Toy Typewriter with Ink-Jet Print Head.

The requirement was to produce a fully functional toy typewriter using an ink-jet print head rather than the conventional hammers. It was based on a single chip microcomputer with the minimum of other electronic components; as low cost was of paramount importance. Quercus Computer Systems was responsible for developing the software. As well as the standard black on white text, features included wide text, bold text, inverted print (white on black) and auto-repeat. A novel feature not found in the office typewriter was a facility for automatically producing coded messages to a friend, who would first type your mutually agreed keywords, then retype your coded message on their typewriter (the same make of course) and produce the decoded message. Hidden wire links allowed the character set for a variety of languages to be selected.