The Dead Media Notebook

by Bruce Sterling

  A newer and competing auto-typer, developed in the 1950s a bit later than the original ROBOTYPER, was the FLEXOWRITER, yet another dead medium. This machine, eventually manufactured by Singer, was an all-in-one typewriter and tape reader-writer.

  The Flexowriter featured a reader/writer unit attached to the side of the typewriter. It had a little sprocketed drum, which pulled an oiled pink paper tape across a slot that contained 6 or 7 teeth.

  These teeth would move up and down in mechanical synchrony with each move of the sprocket-drum. There was a large blank tape reel stored on the back of the machine. When composing a new letter, the end of this master tape would be fed through the sprocket, and the teeth would literally punch out holes in the tape, in patterns corresponding to each keystroke.

  Patterns were easily readable by those of us who learned them, so we could find a typo on the tape. We would fix it by hitting the “delete” key, which punched holes across the entire tape. When a letter was completed, the operator added a “Stop” code, a number of “Deletes”, and then cut the tape from the master roll. The front and back of the tape would then be glued together, lining up the delete holes at each end.

  This “endless loop” would then be put into the machine, and would type out the correspondence. The advantage of the Flexowriter was that the same machine could write AND read the tapes. It was a self contained unit, needed no noisy air pump, and the little tape loops for each type of correspondence could be stored in far less space than the Robo rolls (which were similar in size to a player piano roll. The products of both of these now Dead Media would be sent for a “genuine, hand made signature” to yet another machine called the auto-pen.

  As far as I know, the auto- pen is still alive and well in offices today.

  Source: personal experience The Robotyper and the Flexowriter

  Computer Game Designer Dies Young, But Outlives Own Games

  From Stefan Jones

  Dan Bunten / Danielle Bunten Berry 1949-1998 [Stefan Jones remarks: One of the things that primed me to become a delver in Dead Media studies was Bruce Sterling’s description, in his speech to the Computer Game Developer’s Conference, of the fate of his Atari 800. I owned (own) of of those machines, and spent many hundreds of hours playing games on it before consigning it to a box in the corner of the basement. Although many of its games were far more entertaining than those available for my PC, the trouble of getting it going and loading software from decrepit disk drives took its toll.

  [I just learned that one of the maestros of the Atari platform, Dani Bunten, recently passed away. Bunten’s masterpieces, “M.U.L.E.” and “Seven Cities of Gold,” were utterly at home on the Atari platform. Ports to other platforms were of limited success; indeed, it can be argued that “M.U.L.E.” is best played not just on any Atari machine, but one a particular model, the Atari 800. It was this particular computer, and no other, that had the extra joystick ports that allowed four players to participate.]

  On her web page, Bunten expresses regrets on the fate of M.U.L.E: “My only disappointment with the game is that it only exists on long defunct hardware and it looks awful (since those machines only offered 48K of memory and I used it mostly for program rather than graphics). I almost got a Sega Genesis version through EA in ‘93, but at the Alpha phase they insisted on adding guns and bombs (or something similar) to ‘bring it up to date.’ I was unable to comply.” From Greg Costikyan’s obituary: “Dani Bunten Berry was a giant.

  “I don’t mean that she stood six-foot-two, although she did. I mean that she was one of the great artists of our age, one of the creators of the form that will dominate the 21st century, as film has dominated the 20th and the novel the 19th: the art of game design.

  “I mean that she displayed a complete mastery of her craft, always pushing the edges of the possible, always producing highly polished work of gem-like consistency and internal integrity.”. “This year, at the Computer Game Developer’s Conference, she was awarded the CGDA Lifetime Achievement Award. These things, alas, tend to be awarded to the dying. But certainly no one in the field deserved it more.”

