When new advertising meets old computers

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_eskimo.com>
Date: Tue May 23 17:52:34 2000

> > Although the effect is rather unsettling (Life magazine meets Wired?) the
> > strangest part is the image of *six-hole paper tape* that marches across
> > the middles of all the pages. Obviously old computers have some sort of hold
> > on our culture, though it could just be as an abstract design cliche.
>
> Typesetting tape was 6 (data) tracks, but it had other differences from
> the other paper tape standards as well. For one thing, the sprocket holes
> on all other paper tapes (5, 7, 8 level) are the same distance from the
> edge of the tape on the '3 hole' side. Typesetter tape has the holes a
> little further away.
>
> Also, on all other tapes, the centre line of the data holes and the
> (smaller) sproket holes (looking across the tape) is aligned. On
> typesetter tape, the leading edge is aligned.

This is valuable info and made me wonder if the paper tape graphic was only
a fake. I'm pretty sure there are at most six holes per channel but as I
recall it violates the other standards you mentioned (the sprocket holes are
halfway between the two middle data tracks and their centers are aligned).

> >
> > I haven't yet decoded the tape (if it says anyhthing at all). Luckily I
> > just got _Computers and Typesetting_ which covers plenty of obscure
>
> Presumably not related to the Knuth set of books of that title that cover
> TeX, etc.

No, it's much earlier than that (1968?) and it's British. It may have been
wrotten by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (not registered by them, written
by them). The book's at home so I can't check any of those facts now.

It describes Linotype machines, Monotype machines, and various filmsetters
(with pictures, diagrams, and descriptions of features); it has a pretty
detailed discussion of character sets and keyboards, including stenographic
and chorded keyboards; it has very useful information about tape codes
(including how to cram data that may use as many as 15 or 30 bits per item
onto narrower tape); and it has lots of other trivia about specialized
devices, information flow in a print shop, the niceties of book formatting,
some of the contemporary computer hardware and software, how Random House
typeset one of their dictionaries; and so on.

In short, I'm becoming very glad that I bought it. :)

-- Derek
Received on Tue May 23 2000 - 17:52:34 BST