4 Aug
2004
4 Aug
'04
10:02 a.m.
The 8-Track Wang cartridges were not used (to my knowledge) on computers,
but on
the Wang 380 Programmer for the Wang 300-Series electronic calculators.
The 380 was a keyboard which plugged into a Wang 300-series electronics
package that provided a means by which programs could be recorded step at a
time
onto the 8-Track tape cartridge. Then, the programs could be played back.
The drive was incremental, meaning that it'd advance a little bit for each
step of
the program. As I recall, the advance mechanism wasn't a motor, but rather
a solenoid
activated ratchet mechanism that could step the tape along a bit at a time.
I believe that the drive could step both forward and backward, allowing
looping to occur (albeit rather slowly).
A few folks that I've been in contact with have managed to find Wang 380's
(Alas, I don't
have one yet), and have not been able to find the correct cartridges, but
have found that
taking old music 8-Track cartridges and cutting down the length of the tape
(a long tape won't
advance properly) will work as a suitable replacement.
You can see some pix of the Wang 380 at
http://oldcalculatormuseum.com/w-wang380.html
-Rick Bensene
The Old Calculator Web Museum
http://oldcalculatormuseum.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Jennings" <tomj(a)wps.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic Posts Only" <cctech(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 12:48 PM
Subject: "8-track" data tapes, was Re: Compucolor items on eBay
Wang used an 8-track-type cartridge for data and/or
program storage. I
don't know what machine they are for.
I have a couple, to use in an art project (for data storage, not some
stupid collage), because they are beautiful -- 100% transparent plastic,
and instead of reels, an endless loop serpentine-tangle-stacked into the
case. I believe these tapes contain feature-data or fonts or whatever
since they are so short, but I'm just guessing.
Don't think those home tape-deck jobs with the book of matches to align
the head... think radio station cart recorders. Much solider (sic)
construction, though the data architecture still sucks rocks!
tomj
On Mon, 2004-08-02 at 10:38, Tom Hudson wrote:
> To be honest, I've never heard of any other computers using 8-tracks as
> storage. Tape is bad enough, but the nature of 8-track architecture (no
> rewind) would make usage of it almost completely untenable!
>
> -Tom
>
> Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
>
> >What, if any, other computers also used 8-track tape for storage? I
> >always figured there had to have been at least one computer that used
them
>but until
now I've never known of any examples.
>
>
>