Brings back memories for sure. I once took a minicomputer course at a community college because I had taken all the courses the university offered and wanted more hands-on exposure. They were still using PDP-8 computers and paper tape in that course. The PDP-8 was a 12 bit computer. At that time I aspired to make a cheap optical paper tape reader where the tape would be wound from spool to spool with a hand crank. The data bytes are self-clocking, so speed didn't need to be consistent. The big problem was that paper tape punches were much harder to build. I was considering printing the tape and using reflective sensors, but dot-matrix printers of the day didn't make big black dots very well.
Incidentally, maybe the feedback generator was to detect broken tape. There were incidents where the tape would break and spew all over the place.
Brings back memories for sure. I once took a minicomputer course at a community college because I had taken all the courses the university offered and wanted more hands-on exposure. They were still using PDP-8 computers and paper tape in that course. The PDP-8 was a 12 bit computer. At that time I aspired to make a cheap optical paper tape reader where the tape would be wound from spool to spool with a hand crank. The data bytes are self-clocking, so speed didn't need to be consistent. The big problem was that paper tape punches were much harder to build. I was considering printing the tape and using reflective sensors, but dot-matrix printers of the day didn't make big black dots very well.
Incidentally, maybe the feedback generator was to detect broken tape. There were incidents where the tape would break and spew all over the place.
Developing a tape punching machine that will run at high speed sounds like a challenge even with todays technology. I wonder if there is a project video in trying one day?
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