(This is something keyboard-related and something I wanted to have for 15 years or so.)
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Say hello to Canon Cat – a magical, forgotten machine from the late 1980s.pic.twitter.com/53XOnmYHsF
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It was designed by Jef Raskin, the creator of the Macintosh project, after he left/was kicked out of Apple by Steve Jobs (who took it over).
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In some ways, it’s an anti-Macintosh, a computer without a mouse or even arrow keys, based all on text.pic.twitter.com/gkhAbEBPTO
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I learned about it from Raskin’s book The Humane Interface, one of the first HCI books I ever read.pic.twitter.com/OIYBYSidau
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I was in love with this combination of art, scientific rigor, meaningful details, and taking nothing for granted.
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Even the keyboard! Instead of Backspace, it has Erase. Instead Command or Alt, Use Front. There’s a key for Undo.pic.twitter.com/VxTiZogXyo
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It has Leap keys to quickly move around – instant search under your thumbs. It’s one of the most exciting keyboards ever made.pic.twitter.com/aG2TI0NJxC
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There are no files on the Cat, you just divide an infinitely long document into sections using special markers.
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It uses floppies, but there is no explicit saving. Overall, it’s a fascinating, enthralling, what-could-have-been vision of computing.
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I have always wanted to have it, and now I do, reunited with this 15-year-old book that inspired me so much.
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Jef Raskin died unexpectedly just before I came to the U.S. I never got a chance to meet him.
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I remember writing his obituary with a pit in my stomach.
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But now I have his computer that made me want to pursue being a particular kind of designer. I just cleaned up and restored it.pic.twitter.com/LtjECC3wQI
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I still have to fix the floppy drive and check the printer. But this is already amazing. I typed all of this on Cat itself…
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…which is so great to be able to say. (Of course it’s already in my book.) To the Cat! And to Jef Raskin.pic.twitter.com/Nkher4LCjL
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(Thanks to
@splorp for helping me out and to The 8-Bit Guy for teaching me about computer restoration.)Show this thread -
After many false starts, I just managed to connect my Canon Cat to my MacBook Pro. Here’s the details for those who care:https://medium.com/@mwichary/how-i-convinced-my-1987-canon-cat-to-talk-to-my-2017-macbook-pro-84391301dbf0 …
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Also, Canon Cat knew how to do underlines properly in 19-goddamn-87.pic.twitter.com/5dvWgZsPsr
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My friend’s description of the Cat: “that tiny computer with the 3-d keyboard.” <3
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