How does one install a free virus protection software on a computer that can’t access the web?
Only one of my computers is working properly. Two of my computers can’t access the Web. One computer isn’t protected.
Oh, well. Who needs computers? I would be working just as hard if we were still in the days before computers and maybe I would be doing at least this well financially. I would be rewarded for being able to type very fast without mistakes. But I’d be writing papers and reports and books that would be printed or copied from camera-ready pages. I remember starting my publishing career about 1961 submitting text that was transferred mechanically via a machine known as a linotype to “hot” metal and made into frames that were inked and impressed on paper. The headlines were set by hand on the “Ludlow” machine.
It’s time for a tribute to the good old linotype machine.
And to the remarkable man with an even more remarkable name, Ottmar Mergenthaler, from Germany. He is acclaimed for being as important to printing as Gutenberg, the man who invented “movable type” and made printing presses possible.
The invention sounds strange in the perspective of computer-generated files, but to combine stamping letters and casting them in metal in one step was a major breakthrough. I remember walking into the press when I was a college student eager to produce the next edition of the college newspaper and watching the linotype operator entering the text I’d brought over on half sheets. I can’t remember his name, but I can remember how he would sit with back ramrod straight and pound the keys in rapid sequence, seldom hitting the wrong one.
Each line of type that was set ended up in a mold filled with liquid metal where the stamp was made. For a great explanation of how it all worked, Woodside Press has created a delightful, well-illustrated website with easy-to-understand explanation of the linotype. Based in New York City, Woodside Press is one of the few printing companies that still use hot metal. Linotype, Monotype, and Ludlow are key tools at this press.
