21 Jun
2025
21 Jun
'25
5:19 p.m.
You can also look toward the industrial space. For one of my projects I
used a Fanuc PPR, which is generally used in CNC machines and similar. It
has both a punch and a reader and uses a serial interface. Easy to work
with and very modular in its design. The disadvantage being that it looks
more like something out of a vintage industrial setting than a vintage
computer setting. I briefly considered building my own. A reader would be
easy, but I never wrapped my brain around how I would make a reliable and
durable punch.
Finding tape can be difficult. There was (or maybe still is) someone on
eBay selling mylar. You have to be careful of some of the paper, as there
are sizes that are not 1 inch.
If a truly modern replacement was fine, there are things like casduino /
ardutape / tzxduino. These are devices that pretend to be an audio tape,
based on an arduino. Emulating at a digital level would be even easier as
many paper tape interfaces were just RS-232 or parallel. Any arduino or
raspberry pi could handle that job. It just wouldn't look very vintage when
you were done.
Scott
On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM Wayne S via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Yep. I used paper tape a lot in college and a bit at
work to reload
programs into typesetters after maintenance or a power off.
IMHO, using paper tape is a PITA.
Only use it if there is nothing else. 😞
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 21, 2025, at 13:19, ben via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 2025-06-21 1:18 p.m., Wayne S via cctalk wrote:
> Actual oiled paper tape that meets specs is difficult to make.
> You need a thick stock and the tape is impregnated with oil to
lubricate the punch mechanism.
> The actual specs for it is available on
Bitsavers.
> That said, old, unused paper tape seems to becoming more available on
ebay as people discover it in garage sales and put it up for resale. If you
are going to punch and reuse the tape a few times, then mylar tape is
usable, but it will dull your punch bits.
Lack of paper tape is was why I was asking about
a replacement.
The same goes for TTY replacement.