Teleprinters, also known as teletypewriters or simply TTYs, are electromechanical devices used for sending and receiving typed messages over long distances. They were widely used from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s, and were a critical component of early telecommunications networks. A teleprinter consists of a keyboard for inputting text, a printer for outputting text, and a mechanism for transmitting and receiving messages over a communication line. The most common type of teleprinter uses a system of electrical signals to transmit messages, with each letter of the alphabet represented by a unique combination of signals. When a message is received, the signals are decoded and printed out on the receiving teleprinter. Teleprinters were used for a wide variety of applications, including sending news reports, stock market data, and weather forecasts. They were also used extensively by businesses and government agencies for internal communications. In the early days of computing, teleprinters were often used as input and output devices for mainframe computers. Today, teleprinters have largely been replaced by more modern communication technologies such as email, fax, and instant messaging. However, they remain an important part of the history of telecommunications and computing, and are still used in some specialized applications.
telecommunication, electromechanical, signals, decoding, history
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