> On Mar 1, 2026, at 3:56 PM, Martin Bishop via cctalk <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> Fan fold tape was used in DEC PC05 readers and suchlike see eg
> https://retrocmp.com/stories/dec-pc05-papertape/242-dec-pc05-working-with-paper-tapes
> Any DEC diagnostic, of the PT era, I have ever seen was issued on fan fold -
> much of DEC's PT oeuvre is available online
>
> I have fond recollections of using fan fold diagnostics etc etc on a DG Nova
> 2. Always looking for bad memory ... Found it all too often.
>
> Great technology until it spills, then you have to re-fold it by hand ...
>
> Personally, I have always prefered the dump in dustbin (literally), respool
> on hand winder technology.
> Many hours spent plotting mainframe generated tapes on Nova - BC "before
> comms", ie < ~ 1980
>
> Martin
Yes, that's the approach I saw first. The EL-X8 had 3 readers, each capable of
over 1000 characters per second, which is pretty amazing for 1964 technology.
More amazing still, they could stop and restart on command, without missing
characters. In other words, the stop/start combined required less than 1 ms,
the time between consecutive frames on the tape.
I'm pretty sure that shop had powered tape winders, because winding long
strings of paper by hand power would get pretty tiring during a full shift.
After all, this was a batch system with all input -- programs and data -- on
paper tape, so during a given shift the operators probably handled a hundred
tapes, maybe more.
paul
