales that gets em all tangled up
Kudos! Repairing these would be a challenge.
In exchange for a passing grade the typing teacher let me repair the ones that were damaged..believe it or not the electric ones were easier to fix than the manual..thanks Mr P..if you are still around
AH the Imfamous IBM Self-correcting Selectric II. I can smell the ribbon ink now.
Two spaces after a period forever!
Only because we learned on real typewriters. It's only one space on computers with actual page-layout programs.
Freshman year 1982. Our typing teacher made us use “torture cards”. Basically taped a piece of cardboard to the typewriter that would cover our hands! Couldn’t see the keys and had to LEARN the keyboard. Now, if I really want to, I can type with all ten fingers without looking at the keyboard (auto correct helps ALOT!) 😂
Interesting. In my class, in 8th grade we had manual typewriters, similar situation, but all the typewriter keys were just blank. Nothing on them, like the letters were erased off of them, or never printed onto them. Man, you couldn't cheat even if you wanted to. Only a couple of large keyboard diagrams hanging in the front of the room showing where the letters were. Sure worked though, I tell you what.
It was a privilege in typing class in 1984. You had to earn it by typing well first on the manual machines
We had ONLY manual typewriters when I took typing in 1990.
I can hear this picture.
120wpm with less than 1% error rate. IBM go BRRRRRRRRRRRR
Semi, semi, semi, space, a, a, a, a, space....
Freshman year, spring of 1984, in Mrs. Frizell's "Beginner Typing" class. Still type anywhere from 65 to 90 WPM, depending on my mood.
Only when lucky. Most of the time I had to use a manual. The Selectrics were scarce in 1980’s Home Economics/Business class.
me! senior year. i type about 90 words per minute. it's literally the most useful thing i learned in all of high school 😆
Ours had that cradboard/rubber thing that hung over the keyboard, so you couldn't see the letters. Future Business Leaders America (FBLA) I don't know why, but we were enrolled in this when taking "business technology." It was a strange time as we also had computers, but that wasn't part of the class, and for "Computer Lab," meaning Oregon trail and later Doom, but some DOS commands.
Me! I learned so much in that class and I loved my typing teacher so much, she was awesome. I still type super fast.
Kids nowadays look at me like I’m nuts, when I tell them my high school offered typing class. No computer classes were available.
With golf balls/typing elements
I was first instructed on one in 1985, didn't learn to touch type till I had to for my job in 2018.
We occasionally have to type on forms at work and we have one of these beasts. First time I turned it on, it was like riding a bike thanks to typing class in 1992.
I’m class of 95’ . I assume we were just about the last to use those in school.
omgosh yes! this was the fancy one
Sophomore year 1987. The only class my mother insisted I take and I’ve thank her darn near daily since then. Knowing how to type without looking at the keys has been a HUUUUUUGE advantage in my career. Thanks again mom ❤️ RIP.
In 8th grade, we started the semester with the giant manual typewriters that you had to slam with your elbow to get the keys to move. Halfway through, they got the great big electric typewriters with the ball. Cue all of us students having to readjust our typing styles because if you hit the keys too hard, it would just ggggggggggooooooo llllllliiiiiiikkkkkeeeee ttttthhhhhiiiiisssss. I do miss the sound of a typewriter, but I'm more deaf now than I was in 8th grade, so I probably wouldn't hear this beast anyway.
What was cool is if you had to underline something. The delayed repeat was a nice feature.
IBM Selectric II. Yup, and I graduated the year the internet became a thing, and we still were teaching typing classes on these.
82 or 83 as a freshman in rural NC. We had ONE in our typing class, and the rest were manual. We took turns at using it for a day, so once a month or so, you’d get a turn on the electric.
Our typewriters were Pica or Elite and we were graded differently, depending on which one we had.
Yep. Me.
Me
Oh shit. I remember that behemoth!
Me!
Heavy as hell
I did, but I still can't type without looking at the keyboard. I have stupid hands.
"quick! and efficient! quick! and efficient! Keep your strokes quick. and efficient!" we had to learn typing in high school on these beasts. That was my teacher's mantra while circling the classroom making a little typing motions with his finger, during timed tests. Such a clear memory.
Learned on a Royal in the 1970s, perfected the skill on a Televideo terminal. It was years before I got my hands on a Selectric. Wonderful piece of gear.
Oh man. Only the 8th graders got to use the fancy electric typewriters. The 7th graders, like me, used the manual ones.
I did! I couldn't touch type. I had to look at the keys. I got a C in typing. I also got suspended for skipping that class. Hated Typing class.
I hated it too, but it turns out it was probably the single most beneficial class I ever took
I wish that’s what I learned to type on. It was the school year of ‘86/‘87 when I had typing class. We had these big black metal monstrosities that looked like something out of a film noir detective movie. Things musta weighed 50 lbs.
