[GreenKeys] Fwd: How the Baudot encoding was selected

[Michael Katzmann]

Yes Dave I've heard this too but I think it might be apocryphal.
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=3496#:~:text=%22Baudot%20invented%20his%20original%20code,and%20Wilhelm%20Weber%20in%201834
.

"Baudot's original code was adapted to be sent from a manual keyboard, and
no teleprinter equipment was ever constructed that used it in its original
form. The code was entered on a keyboard which had just five piano type
keys, operated with two fingers of the left hand and three fingers of the
right hand. Once the keys had been pressed they were locked down until
mechanical contacts in a distributor unit passed over the sector connected
to that particular keyboard, when the keyboard was unlocked ready for the
next character to be entered, with an audible click (known as the "cadence
signal") to warn the operator. Operators had to maintain a steady rhythm,
and the usual speed of operation was 30 words per minute."

I think a more plausible explanation is that it's faster to press one key
for common letters than multiple keys.

Michael

On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 5:11 PM Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:

> Probably old hat here, but apparently the hole patterns were selected so
> that the most common letters had the fewest punches.  A tape fragility
> issue, or wear and tear on the punches etc?
>
> -- Dave
> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
>
> >>> Jordan Spencer Cunningham's GreenKeys Search Tool:
> https://teletype.net/gksearch
> >>> 2002-to-present greenkeys archive:
> http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
> >>> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive:
> http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
> >>> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool:
> http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to vk2bea at gmail.com
>


-- 
   |\      _,,,---,,_             Michael Katzmann
   /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_         NV3Z / VK2BEA / G4NYV
  |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'
 '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20221221/4b7ebe7a/attachment.html>