26 May
2006
26 May
'06
3 p.m.
That is as I understood it .. it's just an audio
tape with data encoded
as tones. (I believe the data rate for the cassette interface on a 5150
is 1200 bps.) So in that case, normal audio gear would work.
From what I remember (and I'll dig out the Techref
if anyone needs to
know for sure), the 5150 used an encoding scheme where a
'1' is recorded
as 1 cycle of a particular frequency, and a '0' is recorded as 1 cycle of
a different frequency. This means the bit rate is not constant. I think
it's around 1500 bps on average, though.
Ah, now where to find a classic shoebox recorder ... :-)
Are they rare, or something? Heck, I found _both_ of the Philips portable
upright reel-to-reel machines I'd been looking for in a couple of months on
E-overpay. Surely cassette recorders turn up there too (I've never looked...)
-tony