  Dani Bunten Berry’s design credits (mostly designed as “Dan Bunten,” before her sex change): WHEELER DEALER, Speakeasy Software, 1978 COMPUTER QUARTERBACK, SSI, 1979 CARTELS AND CUTTHROATS, SSI, 1981 CYTRON MASTERS, SSI, 1982 M.U.L.E., Electronic Arts, 1983 SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD, Electronic Arts, 1984 HEART OF AFRICA, Electronic Arts, 1985 ROBOT RASCALS, Electronic Arts, 1986 MODEM WARS, Electronic Arts, 1988 COMMAND HQ, Microprose, 1990 GLOBAL CONQUEST, Microprose, 1992

  [Bruce Sterling remarks: Dan Bunten was a guru of his/her field when occupying either gender. Among her numerous aphorisms, this one seems particularly prescient and memorable: “No one on their deathbed ever says ‘I wish I’d spent more time alone with my computer.’”]

  Source: Obituary by Greg Costikyan, Dani Bunten Berry memorial website

  Pneumatic tubes

  From John Aboud

  This Old Technology Hasn’t Gone Down the Tubes

  By Marcia Biederman” [John Aboud remarks: there is a photo captioned, “At Columbia-Presbyterian, Marina Conliffe receives blood samples.” “Marina” is opening a barrel-shaped canister, which opens like a clam. It doesn’t operate like the traditional bank tubes common at drive up windows. The pneumatic station has a digital readout and touchpad. This is likely the computer enhancement mentioned in the article.]

  “Long before E-mail and faxes, pneumatic tubes were widely used in New York to whisk small capsules containing memos or other things from one office to another. Science fiction may have inflated hopes for the tubes, but they are still being used, in old and new ways.

  “’They’re elegantly simple,’ said Mark A. Hirsch, senior project manager for the New York Public Library, explaining why pneumatic tubes were built into the ultramodern Science, Industry and Business Library on Madison Avenue, which opened in 1996. The tube system, which conveys call slips to the stacks, is not much different from the early-20th-century one still used at the 42nd Street research library.

  “Gregg Hayes, executive vice president of Pevco, a Baltimore company that installed the new library’s system, said hospitals in New York and elsewhere have revived the pneumatic tube industry. New technology, he said, controls the force of air in the tubes, allowing lab specimens and medication to be carried. Carriers used to ‘just bang into the stations,’ or receiving bins, he said, but now they glide in, and computers can track their movements.”.

  “Pneumatic tubes are also used by Costco, the warehouse-club chain, which has huge stores in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, to move cash from registers to safes. Larry Montague, director of security, said that is safer than having employees walk around with the money.

  “But at many of the city’s brokerage houses, E-mail has replaced pneumatic tubes. And Sue-Ann Pascucci, manager of the New York Transit Museum archives, said nothing remains of New York’s first subway, described by Stan Fischler in “Uptown, Downtown: A Trip Through Time on New York’s Subways” as a 312-foot pneumatic tube. Entered via a station with a grand piano, the subway, built in 1870, propelled a 22-passenger car between Broadway and Murray Street until political entanglement closed it in 1873.”

  [John Aboud: In my three years in New York, I’ve noticed that The New York Times is obsessed with abandoned parts of the subway system. The “grand piano” bit is a favorite. Also note that Pevco has a Web site. ]

  [Bruce Sterling remarks: Pneumatic mail systems (especially pneumatic postal systems owned and constructed by cities and national governments) are very much in decline as a medium. But private pneumatic mail systems for large buildings are still being built today. Pneumatic transfer systems (which don’t carry messages and are not “media,”) seem to be more or less holding their own as a technology. I would point out that computerizing a pneumatic system is not necessarily a new lease on life for this technology. It may give the system new features, but at a great hazard. I
t not only spoils the system’s original elegant simplicity, but introduces new factors of chip, interface and software death.]

  Pneumatic tube applications

  From Bruce Sterling

  [Bruce Sterling remarks: the following outtake from the website of Comcosystems gives a good idea of the current spectrum of applications for living pneumatic tube systems. These areas of activity would be good places to look for dead tubes.]

  “Applications “Pneumatic tube systems are highly flexible systems that tend to be limited by the nature of the material moved rather than the industry or location used.

