paper tape archiving

Some readers do this at all speeds. For example, any stepper motor is by definition a start/stop drive at any speed. Fast optical readers may run continuously if you let them, but that's worth a careful check. Especially since some of the high speed readers have very serious brake systems, good for their original application but not at all for our purposes. I've seen tape readers specified at 1000 cps or better that are capable of stopping at any point, starting up again, and reading the next character. So they are doing 100 inches per second and stopping within 1/20th of an inch. Ouch. The best kind of archival tape readers would have an adjustable tape path so you can read any of 5, 6, 7, or 8 channel tape. While 6 and 7 is uncommon it does exist. 6 is probably least interesting, at least the only application I know is typesetting, not computing. I've been thinking a newly constructed optical tape reader with continuous motion (no brakes), capstan drive, and slow ramp start/stop would be ideal and with today's technology quite easy to make. paul