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Resources & Links

Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+L...

Olivetti Lettera 32 Typewriter
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+L...

Olivetti Lettera 32 Typewriter Ribbon
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+L...

Olivetti Valentine Typewriter
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+V...

Olivetti Divisumma 24 Calculator
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+D...

Underwood Portable Typewriter
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Underwood+...

Olivetti Programma 101
🔍 eBay (Best Deals): https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...

HP 9100A Calculator
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HP+9100A+c...

Olivetti P6060 Computer
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+P...

Olivetti M20 Computer
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+M...

Olivetti M24 Computer
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+M...

AT&T PC 6300
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ATT+PC+630...

Olivetti M10 Laptop
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+M...

IBM PC 5150
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=IBM+PC+515...

Apple II Computer
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Apple+II+c...

Acorn BBC Micro
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Acorn+BBC+...

The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti by Meryle Secrest
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mysterious...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Road+C...

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=No+Country...

Olivetti Printing Calculator
🛒 Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Olivetti+p...

In 1965 a small Italian company unveiled the Programma 101 in New York, a desktop computer that sold about 44,000 units, mostly in the United States, and helped NASA engineers with calculations for Apollo 11. This is the rise and fall of Olivetti, the typewriter maker from Ivrea that built the Lettera 22, bought America's Underwood, invented one of the first personal computers, turned down a stake in Apple, and watched Hewlett-Packard take the market it helped create.
 
Sources:

IEEE Spectrum, "The Italian Computer: Olivetti's ELEA 9003 Was a Study in Elegant, Ergonomic Design"
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-italian...
Inexhibit, "Olivetti Programma 101: at the origins of the Personal Computer"
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studie...
The Washington Post, "AT&T to Buy 25% of Olivetti" (December 1983)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
Bloomberg, "Olivetti Finally Does The Unthinkable" (February 1997)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
Encyclopedia.com, "Olivetti S.p.A." company history
https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/po...
In re Olivetti Underwood Corporation, Delaware Court of Chancery (1968)
Business History, "Corporate Europe in the US: Olivetti's acquisition of Underwood fifty years on" (2012)
The New York Times, coverage of the Christie's auction of Cormac McCarthy's Lettera 32 (December 2009)
Gartner, worldwide PC shipment rankings, third quarter 2006
Meryle Secrest, The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti (2019)

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This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.