Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This Guide will eventually contain:

- Chapter 2: Gellerese Dictionary (Romance flavour and Umlaut flavour)

- Chapter 3: Character guide (eg skills, contacts, injuries, weaknesses, languages etc)

- Chapter 4: list of made up countries and corresponding villains .it may also include history Notes/context, technology notes (Real 60s tech and lists of cool things invented for the show)

-

Chapter Text

Romance Flavour

Exterminador: Exterminator

Televisora Oficial: Official TV network

Alto: 'stop'

Gasolina: Petrol

Installations et Reparations Electroniques: Electrical Repair and Installation service

Umlaut Flavour

Altik: Stop

Belten Atachin: Fasten Seat Belts.

Emerženc̄iskija: Emergency

Fumen net: No smoking

Fumigazon: Fumigation

Gaz: This is actually Romanian for 'gas'. But served nicely as Soviet Ruritanian for ‘gasolina'.

Machina Werke: Maintenance

Mina Din Steppen: Mind the Step

Mortürari: Mortuary

Priziion Militik: Military Prison

Zöna restrik: Restricted Zone 

Chapter Text

Gen 1

Dan Briggs
Cinnamon Carter
Rollin Hand
Barney Collier
Willy Armitage

Gen 2

Jim Phelps

Gen 3
Paris
Jessica Walter

Gen 4
Dana
Doug

Gen 5
Casey

....

Chapter Text

Fake countries

European People’s Republic

Eastern European Republic

Santa Costa

The Kingdom of Bhakan

Santales

Veskya

Chapter Text

Real Tech

Punched-card Computers

From the invention of computers up until around the mid 1970s, computer programs were typed onto punch cards.

The card technology had originated centuries earlier in Jacquard looms for weaving.

A 'Punch card' is the blank card, a 'punched card' is a card that has had part of a program typed onto it.

Punch cards could be made by an operator typing by hand on a Keypunch machine (Barney does this a few times in the show) or by a computer-controlled Computer Card Punch machine. If you made a mistake typing a card, you'd have to type it out all over again.

Smaller computers might run off punched tape rather than cards.

This link to computerhope is a pretty good basic summary of how they worked. Of particular interest is card sorting and dropping cards. If the cards were dropped out of order, it was hard to get them back in order. I'm pretty sure that in 'The Seal', Phelps introduces a fake punched card to the computer system which forces the computer to drop all the cards, requiring maintenance (Barney in a fake computer bank!)

It's possible that this wasn't a proper computer, but a Unit record device containing employer and payment records.

Unit Record equipment also used punched cards and tape. These were not computers, but instead were machine-readable record devices.

Early computer languages like FORTRAN and COBOL were used with punched-card computers.

Typewriters

Typewriters of the 1960s-70s came in two varieties: Manual and Electric.

Manual: Your classic idea of a typewriter. Most of this era involved typing onto a qwerty (or other regional standard) typewriter. Your keystroke would lift a typebar, which would hit the ribbon, imprinting a letter onto the paper. They require skill to use, in particular if you want a clean output. Because the strength with which the letter hits the paper affects how darkly it types, if you type unevenly (different strength and speed with each keystroke) you will get unevenly grey and black letters. It also takes some skill to ten finger touch type at speed (you need STRONG little fingers in particular) so much proper typing was done by trained secretaries.

Usually come in 3 sizes:

1. Standard are big heavy machines for offices. Heavy and very hard to move but easy to type on, especially if you're doing it all day. Often have special features like tabulation or math symbols or wide carriages for big paper, depending on what they're used for.
2. Portable are still pretty heavy. But they are smaller, and you could have one in your home study and move it around more easily.
3. Ultraportable. The macbook air of typewriters. 30-40cm square, flat and light. You can type on your lap. You can type anywhere! But they slide around if you type on a desk for a while and they lack some of the ergonomic features of bigger typewriters.

Electric: The same as above, but when you strike a key, an electric motor intercepts your keypress, and takes on the heavy lifting for you by powering the keystroke. The electric bicycle assist of typewriters. They are usually louder, heavier and larger than the equivalent manual models (And for obvious reasons no ultraportable electrics really exist. They also need to be plugged into the electrical mains (with the exception of a Smith Corona model that did take batteries. They are a lot easier to type on since your hands do a lot less work.

Misc notes on typewriters:

Many jobs we would now associate with typing (eg. business) were done by people who couldn't necessarily type well. They would dictate to secrearies and typists who would notate in shorthand, then put it into professional shape and type it up. Large companies would have a typing pool - many typists all sitting in a big room with electric typewriters.

If someone stops using their typewriter they should either put it back in its case (portable and smaller) or put a typewriter cover over it to stop dust getting in and gumming up the works

You can correct typewritten mistakes in a variety of ways. The most relevant one for fic purposes is probabaly that you can put tipex solution or transfer sheets on and type the correction over the top. Some typewriters self correct but I'm not getting into that now.

Chapter Text

Briggs:

The Record Shop:

Cinnamon:

Phelps: