Drum Computers (Was Cleaning things (was Cleaning RK05 packs (Was: LGP-30 Memory Drum Update)))

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/07/2017 07:01 AM, Al Kossow wrote:
> On 1/7/17 3:06 AM, jim stephens wrote:
> 
>> They did make a tape drive of some sort
> 
> They made several generations, what I've found on their cartridge
> tape drives is under 3M on bitsavers. All use variations of their
> trade secret or what eventually became QIC standard tape formats.
> 
> The 1/4" tape drive division was sold to Gorgens Industries in San
> Diego

You can find non-3M tape drives with 3M-copyrighted ROMs inside.  I have
one such--an ADIC Iotamat drive, which uses, IIRC, a 6800 CPU.

As far as QIC, goes, it was cheap and it aged badly.  I recall calling
3M (long before the Imation spinoff) asking about a DC300 tape cart that
I had where the driver misfunctioned and the tape came off the reel.

I was advised by the tech support guy to disassemble the cartridge and
moisten the loose end of the tape with saliva and stick it to the takeup
reel and manually wind the tape until I reached the BOT marker holes,
then reassemble the cartridge.  It worked, but he seemed to be a bit
ashamed to tell me to use saliva as a temporary adhesive.

FWIW, I'd always found the techs at 3M/Imation or the Federal operation
set up by them to be very helpful.

None of which makes me like QIC any better.

--Chuck