hackertube.io

The Great 202 Jailbreak - Computerphile

Computerphile · interview · Watch on YouTube

History of computingGraphic design & typography

What it is

Computerphile with Professor Brailsford on how a 1979 Bell Labs team reverse engineered a Linotron 202 phototypesetter over a summer to get high-quality print output. It covers typesetting history and the later 2013 rebuild of the famous vacation memo.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended alongside the original paper and Unix history threads as an engaging account of the typesetter hack.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “Computerphile interviewed one of the writers of this paper in a series of videos”

    Interview about the paper's history and recreation

    ATsch, 2015-11 · Recommendation · in “Experience with the Mergenthaler Linotron 202 Phototypesetter (1980) [pdf]”

  2. “staring the inimitable Professor Brailsford”

    Computerphile video on the 202 typesetter jailbreak with Professor Brailsford.

    jgalt212, 2024-07 · Recommendation · in “The Birth of Standard Error (2013)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: linotron 202, typesetting, bell labs, troff, unix history

Also recommended by the same people