I’m guessing a lot of these IF-50 Computer Interface boxes that allow certain port-equipped Brother Typewriters to act as printers for many 8-Bit 1980’s computers exist, but have long ago been separated from their absolutely essential user manuals. If you’re in that situation, you’re in luck because I’ve scanned mine. Enjoy! (:
Nice share. I’ve scanned but haven’t yet shared my instruction guide for the Silver Reed IF/44. I also have a (partly scanned) similar booklet for the AEG Olympia Carerra IF box.
Ooh, yes, you should post those. Good public service move – I ended up posting this one when someone requested it in a comment on a previous post about the IF-50. People can’t really properly configure these things without the manuals, so they oughta be preserved & posted. (:
I have a Brother AX-25 with an IF-20, but without a manual for the latter. No luck printing sofar from 4 different computers. wondering if there is a ‘magic’ key combination ….
Hi there,
after all I’ve got a typewriter attached an interface IF-50.
I’m now really happy…… But
(there is always a ‘but’, isn’t it?)
In order to run the printer/typewriter on the PC I’ve installed
the “generic Text”-Printer. Unfortunately I have no idea how to change
to the German Typo. It works as long as I print just US-ASCII Letters
Has anyone the same issue and probably a solution
I bought a used IF-50 probably nearly a decade ago. Love it. You see, when our family got electronic typewriters, for work, in the early 1980’s, the typewriter doc instructions talked about the IF-50. There was even an order card inside & guess what, the IF-50 cost about $300 USD back then iirc. I was a young teenager at the time & there was no way I could afford that. Flash forward to nearly a decade ago, browsed for IF-50’s on eBay & found one for significantly less. I don’t recall how much I paid, but probably around $20. I believe it did come with these instructions. Why did I buy it? Because we still used these old electronic typewriters at the office even a decade ago & I needed a way to automate some stuff that was more convenient with these typewriters than with a laser, inkjet or impact printer. I was able to make the IF-50 work using the Edit.com in Microsoft Windows. As a vintage computer geek, I have many dotmatrix/impact printers that I have kept over the years. But never a daisywheel. So it’s nice to have an electronic daisywheel typewriter clacking along at its top speed acting like a stand-alone dedicated computer printer. I still have those electronic typewriters & the IF-50 to this day. And in case I lose the IF-50 manual, I can always copy the scanned one above, so thanks for scanning it.
That’s a nice find! I bought the IF-50 for my CE-61 more than 20 years ago. I wanted to give a try the other day, but now the CE-61’s hammer no longer seems to have the punch necessary to leave an impact on the ribbon cartridge. Anyway, these machines allowed to set up an early text processing system back in the 90s.
There are IF-20s and IF-60s. Is there a matrix of what interface is applicable for what typewriter model? Are there any other interfaces?