[cctalk] Re: Is there a more modern replacement for paper tape punch/reader

FYI: I'm restoring an intellec 4 mod 40 from 1974. As I don't have a TTY or a high speed paper tape reader, I've made a 110 baud to serial TTL UART USB interface with handshake, and a very simple high speed paper tape reader simulator with an Arduino board. The 110/20 ma current loop interface needed some opto-isolators and a Atmel processor to do a 110 <-> 300 baud shift in both directions. (USB plug in serial ports don't appear to support 110 baud...) RealTerm then can be used as a TeleType(R) lookey-likey... Does need a bit of a front-end to respond to the 'tape advance' relay clicks... The paper tape reader currently loads a 'compiled in' HEX file, but will get expanded for a display and user interface to select 'paper tape' files from a SD card. This info can be shared... As a usable means of extracting info from paper tape the 'e-basteln' widget is quite handy... https://www.e-basteln.de/computing/papertape/ A useful source of paper tape punching is to find a big iron enthusiast with a set of 1960's kit. I've got a UK contact who's keeping an Elliott 903 going and he's made some 1" tapes from PC files. His box of tricks talks to a PC via the parallel port and a stack of TTL to 9 volt level shifters. Regards Sid -----Original Message----- From: Gavin Scott via cctalk Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2025 2:47 PM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Cc: Gavin Scott Subject: [cctalk] Re: Is there a more modern replacement for paper tape punch/reader A paper-tape reader is easy enough, just something where you manually pull the tape past an optical reader etc. I have a ~cheap diode laser cutter and on my someday get around to it list is to write a paper tape "punch" program that will cut a one foot strip of punched paper tape out of a larger piece of paper, with the possibility of using a roll of paper and manually advance it a foot at a time using the sprocket holes and some pins for alignment. On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 12:04 AM ben via cctalk &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: