[Info-vax] DECwriter

[Richard B. Gilbert]

John Wallace wrote:
> On Nov 27, 11:16 pm, "Richard Maher" <maher... at hotspamnotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Which was the first model DECwriter that could print backwards as well as
>> forwards?
>>
>> Where can one obtain ribbons for these today?
>>
>> Regards Richard Maher
>>
>> PS. Did David Cutler have anything to do with hardware design?
> 
> <warning: contains sarcasm>
> 
> Wasn't it the LA120? Your favourite search engine will find people
> selling ribbons, though it's not obvious how many are for real - eg
> one I just found claimed to be selling original DEC ribbons. I suppose
> it could be true, but it doesn't seem likely.
> 

Original DEC ribbons would almost certainly be too "dried out" to work 
very well. If they worked at all!

Anything you can get today is almost certainly a third party ribbon. 
Those DECwriters were built like a tank and it does not surprise me that 
there are still some arround.  I might even have one in my basement; I 
don't really need it for anything but I'm a bit of a pack rat.