For the punch, I'd recomend a Facit 4070. They're relatively common I think, easy to maintain, and fairly simple. The basic interface is an 8 bit parallel one which can be linked to a PC with a little logic, there was also an internal RS232/current loop card [1] and I believe I read about an IEEE-488 card, but I've never seen one. [1] Half of this board is taken up with instrucitons, etched into the copper, and tinned, explaining how to set the links! For the Reader, I like the Trend UDRs and HSRs. The interface is a little more work, though. They're optical readers, and basically you have a signal to start/stop the tape, 8 data outputs, and a strobe. Once you've started the tape, you grab the data lines every time you get a strobe. However, the thing will stop on the next character if you turn off the tape-run line, so single-stepping is possible (although it really slows down if you use it in this mode!). The good thing about these models is that they're mechanicvally simple, about the only thing that ever fails is the light bulb, and thats' a standard 12V or 24V car/lorry bulb. IIRC, the models with intenral PSU all use a normal 382 12V, 21W car indicator bulb, available just about anywehre over here. The other good thing about the Trend readers is that they have 2 sensors on the feed track, spaced 2.5 characters apart. A sproket pulse is generated when the signal from the senosor in-line with the data holes exceeds that from the other sensor by a particular amount, a weighted average of the signals from the 2 sensors is then used as the threshold for the data tracks. It's easy to set up, and works with just about any tape you put in it. I've never seen one with a LAN (presumably ethernet) interface either. Most of the units I have have some kind of 8 bit parallel interface (FWIW, the Facit 4070 punch interface became a de facto standard over here). -tony