  “Any situation where small to medium-sized objects must be regularly distributed to or from a central location to remote locations would be made more efficient with the addition of a pneumatic tube system.

  “We commonly install tube systems for the following applications: “Hospitals: Pneumatic tube systems are commonly used in hospitals to reduce care staff workload by moving medication and samples between patient areas and labs.”.

  “Sample Transport: Pneumatic tube systems are ideal for moving samples from collection points to a lab for analysis. We manufacture heavy-duty systems for use in harsh environments. Steel mills and hospitals are frequent users of pneumatic tube systems for sample analysis.

  “Toll Plazas: Pneumatic tube systems are used at toll plazas to increase efficiency and employee safety. Employees are spared the hazard of crossing lanes of traffic and less cash is available in the event of robbery. Toll plaza arrangements are commonly in use along tollways, in parking garages, and at airports.

  “Central Supply: Pneumatic tube systems are used whenever items from a central location (such as a pharmacy or warehouse) must be regularly dispatched to remote sites. Industries that employ pneumatic tube systems for central supply distribution include hospitals, automotive plants, car dealerships, and factories.

  “Cash Handling: Pneumatic tube systems are frequently employed for cash handling. A Pneumatic tube system provides a secure method of moving cash from registers to central counting rooms. Keeping cash in a central location reduces losses due to robbery and employee theft. Industries that employ pneumatic tube systems for cash handling include retail stores, grocers, theaters, and home improvement centers, to name a few.

  “Security Transport: Pneumatic tube systems can provide a secure method of transport for nearly any kind of item. All kinds of items can be moved securely with a pneumatic tube system including documents, parts, keys, and even firearms. Locations using Pneumatic tube systems for secure transport include penitentiaries, youth detention centers, retail stores, courts, and hospitals.”

  Source: http://www.comcosystems.com

  Dead supercomputers become furniture

  From Paul Di Filippo

  “In supercomputing, the time separating the world’s fastest computer from the scrap-metal heap is appallingly short.

  “But when it comes to supercomputers, to become obsolescent isn’t necessarily to become useless. While many of these machines are mothballed in dank basements, a few are proudly displayed in private homes as though they were objets d’art. They can also make dandy space heaters.”...

  “The life span of a supercomputer, which may cost upwards of $30 million, is typically five years, and sometimes far less. Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee who maintains an annual list of the world’s 500 fastest computers, finds that about 250 machines fall off his list yearly.

  “But there is no pasture to go out to when a supercomputer is retired. No one reharnesses it to do the billing statements for the local waterworks. The life of a machine is nasty, brutish and short.

  “Enter the connoisseurs.

  “In a warehouse in suburban Seattle, Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft Corporation’s chief scientist, keeps a growing collection now numbering six supercomputers, three early Crays and three Connection Machines made by Thinking Machines Corporation. The Cray 1, designed in 1976 by Seymour Cray, the legendary inventor, was notable in part because it was a round refrigerator-shaped cabinet encircled by a padded bench, which was just the thing for technicians who needed to work on the machine’s innards.

  “Today, the original Crays have less horsepower than some $1,000 personal computers, but as fashion statements, their time may be here again.

  “Mr. Myhrvold is now planning a new home that will rival that of his boss, Bill Gates. It will have a living room big enough for a supercomputer.

  “’The key aesthetic is that it is the most expensive sofa in the world,’ said Mr. Myhrvold, who bought his machines for their salvage costs or for a few thousand dollars.”... “A small living room didn’t deter Dan Lynch, an Internet pioneer who was one of the founders of Cybercash. Mr. Lynch, a wine aficionado, says he has a Cray 1 as an objet d’art in his vineyard in the Napa Valley along with ‘a bunch of tired old ‘47 Chevys.’ “While at Convex, a Texas-based supercomputer company, Steven Wallach, a computer designer, once used an Alliant supercomputer in his office as a conversation piece and as partial support for his desk.

  “But even Mr. Wallach. said he was surprised to learn that another Convex employee had bought a Convex C-1 for its scrap price and was using the computer to heat his garage.”

