"8-track" data tapes, was Re: Compucolor items on eBay

That reminds me of something similar I've seen done on a much larger scale. The Conductron-Missouri 727 flight simulator I used to work on used a Varian 610 for the visual system (Vital I is what I think the image generator system was named) on the sim. It could display 1024 pixels at once. Scene data consisted of the runway and taxiway outlines plus relevant radio navigation data. It was all stored on a paper tape "cartridge" that was hand made. It was roughly four feet tall and about 30 inches wide. The cartridge sides were plywood on the back and clear plexiglass on the front. The paper tape was tangle-stacked like you described above. It was pretty neat to watch. There was a notch at the top that would accomodate the tape reader head and it was otherwise fully enclosed. I can't check right now, but I may have a picture of it at http://deltasoft.fife.wa.us/BehindTheScenes The 727 (complete and working) went for $1000 at a bankruptcy auction last summer. :( g.