30 May
2014
30 May
'14
6:24 p.m.
On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 05:53:41PM -0700, Mark J. Blair wrote:
I have this vague memory that back in the day, any
well-equipped computer
operator would have a tool in the desk drawer which trims the end of a mangled
magtape to a nice, neat curve. Do I actually remember that, or did I make it
up? As I get older, my imagination is getting better than my memory, and it's
getting a lot easier to vividly remember things that never happened.
Nope, it's real. I used to have one somewhere. Was there also something
for embossing a ridge or two into the tape so you could get the free end
loose for sure? That one's hazier.
Write rings were littered all over the place,
naturally.
I never quite got why each tape owned its own personal write ring, when
really you just need one per drive. It's not like a floppy-disk write-enable
tab where it actually sticks on. If they were trying to free the operator
from making an individual decision on each tape mount
... well that's *worse*!
What else might be found in the operator's desk
drawer or sitting around the
computer room?
Tex wipes and/or long Q-tips and 99% isopropynol? An O2 tank in case the
halon system goes off? A current resume?
John Wilson
D Bit