Reader Rabbit! You know, somebody put those online I think in an
emulator where you can play them again. And the banners! Yes,
that was probably one of the best uses of the dot matrix
printers. I liked the dot matrix, except for the noise. I tried
making mine into a braille machine, another time into a 3D
printer by having it do the same spots again and again, hoping
the width of the ink would raise up the letters. Ended up going
through the paper, even when switching to card stock, and the
dots weren't even quite 'enough' for more than a one-use braille
but it was fun to try. I needed a stepper motor to move the
platen out and use a material that was thicker for it to work.
that was in the early 1990s. I was exccited by the approach that
3D printers that came out took though: I was like, MY IDEA but
they did it better! == they REALLY knew how to make good word
processors back then and once you master it, you can do anything
in one. == there's some fascinating minimalist word processors
you can find online. If you look up "distraction free writing"
you can find some. Some are pretty neat and harken back to the
full screen "this is the only thing in your world right now" of
the old days.
