Newbie Punch Tape Questions

[Columbia Valley Maker Space]

Ok - not so much of a newbie - fed punch tape into a reader for a PDP8
when I attended tech school back when the earth was cooling .... 

I have my hands on a PDP8a and a Remex reader. They both seem to
function OK with basic tests. 

I would like to try to read a Mylar punch tape to see if there is
anything interesting on it - as well as a couple of paper tapes. 

My end run would be to show something useful running on the PDP8a - and
loaded with the punch tape. 

The Mylar reel would have been the programming for a CNC machine. I
suspect the first part of the reel may be some boot loader or init
routine. 

So, my thought is this - connect the Remex unit to a Pi or Arduino to
capture the data and have a look at it or, load the tape directly into
the PDP8 and see what happens? Then, examine the PDP8 memory locations. 

So, the issue is that I have not researched the proper way to get the
tape and PDP8 initialized and reading into the PDP8. I am not 100% sure
the Remex unit is working, other than it spins the reels. 

Any suggestions?? 

Love the forum by the way - I wish I had a machine that would slow the
clock on the wall down to give me more time to play. I guess they call
that retirement ..... 

Cheers, 

Brian

-- 
Brian McIntosh
Columbia Valley Maker Space Communications Guy
info at cvmakerspace.ca
250 270 0689