16 Dec
2014
16 Dec
'14
11:35 a.m.
On 12/16/2014 11:13 AM, Rich Alderson wrote:
It's a little more complex than that. Bob was
using PDP-11 tape drives as
his model, and they *do* insert an extra null(?) byte at the end of odd-
length records. I think, but have not verified since my KS systems are
not running right now, that the RH11 on the KS's Unibus may do the same
thing, but for now that's just a guess.
..and, as a counter-example, there is at least one system/vendor where
tapes are usually written in multiples of 3 8-bit bytes (ANSI labels
being the exception). CDC 6000, for example--6 bit characters and
12-bit PPU words translate 2 PPU words/4 6-bit characters) to three
9-track frames, so odd-byte length records are not unusual.
So perhaps the best way to go is not to pad anything.
--Chuck