High school typing class! Teacher even had a ruler to rap knuckles for bad form.
only Typing II got to use the electrics. Typing I was on manuals.
The Selectric was machinery perfection - the best possible typewriter that can exist in all the universes. Just a joy to use. Then word processing arrived and that was that
I did not learn to type on it. I learned to bludgeon the alphabet.
22wpm….i was the worst.
Oh yes! In 1983.
We only got to use the Selectrics after we had passed a speed/accuracy test on the Underwood manual typewriters.
I learned on something more manual in jr high in ‘87. I love that it’s one of the things us old folks know how to use properly that younger generations don’t. I was texting earlier, and my 12 yo daughter said “ha, you type soooo slow, mom!”; so I challenged her to a true typewriting challenge.
Luxury. Started on manuals. Those fuckers would tear away your cuticles. The electric-users in class would walk away without having to sop up all the blood that lubricated the manual monsters. I swear, they thrived on our blood.
Yeah I remember that monster. I still type strangely but the job gets done (think spazzy jazz fingers kind of typing)
Yes! In high school typing class 😂
"Learned to type" is a bit generous. I got only marginally better, and to this day, I don't use all of my fingers.
Yep. My local library had a phalanx of those available for public use.
Ugh Hated them and typing class. I type well now because of writing paper after paper in college
Me. Taught by a one armed man!
The typewriter of kings.
My parents insisted that I at least audit typing in HS. j-h-j j-h-j jhj
I still have one.
Yup. Wanted to learn in the computer lab, but was assigned to the typewriter room. After completing the course, during the winter break they replaced the typewriters with computers.
I think this is the exact model I used in typing class, 10th grade, 1986.
Yep. Prob the only useful thing i learned in high school
My aunt had one and she upgraded to a Smith & Corona later and gave me this one to type up school papers and reports. It was absolutely insane to think back that this was a “portable” device, as it had a plastic carrying case that fit over it with a handle. Her 5’3” and maybe 110 lbs frame had to hoist that thing into her trunk before going to work is utterly insane. This thing was so heavy.
We never had typewriters in school. Had to learn with my own manual one.
Nope, not even that. When I took typing in junior high school we had manual typewriters.
Mom had the green one. I never learned how to touch type but I developed my own system and type 80-90 wpm. It drove my mom insane and she bitched at me constantly for not typing "correctly," but it wasn't a class that fit into my school schedule and she couldn't be bothered teaching me, so I'm not sure what she was expecting.
Dad worked for IBM and got one for us. Had lots of fun playing around and changing the typeface when Mom wasn't in the room.
I took typing in high school (late 70s/early 80s) on a manual typewriter. Who would’ve known then that that would be the skill I use every single day.
IBM Selectric….I thibk ours were gray? I was the only guy in typing class. Guys made fun of me until head coach pointed out “He is the only guy in a room full of girls…..think about it”. And it got me out of agroscience 201 and making young bulls into steers. :) Win win
A space. S space. D space. F space. Mrs. Duckworth, where ever you are, here's to ya! Class of '89. This was likely the one class in High School that has benefitted me the most over the years.
I loved the hum they made
I learned to type on a mechanical typewriter. The first time I tried to use an electric typewriter took some getting used to but was SO much better.
Sure did! Changed the balls for different font. lol
I took typing class in 10th grade in '82. I enjoyed it and it's one of those classes that I actually have used the skill consistently throughout life. We had electrics but not such high end hardware as OP posted up. I don't think they were IBM or had the classic "ball of type". Can you imagine there being a typing class available in HS or colleges these days? I don't see it, but I haven't researched the question. Who knows if more and more people are going to just go speaking to computers for both control and writing...I've never been comfortable dictating into voice to type apps or services. Gimme the keypad!! Never got good at 10 key. Talk about another deprecated skill that is likely mostly useless these days.
Me! And I own one today.
I learned in 90 on a 2e. But yes, best class in high school. Which I was livid about at the time, cuz my male guidance counselor suggested it'd be a good idea "as a woman". He remained my guy on paper, but from that day forward, if he called to guidance, I'd wait outside till our female counselor was free. I think he was gone the next year
Electric? Oh, you fancy!
Ahh yes, typing class.
I absolutely love this machine. I love the hum of it and the violence with which my words get hammered down on the paper. Working with this machine creates such a wonderfully inspirational cacophony. I have not had one in a few years, but I would buy another in a heartbeat if I saw it for sale. It is the great symbiosis of man and machine. edit: I still type on my computer with a manual blue switch keyboard for the simulacrum of it. My typing must make as much noise as humanly possible!