  Source: Serving Wine on the Mainframe by John Markoff, New York Times, June 28, 1998

  Dead tunnels of Chicago

  From James Agenbroad

  Chicago’s Abandoned Freight Tunnels

  The definitive history of the Chicago freight tunnels is Bruce Moffatt’s “Forty Feet Below : the Story of Chicago’s Freight Tunnels” from which I have paraphrased this story.

  The book is filled with maps, diagrams and photos. Around the turn of the century, tunnels were dug under most of the streets in the “Loop” area of downtown Chicago. Permission was granted under the pretense of creating a competing local telephone service. Interestingly enough, new telephones were installed in the tunnels, and they were technically advanced, with “secret” (i.e. automatic) exchanges so that you didn’t have to tell your number to an operator.

  These phones were of the “candlestick” type with a large dial on the handle. But the phone system was mostly a ruse to secure permission to dig under public streets, and then to construct the second longest 2-foot gauge railroad in the U.S.A. The builders envisioned their tunnel being used for general freight shipping in central Chicago.

  However, it was hard to raise freight from forty feet below street level (via elevators or conveyor belts). The little electric railroad’s small cars were incompatible with standard railroad cars.

  So, the most economic uses of the mini-railroad became the hauling of coal and coal ash in and out of buildings, as well as removing spoil from construction sites.

  The large capital costs of the tunnels meant that the company was often on the brink of receivership. Bruce Moffat argues that it was the subway that finally killed the tunnel. When the subway came thorough, the tunnel lost several miles of track, as well as its best customers, and the freight line had to use circuitous routes around the subway bore.

  When the tunnels were abandoned in 1959, with several loads of ash still in their cars in the sidings, they lay forgotten by most until 1992, when a tunnel under the Chicago river burst and filled them with water.

  This was a problem for all those buildings with connections with the tunnels, because their basements were now filled with water up to the level of the river. Most affected were those with the deepest basements and the best connections to the tunnel. e.g. Marshall Fields building which had a mini switch yard in the sub-basement. Since it carried mail from 1906-1908, this dead tunnel system was once a medium.

  Source: Forty feet below : the story of Chicago’s freight tunnels / by Bruce Moffat. Glendale, Calif. : Interurban Press, 1982. 84 p. : ill., maps (1 folded), ports. ; 28 cm. (Interurbans special. 82) Includes index. ISBN 0916374548 : $9.95

  The Chicago Freight Tunnel Flood

&n
bsp; From Nicholas Bodley

  “In one of Chicago’s strangest accidents, a piling driven into the Chicago River bottom caused a leak in one of Chicago’s underground freight tunnels. The resulting inrush of water spread throughout much of the system’s 50 miles of tunnels, flooding subbasements and disrupting utility service throughout the Loop. No significant injuries were reported, and due to the subterranean nature of the accident, spectators had little to see. Prompt response by government agencies emptied the tunnels of water and restored utility service.

  “The freight tunnels are unique to Chicago. In 1899 under the guise of constructing a telephone system, developers semi-clandestinely began digging tunnels connecting any and all Loop office buildings they thought might be in the market for direct freight service. A two foot gauge mine type electric railway was laid in the tunnels. Connections were made to the major railroad and port facilities. Ultimately the system was extended to completely cover every block in the greater Loop area. After a series of financial setbacks the system was formally abandoned in 1959.”

  Source: Chicago Public Library website

  Canada’s Telidon Network

  From Jack Ruttan

  Telidon is an obsolete, two-way version of the British Prestel system.

  TELETEXT

  An inexpensive, one-way information delivery system designed for mass-market home and business use. It makes use of the spare signal carrying capacity in existing television channels [my note: the “vertical blanking interval, that space you see when you misadjust the tv’s vertical hold.]. It can present from 100 to 300 ‘pages’ or TV. screens of information.

  VIDEOTEXT

  An information delivery system that makes use of the telephone for two-way telecommunications. It may be linked into two-way cable T.V. or hybrid TV/telephone systems. Electronic mail is made possible by this system.