what is a 'stringy floppy'?

< >i was talking to my manager who is just about ready to give me a comple < >working trs80 model 1 with ALL accessories. he also said he used someth < >called a stringy floppy with it which used a loop of string/wire to sa < The "Exatron Stringy Floppy" was a tape loop cartridge that had a basic < 'structured' file system on it so (with the proper software) it could b < treated similar to a disk device, altho serial in nature. Don't remembe < the capacity right off, but it was not a lot. Around 100k. It was faster than audio cassette but clower than floppy. It's search speed was terrible. I did a design before it came out using a 8track cart for a platform. It's problems were using the short loops I made it would take 180 seconds to search for the previous block and the reliability of the tape was poor with oxide flaking (even using the best mylar tapes). While I was able to make it work I abandoned it within weeks of building it for a DC300 cartridge and my own drive. Based on my experiences with looped tapes and carts when I saw the Exxatron I regarded it as unlikely contender. It didn't last long. It is very collectable as likely few survived. Allison