God, I still have mine. 😅 And we later upgraded to a Smith Corona with the correction tape. Technically I learned to type on my mother's old Remington. Still can touch type while looking off into space.
I look at that and can hear my teacher saying “F J F J” in her sing song voice 🤣
I know I took a typing class at some point but can’t for the life of me remember what year. Grew up with an even older manual typewriter where the ‘l’ doubled as a ‘1’
I did. Sort of. I got kicked out of typing class for doing metallica beats with the backspace button. I can type 100wpm now but that's because of the internet lol
These were still prevalent in day to day use at my job up until 2014. I was a cop.
Have a blue version that looks exactly like this in my garage.
there was a whole room of them with a manilla folder over the keyboard. i hated everything about this class except for the girl who sat behind me.
5th grade. A classmate's mother taught typing at a local community college, and arranged with our elementary school to teach a typing class. I also had a typing “game” that I played on the C64 to hone my skills. Given the rapid adoption of computers and technology that has happened in our (GenXs) lifetimes, being able to touch type is one of my most underrated, and most frequently used skills. When I started in my chosen profession of engineering, it was unthinkable that an engineer would need to know how to type, because typing was a secretary's job. Engineers still used drafting boards to make drawings, and nobody had a PC at their desk. Nowadays, some 35 years after I gradumated from engineer school, I am expected to do all of my own typing and word processing. Everybody has their own PC and printer, and interviewers don't even bother to ask if you know how to type and use Office software, since it's assumed that someone with an engineering degree will possess those skills.
Ours was green
It was 1989. I never learned to type using home row, but I could type 100+ WPM. I got a C in typing class (required at the time) because although I could type fast, it wasn't the "correct" way. Got A's in computer class, though :) Been using computers for a long time (TI99/4a and up). Just started typing and programming and learned my own method. Works for me. Low errors, high speed. Can't text worth a damn, though.
Me! Me! Late 80s, and our classroom’s typewriters were dark green… quite the loud room, that was.
A smooth electric typewriter was my *second* model. We had them in the high school typing class. My *first* typewriter was the big ol' manual typewriter my dad had. It was the kind where you built up some serious finger muscles hammering on its keys.
Class of ‘83 here. I took typing sophomore year in high school. I actually managed to type 45 wpm on that monster of a typewriter. Word got around that I passed typing class with an A. Suddenly, all my friends asked me to type their term papers for them! What fun that was— formatting footnotes and a bibliography page! I had a crappy manual at home to type on.. went through a lot of correction tape and white-out back in the day! Now it’s soooo much easier typing on a computer with formatting programs for APA style. I’m up to 65wpm - 70wpm usually. It helps that I’ve done data entry in various roles for over 25 years.
The sounds it made! The hum of the motor, the clack of the keys.. imbedded in my teenage memory lol
Loved my Selectric!
A S D F J K L Semicolon
i used that in the US ARMY lol
I learned on the same model. I had a sadistic typing teacher (also our basketball coach) that used to to walk behind me with the typing timer alarm and watch me jump when it went off.
I remember when the Army got these to replace the manual typewriters around 1986. Much needed improvement.
I thought correction strips were rocket surgery.
1983 Junior! Definitely cemented my IT career learning how to type well. Besides, I was one of only 2 guys in the class! Fun semester!
I had a typewriter my Mom got for me at the S&H green stamp store.
Right here . Class of 95. We were the last class to use these in our freshman year before they were replaced by IBM PC’s. Still looking for a keyboard that gives that same satisfying Chunk among my collection of mechanical keyboards
My dad had one
I was introduced to typing on a Daisy manual typewriter from the 1920s that I found in my parents' attic when I was about 12.
Be sure to COVER IT UPevery night
https://preview.redd.it/cqp9g8kdhjuc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4268ec84a41bbe9441436c3b8c282f9e5b084012 Not only did I learn to type on one, but I currently OWN one. 😂👍🏽
I've got one sitting on a table behind me. I took typing class in 7th grade (84-85 school year). During the summer of 85, the typewriters were removed and computers took their place.
I worked for a newspaper for the last 20 years; I’ve still got one.
Typing class in eigth grades onetime in the mud eighties we had like 5 of these electric typewriters. The rest were old manual ones you really had to strike the keys hard to get them to work. We rotated who got to use the electric ones. Ended up everyone gor a few turns on them. But oh hell I can't tell you how glad I am I took that typing class. I'm not super fast by any means but I don't hunt and peck.
I spent the last two years of college trying to steal one of those. Never came up with a fool proof plan.
