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Documents REMEX Paper Tape Drive Teardown -- The EIectronics Inside 38

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Author Author: tariq.ahmad
Date Created: 4 May 2021 1:28 PM Date Created
Last Updated Last Updated: 30 Dec 2020 8:24 AM
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REMEX Paper Tape Drive Teardown -- The EIectronics Inside 38

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Continuing with our history of data storage, we are going back - way back - to see how punched paper tape storage worked.

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mr_widget over 4 years ago

Back in the '80s,I was working at CompuPro in Hayward, CA. I was amazed that during a visit to a contract machine shop in Berkeley, called Graysix, that the turret punch/bender making the clamshell steel enclosures (CompuPro 10) was being fed paper tape for the G code instructions, and that the paper tape punch was programmed on a DEC PDP-8, of all things!
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DAB over 4 years ago in reply to mr_widget

Paper tape worked fine for small projects.
It was easy to carry around, you could write notes on it and as long as you were careful, it would last for years.

We did a lot of amazing things back in those days.

I was doing image processing on a PDP-11 in the early 1970's.

DAB
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a531016 over 4 years ago in reply to DAB

I'm a little jealous of these stories, I'd love to get hold of a complete old computer like a PDP8...
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a531016 over 4 years ago in reply to DAB

I'm a little jealous of these stories, I'd love to get hold of a complete old computer like a PDP8...
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dougw over 4 years ago in reply to a531016

The PDP-8 I used could be programmed using toggle switches on the front panel.
You can still buy more modern ("single chip") versions of the architecture if anyone is looking for a retro project...
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DAB over 4 years ago in reply to a531016

I might have some old boards from a PDP-8, but I no longer have the rack or boxes.

DAB
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beacon_dave over 4 years ago in reply to a531016

"...I'd love to get hold of a complete old computer like a PDP8..."

In the meantime there are always the PiDP-8 and PiDP-11 kits...
PiDP-8
https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-8

PiDP-11
https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11

Video of the PiDP-8 being programmed via its octal switches:

PiDP-8 tour and demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMRDAD1JNWo
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