9 Aug
2015
9 Aug
'15
9:57 p.m.
I always kept a few cards in my shirt pocked to stick
behind the mounted reel and trip the write-enable mechanism (which
latched). When the autoloading 66x drives came in, part of my world
disappeared. I've never tried to see if that trick works on minicomputer
reel-to-reel drives.
It should do. The few minicomputer magtape drives I've been inside have
a solenoid on the write-enable pin. If it is pushed in part way, a microswtich
operated and the solenoid pulls it in further to keep it away from the
write enable ring. Otherwise, I think there would be tremendous wear on
said ring.
-tony