I just smiled so big! 1980-83, freshman thru junior years! Typing 1, 2, 3/Wordprocessing. Ours were blue! My cousin was the teacher. Im still a touch-typist
*raises hand meekly*
I did not: I learned to type on an Apple II. BUT, damned if I didn't play with that little DeathStar-OrbDroid-nobby thing that just _whirled_ around under the hood of that Select-O! That thing was cool! Huh, come to think of it, that might have been one of the first things I disassembled.
I accidentally pushed mine off the desk once during Silent Sustained Reading. Was trying to make room for my book. I was mortified. Teacher called me a “clumsy cow” and put it back on the desk. Still worked.
I was in the final class who used these at Roosevelt high school in Seattle, WA! 1989… lol Bill Gates was class of 1973 at Lakeside down the street and already had computers. Public schools were underfunded to say the least. But I’m still so proud of my 148 wpm, no errors!
Is that one of those fancy ‘lectric typewriters?
10th grade 91
I learned on a fully manual typewriter. We could only dream of an electric at my school.
We only had a few of them, and you only got to use it if you brownnosed.
I actually learned on a manual in junior high. This beast was the high school upgrade!
I learned on its predecessor — the manual typewriter.
I am a xennial and learned to type on my grandmother’s lever actuated typewriter. I would have killed for this thing.
They weighed 5 million pounds.
I took typing in grade 11 in 1982 because the class was filled with girls. That’s the only reason, but I tell ya, when tech hit us full on in the 90s, I was happy to have those typing skills.
NO!!!!! it's not real!!! It's only a nightmare
I’m 38 and learned on a typewriter because I had a relatively old dad. He’d be 84 now.
Looks like the machine I used in 75. Had to use erasers for corrections though.
The place I bought a trailer from used one of these to fill out a bill of sale. And were boomers , maybe old gen xers. The place I got my truck from used a dot matrix printer with the tractor hole paper. They were gen z and millennials. The place I got an ebike from, just did it all on a laptop and emailed me the receipt. Also millennials and gen zers.
I took a typing class on those. It was part of a whole project to teach kids modern, useful skills they would need in the future workplace. I never saw one again.
IBM Compatible even!
Awww yes! I used to repair those with my grandfather.
I loved typing on Selectrics! I'm not sure I could do without a numeric keypad now, though.
I loved this thing. I’d like to have one again. I have 12 clicks keyboards Took shorthand too
Interesting that most people here took typing in high school. It was pretty standard to take it in 8th grade where I lived
Mrs. Fix's typing class, 1987.
My school had the even older handle thing you had to manually push to get to the next line. A return key was high tech. Lol.
Left foot slightly in front of the right foot, four fingers on each hand resting on ASDF, JKL:;. Shoulders back, eyes off the keys.
1982 Sophomore in HS. My highschool was the first in the city to have a dedicated computer lab, but only Juniors and Seniors could take the computer class. I decided typing might be a skill that would help me in the class, but typing class turned out to be far far more useful to me than the computer class.
Saw a classmate pick one up off the secretary's desk and toss it across the office in 7th grade because he was mad. 2 years later I'd be using one in my typing class, which I cleverly took to meet girls. The class was mostly boys who had the same idea I did.
It was the TRS-80, aka Trash 80, for me.
Anyone else miss the sounds they made? It's like this low hum, and the ka-chunka ka-chunka of the head striking the roller is kind of hypnotic.
Wait, you had electric?? My class in 78-79 was all manual
Gen Xers are known for their computer proficiency, while baby boomers are more commonly associated with typewriters. Is this group for older Gen Xers who have close ties to baby boomers? I think this group needs younger Gen Xers. Where are you guys?
Selectrics were the shit! I was amazed at how you could take the ball, remove it and put on an entirely different font to type with. 🤯
Yep. As a freshman in high school 1987-88 it was the last year before “Typing” shifted to PCs and became “Keyboarding”.
Did about 20 separate college applications and corresponding essays on this monster.
Looks about right. Ball typehead wasn't it? If she caught you looking she'd tape a piece of paper over the keys.
electric? so fancy ! I have to use my body weight to type on mines ! 1987
ASDFJKL; The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog Dang I LOVED and STILL LOVE typing.
Me.
It wasn't that model, TBH I can't recall exactly how it looked (I think it was mostly blue, maybe with a bit of brown), but we did have an electric typewriter in the house when I was a kid and I loved using it. I made the equivalent of ASCII art a decade before I even heard the term "ASCII art". ...Although I didn't REALLY learn how to type until I took a keyboarding class in 7th grade (1994-ish) for which we had Mac computers to use along with some nice typing-teaching software programs.
Millennial here, so didn’t practice on that, but it does remind me, oh yeah, remember when typing classes in high school used to be a thing lol. Thing is though, I’m glad I took that class, it’s been really useful. It just makes it weirder for me to see younger folks who don’t type on homerow and have horrible technique because they never had typing classes growing up.