< >i was talking to my manager who is just about ready to give me a comple
< >working trs80 model 1 with ALL accessories. he also said he used someth
< >called a stringy floppy with it which used a loop of string/wire to sa
< The "Exatron Stringy Floppy" was a tape loop cartridge that had a basic
< 'structured' file system on it so (with the proper software) it could b
< treated similar to a disk device, altho serial in nature. Don't remembe
< the capacity right off, but it was not a lot.
Around 100k. It was faster than audio cassette but clower than floppy.
It's search speed was terrible.
I did a design before it came out using a 8track cart for a platform.
It's problems were using the short loops I made it would take 180 seconds
to search for the previous block and the reliability of the tape was poor
with oxide flaking (even using the best mylar tapes). While I was able
to make it work I abandoned it within weeks of building it for a DC300
cartridge and my own drive. Based on my experiences with looped tapes
and carts when I saw the Exxatron I regarded it as unlikely contender.
It didn't last long.
It is very collectable as likely few survived.
Allison
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