Re: PDP8
Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 21:47
On another forum I visit, the (older) regulars are talking about punch card and paper tape reader/writers.
One guy was discussing the merits of paper tape versus the newer-fangled mylar tape (still punched holes - not magnetic tape). He said the mylar tape was thinner so you got more capacity on the same size reel, but if it escaped from the spools or boxes that were supposed to catch it, the resulting nightmare tangle was much worse than you ever got with paper tape.
Also the mylar tape was harder on the punches that made the holes, so they used to alternate mylar tape runs with ones using oiled paper tapes.
He worked for the military, and the little "chad" holes that the punches produced had to be collected and burned, because the top brass believed that if the bad guys got hold of the chad from the bins they would somehow be able to glean secrets about the code his organization was running! He said he tried arguing with them that the bins full of tiny punched-out circles couldn't conceivably carry any useful information - but they wouldn't listen.
One guy was discussing the merits of paper tape versus the newer-fangled mylar tape (still punched holes - not magnetic tape). He said the mylar tape was thinner so you got more capacity on the same size reel, but if it escaped from the spools or boxes that were supposed to catch it, the resulting nightmare tangle was much worse than you ever got with paper tape.
Also the mylar tape was harder on the punches that made the holes, so they used to alternate mylar tape runs with ones using oiled paper tapes.
He worked for the military, and the little "chad" holes that the punches produced had to be collected and burned, because the top brass believed that if the bad guys got hold of the chad from the bins they would somehow be able to glean secrets about the code his organization was running! He said he tried arguing with them that the bins full of tiny punched-out circles couldn't conceivably carry any useful information - but they wouldn't listen.