I live in Germany. I bought it on our Craigslist equivalent. It's a good-as-new Erika 11 and I love it to bits.
I'm sure that your community has a typewriter guru who would happily kit you out. Chances are your club knows about them and can point you towards the right people.
Is the question on which type and what to look out for? Because the basic of buying seems straight forward. On my country's ebay there's over 1000 results.
I remember using a mechanical typewriter with Midi-type connector and a printer driver (not sure what the terminology is) for C64. The typewriter manual contained all the codes to control the typewriter, like a terminal. Would be fun to buy one of those and try to re-implement your own driver.
The mechanical typewriter had a buffer, you were able to type faster than the printing head could bring it on paper.
I also sometimes feel nostalgic about typewriters. The clacking sounds, the whooshing noise when making a line break, and the clear finish with a "ding!"... But the typewriters I like are antiques, and I haven't seen any that actually work.
I’ve bought multiple antique typewriters that all work just fine. Might need a little maintenance to clean the slugs/hammers or need a new ink ribbon (which you can buy on Amazon), but it hasn’t felt hard for me to find them at places like antique stores or estate sales.
A lot of people really enjoy writing on paper. I never really got into it seriously, because it requires a lot of focus and effort, but it seems like such a cool idea.
You might get more interest if you include handwriting too.
I'm sure that your community has a typewriter guru who would happily kit you out. Chances are your club knows about them and can point you towards the right people.
I remember using a mechanical typewriter with Midi-type connector and a printer driver (not sure what the terminology is) for C64. The typewriter manual contained all the codes to control the typewriter, like a terminal. Would be fun to buy one of those and try to re-implement your own driver.
The mechanical typewriter had a buffer, you were able to type faster than the printing head could bring it on paper.
You might get more interest if you include handwriting too.