6 HN users recommended this documentary6 months2017–2026score 6.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Frequently recommended as an absorbing look at hot-metal typesetting and the end of the linotype era.
A documentary on the last day the New York Times was printed with linotype machines in 1978, following the process from the newsroom to the press. It marks the move to computerized typesetting.
“the final day the New York Times was printed using their linotype machines.” (HN, 2024)
If you want to see the entire workflow as implemented by the New York Times there is a great documentary about it. [this video] The documentary covers the last day that the NYT used a metal/linotype press and talks through the entire process that happened from newsroom to printing. It is a truly interesting way to spend 28 minutes.
Documentary walking through the New York Times newsroom-to-press linotype workflow.
Somewhat related - there's a good documentary about the last edition of the New York Times published using the linotype process called "Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu" [1]. [1] [this video]
Good documentary on the last linotype-printed New York Times edition.
As an aside, check out the 30 minute documentary "Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu" ( [this video] ) about the end of the linotype era. I'm amazed at the engineering that went into linotype printing.
30 minute documentary on the end of the linotype era.
There’s a neat documentary from the late 1970’s, “Farewell etaoin shrdlu”. It’s about the final day the New York Times was printed using their linotype machines. [this video]
Neat documentary on the last day the New York Times used linotype.
>It has the last master plate, and some photos of how it all looked on the last day. There is a photo of a technician sweeping up on presumably the last day before the plant was shut down. He looked distraught There's a pretty good documentary showing the last day of linotype typesetting at the New York Times. [this video]
Pretty good documentary showing the last day of linotype at the Times.
When I was a ten year old kid in 1973 my school did a tour. I remember looking at some programs running on green-screen terminals, and the guy doing the demo typed in commands using the keyword FOR so I assume it was all Fortran back then. You can get a rough idea if you watch this... [this video]
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed
7 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes