15 lines
2.4 KiB
HTML
15 lines
2.4 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>golf-ball printer</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../G.html" title="G"/><link rel="previous" href="golden.html" title="golden"/><link rel="next" href="gonk.html" title="gonk"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">golf-ball printer</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="golden.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">G</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gonk.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="golf-ball-printer"/><dt xmlns="" id="golf-ball-printer"><b>golf-ball printer</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n. obs.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> The IBM 2741, a slow but letter-quality printing device and terminal
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based on the IBM Selectric typewriter. The <span class="firstterm">golf
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ball</span> was a little spherical frob bearing reversed embossed
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images of 88 different characters arranged on four parallels of latitude;
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one could change the font by swapping in a different golf ball. The print
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element spun and jerked alarmingly in action and when in motion was
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sometimes described as an <span class="firstterm">infuriated golf
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ball</span>. This was the technology that enabled APL to use a
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non-EBCDIC, non-ASCII, and in fact completely non-standard character set.
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This put it 10 years ahead of its time — where it stayed, firmly
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rooted, for the next 20, until character displays gave way to programmable
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bit-mapped devices with the flexibility to support other character
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sets.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="golden.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../G.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gonk.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">golden </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> gonk</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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