18 Jul
2014
18 Jul
'14
5:22 p.m.
On Jul 18, 2014, at 1:43 PM, Raymond Wiker <rwiker at gmail.com> wrote:
I'm pretty sure that some of the 8-bit
microcomputer systems used NULs for this exact purpose, when loading data through the
serial port; specifically, I think I heard about NUL padding for the UK-101 and KIM-1.
I can confirm null padding on the UK101 (and probably the OSI Superboard II and relatives)
for tape saving. When loading a tape, the machine basically redirects input from the tape
and acts like the user is typing in the program. When enter is pressed, the machine needs
a few cycles to tokenize the line of BASIC, so a few NULLs are saved to the tape between
lines.
Ian