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Björn Schließmann edited this page Jun 26, 2022 · 10 revisions

- piTelex

Control a historic Telex device with a Raspberry Pi (or PC) in Python 3.

The goal is to connect a historic telex device (teletype) with TW39 protocol or ED1000 protocol to a modern Windows/Linux-PC via USB and/or a Raspberry Pi (via GPIO) with minimal hardware.

One part of the project is the hardware to adapt the current loop for TW39 to modern logic level ports; the same for ED1000. As side effect teletypes with V.10 interface (like TeKaDe FS200 / FS220) can also be connected via USB-adapter or via Raspberry GPIO.

The other part is the Python software to send and receive the serial data (50 baud, 5 data-bits) and decode the "Baudot-Murray-Code" character set (also called "CCITT-2" or "ITA2") to ASCII.

Now that the TTY hardware devices can be connected and controlled, it is time to connect the machines to the outer world.

Several software modules provide connection with other i-Telex devices, IRC or Twitter Servers as well as local services (local typing and printing, logging, archiving and so on).


Typical and tested teletype combinations:

Computer Hardware Protocol SW-Module Description
PC-Linux,
PC-Windows
CH340 USB-Serial-Adapter TTL
+ I-Loop-Electronic
TW39 CH340TTY for mechanical teletypes
RPi CH340 USB-Serial-Adapter TTL
+ I-Loop-Electronic
TW39 CH340TTY for mechanical teletypes
RPi GPIO on RPi
+ I-Loop-Electronic
TW39 RPiTTY for mechanical teletypes
PC-Linux,
PC-Windows
CH340 USB-Serial-Adapter V.24
+ V.10-Cable
V.10 CH340TTY for TeKaDe FS200 / FS220
PC-Linux,
PC-Windows
USB-Sound-Card
+ ED1000-Electronic
ED1000 ED1000 for (more) modern electronic teletypes
IN DEVELOPMENT

RPi: Raspberry Pi (at least Zero W) with Raspian image

Connection from/to Outer Space

Type Protocol SW-Module Description
i-Telex TCP/IP ITelexClient
ITelexSrv
i-Telex-protocol (baudot) and ASCII
Telnet TCP/IP ITelexSrv Now part of i-Telex-Server
Screen Keyboard + Monitor Screen for testing and debugging
IRC IRC IRC Severs
News File based News RSS Servers
Twitter Twitter in development

Build Examples

TW39 Compact USB Interface

TW39 Raspberry Pi Interface

V.10 Interface for TeKaDe FS200Z / FS220Z

ED1000 Interface

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