[0xmarcin]

Rotary phones where used with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strowger_switch - so they have very simple interface - just generate the number of pulses that is either N or 10-N (I don't remember exactly which one is right). There is also a nice back-story about how it was invented.

This is a nice DIY project, but its practicality is questionable. Choosing a number on rotary phones is very slow, as you need to wait til the wheel returns to its start position.

[stavros]

It's N, from what I recall from my rotary mobile:

https://www.stavros.io/posts/irotary-saga/

[tdeck]

In New Zealand it was 10-N!

[ismokedoinks]

Not sure practicality is the goal--Being inconvenient might actually be the intent.

[ComputerGuru]

You could redesign the rotary dial to return to zero much, much faster with shorter pulses and smaller intervals between them given advances in high frequency signal counting.

[nikau]

I remember adjusting my phone when I was a kid to spin back as fast as possible, if set too fast and the number wouldn't dial. There was a little speed governor inside which could be adjusted for more or less resistance, i think it had weighted arms that could be adjusted outwards to slow it down.