The Last Linotype Newspaper (2022)

Let's start with what I can assert as facts: computerized NYT typesetting began with an IBM 1620 and a Linofilm mechanical phototypesetter. This is not the system we see in the video, the 1620 was a paper tape machine primarily and did not support graphical terminals. I would think that the video might have elided the paper tape part of the process but it also shows us an engineering console that has IBM vibes (formal method in computer history) but is definitely not a 1620. Not surprising anyway, the 1620 was quite old by the time this video was made in 1978 and would probably have been replaced.

The graphics terminals that we see in the video are probably not IBM, because they don't look like any IBM VDTs I know of or can find. They have "Commodore PET vibes," which unfortunately was a popular aesthetic at the time, and a lot of '70s terminals looked generally like that.

I tend to zero in on Harris, though, as in defense contractor L3Harris. At the time, Harris had merged with Intertype, a major competitor to Linotype for hot-metal typesetting in the day. Harris continued to make phototypesetting systems, and they also made full-on Data Processing Systems (computers and terminals) including some for typographic applications. The terminals we see in the video look kinda-sorta like some older Harris VDTs but not exactly, unfortunately it's not easy to find good information on old Harris computer products.

If you look carefully at the video you'll notice there's actually more than one type of terminal, and they look to be of slightly different industrial design eras. So one of the puzzles here is that NYT in 1978 was very likely using more than one phototypesetting system. Elsewhere in the video we see the console of a Data General minicomputer, and a Metro-Set CRT typesetter, underscoring that there are multiple systems depicted.

IN FACT, in a pleasing conclusion, while looking for more info on the (not very popular) MGD Metro-Set CRT typesetter, I found a 1976 NYT article stating that "Early this summer, Harris will install facilities to hyphenate and justify copy and send it through the Times's MGD Metro‐set photocomposing machines."

So we are definitely seeing some Harris terminals, Metro-Set typesetters, I'm guessing the big operator console we see is a Harris Data Processing System that controls the terminals, and who knows what's up with the Data General machine, it might just be for accounting or batch jobs to the typesetters or something.

Computers were a lot less general-purpose back then, as the "hyphenate and justify copy" part of the quote suggests. It's very likely that the article text was written on one computer system, moved to another (by magnetic tape or disk pack or even I/O channel) for layout, etc. Even in the '70s, "store and retrieve text files (by newspaper section, publish date, etc)" would be the requirements for a complete hardware/software system, and Harris seems to have had a focus on that kind of system because of their combination of Intertype legacy and a full computer division.

The film can be a little confusing because I think people watch it and come away with the conclusion that the NYT started computer typesetting in 1978. They didn't, I believe they were doing computer typesetting by the late '60s, 1978 was just when they dropped hot metal entirely. I'm not sure what was happening in the intervening period, but it wasn't at all unusual for publishers to mix-and-match, for example doing articles in hot type and classified ads (which really benefited from computerized management) by computer.

The "paste-up" process that we see at the end, to prepare "camera-ready" pages to be photographed and used to etch plates, had the benefit of incredible flexibility on the input. You would routinely combine output from different typesetting systems (e.g. headlines were often done on their own system), mechanical systems, hand drawn illustrations, etc into one paste-up.

Generally, lead poisoning is less of an issue for adults. They can slowly work it out of their system (or at least to a place it is not as harmful). The huge problem is with children. Lead poisoning interferes with brain development.

Anyway, wash your hands after touching lead before eating or smoking. They probably didn't know that they had to do that back in the days when Linotype machines were popular...

Molten lead in a linotype machine might be an issue iff it creates lead vapor, but I'm not familiar with the literature on that subject.

Have we though?

Generating printed output with quite inflexible energy hungry lead melting monsters?

Before Knuth and metafont we had a period when we had lost something, but we got it back. Cheaper and better don't you think?

I have a tendency to nostalgia, both not for these