@odd I grew up using typewriters. My engineering and tinkerer background certainly helps. I'm definitely self-taught and started out with Richard Polt's book The Typewriter Revolution (2015) which goes through a lot of the basics. His website also has some great material to get one started. Beyond that I do lean on a surprising wealth of YouTube videos within the type-o-sphere, despite the fact that manuals are available. The nice part with these machines is that they're incredibly sturdy and usually if you can see it you can figure out how it works and what it might need to get working again.

The fifth picture you indicated is an old/early index typewriter on which you pick a letter at a time on a grid and then type it. Definitely a time consuming way to type. I don't have any in my collection (yet??) as I tend to lean towards the esthetic of machines in the late 40s to early 70s. Some of the early presentation/conversation pieces are fascinating, but I do prefer machines I can use on an ongoing basis.

What machine do you have now? What are you considering?