Hard to believe these to images have survived so long. The printer was one of the first computer output devices. When you ran a program on a computer in the early 1970’s you always got the output on printer paper. The was cheap and plentiful Hard to believe these to images have survived so long. The printer was one of the first computer output devices. When you ran a program on a computer in the early 1970’s you always got the output on printer paper. The was cheap and plentiful. Historically, some of first computer graphics were printer output made by arranging alphanumeric characters on printer pages. Computer nerds would figure out which characters to print to make Snoopy or Star Trek characters. They also figured out how to produce gray scales by overstriking characters. It was crude but effective. I was majoring in Graphic Design in the early 1970’s and with the help of my friend Chris Scussel, a math/computer science major. We tried to seriously push this medium to produce algorithmic art. He developed a kind of gray scale and we experimented with some functions. The result of which were these two drawings. Historically, some of first computer graphics were printer output made by arranging alphanumeric characters on printer pages. Computer nerds would figure out which characters to print to make Snoopy or Star Trek characters. They also figured out how to produce gray scales by overstriking characters. It was crude but effective. I was majoring in Graphic Design in the early 1970’s and with the help of my friend Chris Scussel, a math/computer science major. We tried to seriously push this medium to produce algorithmic art. He developed a kind of gray scale and we experimented with some functions. The result of which were these two drawings.